The men were Padania operatives, tasked with "guarding" him. The man tied to the chair was named Arnuovo Khali, a banker with a not-so-clean record. As someone born to a rich family in Milan, he and his family were also supporters of the Fiver Republics Faction—known to some as Padania, which in reality was an alternate reference to the Po Valley in Northern Italy—a right-wing separatist movement that aimed for the independence of Northern Italy.

In the FRF, betrayal was an outright horrible idea, which was something Arnuovo Khali didn't immediately think about when he defected to the government, giving details about Giacomo Dante's bankrollers and supporters. It was a notion that his former comrades didn't think of kindly. That was how he got into his current position. What made things worse was that he didn't have any way to contact his family, whom he had managed to get into Switzerland. Though that still didn't alleviate his fears.

The layout of the room—or house; whichever it was—he was in was simple. There was the kitchen to his left, while the living-room area was to the right. A large, frosted-glass window was behind the living room area, and Arnuovo could pretty much see that it was dark outside. There was a hallway behind the kitchen, which led right to the front door. The men—ten in number—who abducted him were either dozing off, chatting, or checking their weapons. By the way, he was sitting in the corner of the room, allowing him the nice, semi-panoramic view.

"Is Captain Agazio even coming here today?" asked one of the men. Arnuovo recognized him as Gerasimo de Palo.

Another Padania operative, a grizzled veteran, took the initiative to respond. "I heard he's arriving today. Though he'll be late. There was an accident on the highway, and there's a big traffic jam. He'll probably arrive around midnight."

Gerasimo muttered a curse under his breath. "Hey, Guelfo, why do we even have to babysit this bastard?" he asked, pointing at Arnuovo. "Why don't we just kill him already? Besides, even the government doesn't need him anymore; he can't even be used as a bargaining chip for some of our imprisoned comrades."

"Because there's something else that he stole from us, and he's hiding it even from the government."

Arnuovo just watched as the two men talked among themselves. Captain Agazio was a former GIS (Gruppo di Intervento Speciale) operative. It was rare for people who once were under the government to suddenly join the Five Republics Faction. In his case, his unit was given faulty information during a raid, which cost him the lives of seven good men. The blame was placed on him—stating that he had ignored advice and gone on with the mission. He was dishonorably discharged afterwards.

Captain Agazio was also one of the newly-risen Giacomo Dante's lieutenants. The terrorist had somehow managed to survive the events at the New Turin power plant two years ago, and risen again, gaining even more support for the Padania movement.

"Hey, you two, quiet down!" suddenly hissed another Padanian. "I'm trying to listen to the radio. Fuck!" He turned back to his radio. "Chiacco 1 to Chiacco 2, what the hell is happening over there?"

"We've got hostiles! I don't know who they are. GIS maybe? There must be like two squads."

Gerasimo drew a pistol and pointed it at Arnuovo. "What the fuck? The government's coming for this guy? I told you guys we should've killed him!"

"Put the gun down, Gerasimo. Orders are orders. If Captain Agazio want Arnuovo alive; he gets him alive."

"Yeah, orders are orders. But what if we're dead before Captain Agazio even gets here?"

"Easy, we'll use him as a hostage. If they're coming for him, then we can use him as a human shield." Gerasimo didn't reply. The vet turned to the other Padanians. "Get to your positions. Fire at anyone who you think or know might be hostile. Three men in the driveway; three on the balcony; four right here. Get moving!"

Only Arnuovo, Gerasimo, the veteran and two others were left in the room. Though Arnuovo had his doubts—the government had abandoned him once he had run out of use. It would make no sense for them to come back for him. Unless the government had also found out about what he was hiding…

—Aosta Valley, North Italy—Winter, 2007—19:47:06—

It seemed a surprise to Letrice that Onyx, another cyborg, could carry such a heavy backpack with so many weapons and ammo belts strapped on to it—not to mention that she was also holding an M249 SAW in one hand while scaling up the rope. At the very least, the weight of the bag "justified" her to a slow climb. Letrice could hear her companion panting with each ascension.

Up the cliff was a house—their target, Arnuovo Khali, was there. The request came from his family, who escaped to Switzerland when he defected to the Italian government. He was abducted by Padania agents while trying to escape to Switzerland, after handing the info on Giacomo Dante's bank rollers. Thankfully, they had managed to track the vehicle used in his kidnapping to their hideout.

"Onyx," Letrice called out, "hurry up! I'm freezing in this cold!"

"That isn't exactly easy, you know!" Onyx replied. With every pull of the rope to ascend, the ammo belts hanging from her bag jingled. The cyborg wasn't midful that bullets were also sensitive beings… in a different way.

The cyborgs finally reached the top. Dangling just below the window sill, Onyx tossed a stun grenade to Letrice.

The plan was simple, but its effectiveness would depend on chance almost entirely. While Onyx would provide suppressing fire, Letrice would break open the window and throw the flashbang into the room. Then Letrice would jump in—Onyx still providing suppression fire—and eliminate whoever wasn't already killed by Onyx. Of course they took into account the other guards who could charge in, but that was an easy problem to deal with.

Letrice hung beside the window; P90 in one hand, flashbang in the other. Onyx was also in postion.

Letrice held her breath. "Breaching in 3… 2… 1… Go!"

The most likely place an attack on their hideout was going to come from was through the front door, which they had prepared for. The other side was a very dangerous cliff that would obviously kill anyone who was unlucky enough to fall down from there. So it came as a shock to them when the frosted glass began cracking. A massive curtain of bullets sprayed from the barrel of machine gun being held by a little girl latched onto a rope. The attack was immediately followed by a white flash, then the sudden feeling of being knocked back and dying.

Arnuovo khali watched as two girls armed with guns came in through the window. One had a big machine gun, making him wonder how she could carry it in one hand. The other girl had a smaller weapon. He was thankful that his kidnappers had positioned him in the corner of the room.

"You are Arnuovo Khali?" asked the girl with the machine gun.

"Y-yes…" he managed to say.

"Good." As the girl said it, the front door burst open. The extra guads rushed in, but they met a hail of gunfire from the two girls, killing all of them. A "fatal funnel", in military terms, was a cone shaped path—or any path that was narrow; bottlenecks may also count—that forced a funneling effect on operators. Defenders may take advantage of this, as the attackers were most vulnerable in opportunities like this.

When the last Padania member dropped, it was another full second offiring before Onyx's M249 clicked. A line of bodies littered the hallway…

"Guess we're not going out the front door then?" Onyx playfully said, prompting Letrie to sigh. Her companion relished a bit too much in kiling… Especially ones where casualties are at a good number…

"Great. You can drag the bodies out of the hallway, while I untie Mr. Khali over here," Letrice said. She pulled a knife from her boot and began cutting away at the ropes.

"Aww,,," whimpered Onyx… as she dragged the bodies and threw them out the window…

"Stop complaining, you blood-lusting moron," Letrice snapped. She turned her attention to Arnuovo. "Sorry about that, Mr. Khali. Extreme measures are required for… certain moments…"

"...Y-yes… I-I understand… Thank you, miss—"

"Our names don't matter. Your family will be very happy to see you back with them. We'll get you as far as a nearby airport. From there, a pilot will fly you in to Switzerland, where your family is waitng. Just follow us, and we'll keep you safe. Okay?"

"Yes. Okay."

The three of them went outside after Onyx finished throwing the last body outside the window. If one were to look down, thwy wouldn't even see the bodies, thinking that the blood was just rocks that weren't yet covereed by snow. Waiting for them outside were the handlers—San and Lorenzo—and a car.

"Great job in there, you two!" Lorenzo congratulated the two. He hopped into the car, taking shotgun position, much to Letrice's annoyance, who wanted to sit next to her handler, San.

San entered the car, started the engine, an beckoned the two cyborgs—plus Arnuovo Khali—to get in. "Come on!" he shouted. "Quit stalling! We'll miss the flight schedule!"

The car drove through the dark, winter woods at a blaringly fast speed.