The ninja stabbed the wall with the sword.

Easy to say, trickier to do, particularly having it done mostly by accident. While digging the blade in did allow her to control her position and her fall under the rain, slowing her descent, a sword was made to cut, not to grip. And this one was cutting through metal, glass and concrete like butter. It didn't even shatter the glass of the two or three windows she passed by.

Before she reached the next window, she swung around to break the glass and jump through.

A small, young part of her wished she could say that it was an elegant manoeuvre, but that would have been far too generous. She rolled sideways on the floor, stopping on her knees and hands after she'd bled off momentum.

She still had the sword in her hand. Thank God for small mercies, even if the fucker had forgotten about her.

Right after she recovered, the sound of footsteps caught her attention. Looking in that direction, she noticed she was on a balcony, probably one over an entrance lobby, with three men standing in guard and pointing assault rifles at her.

She fixated on the fatigues and the tinker addons under the rifle barrels.

"Sarge?"

She couldn't talk. But she could growl.

"Smoke 'em."

And she jumped with a roar.


Vista had a fairly good day. The night was proving to be more difficult.

At first, the Wards weren't able to move out of their common rooms. The sabotage – she was now pretty sure it was a sabotage – did more than cut communications. Some doors had been locked electronically as well, and the only reason they could escape was because Kid Win used a gadget he'd recently invented for that very situation; he'd intended it for getting inside barricaded places, but they weren't going to complain.

It was when they reached the lobby that things went from bad to worse.

A few troopers had barricaded themselves behind various pieces of furniture and inside the stairwell, trading shots with a group of armed men. Aegis and Gallant joined the trooper taking cover behind the door, with Clockblocker on the steps below followed by Kid Win; Vista was last, on the next landing, but thanks to her power she could bend the space in front of her and watch Aegis tap the trooper on the shoulder. "Who's in charge here?"

The trooper, a black-haired man with a moustache, answered without looking at the costumed teenagers. "That'd be me. Trooper Carmichael. Just got transferred from New York. They got us pinned down here, me and others." He stepped aside into the open a bit, and fired twice, then returned to his previous position. "Ten hostiles with rifles and tinkertech, not counting the group that went up the stairs. They're content with just keeping us still, but if we risk getting a good shot with our sidearms, they don't hesitate to gun us down."

"Maybe Gallant and I can get to them?"

"Hell no. Didn't I say they got tinkertech? Johnson was still outside when all hell broke loose. His head is now ashes, helmet included. The rest of the body is still behind the receptionist desk."

"Yeah, not stepping out there, then", said Gallant. "My armor resists a lot, but I don't want to test it against that. And I don't think you should either, Aegis."

For his part, Aegis just flattened his lips. "Ok, what about reinforcements? Or the director? Our comms were down, so I guess..."

"Yeah, ours are as well. We know there's a couple people locked inside some rooms, and that's it. I'd say they want something, just not enough to necessarily kill us without motive."

Kid Win chimed in there. "Vista thinks they might want Virtue. She saw her being taken here for treatment."

Carmichael stepped back in consideration, and frowned. "Doesn't make sense. These aren't Empire, look more like Coil's. Unless the Empire got a bit more from Gesellschaft than just support; they are known to pull crap like this."

Gallant peeked out to look outside the door. "I can't get a clear view, but I can see enough of their emotions. There's a mix of... I'd say tension and annoyance. A bit of impatience. I don't think they expected to stay here for long."

Carmichael scoffed. "Well, we may have Johnson to thank for that, I think. He was the one working the receptionist desk, but was out for a leak when they started entering. Opened a couple doors for us." Another frown. "Not that it helped the poor bastard."

Vista twisted the space between her place on the stairs and the door with her powers, allowing her to risk a peek outside, when suddenly several screams were heard in succession and everyone in the lobby stopped shooting.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure whatever that was, we don't want to find out."

Clockblocker barely finished talking when a roar reached everyone around. Confused by the sound, both soldiers and troopers looked around behind their covers, when a blood soaked figure jumped from the lobby balcony towards the hostile group.

Vista wouldn't have wanted to see it, but her power gave her the perfect view to see the figure charge towards the enemy soldiers with a sword.

Kid Win was the first of them to react. "Sweet Jesus!"

It was brutal. Limbs and blood went flying all over the place as the soldiers fired at the newcomer, but the figure dodged or parried the bullets with a blur of their sword arm. The reprieves lasted merely seconds before the figure jumped on another victim. And the roaring didn't stop at any point.

Clockblocker cringed and covered his masked mouth reflexively. "Oh god..." Kid Win cringed as well, and Vista had to suppress a shiver.

Aegis gulped. "See something, Gallant?"

Gallant took several seconds to answer. "I see fear, pain, self-loathing, sadness, happiness, rage... that guy is a mess. Also, the soldiers are panicking-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. A stray laser ray came through the door and changed its course when it reached Vista's current spatial distortion, impacting against Aegis. He gasped, turning around as he was pushed back, but came to a stop over Kid Win.

"Crap!" Vista cancelled the distortion and moved to aid her team leader as he floated down to her side. "I'm sorry!"

Aegis brushed her aside gently. "I'm alright, don't worry", he said as he lifted his right arm to examine it. Or rather, the lack of an arm. It ended in a carbonized stump just between the shoulder and where the elbow would have been. He looked around the floor and stair steps, finding only some ashes spread around. "I mean..."

"Yep, just a flesh wound", Clockblocker said with a snort.

Aegis glared at him and floated back to the top of the stairs. "Alright, can it for now."

As he reached the door, he peeked along with Gallant, Clockblocker and Carmichael just as all the screams and gunfire ceased. Without the distorted space, Vista couldn't see; but a traitorous part of her mind made her imagine it anyway, and cursed watching Predator years ago. "That's no way for anyone to go down", Carmichael said without much energy.

Vista dared to go up a few steps until the lobby floor came into view. The swordsman was in the middle of the slaughter. He stood there with his head looking upwards – or so it seemed, given the position of the helmet – but apparently exhausted, with his hands hanging at the sides and breathing laboriously.

They heard a low whisper coming from outside. "Carmichael?"

The trooper looked around. "Zhou, that you? I'm with the Wards."

"Yeah, I'm with McCallister and Evans in the washroom. We're wounded but alive. But Evans took a bullet to the leg and is bleeding badly. Can Clockblocker come 'ere and keep him frozen while we wait for the medics?"

The swordsman moved then. As if confused, he shook his head and looked around, then started moving up the stairs at the other side of the lobby that would take him to the floor above.

Clockblocker was about to call out when Aegis put his remaining hand over his mouth. "Don't. Wanna risk him coming for us as well?"

"Well, that swordsman just saved our asses! Kinda", Clockblocker complained.

"We can't assume that! The soldiers were content with just suppressing us, but that guy goes for the kill. And Gallant already said he was unstable. We'll wait for reinforcements."

"But..."

"Just get to the bathroom and keep the wounded frozen until we get some medics in here."

Clockblocker sighed "Right, going", he said as he ran away.

"Wait, there are more people above, not all of them locked in rooms." Vista gave Aegis a worried look. "What if he meets them along the way?"

Aegis paused for a few seconds. "Shit. And Virtue is still in the infirmary."

Carmichael took a step into the lobby proper, then turned around to face the three heroes. "I'm not telling you what to do, but if you're actually going to chase that guy, don't count on us. You just saw him swat rifle bursts away with that sword. With a pistol and no foam sprayer? No way I can be useful."

"Alright, stay with the others and keep guard, try to make contact with the outside." Aegis started stepping into the lobby as the trooper nodded and walked away, but was stopped by Gallant's arm in his way.

"Not you", Gallant told him. "That was your good hand; you're in no condition to fight."

Aegis scoffed at that, but Gallant pressed on. "No, seriously, it'd be ok if you could actually fight, but we all know you're a righty, and just because your body adapts around injuries doesn't mean you can ignore them completely. What are you going to do if the swordsman cuts off your other arm? Punch him with your stumps?"

Vista was thankful that Clockblocker wasn't nearby to make a second 'flesh wound' joke.

Aegis didn't look convinced. "And what if he cuts off your arm?"

"I'm a blaster. And I know that still hurts, even if you won't show it", Gallant shot back. "Besides, the swordsman calmed down when he went out. A bit."

Aegis raised an eyebrow. "A bit? And you really want to chase him with only yourself, Kid Win and Vista?"

Gallant shuffled his feet slightly. "Look, what I saw was the same emotions all around, just lowered in intensity. But there was a sense of concern and horror when he looked at the... corpses. I think we can talk him down before anyone else gets hurt."

"You haven't been trained for negotiations."

"Neither have you."

Aegis frowned, but relented. "Alright, go, but keep your distance, you hear me?"

Gallant nodded sharply, and gestured Vista and Kid Win to follow him to the stairs that the swordsman used.

"Ok, let's review what we know", Gallant said as they tried to not look at the corpses they passed. "I can't say for sure, but he seemed worried. Considering he went back the way he came from, maybe he got distracted jumping down here?"

They moved up the stairs, following a trail of bloody footprints towards the floor above. "Ok, so he can be more than just a blender, and he seems to have made our job easier with these marks", Kid Win commented. "Vista, do you think you can keep the distance between him and us if we surround him, keep him in place?"

She scratched her neck behind her teammates. "I think so. I didn't try to affect him, but he didn't seem to cause any kind of interference with my power. Do we have a plan?"

"I'm not sure", Gallant answered."Try to talk him down, I guess. He isn't completely berserk, so he should be able to answer us. If that doesn't work, just try to keep him in one place." He sighed. "Just don't act threateningly unless we do really need to fight. Even then I'd prefer if we all run away instead."

Vista was going to answer to that when the three came out at the first floor and stopped in front of the balcony. Three soldiers were down in practically the same state as the ones in the lobby.

She couldn't stop herself. "Shit, this night just keeps on giving."

"Shame Browbeat left after the bank. We sure could use him here", Kid Win agreed as he readied a futuristic looking pistol.

"You know", Vista said, "as much as a bitch as she was, for once I would be glad to have Shadow Stalker here as well."

"These must have been the ones we heard screaming before the swordsman showed up. Probably the soldiers that Carmichael said went up", Kid Win commented. "I think we were right about the assassination attempt. Doesn't look like enough people for much more. Think this is all of them?"

"Can't be sure. Let's just-" A scream interrupted Gallant, and they all started running down the corridor it came from, following the bloody footprints. "Go!"


Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid idiot!

She had wasted her time indulging her rage, and she didn't even feel better after killing those men. Now she was leaving a trail with the blood on her feet.

The suit and she suspected some 'optimizations' by Bonesaw had improved her speed, strength and endurance beyond anything she had ever felt before. But she had been dropped directly outside the target's room, and she didn't know the lower floors as well as she knew the way from there to the director's office. Her power wasn't helping in that situation unless she had some more information, and so she found herself slowing down every corridor cross to consult the direction signals.

She passed a janitor as she ran down a corridor. He was just coming through an open door, and screamed when he saw her dash in his direction.

She wasn't amused by the idea of making people terrified of her on sight, but there wasn't much she could do if she wanted to live.

Running around that door, she turned around the corner immediately ahead, and stopped to look at the directions signs in the wall.

Live. Harbinger had threatened her with lobotomization the first day, which she didn't want at all, thank you very not. Even if she disagreed, she had already messed up in his eyes with the botched warlord job, and now she probably fucked up with this job as well. The man that threw her out the window had probably taken the target away. Running back to the infirmary was a waste of time.

No, she needed to bring something to Harbinger to keep her brain intact. There still was the second target in the director's office, and for that, she had the time. She only needed to find the way to the closer staircase and-

She had barely registered the heavy footfalls coming from the corner at her back and started turning around when someone rounded the corner at a full sprint and blindly crashed into her side. With her nerves already on high alert, she used the momentum of her fall to spin herself around, lashing out with her sword.

Once she was sitting in the floor, her eyes widened behind her helmet. She thought it hadwould have been a soldier trying to tackle her. Not fucking Gallant.

She backed off as she started hyperventilating. His armour had acted barely better than paper against the sword, and now he was weakly trying to reach a bleeding line running from his left shoulder to his right thigh.

"Whaa...?", he slurred, confused and not yet registering the pain. Then he fell to his knees.

She rose and turned away when she saw the rage on Vista's face.

She ran as Vista screamed, avoiding distorted space and twisted patches of wall and floor as she went on. The floor sunk, forming traps that she had to jump over. The walls and ceiling tightened, closing behind her several times while trying to cut off her escape after she barely got through. The whole time, Kid Win shot at her with his laser pistols. Thankfully, the distortions were throwing off his aim, and he wasn't able to hit her before she managed to reach another corner.

Vista's screams became more distant until they faded entirely. Noticing Kid Win's steps had faded out as well, she looked behind and saw she was alone. Her feet were no longer leaving bloody marks; clearly, the Ward had lost her trail.

She found the staircase she was looking for, and started climbing.


[Recording: Director Iriomote, Last known whereabouts]

[A soft rush of static and disturbed papers is audible.]

"Hmm. I was wondering who they would send. Disappointing."

"Shut up, you old fart."

[A mechanical click is heard, then a gunshot. Something metallic falls on the floor.]

"Ah! What the fuck!?"

"It's quite helpful that you've came to surrender yourself, Hess. I've been meaning to find you, just so I can show the world the real monster you are."

"You fucking asshole..."

[Another mechanical click is heard.]

"No, you aren't threatening anyone. You've seen how good my aim is, do you want to risk it again? Go ahead, by all means."

"Fuck you!"

[Another rush of static is heard before the twang of a bowstring, followed immediately by another gunshot. There is the sound of splitting wood. A crackle of electricity.]

[Another metallic clattering as a heavy weight hits the floor.]

"Really, Sophia, you should learn a bit of self-control and rely less on your power. It would have made your life so much easier."

"Ungh... gonna... fuck you up."

"No, no you won't. You are a sad excuse for a self-styled 'hunter'. You are worthless."

[The door bangs open. Director Iriomote gasps.]

"What!? A cyborg ninja!?"

[Steps come closer to the recorder, then stop.]

"You two are working together? Yes, I was afraid of that. And from all that blood, I guess you are the competent one... Very well, I surrender."

[Two weights, one a heavy metal and the other hard plastic, are heard falling to the floor.]

"Wha... what? You surrender to this useless cunt!?"

"Believe me on this, Hess. You are nowhere as fearsome as a cyborg ninja. Besides, I like my hands."

"Fucking... door me!"

[A sharp burst of static is heard.]

"A portal. Yes, it makes sense. And you people must be Cauldron, I presume?"

[A few steps. Another burst of static, then silence.]