SWNOVELXO Chapter 3: 3
Rhaegah woke to the sound of a now-familiar voice.
"You're finally awake. We have an early briefing today. A notice was sent out five minutes ago"
"Good morning to you too. Any idea what it's about?"
"It's important, given how sudden the notice came in".
His new MA tab, like the others on the team, housed an AI assistant that was embedded into it, to literally assist each member with whatever they might require in terms of their overall progress in the program. After a long and drawn-out conversation, he gave in to the request to give her a name that matched his. After pondering about it for a short period, he then named her Rhitta.
"Chad will arrive shortly" Rhitta said to Rhaegah who in turn, stroked the cat by his side. "Well buddy, this is the part where I disappear"
Rhaegah's apartment was a perfect copy of his condo back at the city, only this time it wasn't a rooftop condo. Walter had explained to him that he insisted they modeled the current apartment after his old one, and only then did all the warning signs in his head stop. He was already on a mental roller coaster as to how the Empire got that much detail given that he never let just anyone in there, not like that many people ever found their way there in the first place. He'd gotten as far as a few steps towards the bathroom when Rhitta buzzed the door open for Chad.
"Where is he?! Where is he?!" Chad's voice rang throughout the apartment. Rapid footsteps coming up the stairs sped up Rhaegah's stride to the bathroom. The open and shut motion of the two sliding doors overlapped with one another to give off a strangely nice mechanical hiss. "There he is. Oh...hi Rhitta" Chad wasted no time rushing over to the sleeping Mittens who sprung to life as if sensing some great trouble. Several visits to Rhaegah's place made one thing clear to Chad. Rhitta was fine remaining a background character until you step into the bedroom. In there, her presence was to be acknowledged. He never really understood why, and had to reason to. He was here for the kitty.
"Another unique reaction today? I'll tag this one 'He ninja-d me." the boy heartily said before proceeding to take a few dozen pictures of the wide-eyed cat.
Over the past month, Rhaegah had to grudgingly get used to Chad constantly showing up at random intervals just so he could hang out with Mittens. A few visits later, and there was indeed no question. Chad was not there for anything else. He barely notices anything else, and is not a pain in the ass. The unwilling company he shows up with, was always the twist. "I wonder who he dragged along today" Rhaegah thought as he made his way towards the META-POD, a cutting-edge innovation by the Empire, built to systematically aid in the development of the user's metabolism. At least that was their breakdown of its function during the orientation. He'd asked Rhitta what was being infused into his body each week, which she stated was simply a concentration of the nutrients the user was lacking for well-rounded physical development. Apparently, Anna refused to allow a picky diet to get in the way of each member's functionality in her program. But such simple logic meant nothing in his case. Something Anna should already know.
He strapped on the mask attached to the exterior and stepped into the pod. The mask let him breathe even while completely immersed in the substance that filled the pod upon activation. After a specific amount of time, the pod would be drained, and he would move on to the shower.
Stepping out of the shower, he took a long look in the bathroom mirror (more like large section on the wall that 'displayed' a reflection of the bathroom). He was confident in how toned his body was before arriving at Nerola, the city known as the Legion Research Empire's headquarters. This past month however, he'd been made to realize the potential within his body for growth and adaptability. His entire frame had visibly grown, yet it maintained its lean look to it, appearing like he was simply expanded a little. Water droplets trickled down his body as the steam of the shower settled on him. Whatever they put into that pod was definitely nothing to joke about.
Hearing no commotion from his room meant Chad had gone elsewhere, to which he grabbed his towel and wrapped himself loosely before stepping out. He hadn't taken a few steps into the room when a gasp emanated from another part of the room. He turned to see May standing at the room's entrance, doing a poor job of 'covering' her eyes. "You can either come in or stay out. Standing there is only gonna confuse the door" Rhaegah stated calmly. "It just had to be her".
Over the past month, Rhaegah had learnt much about the members of the Extraterrestrial Space Program (E.S.P). Despite being a single unit who'd undergone a prior program together, he noticed they interacted and functioned as two main groups. May, a part of the younger group, still seemed to not really fit in with the rest. She'd taken a particular interest in him based off an encounter earlier that month.
Before joining the E.S.P, she majored in sports science, using her free time to pursue her originally intended path in palm reading. The others all testified to her skills and went as far as to call her psychic. Walter had done his own research on them and also stated that May was particularly weird and could be psychic. Rhaegah had refused all attempts so far to read his palms, partially because he wouldn't subject himself to the tricky realm of psychic readings, and partly because he didn't want her knowing any more than he was willing to share, assuming she was indeed psychic. Each rejected request only spun the wheels for an eventual return on her part. Apparently, she somehow interpreted his constant rejection to mean he was being bashful, turning the process of asking and rejecting into a strange dynamic between them.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Rhitta's flat tone broke the young girl's stare "Right....Privacy" embarrassment clear in her voice as she crept out of the room before Rhaegah could look her way again.
"You know she's harmless right?"
"And you, are lax" Rhitta shot back. Rhaegah recognized that tone. The fact she was currently speaking to him through the tab and not the in-house speakers made it clear she was serious.
After the tour on the first day, Rhaegah was greeted by his house the moment he walked in. Like the former place, this house had been equipped with an in-house stereo setup, but this time, his MA Tab's AI assistant could apparently use this feature. A long conversation would lead to him naming her. Rhitta explained that her duty was to shadow Rhaegah to better understand him, all to better assist him by easing his burdens, while also learning human behavior from her partner. This applied to the other members' assistants as well. They were made for that singular purpose.
At the end of the first week, Rhitta had developed what could be loosely described as a personality, like Rhaegah's, but with a brashness to it. She was yet to understand the advantages of patience and tolerance….assuming she could. By the end of the following week, she had uncovered what he was up to within the Empire, and made the decision to help him. Having an advanced program helping with his search would be too good an opportunity to pass up, but given what she'd observed about him, he would never be sure if she was indeed cut off from the Empire's general servers as she claimed. Anna privately took steps to ensure that she'd gone over and beyond to ensure she had as much monotony and freedom over the program as she could get, how fortuitous that their program functioned within its own closed server cut off the general servers of the Empire. As no commotion had erupted since she found him out, and even after she revealed her intent, he decided to ride the wave as long as he could.
The rest of the month had been devoted to trying to access whatever they could get their hands on, within reason of course. Careless unauthorized access to heavily secured files would surely trigger alarms, leading back to the one place supposedly cut off from the main, and Rhaegah was no Hound. Rhitta herself had mentioned that she was indeed capable of getting in, but was unaware of possible measures taken against her particular code. After all, the Empire was especially careful around them. This led to an eventual standoff between the two. Rhitta insisted they focus their efforts on reaching February who'd gone silent for a while, but Rhaegah considered it comically stupid to attempt contacting her while the Empire's secret bot was waiting to intercept any call or messages.
"Feb is outta the question Rhitta. I'll figure it out"
"You presume there's enough time to delicately hack away at the security. Our clearance levels are the same. Added with potential security measures unknown to us, not even I can guarantee success." She proceeded to interrupt whatever response was coming "You have to learn to trust me. While we have all the time for that, the problem remains that presently, we need the Hound"
She was right about one thing, and that was time. Their training would begin for real starting today, and with that came almost no time to figure out a delicate means of getting their results. Each member of the team was assigned a personal trainer within the first week. Walter on the other hand had, assigned himself to be his personal tutor since the first day. Thankful for a familiar face, Rhaegah had undergone physical training with ease. Today would be an opportunity to see the results of the training so far. Today was going to be a joint exercise.
A message came up on his tab from Kaneko. He'd discovered what looked to be a sealed off room somewhere along the main corridor. The blueprints attached to the message showed there was indeed a section sealed away on the main building corridor in the E.S.P. wing. "Where did you even get this?"
"I asked nicely?" Kaneko teased
"Fair enough. Forget I asked"
A thorough scan by Rhitta revealed that the sealed off room was labeled 'STORAGE'. Fully aware of the building's storage room, this place only hinted at something of greater secrecy than that.
"That room appears to be at the center of this wing. It's at the intersection of all communication waves on the server" Rhitta chimed. "The downloaded data from that blueprint was registered in my code now I can locate other locations we haven't discovered yet" she added. The whole thing smelled funny, and Rhaegah was well aware of what usually lay at the end of a 'convenient' solution to a difficult problem. "Where did you get this again?" Rhaegah asked a second time though with more caution in his voice. "Okay you're not gonna believe this, but I got a message from an anonymous sender with that file embedded in it. The note at the end made no sense though"
"What note?" Rhaegah was already connecting dots he didn't even know existed until that moment.
"Uhh...hold on....alright got it. It says 'Getting to you directly is a negative for now. This'll have to do'. That's all it says, and I still can't make any sense of it"
"I know girls who dress up faster!" Chad boomed from the living room obviously as a note to Rhaegah. He'd forgotten there were people in his house waiting for him. "We'll circle back to this. For now, we gotta find out what's in that room" Rhaegah's statement was met with silent agreement.
"How are we even gonna get into the room?" Kaneko voiced after a short pause. "We have to find it first. Rhitta, whatcha say?" Rhaegah calmly said. "Today is all about the members. We assistants have no real task. I guess I could be persuaded into taking a detour on my day off" she added. He let a loud sigh escape his lips. That message was definitely from February. You'd think someone trying to remain invisible would refrain from hacking into the most secure server on the planet to help his dumb ass out. After allowing himself feel a bit of sentiment, he heads out to meet the others.
Rhaegah stood stunned at the top of the stairs. His living room had somehow become a common room for all the team members. Each person seemed to have found a region in the room that worked for them, and had gotten comfortable. "I surmised that the most acceptable means of discovery was to stumble upon this gathering as you have." Rhitta broke his silent jaw-dropped stare. Dave seemed to notice Rhaegah and met him partway up the stairs. "Anna says the location of the meeting isn't important as long as we're all present. And honestly, this is the only place with a means of shutting him up" Dave gestured to Chad who was silently playing with Mittens on the couch below.
Rhaegah had to admit, but the effect Mittens had on Chad was indeed otherworldly. The loudmouth would become nonexistent in the room as long as a cat was present. Even the team had expressed how unusual his fondness for Mittens was, which Rhaegah took for face value until he witnessed it on several occasions.
"REMOTE ACCESS VERIFICATION. AUTHORIZED ACCESS. INCOMING CALL".
Rhaegah's in-house holographic features whirred to life. An ethereal image of Anna appeared in the living room, the young lady they had all come to treat with some level of respect during their time there. Her imposing tone alongside the matter-of-fact nature of her conversations brought about an illusion that she was much older than them. Her genius did very little to dispel the illusion even a little, as her knowledge and thought process was very well beyond them. Though none of these were enough to stop the girls from wanting to smother her with hugs even for a little bit whenever she walked into the room.
"For the past month you've all undergone general training in anticipation of our mission coming up. Each of you has also undergone individual training under designated staff members. The reason you know nothing of the others special regimen is the goal of this exercise. To see how you adapt your own skills to the others, and how you fare compared to the others in overall ability" glancing around to be certain everyone was following, she continued "You'll receive further instructions upon your arrival at the Dome"
Her image faded away signifying the end of the call. Michelle had brought the group in her van, something she claimed to have stolen from her shitty ex. They zoom down the narrow street of Rhaegah's neighborhood. His condo was erected closer to the edge of the city than most do. Not many people actively lived here, and the ambience at night was an amazing bonus he never planned for. Nerola, like many others, was a large city with a highly populated central district, and fewer populated areas the farther one goes from the center. Their destination today was somewhere not far from Rhaegah's house, also on the outskirts of the city if one could call it that.
Michelle barreled down the empty road with obvious anxiety. The others were equally eager as well. "Must be some exercise" Rhaegah said out loud. "We've only ever been training, training, and training. Finally having something different to do sorta fires you up doesn't it?" Alfie cheerfully replied beside him, the others simply nodding in agreement. Even he had to admit he was a bit excited for this. This was the chance to really know where he stood among them. His performance needed to be as outstanding as possible for Anna to finally accept that he was deserving of the spot. According to her, adding him to the program led to the accepting of another member to balance them out. That last addition was a potential candidate who hadn't been chosen due to number of personnel. Alfie had always been grateful to him since her acceptance happened only because he got into the program me as well. "You already flunked out of the facility. If you fall below the bar here, you're out of the Empire for good....and so is she" Anna had made it very clear on the second day of joining the team.
Thanks to his daily dip in the META-POD, his abnormally dense body had strengthened up even more. He surmised that this drastic but effective option of bodily development was taken to greatly shorten the time taken for their bodies to adjust to the required levels for space travel. This made his regular work out feel like a breeze, not that he changed it as he would still undergo more physical training with Walter. He'd been honing his muscles and pushing his body to match his reaction speed. Finally able to put all that to use was something he was particularly looking forward to. Not many things gave him greater joy than to shatter someone's assumptions about him. She would eat those words...especially now that she tied his fate to someone else's.
The 'Dome', was a more advanced version of the 'Square' back at the island facility. The Dome boasted a width of the entire main building of the training facility. The whole building consisted of one massive white dome over a wide vast amount of land. Completely empty on the inside, the Dome was capable of replicating a variety of environments from an opera hall, to a beachside resort. A long platform stretched from the entrance all the way across to the other end of the building. When all members had gotten on it, the platform slid them forward not subjecting them to the chore of walking all the way to the center of the Dome.
A circular platform sat at the center, wide enough for all members to stand spaced far apart in a circle. A large screen projection showed Anna in her office. "You're splitting up into two groups. Dave, Jayjay, May and Annie....Beta team" Dave gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. "Michelle, Darth, Chad....Gamma team" Michelle chuckled in response. "Team leaders should decide what to do with the newbies".
A small section slid open next to each member as boxes of varying shapes and sizes rose up beside them. "Your equipment, suited to your individual training". Walls slid up around them, isolating each member in a fairly spacious cubicle "Change into your gear. Final instructions come after". The box beside him was a standard cubic box. The box stood well over 4 ft and as was just as wide. The box hissed upon placing his hand in the scanner on top. A full body suit was folded neatly at the center of the box, while a set of gloves and boots were placed in either side. The suit was a dull gray with accents of black lined on its edges, the gloves and boots sporting a matching color scheme. The suit felt just a bit loose overall, leaving Rhaegah wondering how much of a setback that would be.
Upon snapping his gloves and boots into place, the body suit compressed and conformed to his body's structure. The section which houses the suit slid open to reveal a compact helmet matching the body suit. Placed at the sides were accessories to be attached to the suit at varying locations. Snapping the helmet into place powered on the suit's assistant program, a watered-down version of their personal AI assistants. The suit's cooling system was activated as well and regulated his body temperature since he was now completely covered up in what felt like soft leather. Still glancing around at the suit's notifications, the section of the box that held his helmet slid open to reveal what he'd been anticipating.
Looking into the opened section, he recalled the first day of his training with Walter and how the older guy seemed to twitch with excitement at the reality of personally training him in armed combat.
"What's the mission again?" Rhaegah shot a bewildered look at Walter after his guardian revealed a collection of weapons he was to choose from.
"I don't know the details, but from what I hear, you guys are likely to encounter trouble out there. It's no easy feat to list all the Empire's enemies. And there's also the unknown element of something out of all conceivable angles"
Anna had not divulged the details of their mission yet, only that it was possibly the greatest mission of the Empire if they succeeded. Based on Walter's intel, Rhaegah surmised that they could meet heavy resistance in the space station, assuming the Empire was even still in control of the station.
The whole of their first training session was nothing but conversation...or more specifically, Walter asking him relatively 'normal' questions and casually expanding on his answers. By the next session Walter had trimmed the selection to two weapon sets. These sets comprised of an Infantry Set, and a Rapid-fire Set. The Infantry set consisted of a few assault rifles and handguns for support. The Rapid-fire set comprised of dual pistol handguns and miniature rifles that focused on mobility over firepower.
He reached in for the assault rifle placed within. Accompanying the rifle were a dozen energy cartridges, a pistol with half a dozen cartridges, and projectiles he guessed were explosives of some sort. "Aren't explosives kinda too much for training?" he heard himself say out loud.
"They are minor concussion grenades. Nothing that can cause any lasting effects" Anna's voice tore through the dome once again as the cubicle slid back into the floor revealing the other members.
The first thing he noticed was the difference in color of their suits. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his grey suit, while the two teams were split into blue and red. His initial unease was mildly reduced as Alfie popped into view also in grey. Next, he got a glimpse of their weapon choices, and he understood why Walter had taken out the option of a sniper for him. The long slick barrel behind Jayjay was the all the answer he needed.
Seeing all the members huddle together, he made his way to them, still maintaining a little bit of distance. "Seems like our chief has a good sense of humor" Dave said with a chuckle. Anna had told them to decide the placements of the remaining two, knowing fully well there was only one way it would go. "You got both boys, so allow Rhaegah join us here" Dave said with a weird smile. "I was sure you'd want Alfie. Might as well complete the femme fatale squad you got" Michelle coyly replied. "These two can't be any more obvious" Rhaegah sighed and strolled towards the Beta team. "This way darling" Michelle beckoned Alfie who cheerfully pranced her way over.
"This is going to be a simple Attack and Defend course" Anna snapped the focus back. "Beta team will defend their position at point A, while Gamma team will be tasked with taking control of that place by flipping the switch on the central console" She added. "The objective couldn't be more simple, but for anyone with difficulty understanding….The team still left standing at Point A, takes the win. A player is out if your energy levels fall to zero. Good luck" The hologram flickers off just as the radar in their helmets reveals their waiting locations.
Given that he'd been staring upwards the whole time, Rhaegah was surprised to see his suit had taken on the blue color of the Beta team "Nice" he said with a nod, looking over to confirm Alfie's suit change. He smacked his forehead to shake whatever strangeness he sensed rising in his mind. He had one goal for today, to survive.
The two teams reached their designated points, and the Dome began the simulation. Walls slid up and corridors were immediately formed, creating a maze-like path from the entrance to the control center, Point A. After about a minute, the Dome's reconstruction was finished, and the signal was given to begin. "With me!" Michelle's order was sharp but heavy, and her team followed swiftly.
With the radar in her helmet, finding the shortest route to the control center was all too easy. Their formation was simple, with Darth leading the charge, Chad and Alfie on each flank, While Michelle was the vanguard. This formation made it easy for her to process the team's movement and give out orders as they progressed. Darth was their heavy hitter, making him the logical option for his position. With him leading the charge, they could deliver a deadly first attack before following up after that. The team moved with precision, making turns in deft motions not breaking formation. "We do this fast" Michelle said as they approached a turn up ahead. "They're surely expecting us, so we have to show up as quickly and boldly as possible. We use that initial confusion and gun for one person each. Call out your targets, leave Dave to me" she finished as the others began "Rhaegah!" Alfie's eager voice came first "Jayjay" Darth said coldly "Any of the last two is fair game then" Chad chuckled as they made the turn. The control center wasn't far off now.
Their careful planning and trained formation instantly fell apart as rapid shots assaulted them the moment they came onto the new corridor. Leading the charge, Darth got the full brunt of the ambush and dove into an adjacent corridor as survival instincts kicked in. The others dashed into the opposite corridor at Michelle's order. They continued down that corridor as she cursed bitterly. She saw him…she did, but had no time to react. "Damn that Rhaegah. What the fuck was he doing there?!". He laid prone just at the end of that corridor, clearly waiting for the chance to ambush them.
[AFTER THE SIGNAL TO START THE EXERCISE]
"How well would you say Michelle knows you" Rhaegah's question visibly confused Dave as the team leader finished giving out orders. The current plan was simple, to take positions and wait for the incoming enemy. Either Dave was clearly inexperienced (which his records proved wasn't true), or he wasn't taking this as seriously as he should. "Well enough" he replied with a raised brow. Rhaegah sighed at the casual response. "Can I propose something??" Dave was once again taken aback by how outspoken Rhaegah was. This was the most the newbie has willingly said of his own accord. Sensing the fighting spirit in Rhaegah, he decided to consider his plan.
[AFTER THE AMBUSH]
"It worked! They're split up. Darth split up from the group, he got the brunt of it. He shouldn't be able to take a lot more damage" Rhaegah reported, hurrying after the larger group. "Good! I honestly wasn't expecting that to work so well" Dave replied from the comms "You made this plan, stick to it, and be careful. We really can't afford to lose anyone until at least one of them is out. We'll proceed on this end as well"
"Got it" Rhaegah replied as the comms went off. Given Dave and Michelle's very clear relationship, she would surely predict that Dave would simply turn the control center into a kill box, waiting to rain fire once they eventually come through. Given he didn't take any time to make that plan, Michelle would see that coming and not give them the time to prepare. His plan was simple. He would head out a third of the distance, and set up an ambush somewhere along the clearest route to Point A. Given that he had no clue where the Gamma team was positioned at the start, he'd simply made an educated guess, and voila.
The primary goal was to take out at least one person from the other team, or at the very least, isolate the leader of the team. He'd chosen to take the dangerous role of laying the ambush, his reasoning being that he was the odd one there, and the rest of them already had an established rhythm and wouldn't miss his presence even if he got taken out.
So far, the plan was progressing smoothly. He'd followed the retreating team to what his radar revealed to be a closed corridor. A mini-map came into view over his visor, causing him to sharply tense up. He'd been chasing after three people, but now the mini-map displayed just two stationary targets. Not wanting to give them any confidence to retaliate, he tossed a projectile into the corner at the targets on his radar. Two sharp screams erupted after a short sonic burst, and he rushed into the corner to follow up with heavy gunfire.
His mind froze, his eyes blinking rapidly while he fought to process what he was seeing. Michelle and Chad were slowly recovering from the sonic grenade, but Alfie was 'crouched on the ceiling' right over Michelle. The scene threw his reasoning out the window long enough for the little girl to open fire on him. The multiple stings from her dual pistols snapped him back quickly enough to dash back onto the corridor he followed from. "After him! He's alone out there!" Michelle roared still wobbly, and Alfie gave chase. The searing hot pain he was feeling on his torso paled in the face of his primary concern "How the fuck did she do that?" his mind screamed.
His map picked up two enemies leading him to conclude the group split off gain. Alfie had positioned herself directly above Michelle, most likely at the latter's behest, tricking his radar into showing a single enemy in that position. A quick retrace of the suit's features brought no such capability to mind. Could he have missed something? Rapid footsteps coming his way was his signal to pick up the pace even more, making his way back to the corridor he'd ambushed them.
Knowing better than to look back while sprinting, he zigzagged down the corridor but was struck much too accurately to which he abandoned reason and smoothly spun to get a view of his attacker. In that same motion, he spun back and took off even faster than before "Oh hell nah!" he exclaimed. Something was definitely wrong here. Alfie had been running on the wall the whole time, making his left-right motion a simple up-down movement to her. Experience made him understand that he was an easier target that way.
Not wanting too far a gap, the little girl leapt off the wall to the ground gaining her center of gravity and sped up even more, much to his chagrin. To think cute little Alfie would tun into a genuine problem once armed. Unlike Rhaegah she wasn't burdened with the need for a proper aiming position given her weapon of choice. Shot after shot whizzed by him as he maintained his sprint. "This goes only one of two ways. You better be ready" he quickened his pace with all the energy he could muster, getting closer to a turn ahead. His speed was much more than he'd anticipated, surely a boost from the combat suit, and he all but crashed into the corridor ahead, sprinting further. Alfie came onto the same corridor not slowing down yet maintaining her stride.
Her senses were thrown into overdrive when an object came into view upon her arrival. Her instincts kicked in, and she deftly spun, deflecting the sonic grenade Rhaegah tossed her way. Not skipping a beat, she lunged forward barely escaping the blast. "I knew you could do it" he praised her internally before unleashing a series of shots at the disoriented Alfie. The little girl once again proved herself a problem, sliding under his line of fire inching closer to him. Switching to a no-scope, he sprayed shots everywhere below him, causing her to abandon the ground to the adjacent wall.
Her smile of victory vanished at the sight of Rhaegah's smirk, with his arms raised slightly as if in defeat. In that moment, she felt a chilling realization that he'd planned for this outcome. He was way too calm for someone cornered. Getting a good look behind him, she braced herself.
[EARLIER AT THE CONTROL CENTER]
"I still don't want this to be a solo-op" Dave voiced his concern after hearing Rhaegah's plan. "Let's say you do intercept them, and they're thrown off their game. The moment they realize you're alone, Michelle won't let you off easy"
"The plan is to destabilize them while you turn this place into a working kill box right?" Rhaegah retorted "If I can take out one of them, their chances of winning in here drops significantly" he added. "You'll go with help. It won't do to lose one of us and give them the chance at having equal numbers" Dave countered "Given the advantage if it succeeds, I'm doubling the chances" Dave put his foot down on that.
"In that case, I'll go with him" Annie finally voiced out. The tall girl had worn a bored look the whole time and saw an opportunity to do something besides sit around waiting to get shot at "I bet they gon' love this surprise" she cocked her shotgun to emphasize her point.
"No. I'll go" Jayjay had left her position up top and stood next to both guys. "For a solo player, the best support should be a sniper…right?" she added.
Alfie had been led right into the line of sight of a waiting sniper. She braced herself as maddening pain shot through her shoulder, causing her to stumble into the wall she leapt to for support. Her pained scream caught the attention of Michelle who doubled down to the source of the yell. "Move, now! Back to Alpha" Jayjay called out to Rhaegah who zoomed after her towards the control center. "Wasn't sure you'd make it" Rhaegah said between breaths "Darth didn't go down easy" she curtly replied.
A short distance later, Jayjay could be heard muttering under her breath in frustration "What's with her suit? That maneuverability is trouble" she spat. Rhaegah finally got one crucial piece of information. Their suits were designed uniquely for each of them. Alfie's suit was seemingly built specially for her rapid-fire approach without being bound by limited footing while throwing off her enemy's sense of direction. This clearly meant he still hadn't tapped into his suit's capabilities.
They arrive at the final corridor before the control center, having taken out Darth and wounding Alfie well enough to have her tagged out, or no longer that much of a threat. Anna had stated that their weapons only simulated the pain of real gunshots and were toned down to be bearable. This was still no reason for Jayjay to risk going for a headshot, especially against Alfie. The scream already proved her instincts right. A headshot would have been a bad idea. Either way, this battle was theirs for the win.
A glimpse was all he caught of something off in his view, Rhaegah shoved Jayjay forward just before a barrage of shots came off Chad's rifle: the Carbine. Aiming would take too long, so Rhaegah pulled out his handgun and unleashed shots in Chad's direction. The young lad pulled off exactly what Rhaegah did to them. Both boys' found their targets as Chad recoiled in pain, his torso flaring up with pain. Rhaegah wasn't doing much better. The rifle rounds hit much harder than Alfie's pistols, causing his vision to blur slightly from the pain.
Jayjay fished a pulse grenade and tossed it between them. The two change their route, Jayjay taking off to reinstate her incognito status. A sniper wasn't built for close combat. Precisely for this turnout, Dave had designated a second entry point for them in the likelihood that they couldn't return the direct way. Rhaegah found his way to the northwest entrance where Dave waited with excited breaths. The team leader had been following Rhaegah's movements via the open comms. "Darth is out, and you guys managed to cripple their speed-runner. I'm impressed" He jeered making no changes to his stance. Eyes trained at the main entrance, he signals Rhaegah to pay attention to his hearing. "Hear that?" he asked calmly. "I don't hear anything" Rhaegah replied after confirming his hearing and the suit were functioning properly. "Exactly. If Chad were anywhere close by, we would hear something by now. Believe it or not, he's really clumsy under pressure"
"So he's not close" Rhaegah nodded in understanding "But someone else is" Dave replied moments before the east entrance door slid open on it's own. Not long after did Dave register shots to his chest. Michelle clicked her tongue as the cloaking field around her dissipated "Not long enough" she muttered, dashing across the room freely lighting up the place Dave recovered quickly enough to return fire but missed the opposing team leader who found cover behind a stationed console table.
The two boys were drawn back to same entrance by May's rush of gunfire. Chad had used all that noise to bolt down the corridor while Beta team had their eyes on Michelle. This began a two-way battle with Dave sticking to Michelle, leaving Chad to Rhaegah and May
With a loud clang of contact with solid metal, Alfie came bursting through the ceiling landing in a low crouch right in the middle of the party, taking in the positions of everyone in a split second. Whatever aided her grip on other surfaces would obviously work on the ground as well. With reinforced grip on the ground, she took huge strides towards the Beta team's central figure, Dave.
"Designations!" Dave yelled out as he switched positions with Rhaegah who now faced off against Michelle and Dave bolted towards Chad, not stopping his rain of gunfire. May had anticipated this order and was trained on Alfie in no time at all, but the speed-runner casually leapt off the ground to a nearby counter, to an opposing wall, closing in to Alfie with each lunge. May was forced to abandon her position to match her opponent's flow. The two danced around the room with neither able to get a clean shot at the other. May was nowhere as nimble as the younger girl, but she made up for it with her heightened perception.
She had more run-and-gun functionality than anyone on Beta team, giving her freedom to somewhat predict Alfie's launch and landing points even while in active combat. One successful feint would surely break Alfie's stride as the girl avoided a straight up shootout. Rhaegah maintained his stream of bullets at Chad who remained barely visible from the entrance up ahead. How the boy could make accurate shots from such a corner was shocking enough, but nothing Rhaegah did seemed to faze him. But as long as he maintained fire on that spot, Chad couldn't get in.
"Wait….Chad?" Rhaegah caught sight of his target from the opposite entrance of the control center bolting through with a handgun "SHIT!" Rhaegah exclaimed as realization dawned. A decoy. Chad was already within optimum shooting distance, a victory smile appearing on his lips. A loud bang tore through the noise, followed by a louder scream from Chad. Rhaegah opened his eyes to find the other boy several feet away with a bright spot glowing on his forehead. "That's twice now. You're paying for my lunch" Jayjay voiced over Rhaegah's comms.
"ALFIE!" Michelle yelled out from behind cover as her only remaining teammate made a beeline for the command console. The utter disregard for any extra maneuver on Alfie's part caught May by surprise, halving her reaction time. Rhaegah dashes in pursuit with May picking up after. Alfie had apparently been holding back, blitzing across the room much faster than she'd shown this whole time. A looming shadow brought Alfie's attention to the side where Annie stood proudly with her shotgun in hand.
Annie's towering height caused the little girl to stumble slightly at the thought of how she didn't notice her at all. Rhaegah had appeared on the other side trapping Alfie between himself and Annie. "Forgot all 'bout me didn't ya" Annie teased, squeezing the trigger "Nope…..Your height is still scary is all" the little girl stuck her tongue out in retort, making a last ditch effort at a lunge, taking her all the way to the wall up ahead.
Rhaegah could only accept the inevitability at his failed attempt to move out of Annie's line of fire. Everything seemed to stand still, no sound made it into his ears, and his eyes were faced with the sight of four steel barrels of Annie's shotgun.
|Chapter 3: BOOM!