Chapter 1

Three months ago

"Listen! NO Solos, you are in the critical zone now. Team 5F did you reach your assigned place?"

"Yes! We're ready, just waiting for your command."

"Team 5B?"

"We're ready, but I cannot see the signal from Team 5S."

"Shit! Where the hell are Dalton and Ohara?"

His chair cried out in a sharp sound as the Commander turned around quickly and stood up, looking at multiple monitors, he couldn't find the missing soldiers, one of them just passed his last exams, it was his first real MTC, Mission To Complete; not allowed to fail, no matter at what cost, no matter how many lives. But if those two were dead, it was impossible for the rest of them to continue, because it was their part to destroy the electricity and start the alarm in the other building, so that they could enter unseen. What should he do now? The back-up team did not answer, neither did the second back-up, but their emergency signals stopped flashing minutes ago; it was already too late to save them…

"Team 5X here."

Slowly he turned around, as the dark voice of his leading team echoed inside of the command center. The cyborg was not supposed to contact him already. It was way to early…

"What is it Briareos? Is something wrong?"

"No Sir. I just reached the entering point."

"Already? You sure are fast."

"Do you want me to enter?"

He smiled; this cyborg was his favorite subordinate, he was skillful, smart, and fulfilled all his missions with excellent grades, even though he was injured often, primarily when his pointman decided again to do the most dangerous experiments. By the way…

"What do you mean by you reached the entering point? Where is Deunan?"

Silence… he knew it, not longer than a sharp breath and he heard what he did not want to hear.

"We split up, so she could check on Team 5S, and in case of their extinction, fulfill their part."

Briareos voice sounded cold, not calm but cold, he was probably not happy about this plan as well, everyone knew he hated that woman to be in danger, but damn it, it was her job, and she was great in mistaking orders just to get in trouble. But nevertheless she was always successful, and right now their last chance.

He slowly turned away from the monitors, closed his eyes and exhaled. One day that woman would kill him, or at least his nerves.

"When did you split up, Briareos?"

"2 Minutes and 45 seconds ago, she wants to contact you as soon as she knows what's going on."

"Well, okay. Team 5X, stay where you are, and wait for orders."

"Roger!"

"Nagase!"

"Yes Sir!"

"How many minutes?"

"Eleven, Sir."

"Okay…" A silent sigh left his lips, as he turned back to the monitors, they had no time left, his men waited for orders, and he could not give any, because…

"Team 5X here."

"Deunan! Where the hell are you?" He couldn't help but feeling relieved.

"At the checkpoint, sir!"

"And where is Team 5S, Deunan?"

There was a sharp pause before she answered. "They could not fulfill the mission."

He closed it eyes. "Death?"

"Yes, sir. Headshots, right trough the ear, both."

He clenched his fists, this did not sound good, the killer had to be a master of his skills, to kill two well trained soldiers that easily. "What about the shooter?"

"Death, as well, sir. Seems like Ohara killed him in the same second he was shot, otherwise they'd already welcomed us."

Ohara, a young boy, killed on his first MTC, and facing the death he was able to save the whole mission. What a shame to lose somebody like him, as well as Dalton, one of his own friends, well known for fighting in the most dangerous sceneries and coming out alive and almost unwounded. Now they were both death…

"Do you see any of the back-up teams?"

She did not answer right away.

"What's left of them…"

So they were caught up in the explosion a few minutes ago. What a hell of a day. Right now he hated his job, and he hated the MTCs. Already six of his people were dead, for nothing! He closed his eyes, he had to calm down, he was the commander, and it was his job, to stay focused.

"Okay Deunan, what about the entrance?"

"I am ready and just waiting for your command."

The commander looked over Nagases shoulder at the countdown; they had no time to lose.

"This is my order, listen well. I want you to start the party and then you will go back to the entering point and join Briareos."

"Sir, wouldn't it be faster for me to…"

"That was no request!"

"Yes Sir!"

A second later a mechanical cry cut through the night, loud and ear cracking, the mission had just began, and now the party started…

He waited. Just following his orders. But man, he swore himself, if Deunan didn't show up the next few seconds he would abandon all of it and go looking for her. His sound-detectors signaled him, that the loud noise, the starting shot for their mission was working for already more than a minute. She had to be back by now, big times!

He lifted his woodpecker just in the second he could hear a hint of movement, but the next moment he could already relax.

"You're late. Did you go shopping on your way back?"

A trace of a smile answered him, but she didn't say anything. She didn't need to, he already knew, he knew before his transmitter heard what she told the commander, even before they decided to split up, and the cold in her eyes, trying hard to cover the sadness, just reassured him.

He moved his shoulders, an old habit, still left from being human, to loosen up muscles.

"Ready?"

"Always!"

They were already running.

The structure of their mission was easy, nothing special, no civilians, no hostage. Just some crazy people, stealing information, information which should be kept save inside Gaia. Information they had to get back, and then destroy every evidence they could find. This mission was made for him, as he was, unwanted, the center of their whole plan. Being the only cyborg, it was his job to download all data in his computer-brain and to make sure, that nothing was missing.

Unfortunately it was not all that easy. Those people were not simple criminals, most of them were well trained, ex-ESWAT-members, betraying their own folks in order to accomplish some foolish thoughts. Only one of them wasn't a fighter, he was some sort of scientist, but brilliant in his work, mainly creating optimized bioroids and connecting human tissue with technique, just as he was, a cyborg.

Soundless they made their way up to the entrance, lifting their weapons, waiting.

"Team 5B here. East side is secured."

Briareos watched Deunans finger relaxing before they're reclenched again around the trigger of her Bobson. She was ready.

"Team 5A here. West side double checked."

"Team 5F here. We're ready."

He looked down at her, watching her nod.

"Team 5X here. We're entering."

They didn't wait for the commander's answer, but slipped like shadows inside the huge building.

The next few minutes were a fast mixture of firing and ducking. Reflexes acting faster than the brain could think of. Hands moved before the eye could spot something in this blur of light and color. She could hear screams of dying men. Hear her own sharp breathing, Briareos loud grunt, as he crushed the head of one soldier against the solid wall.

Suddenly it all went silent. Except for the quiet tripling of red fluid and the fainting groans of death. Slowly she turned around. Surprised she realized that while fighting they had moved into another room, the wall behind them scarred with fine lines of breaking stone, in front of them just a knee-high rail, separating this platform from the dark nothingness of the night. Somewhere high above them the roof cried silently, not holding the weight of time much longer.

Halfway between her and the rail an unidentifiable object buzzed softly. Monitors ran chemical and physical symbols up and down faster than any human eye could read, connected in some cable tangle, which looked like a strange tree. The branches of wire disappeared in the darkness, probably hiding between the broken stones of the walls. The roots of pipes pulsed slightly with energy. The trunk, like a heart, beeped in a steady rhythm while unreadable codes rushed over the monitors.

Deunan didn't know, why this information were so important, she didn't want to know, what those terrorists wanted to gain by stealing them, but right now she was kind of amazed, for this sculpture emanated some sort of beauty and grace.

"Did you notice?"

She turned around, watching her partner approaching her, seeing all of his tiny sensors working, giving him more input than he needed.

"Noticed what?" What was he talking about? There was no one in here, they eliminated every possible enemy. So what did she miss?

"Since we entered the building, we lost all contact to the commander, as well as to the other teams."

"So?"

"I don't know if it's just a coincidence or if there is more to it…" She could feel his worries, could sense his tense body, he waited for something.

"Maybe," She answered calm, while surrounding the electronic tree, alert, carefully, fierce "But while we wait for something to happen, do you mind doing your job?"

She could feel his camera-eyes stare at her, although there was a huge trunk between them.

"Are you making fun of me?" His voice as deadly as his weapons.

"I would never dare." She snickered, completing her turn around the machine, a bold grin on her lips. He laughed softly. "Watch your tongue, young lady." Before facing this monster of technique. The tip of his index finger flipped open, revealing some kind of technical access.

While approaching the peeping giant, his eyesight never lost Deunan, who was already scanning the area. The moment he would connect to this computer, he would not be able to move on his own until the download was finished, that's why she had to cover his back, for once.

The official plan was to secure the spot and wait for team 5F and team 5G. But it already took them too long; he needed at least 10 minutes, probably more than 20. They had no time.

"Ready?"

"Always!"

Warily he connected with the computer, wondering why nobody was there; it seemed all so easy, like they wanted them to get the information back.

A strange feeling filled his body, as his computer-brain was almost enjoying this connection, while his human mind did not want to give up his self-reliance, he just didn't trust any machine, as being one himself.

His body froze, his human mind went blank, and suddenly there was so much data filling his head, he did not even try to understand, did not even think about it, using a special technique he learned to keep sanity, reviving one memory, every little fragment of it, recalling the smell, remembering the feeling, that was all he could do to prevent him from loosing himself.

He remembered her, he remembered that moment when she said yes, not crying like a little girl, but reloading her gong, not even looking at him, before adding "As soon as the war is over.", crawling next to him, always careful to stay out of the range of fire, and kissing him, like she never did before.

How he had waited for this war to be over, and now he waited for his own war to be over.

Klick

Just a soft sound, nothing special, not louder than flipping fingers, but loud enough to tense up her body.

She slightly turned her head, just to see that the cyborg behind her propped his finger right into that beeping thing. His body grew stiff, he did not react anymore. The download-process started…

The following minutes seemed to last hours as she watched the nothingness around her and waited for anything to happen (although she really preferred nothing would disturb their actions for once).

Having no one to talk to, she started worrying -just as Briareos usually did- where the other guys got to.

Why didn't they show up?

This whole mission completely went in the wrong direction. It had been obvious, that this MTC was not supposed to be easy, because many of their enemies had once been comrades of them, but still they should have been in advantage. All they needed to do was to collect this data and then destroy every piece of evidence, including all human lives fighting against them. The only exception should be the maniac, who had been able to steal all this technical information, that should have been save in Gaia, but now was flowing through the electronic branches of the strange tree behind her, entering the body of the cyborg. She just hoped this strange computer wouldn't crash along with Briareos' software-brain.

So now she stood there, hoping for some of the others soldiers to arrive, hoping for them to be successful in catching the former researcher, hoping that they could bring him home and find the gap in their security system, which enabled him to endanger her possible Eden like this.

And as she waited, she heard that single sound, not loud, and not really strange for the untrained ear, buried beneath those other sounds. Far away she could still hear the men they just defeated dying, their last sharp breaths, the red fluid dripping softly, still warm, but already lifeless.

Yes, those noises were unpleasant, almost enough to make her feel ill, but she had no time for a weak stomach, nor a weak heart. That's why she noticed this slightly different sound, it was not the same as the other ones, because it was moving, slowly, sometimes pausing, but the steady dripping came closer, with every second she waited.

Deunan knew, she had only two ways to respond. The first one was to wait, and to hope that she could react fast enough the moment the danger was close enough. The other one was to attack the arrival, before they were close enough to be a thread for her or Briareos, but the problem here was, that she had to widen the distance between her and the cyborg, a dangerous risk.

Her decision was made within half a second, she couldn't dare Briareos to be in more danger than he already was, so she waited, relaxing her body just enough for a sharp breath before taking one step aside, realizing that the approaching sound came from a different direction than the other ones, not from the only door, she and Briareos had just passed, but from a corner to her left.

It seemed like there was no light in this corner, it looked like the bottomless darkness behind Deunan's back, but she knew that just a few seconds ago this corner was not pitch black but rather inconspicuous and harmless like any other corner in a room with an open side into a wide hall of nothingness. So what did happen?

There was no time for her to solve this mystery; suddenly she was blinded by some glare lightening, which disappeared the same moment it showed up. Her body was dying with suspense, ready to act within every millisecond.

"Oh my, I thought I heard some screaming, but you sure are fast."

A voice of an old man came from that odd corner. She tried to open her eyes, but everything was still blurry and spots of violet and black kept blocking her sight.

"You know you really set me up with your false emergency signal. Otherwise I would never leave my precious little treasure alone with those stupid soldiers, who weren't even able to stop you, madam, and your frie…"

Slowly she was able to see again, and while realizing that the corner seemed to be a hidden door, she starred at that man who just stopped talking. He whore haggled clothes, which were drenched with water like he just ran through rain, did it rain? Softly it dripped to the floor, every time it touched the ground Deunans body tensed, but that man didn't seem to be dangerous at all, although he was younger than his dry voice sounded. His gawky figure was bend, almost like he carried something heavy, his hairless head looked just like a statue, as he stared over to her, his mouth still wide opened, obviously surprised or even shocked. His eyes kept shaking like they would pop out of their wholes any seconds.

"It's you. You really came…", he whispered amazed.

Slowly she lifted her gun, ready to shot immediately. "You know me?"

"Not you, insignificant woman." With a sharp dismissive wave of his hand he started walking.

"Any closer and I will kill you!" It was the first time he really looked at her. "I'm sure you will. Having learned nothing else than how to kill people. What a satisfying work." The irony in his words was cold and full of hatred. "You know how to use your weapons, the proofs lies behind us, dying."

She couldn't remember someone looking at her with such abhorrence and disdain as he did.

"I don't care what you do with your life. You are nothing more than some human, millions of you live in this world, not even grateful for the life you're given. But he, he is grateful for being alive."

She was confused by his words, from mean and heartless they changed into some warm and soft sound, like a mother, talking about her baby.

"It was a clever move, to bring him here." His voice had already changed back into anger, while looking at her. "You all knew that I cannot kill him."

Without letting her guard down, she starred at him.

"Why? Just because he is a cyborg?"

"Exactly, young lady, but leave the just aside, he is the cyborg."

A strange smell filled Deunan's nose, was it kerosene?

"Stop moving!" She yelled as that guy, she suspected to be that crazy scientist, slipped his hand into his pocket.

He smiled softly. "Don't worry, it's just a cigarette."

He raised his hand to show a self-made cigarette and a lighter. His belt lost the grip on his shirt and his smile turned into a grotesque grimace as he watched her realizing what he was wearing beneath his clothes.

"You know, it is sad, indeed. All my plans, shattered to small tiny pieces. But before you capture me and restrain my genius brain again I will set myself free, like fire, which can never be captured. It either burns or dies, like me, but I little girl, I could have changed this world. No, I am sure, that I could have saved this broken and rotten world, starting with him. I could have saved him for another time." He nodded to Briareos, a bizarre smile on his lips "And because he is the cyborg, girl, I give you five seconds."

The lighter clicked softly, nothing but a flame was crossing her way to his head, but she knew, that she could not shoot him "Five!" for the tiniest spark would enflame him "Four!" and blow them all up. "Three!"

Slowly his hand came closer and closer to his cigarette, he was holding between his lips. Before she could even think about it, her body was moving on its own, running, tackling, ducking. Her hands forced muscles of metal and fiber; her arms embraced the mechanic body under blood-drenched clothes; her fingers clutched into the fake tissue, so desperate that normal human skin would have been broken by her strength.

"Two!"

Her legs just kept running, not far, more stumbling and suddenly there was no ground under her feet anymore. She could hear metal bending iron, breaking it, as Briareos' heavy body crashed against the fence, smashing it into little pieces, which escorted the couple of soldiers on their way into the darkness.

"One!"

It should be loud! In her back she could feel the heat and the intension of the explosion. She knew that the whole house would surrender under the force of the impact; stones, steal, and wood falling heavy in the nothingness beyond them. But all that Deunan could hear that moment was her own loud heartbeat, could feel how her chest was almost bursting. Strangely it felt like they were falling forever, her hands holding the huge cyborg, not letting go of their precious treasure for even a second. The cool air under them rushed through her hair, as she lifted her head, for a short moment she could see the face of her comrade, shocked, that no lights were blinking and no sensor reacted on the surroundings. No one heard the name leaving her lips as the wind carried it away and then, they hit the ground.