Chapter One
The streets of Vale were mostly empty tonight. A few people hurried around, but they were few. Perhaps the people sensed something strange about tonight. Perhaps they stayed indoors because some sixth sense told them something would happen. Something strange.
Or maybe it was because it was near midnight and rain was bucketing down. But if they had been out they probably would have felt some sort of foreboding. Maybe.
And something strange was definitely happening.
There was no one to see it, but if one were to look at one particular street in the commercial district they would see small flashes of what looked like lightning sparking in the air. Seemingly out of nowhere. These flashes came quicker and brighter until...
What sounded like an explosion boomed out. A large one. Accompanied by the scream of tortured metal, and the crash of wreckage.
There were a few final groans as pieces settled.
The street was now filled with wreckage. Twisted metal littered the area. There were pieces that might be recognizable as a metal walkway, others that seemed to be the remains of a generator of some kind sparked feebly before dying completely.
Then there was no sound but the pouring rain.
This street was mostly shops, but there were some people who lived above them. After being woken up they went to the windows and stared out in shock. Although the rain limited visibility.
When things would calm down later people would realize something strange. There was no sign where the wreckage had come from. There was no damage to the buildings nearby except what had been caused by some flying pieces of wreckage, and even that wasn't much. It was as though it had been simply dropped into the street.
But this would come later.
For now...
Screened from any watchers by the rain, something was moving amidst the wreckage. A piece was pushed to the side and a figure climbed out from among the metal. A man, or rather since he was just short of man, boy, came to his feet.
His appearance was rather distinctive. He wore a long coat, secured on his torso, that hung down past his knees. It was black with blue edges. Black boots with metal pads over the knees. He also wore what appeared to be long black gloves that covered his arms entirely. He what looked like some form of gasmask that only covered his face up to the forehead. But what would draw the most attention, if anyone could see, was his backpack, and how it had four cables attached to the back of his head. All that could truly be seen of his feature was some pale skin on his neck and the short, scruffy black hair on his head.
After a moment began patting himself down as though to check if he was still in one piece.
"...I'm alive?" He quietly said. "...I'm alive!"
He paused for a moment, then he raised his left arm and a holographic screen was projected above his forearm.
"Come on...Kristi?"
Nothing.
"Kristi, you there?"
...
"Bruno?...Jessica?...Tag?"
...
"...Anyone?..."
...
He stood there for a minute staring at the screen, and then looked at the wreckage surrounding him.
"...Well fuck."
Then he heard a sound that gained his full attention.
Sirens.
This was not something he wanted to hear. He'd never really trusted the police before, but with the recent events he'd been involved in, and a disaster that left god knows how many people dead...which he'd unwittingly had a hand in causing...
It was time to lie low for a while. A long while.
He didn't know if anyone could see him, but just to be on the safe side...
He faded out of sight. If there was anyone close enough, and if they were observant enough, they might have seen a distortion in the air and rain hitting seemingly nothing.
######
Ian Fletcher was not in a good mood.
Within a minute or two he'd gone from feeling victorious to horrified. After days of planning and preparation he and his team had infiltrated Dracogenics Tower and Bruno had put a bullet through Denglers' head. For the third time.
But it seemed like it was finally over. Dracogenics would no longer have total control over Res-Tech.
And then disaster. A disaster they'd unwittingly had a hand in creating.
Ian gritted his teeth as he skulked through alleys and side streets. 'Oh 'We shouldn't have trusted Her', no shit Tag! Well I've got a pretty good idea who She is, and Tag should have started suspecting something when we found that log. Operation Satellite Reign. Ha! I bet She had a hand that name. Must have been amusing. Fuck!'
Still, he supposed, the situation wasn't quite as bad as he'd feared. Sure he'd lost all contact with his team, and Tag. And Tag was the one who talked to the higher ups so he was effectively on his own. But the damage to the city didn't seem that bad. At least from what he'd seen so far. There was probably more damage in other areas, but if what he was seeing was any indication it was probably very limited.
That meant he had options. He could hack systems, find places to lay low. He could put this whole thing behind him.
Granted there were a few irritating things, like the fact that he wouldn't be getting his original body back. But this one wasn't so bad, and at least they'd made it the right age. Why exactly they'd done that he wasn't sure, although they had mentioned something about his mind not being adapted to a larger body.
Behind his mask he narrowed his eyes. 'But the first thing I'll do is get the files on every incriminating log we downloaded and post them all over the net.' He'd send them everywhere he possibly could, then let's see those damn Eternals survive the backlash.
He wasn't sure exactly what the Eternals had planned, but he was going to do everything he could to make sure they didn't succeed.
He stopped in an alley, leaned against a wall, and leaned his head back onto it. 'Right, I can do this. I have a plan. It's not big but it's a plan. I can do this. I can still...still...'
...
'What the fuck is wrong with the moon?!'
AN: This is a crossover with a top down RPG in a cyber-punk setting called Satellite Reign. I'll give more information on the game world in the story and these notes. But for now let's just say that Ian was the technical expert on a team trying to take down a corporation that makes the Schnee Dust company seem like a paragon of ethical business practices in comparison. The story begins post-game.