- Chapter 1 -
- Sudden Storm -
Lightning cracks the sky as heavy rain pours down over a compound, carved into the side of a mountain. How far in it goes, it is not certain. One of the defining features of this compound is the heavily secured front entrance, barely flickering lights illuminating the thick darkness with the words 'S.K.I.A.L'. Soldiers paced outside the compound, festive shotguns in hand, giving their position away to outsiders. It was Christmas, and the faded orange lights protruding through the windows of the compound showed there was life inside. Coacoa was passed around, piping hot, and laughter was boundless. They were celebrating Christmas, as presents were passed around the facility. The soldiers pacing outside occasionally looked inside with disgruntled looks of envy and jealousy as they patrolled the borders. However, on the outside, there was movement, only visable with the flashing lightning from the heavens. Two figures moved through the darkness, clad in dark clothing. They would soon split from each other and go their seperate ways, taking cover from the guards behind rocks or bushes. One of the figures would whip a hand up to their ear, pressing their index finger against a small device, speaking low and calmly.
"Red Chief to Eagle Eye, we are ready. How many presents will be delivered?"
As lightning cracked the sky, it illuminated a small disk in the distance of trees, planted on top of a small plateu. It was the scope of a sniper, the man behind it rolling a cigarette in his mouth as his raspy voice answers.
"Ah'm seein' at least... seven presents. Betta'h git' ta' work, mate. Also, shove the code-names, Katz. We ain't bein' listened to."
An angry sigh protruded from the figure in the darkness, hiding behind rocks.
"Well, if we are, you've just given my name away. Good job, Dansus."
The sniper grins from on top of the mountains, loading a .50 caliber bullet into his sniper, mounting the bipod on top of the blanket he was positioned belly-down on.
"Git' bloody goin'."
Without another word, Katz signals the other figure in the dark that it was time to get moving. Lighting his flashlight twice, the figure nodded silently. They began to creep forward when suddenly, three spotlights suddenly came to life on top of the compound, nearly giving them away. Quickly hiding once again, Katz swears to himself and brings his hand back up to his ear once more.
"Dan, proceed with the opening act. After it's lights out, we'll get to delivering."
With the bullet already loaded, Dansus snorts through one of his nostrils. Positioning the clip of his sniper in place, he closes one eye and measures his breathing, slowing his heart rate and his bodily movements. Adrenaline faded away with a deadly calm silence in his mind as his finger squeezes down on the trigger. A .50 caliber bullet zips through the air from the silenced barrel of the sniper rifle, piercing right through one of the spotlights. This raised alarm from the guard positioned on the roof of the compound, looking around wildly in response. As the steaming sniper shell pops out of the chamber of the sniper, Dansus aims once more for the single guard's head. Clicking back the trigger, another shot puffs out of the silenced rifle, right into his head. The shot was low enough to go right through the center of his brow and not pop off his helmet, as that would make noise. The corpse thumps against the back wall and slowly slides down. With the guard out of the picture, Dansus then takes out the other two spotlights, the depressed SKIAL guardsmen on the ground not noticing.
"A'right, mate. Make sure y'a givem' my season's greetings."
Giving another signal to his partner, Katz proceeds silently through the darkness. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieves a lone spy-cicle and twirls it in his hand. His partner retrieves their own knife, approaching their targets in perfect syncronization. Leaping up, they both cover the mouth of their target with a black-gloved hand, stabbing their knives into their backs. Katz's slowly begins to turn into solid ice. The other soldier is disposed of behind some rocks and trees.
"I do love the holidays for my occupation. Solid ice raises no alarm in the snow. They think it's just a decoration."
The two figures proceed to the outer reaches of the compound where the remaining five soldiers are, taking them out in quick succession. Two kills for Katz, three more for his companion. When all the bodies were disposed off in proper locations, the two figures met up beside the side-entrance of the facility. This entrance had a large screen door, mainly for truck deposits of materials. It was a large garage, and a low-hanging light outside gave full decals of our silent killers.
Katz was a spy, dressed head to toe in a completely black business suit. Black dress shoes, black dress pants, a black dress coat with a clean white under-shirt, black gloves, a black tie, and a black balaclava. The only other thing he was wearing was a skeletal mask, covering his entire face from the top of his head down to his chin. It was painted red, that being his signature feature. His two blue eyes would protrude through the narrow slits in the mask at his partner.
"Vexos, place the device T.C.M gave you on the gate's control panel. In a few moments, it shall unlock. Then, we'll get to delivering the main present."
The figure's name, now revealed to be Vexos, was a scout. He was dressed in baseball shoes, long white socks, baggy black sweatpants, a long-sleeve black sweatshirt with black gloves going up as far as his forearms, and a black bandana going over his eyes. (Think of the Robin mask from Batman.)
"Yeah, yeah. Don't rush me, awright?"
Placing his gloved hands into the pockets of his black sweatshirt, Vexos mutters a complaint about the cold weather as he retrieves the device previously mentioned, strutting through the cold terrain over to the gate. Snow sloshes about as he nears the gate, placing the device onto the control panel carefully, as a few humming noises protrude from inside. Suddenly, the gate springs to life, loud gears turning as it slowly opens. Startled, Vexos jumps up and takes out his pistol from his side, looking around wildly.
Sighing, Katz places a palm over his mask and remains calm. Walking over to Vexos, he snatches the pistol from his hands and slaps him over the head.
"Don't lose your head, you're still too green for this kind of mission. Also, no silencer on your pistol? What, are you TRYING to let them know we're here to kill them?"
Mildly upset, Katz storms inside the garage as Vexos retrieves the device on the control panel, stuffing it inside his pocket and following Katz inside. Once inside, Vexos is startled once more as a hand goes over his mouth and pulls him behind a truck. It was Katz, and he had a finger pressed to his mask's lips to signal complete silence. A drunken SKIAL soldier stumbles into the garage, beer bottle in hand. After a brief pause, he moves forward only to slip on ice and fall head-first onto a radiator, knocking him out cold. Katz releases Vexos from his grip and they move to his body, dragging it behind a truck as they proceed inside the building.
Contrast to the cold stone and metal exterior, the inside of the facility was quite warm and festive, with an office's decor one would find at any local business. Small cubicals lined mostly every room, humming computers at standby. All the workers and soldiers were gathered in the main conference room for their annual Secret Santa, gifts being passed around and laughter to be had. While they were distracted, Katz dropped from his stealthy crouch into a brisk businessman's walk as he had no time to waste.
"Vexos, your job is a very simple one. Watch my back, and for God's sake, use a silencer if someone finds us."
Vexos rolls his eyes as he nods in annoyed agreement.
"Awright, jeeze. Who put a bee up your ass?"
Ignoring the comment, Katz disappears inside the main computer lab where their main communication devices and supercomputer were located. The room was quite massive, as the supercomputer was also large. Bigger than any Heavy Katz had ever seen, it hummed louder than an electrical generator.
"Sacré bleu..."
In awe, Katz moved around the supercomputer to what was behind it; the communications array. Unknown to Katz, Vexos was outside the doorway on his phone, playing some form of game about unlocking boxes for meaningless cosmetics.
Katz's index finger snaps up to his ear once more, speaking to a different person this time.
"T.C.M, are you seeing this from the camera on my mask?"
A voice, much similar to an Engineer's voice speaks, this time without the accent, however.
"Yeeahp, I see it. Place the device I gave you on the backside of one of the computers and their communications should be down within a few minutes. Also, while you're at it, place one anywhere on that supercomputer. Anything stored on that could be valuable."
Katz nods in subtle agreement as he does as T.C.M says, placing a small device on the back of one of the computers on the communications array, and one inside one of the cabinets on the supercomputer. Now, all they had to do was wait.
Several minutes later, a previously lit cigarette Katz had lit had run dry, spitting the butt from his mouth and squishing it on the ground with the heel of his dress shoe. Suddenly, Katz heard a door open and shut, as did Vexos. Quickly putting his phone away, he takes out his OTHER pistol and aims at the door that opened. Another drunk SKIAL soldier walks through with his sober friend, attempting to persuade him to let him drive home alone.
"Ah, c'mon bu- HIC... buddy. I'm nodeven buzzed. Y'can-"
He was quickly cut off as Vexos panics and shoots him in the head. The loud shot echoes through the facility as his friend looks in horror as the drunken soldier falls into his arms dead. Katz has a look of utter dismay under his mask as he lightly whispers:
"...merde."
The one soldier remaining alive drops his dead ally to the floor and sprints down the hallway, pulling the first alarm he sees. Red lights sprout from every corridor in the facility as a loud siren fills the air.
"SECURITY ALERT. RED SCOUT IS IN THE BASE."
All the Christmas music came to an abrupt stop as all the SKIAL soldiers scrambled to their lockers and pulled free their helmets and weapons, pouring out of the conference room like bees from a shaken beehive.
In a hurry, Katz grabs the two devices from the communications array and the supercomputer, apologizing briefly to T.C.M as he sprints towards Vexos, grabbing him by the arm and runs madly toward the garage they came in from. By the time they got in there, the back-up steel door on the garage was falling slowly due to the alarm being pulled. In a true action-movie style, Katz releases Vexos and slides under the gate like a baseball player shooting for home. Looking back, he sees Vexos stare at the lowering gate with disbelief in his eyes.
"Katz, I dunno' if I can make it, man."
Turning his head back, Katz shouts at him in a hurry.
"THE LONGER YOU TAKE, THE LESS CHANCE YOU'LL HAVE. JUST DO IT!"
Narrowing his eyes, Vexos hops back a few paces before running at the door, sliding under it just in the nick of time. Any later, and he would have been crushed. As he slides out, he pats himself down, checking if he's still in once piece. In a few moments, he stands up and looks at Katz with a grin on his face.
"Told ya' I could do it."
As soon as he finishes his sentence, soldiers lined the roof of the building and positioned their rifles on top, opening fire at the two. Without their spotlights, thanks to Dansus, their shots were wild and not accurate in the slightest, most of their shots missing and littering the snow with bullets. Katz and Vexos did not need to be told what to next. They started running for the hills as bullets whizzed past their heads and necks, weaving and darting behind trees and bushes.
As they were nearly out of the woods, Dan's voice filled their ears through their communication devices.
"SNOIPAH!"
As the words were spoken, Katz sighed deeply. They might not make it out of this in one piece. Shoving a hand into his pocket, he takes out his golden pocket watch and clicks it open. Looking over, Vexos widens his eyes in shock.
"HOW CANYA' BE CHECKIN' THE TIME RIGHT NOW?!"
A sniper shot, loud and clear, ripped through the air like the lightning above, the bullet going right through Katz's neck. Eyes wide in shock, he falls to the ground, pocket watch falling out of his hand into the reddening snow. Vexos stuttered in his sprint, looking back at Katz in dismay. Soon, Dan's voice filled his ear.
"KEEP MOVIN' YAH GIT! AH'LL COVER YAH!"
Dansus started opening fire from his position at the soldiers following Vexos in quick pursuit, dropping them like flies. Despite every fiber in his being telling him to go back for Katz, he shut his eyes tightly and grit his teeth hard, running forward like he was commanded. Soon enough, he made it back to Dan's truck, hopping in the back as Dan slid down the hill he was previously positioned on, tossing the sniper into the back seat of the truck and hopping inside the driver seat. The truck started without a hitch and he floored it, tires spitting up snow as they sped off onto the dirt path, leaving Katz's bloody body behind. Looking back, Vexos takes off his bandana and blinks. He couldn't believe they just left him there. This had to be some kind of joke. Turning around, he opens the section in the rear window so he can talk to Dansus.
"Why'd we jus' leavim' dere ta' die? We coulda'... we shoulda'..."
Dansus spits the cigarette from his mouth out of his side-view window, rolling it up as he puts his mask back on his mouth, skeletal design whitening the black cloth. He remains silent as he keeps driving all the way back to DISC-FF HQ. It took them a few hours, but when the truck suddenly stopped, Vexos woke up from his brief nap as his head slammed into the back of the truck.
"EY! Take it easy, fragile package back here."
Rubbing his head, he gets out of the truck as they were now in the garage section of the HQ, Dansus already slamming the truck's door shut and locking it as Vexos hops out of the back.
"So... what, are we jus' gonna' pretend we didn't leave him back dere?"
Looking back, Dansus flips the hood of his snow-suit down, taking off the snow goggles and turns around, staring at Vexos.
"Kid, yah jus' don't know when tah shut yer' trap. Keep walkin'. We gotta' report it to T.C.M."
Vexos shakes his head slowly as he keeps following Dansus back inside, jamming his hands inside his coat pockets. Walking back inside, the warm welcome they were expecting was replaced with an empty lunchroom. The only one there was an engineer in a black coat, yellow sunglasses and black pompadour haircut. His black beard was lit by the light of the cigar in his mouth, turning his head to greet the two would-be heroes.
"Welcome back, you two. I take it Katz is running late, huh?"
Dansus grins under his skeletal bandana, walking closer to the engineer.
"E' should be back with yah' information soon enough, T.C.M. Les' hope he didn't git' his suit all dirty."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Vexos steps forward, a brief flash of anger in his voice.
"Th' HELL are you two jokin' about, foah? He's dead! He got shot right infronna' me, and you two are just makin' fun of him now? You two ah-"
Vexos stops short when he hears the door of the garage close behind him. Turning around, his mouth gapes open as Katz struts through the room, brushing snow off of his black suit. Walking past Vexos, he places the two devices down next to T.C.M and turns around, lighting a cigarette and placing it between his teeth.
"Gentlemen, we've done it. Although a little more loud than I would have appreciated, the mission was indeed a success."
Dansus reaches over and pats Katz on the back, pointing at the pocketwatch sheltered in his coat pocket.
"Good ol' Dead Ringer trick! Never fails. I bet they was all surprised when yah' corpse turned inna smoke, eh?"
Katz smiles from under his mask, unclipping it from behind his head and placing it down on the table.
"It never ceases to amaze me how foolish soldiers are these days. They believe I can die so easily."
T.C.M claps his hands together as he collects the two devices from Katz.
"These hold information that could turn the tides of war in our favor. I'll consider this another success for Night Raid, the most elite squad we have. In terms of reconnaissance, anyhow. I'll let Dongle know of our success, we'll be paid handsomely for this, guys."
As T.C.M struts away with his information in hand, Dansus and Katz head the way of their executive rooms in the HQ for a little R&R, Vexos following behind them. Dansus heads for his room, waving goodbye to Katz as he steps inside, locking his door. As Vexos walks with Katz, he is stopped short by Katz's hand, a tad startled.
"Vexos. You must learn to have more confidence in yourself. With confidence, you will make less mistakes and harden yourself to battle, interior and exterior. You have much to learn."
Shrinking at his words, Vexos hangs his head as Katz walks to his room. Just before he closes the door, however, he turns around.
"Vexos. You're making good progress. Don't let me down."
Looking up in brief hope, Vexos nods as Katz closes his door for the night. Walking over to his own room, he opens the door and closes it behind him, walking over to his bed and collapsing as he's tired to boot. He can't even change out of his clothes he ran so much. As he closes his eyes, he's only thankful that he was accepted into Night Raid, and hopes that it gets less scary. For his sake, and for DISC-FF's, too.
In Katz's room, he locates his mask he took with him and places it on a countertop, collecting a can of spray-paint as he shakes it, applying a coat of fresh red to it. He then hangs it up on a hanger and sits down on his couch, writing down his mission report in the form of a short story. The one you're reading right now, actually. Afterwords, he will address it to his commander and earn some much needed sleep.
Signed Chief of Reconnaissance, Katz
To Commander Dongle, DISC-FF HQ
12/29/2016 Report number: 6021198
Mission status: success
Payment due when you see fit
As the letter slid onto Dongle's desk, he read it all in a quick 15, maybe 20 minutes. Afterword, he looks up at Katz.
"The report is good, and I have received your information from the engineer. I only have one question."
Katz stands at attention, raising a brow under his red skeletal mask.
"What is that, sir?"
Dongle folds the paper and places it inside a folder, then looking directly at Katz.
"How'd you know about the parts you weren't there for?"
"... shut up, Dongle."