"All Units, report status."
"Alfa is go."
"Delta is go."
"Epsilon is go."
"Scorpio is go as well," Jean's chilled voice slithered over Sierra's comm, "I want the target alive."
Sierra rolled her neck, popping it. She and Sally were leaning in an alleyway, pretending to just be two friends sitting out on some steps and reading. Sierra glanced over to the redheaded cyborg who had stretched out on her side and feigned sleep. Shifting herself she lay back on the steps, grimacing as the stairs poked into her back.
"How the hell is this comfortable?"
Sally opened a lazy baby blue eye that twinkled with mischief, "It doesn't, I'm just use to sleeping wherever."
Snorting Sierra lay her head against the stony stair, staring up with impatience, "We making our move soon?"
"Who knows? Everyone is in position, but we don't go, unless we're told to go."
"Right."
The two lapsed into silence, Sally with eyes closed and Sierra nervously fingering the book in her hand, her emerald eyes glossing over the words without reading. It was her first big mission. Big as in Donald had been tracking this guy down for months. A mafia boss and a weapons dealer who was making some large transactions, presumably with the Padania.
She better not mess this one up.
"Epsilon," Jean crackled in her ear-bud, "I want your team to move to the location. Once there take your staging positions and we'll get started."
Sierra licked her lips and poked Sally on the side, "Hey wake-"
"Epsilon copies, Scorpio," Sally said pushing herself up. Stretching, she stood up, offering a hand to Sierra, "Upsie-dasies."
The Generation two felt herself get lifted up. Sierra tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear. She dusted off her dark blue skirt and straightened the sky blue blouse she was wearing, then nodded to the redheaded generation X who stared at her with a raised eyebrow.
"We're going to kill a bunch of mafia punks," Sally grinned, "Worried how you'll look to them?"
"Oh, shut up."
The two walked out of the alleyway. Sierra glanced back at the setting sun on the Mediterranean Sea, noting the red tint to the sky. Fitting.
The two cyborgs wandered down the street before stopping in front of the safe house. They wandered over to a payphone across the street and fidgeted for a few seconds, riffling through their pockets.
"All teams are in position. Go on my mark."
Sierra pulled out a coin and handed it to Sally, who nodded and turned to the payphone. A light came on in the safe house.
"Mark."
Two rounds from Rico's Dragunov pierced the windows on the second floor, the rifle's report echoing from a nearby church. There were shouts of surprise and terror as the two cyborgs crashed into the front door. Sierra rolled forward, bringing her P229 up to bear from the holster on her back. She fired twice, taking one Mafioso down with a headshot. Two reports from Sally's P30 caused two more Mafioso to drop, their skulls blown open.
Sierra bolted for the stairs as Sally made her way further into the house's first floor. Coming to the top of the stairs Sierra was forced to roll into another room as a burst of Uzi fire ripped through the space she had been standing. Her face twitched disapprovingly as a hail of fire ripped through the room.
Sierra bolted out of the small room as soon as the fire stopped and put two rounds into the young Mafioso who was frantically trying to reload his Uzi.
She continued forward, pausing only to turn and put several rounds into a Mafioso who threw open the bathroom door behind her. The Scorpion in his hands fired into the air.
Sierra kicked the door at the end of the hall open, bringing her pistol up to bear. A man in a white suit jumped her. Sierra yelped as she went down hard, the air forced from her lungs. She tried to get her legs between him and her, but her body refused to move, locked in its desperate attempt to force air back into her lungs. Her eyes shut as her head smashed into the floor, her head smacking off the floor several times.
She started seeing stars just before there was a resounding POP! and a splatter of something wet and sticky splashed against her face. She lay there unmoving for several seconds, the weight of something heavy resting atop her. Foot steps rushed past her, she could hear a girl screaming "Get your hands up! Let me see your hands now!"
"Ya alright there stór?" a face appeared above her as the weight rolled off of her.
"Sir?"
Donald smirked, "I asked you the question, stór. Seems its not all right up there. He gotcha pretty bad, you're lucky we all came in after you all."
Sierra nodded, pushing herself up with a grimace. "Sorry, sir. I'll be fine."
"Let the medics decide that one."
Sierra turned her head as two sets of footsteps made their way up and towards her. She tensed, ready to jump atop Donald and shield him. She relaxed as the form of the Jason and Joshua Murphy came into view.
"She hurt bad?" Jason asked, squatting down next to her as Josh marched past into the room. Sierra could hear Sarah informing him that she had the target under control.
"Bit shook up, but I think she'll be fine."
Sierra dropped her head, "Sorry, sirs. I messed up."
Jason patted her on the back before standing, "Naw, happens to everyone." He turned to Donald, "Now we need to get out of here, Jean wants us gone. Sierra should head back in the van. You and me get the any documents we can from this guy."
Sierra looked up as Sarah pushed the man forward and past her. Giving her a slight nod, Sarah walked past. Josh looming in her wake.
"Go with Sarah," Donald said lightly, "Have someone patch you up. We'll be there in a bit."
Sierra nodded, picking herself up wobbly. She sighed dejectedly as she followed the other cyborg away.
Donald set jaw and turned his attention back to the mission, there would be time to nurse his cyborg's pride later. He followed Jason into the office. Moderately spacious, luxurious furniture. Donald fingered the black wooden desk that was the center fixture of the room.
Slipping around to the back of the desk he pulled open the file cabinet. He pulled out the files and glanced over them. He glanced over the labels on the tabs of the files until one caught his attention.
La Volpe
Donald took a breath. It was that bastard. He'd heard whispers about him in the underground. La Volpe been collecting favors from various agencies, terrorist groups, and crime syndicates. He'd become well known in the underground as a cunning, ruthless man.
The rumors surrounding La Volpe, were many and speculative. Some said he was supposedly amassing an army of Sardinian locals and funding an uprising. Which was as absurd as the rumor he was the Prime Minister or in the CIA.
He'd already asked his friends in the CIA, he wasn't one of theirs. Then they asked to share notes. La Volpe was getting funds from the United States, and the CIA wanted to know for what purpose. Even his friends in MI-6 slipped him information about his activities, but were puzzled on anything further.
All they knew was what the man was doing, they didn't know who he was.
Section one was curious, but didn't find the man a threat. Section two concurred with that statement, but Donald had learned to trust his gut and his gut told him. La Volpe was up to something.
Something big.
Flipping through the file he noted several weapons shipments, large ones, had been delivered to La Volpe, but he hadn't paid for them, instead they had been funded largely by several wealthy terrorists. Padania Terrorists.
"Seems the Padania are making some friends..." he muttered, glancing up at the other two handlers who were ripping the office apart, tossing documents onto the desk as they found them. Donald closed the folder and set it aside before going back to work.
"So you're saying you want to investigate this..."
"He's known as La Volpe, but the thing is no one knows who this bastard is. He's up to something in Sardinia and its bloody big," Donald insisted to the Director of Section two. "We need to know what it is."
Director Lorenzo leaned back in his chair, "I'm not sure we can spare you for a month while you try and track some person whom we haven't identified. The Padania have become increasingly active in the Rome area, we need everyone we can get."
"Director, the matter needs looked into," Donald insisted, "Our Intelligence isn't watching him, but I know he's up to something. There are whispers of him all over the underground. The rumors are all over, but there are recurring themes. I think we may be dealing with another separatist faction, this time in Sardinia."
"Donald," Lorenzo sighed, then went silent for several moments, "Donald, if you feel it is that big of a problem you have two weeks to investigate. If your investigation turns up something that requires attention I'll put you on it. Dismissed."
Donald was ushered out with a hand wave. Nodding he left, smiling. He rushed through the halls of the Agency building and out into the walkway leading to the cyborg dorms. He nodded to Claes, who was weeding her garden, and Beatrice, who looked at him indifferently as he passed. He climbed the stairs to his charges room and knocked.
"Oi! Stòr! We need to get going, we've been given a mission."
Silence.
He twisted his mouth in displeasure, she wasn't in her room. That left three million other places she could be.
Lovely.
Donald stalked through the halls before stopping in front of Petra's door. He raised his hand and knocked three times.
"Uh, Come in!?" came Petra's cheerful voice.
Pushing the door open he found a gaggle of Generation two girls littered around the furniture, various magazines and books lay discarded. They looked at him with slight surprise.
He fixed his gaze firmly on his charge, "Oi! Stòr! Go grab some ammo from the armory and pack your bags. I'll give you half an hour, but we need to get a move on. We're going to Sardinia."
Sierra blinked several times before nodding, jumping up from the bed and rushing out past him. Donald nodded to the other girls and closed the door.
Another mission? So soon?
Sierra bounded through the halls. Another mission! Was it just her and Donald?
She hoped so.
Throwing her door open and diving under her bed to pull her suitcase out. The small one.
She pulled open her drawers and began tossing items in, pressing them against herself before tossing them in. Dresses and shirts and pants were tossed into the suitcase. Sierra grabbed her pistol and put on her shoulder holster before tossing a jean jacket over herself. Pushing the P229 into its holster she zipped up her jacket.
She tossed various equipment into her suitcase before grabbing her toiletry bag and tossing it in as well.
Sierra pulled the suitcase closed before frowning. The mountain in the suitcase wouldn't seem to fit. Shrugging she sat on top of it and zipped it closed.
"That's done with!" she said cheerfully before frowning again. What was the other thing Donald wanted her to do?
She sat on her suitcase for several minutes, trying to recall what she'd been told to do before it hit her.
She was supposed to get Ammo. Shaking her head she skipped out into the hall and away towards the armory.
Sally was coming out of the shower and gave her a look, "Going somewhere?"
"Sardinia. We have a mission!" Sierra said as she skipped past.
Sally gave her a sour, jealous look, "Lucky you."
Sierra stuck her tongue out at her and continued on her way, sliding down the stair-rail and onto the ground floor. She broke out of the dorms and streaked across the agency grounds towards the armory.
She waved to Claes and Beatrice, whom did not wave back. Bursting through the Armory doors she skipped up to the desk. The agent on hand blinked at her for a second.
"Cyborgs aren't allowed on the range without a handler."
Sierra gave him a sour look, "Donald sent me to get ammo. We have a mission."
"Did your handler fill out the requisition forms?" The man muttered pulling a thick binder out and flipping through it.
"Uh...I don't know. Yes?" Sierra shifted awkwardly and leaned against the desk.
The agent took his time scanning the requisition forums, "Who's your handler?"
That got him a glare. Everyone should know who her handler was.
He must be new.
"Donald," she stated.
The man gave her a look. "Donald..."
"Malarky."
He nodded and shifted through a few papers, pulling one out. "He came by a few minutes ago and dropped the request in. Give me a second to get what he ordered."
Sierra sighed as the man pushed himself up and walked towards the back. The sound of tins banging together and the rattle of ammo boxes came from the back room. Sierra looked up at the ceiling and sighed, before dropping her gaze back to the door. She almost wished the man was back so she could loath him in the time it took for him to return.
Life was boring, unless you were on a mission or had something to do or someone to talk to. Then it was interesting. Until it was over, then it was boring again. Boring before, boring after.
Life was boring.
The man returned and handed her a box.
"If you need anything else, you're going to need to get your handler to fill out another forum," the agent said, sitting down in his chair.
Sierra nodded and rifled through the box. Mags? Check. 9mm ammo? Check. In the right amount of boxes? Check.
Nodding in satisfaction, she plucked the box off the counter and turned to leave. Time for life not to be boring.
Donald tapped his foot, leaning against his light blue BMW 3 Series. He glanced at his watch and sighed. She was late. He had thought a an hour would be enough time, seems he was wrong.
A patter of foot steps marked his charge's coming minutes later.
"You're late."
The foot steps stopped, "Sorry, sir."
"Put your stuff in the car, we're going to miss the ferry if we don't leave now."
"Yes, Sir." He heard the trunk of the coupe open and the sound of luggage being tossed in. The door closed with a bang.
Donald nodded and pulled himself into his car, turning it on as his charge opened the door. He watched his charge sit down in the passenger seat and pull the door closed. Backing the car out he tossed it into gear and depressed the pedal.
"I'm going to have to drive like I'm from here to get there in time," he muttered elbowing Sierra, "Guess it must be because Italian girls take forever to get ready. I'll give you more time now that I know."
Sierra frowned and looked out the window, "I'm sorry, sir."
"Knock it off stòr, you're going to make me cry, aren't you going to ask what were going to be doing?"
The garnered a small smile, "I figured you'd tell me."
"True enough girl," Donald nodded, "We're going after a certain La Volpe."
"The Fox?"
"Precisely, I have a hunch this guy is up to something in Sardinia," He glanced at his charge, he shook his head. Partner. "He's been getting favors from the Sicilian Mafia, Camorra, and several other shady groups. Even the Padania are helping this guy out. Yet, every intelligence bloke I've talked to doesn't have a bloody clue who this guy is."
"So we're going to find out?"
"Aye, stòr," Donald grinned, "and when we do. I'm going to shut down his plans. Permanently."
Sierra looked over at him."I'll make sure that you do, sir."
Donald smirked. "I'll hold you to that, stòr."
A/N: So there we have it. The first of a several stories in my Sardinia Arc. This will be the set-up for at least one more story, perhaps more.
Looking forward to feedback, so toss me a few reviews. Thanks to El Conservatore (Il Direttore on Cyborg Central) for looking this over and giving me some advice!