BEEN A WHILE NOW. EVEN THOUGH THERE HAS BEEN A PANDEMIC, I HAVEN'T STOPPED WORKING. IT'S BEEN PAYING THE BILLS, AND KEEPING ME BUSY. BUT FEAR NOT! BOTH STORIES ARE GOING STRONG, AS I HAVE BEEN PREPARING FUTURE CHAPTERS FOR THIS ONE WHILE MAKING A TIMELINE FOR THE OTHER ONE, AS THIS ONE IS ALMOST FULLY COMPLETE (JUST NEED TO IRON OUT SOME DETAILS MUCH FURTHER DOWN THE LINE, NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT YET). SO, HERE'S ONE WHERE THE RANGERS GET SOME SPOTLIGHT, BUT NOTWITH WARFRAMES. INTERESTING, BUT I WANTED TO EXPERIMENT. WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, CHAPTER 8!
Chapter 8: Joint Operation
Dengar and two of his Rangers stood in front of a small group of Lylat's ground forces. The troops they were assigned to lead were the equivalent of old Earth's S.W.A.T. from what Dengar had read up on them. He decided that Angel and Hydra would be enough for it. Angel, Hydra, Valkyrie, and Section were one of the best group of Rangers, all training with the heads of each division, and were suspect of being the next to take over the elite divisions. Together, they were an unstoppable and were all covering for each other.
But this time, it was just Angel and Hydra. Angel usually provided overwatch for the group and today, wasn't in Warframe armor. Instead, she had on a prototype exo-skeleton that had multiple attachments. On her right forearm was a retractable blade that was as long as a nikana blade. Her left arm was more exposed, as to make room for her amp if she needed it. A semi-automatic pistol rested in a holster on her left hip, and a giant single shot railgun rested on her back, held there by electromagnetism. Next to the railgun was a sleek black pack, with two thrusters on the bottom, and two small ejectors on either side. And the leg and foot guards had thrusters on the bottom, and in her case, on her right leg, what looked like the shell of a submachine gun. Her head was covered by a ballistic helmet redesigned to fit her name. The only feature she let anyone see were her piercing blue eyes.
Hydra however, had no headgear with a similar set of gear. Instead of a retractable blade on his right arm, he had a modified minigun around his right arm, and a dagger in his left in a reverse grip. On his back, a suppressed submachine gun that had a blocky design. To finish it off, he had a mask to cover his lover face that had some circular holes that looked like they could expel something.
And Dengar had on a simple ballistic vest and an energy reflector he was loaned from the CDF. He carried a shotgun and a sniper rifle, the same ones he was inspecting the night before.
And with him were two operatives from the CDF's C.R.T.'s branch. They had standard issue assault rifles and blasters, along with the ballistic vests, and helmets.
"Ranks and names," Dengar ordered.
"Corporal Jameson Otto," a German shepherd saluted.
"Sergeant Fiona Julie," a leonberger saluted.
Comparing the two, Fiona was massive compared to Jameson, due to her species, which was naturally built like a tank. They had to order special sizing for her, and her "standard" was most people's heavy weapons.
"Fiona, Hydra. James, Angel," Dengar spoke. The two Cornarian's wondered if Dengar was truly the leader or just a proxy.
Angel smirked and looked at Hydra, who nodded. They seemed to know what the other was saying without words. The two Cornarians felt left out since they would be trying to understand orders from the seemingly mute squad.
"What is the objective?" Hydra asked, his voice coming out louder than they thought.
"Crime lord," Dengar answered, walking over to a shipping crate. He had a hologram of the building and put a pin near the center. "The crime lord, identified as Drago Varinik will be protected by about fifty guards. They seem to be getting ready for a meeting of some kind. Our objectives are simple: assassinating Drago Varinik is the primary objective. Gathering intel on the crime syndicate and apprehending the survivors are secondary objectives along with seizing their supplies. No one leaves but you four. Sergeant Juile, You're with Hydra. Follow his lead, he is one of the best at infiltrations and remaining undetected. The two of you will be responsible for the bullet in his head. Angel, you'll take Corporal Otto and pick off those that Hydra and Sergeant Juile miss. I'll be on the southeast corner, you two will take the northwest corner. Any updates on the objectives will come from me if you get any new intel. You know your duties. Get going."
The four nodded, and the two Tenno under Dengar gave a brief glance at each other. Something Fiona saw before they split up. Fiona followed Hydra in silence and saw him lift a sewer access panel a block down.
"In."
"I know these streets better than you. There is an old subway line that runs directly under the objective. Lot faster than squeezing through there. This way," Fiona informed, quickly running further down the street. Hydra dropped the panel in place and chased after Fiona, who ducked into an empty building. He saw her look around, smiling. "Almost like I remember it."
"Where's the entrance?" Hydra asked.
"Not an "entrance" per se." Fiona felt around a wall that was covered in posters. Her hand went through one, Fiona's body following. "Found it. This will drop us down into the subway line's access room."
"How long did it take you to make this hole?" Hydra asked, impressed at the size of the hole.
"I don't know. I found it one day, and instead of reporting it, I hid it. Place shut down since it didn't get enough business to remain open. This will be quicker, but we will need light to see underground. Subway lights are completely out last time I checked," Fiona answered, ducking into the hole, Hydra taking note of the difference in their heights. He tapped his screen a few times and a light came from the right side of the mask. "Thanks."
"I'll ask you forgive my silence. Making friends isn't exactly my forte," Hydra explained, walking behind Fiona, allowing the light to hit the ceiling to increase their sight.
"It's alright. Not many people approach me because of my size," Fiona admitted.
"It would be problematic in combat, but it has its usefulness," Hydra blurted out.
"Excuse me?"
"Bigger means more areas to be hit," Hydra explained.
"Was dauert so lange, um in Hydra zu bekommen?" Dengar's voice came over the coms.
Fiona had no idea what Dengar had said, but Hydra's voice followed shortly after. "Fiona knew of a way in that wouldn't force us to crawl and be held up further. We should use a language they understand while on open coms."
"Alte Gewohnheiten sterben hart," Dengar replied.
"I know. I'm forcing myself right now. You should too. Radio silence until we enter or you see movement outside," Hydra informed, seeing Fiona drop down to a lower area. Hydra followed and saw a massive railway system. "Reminds me old Corpus Maglev rails."
"That's what this was. A prototype maglev when that was still being researched. Became abandoned when they moved most transportation above ground," Fiona whispered, the two freezing when they heard footsteps. And that wasn't all. They heard grunting from further down.
"Careful with that! This is advanced weaponry! I won't hesitate to shoot you if you break it!"
"Advanced weaponry? What do you think they are talking about?" Hydra whispered, the two moving to an access door egress.
"No idea. Sounds quite dangerous if they are willing to kill their own to make sure it gets moved safely," Fiona assumed. Hydra bent down and examined the lock. Hydra looked puzzled until he broke the lock by smashing it with the minigun, picking it up.
"What was that?"
"Check it."
"In," Hydra signaled. Fiona entering first, Hydra following. He slowly closed the door to prevent any further detection.
"What is-" Hydra grabbed her muzzle and clamped down, preventing her from talking.
"What do you think it is?" one of the people sent to find out the source of the noise.
"Fifty on it being something fucked up," a different voice answered.
Hydra moved in and whispered in Fiona's ear. "Get on top of me. Also, take your top off. Trust me." Hydra let go of Fiona's muzzle, and took off his gear and top, leaving a pistol strapped to his side, Fiona doing the same. "Up against the wall, hurry. Pin me to it, trust me on it. Get handsy with me as well. Stage kiss as well."
Fiona was absolutely furious, and was about to protest when she heard the voices again.
"Shards of a lock. Let's be careful." They heard two weapons being primed. Fiona understood the plan now. Without thinking, she pushed her lips to Hydra's, who went wide eyed, quite confused. The door opened, and a light shone on them. "What the fuck?"
A second set of footsteps rushed in, and all they saw was a Cornerian and Tenno quickly move away before covering themselves. "False alarm. A couple broke a lock and were about to get dirty. Put some clothes on. Let's give them some privacy."
The door was shut and Fiona sighed. "The plan barely saved us." Hydra was still speechless, and quietly put his things on, putting a hand on the door. He looked at Fiona, and slid his thumb across his neck and pointed to the door. She seemed to understand what he was saying, and nodded in confirmation. Hydra opened the door and the duo pulled them in, quickly dispatching them by snapping their necks.
"Warum fühlte sich das gut an?" Hydra muttered, his mind going to the kiss.
"Was fühlte sich gut an?" Angel's voice asked, Hydra realizing he had said that over open coms accidentally.
"Cram it Angel," Hydra snapped.
"Are you in yet Hydra?" Dengar asked.
"Not yet. There's security down here too. Something about advanced weaponry," Hydra answered, Fiona looking at the strange firearms. She picked one up, and instantly it felt heavier than a normal pistol.
"Do you have techs that can analyze this?" Fiona asked, handing the pistol to Hydra. He simply pushed it to her.
"Hold onto it until the mission is done." Hydra started to leave the room.
"It looks like a handheld railgun," Fiona muttered, taking a few rounds that the gang member had in him. "Never know when you'll need it."
The team of two made their way forwards slowly, stopping quite frequently to make sure they weren't detected. By the time they got to the location that the weapons were at, they were gone.
"Five minutes. They couldn't have moved them far. Dengar, this is Hydra. I'm able to seize weapons before they get moved. I'm prioritizing that right now," Hydra informed Dengar.
"Negative. You have your orders. Drago, then weapons."
"We might not get another chance at the weapons. I'm moving on the weapons now," Hydra said, cutting the channel. "This way."
Hydra led Fiona down the abandoned tunnels and found them in a wide room with an open ceiling. He peered down the hall and Fiona looked around the corner as well, easily able to look despite Hydra's body hiding behind the corner.
"I can't see the weapons. Could be anything. Can you see them?" Hydra whispered, Fiona shaking her head.
"The crates are shut tight. I could open them, but we need to deal with all of them first," Fiona informed, clearing the chamber of her weapon. "Let's do this before they leave."
"First good idea I've heard from you," Hydra smirked, the minigun on his arm started spinning. He stood out in the center of the hallway and bolts of plasma started being expelled at an alarming rate, and tore completely through five men before they took cover.
Fiona easily shot through an additional three with quick controlled bursts, all hitting their marks. Hydra retracted the minigun and took out the blocky rifle and moved forward with Finoa following. Hydra moved swiftly yet cautiously, firing quick bursts of four into anyone brave enough to try to shoot at the duo.
"Fiona, shoot the rest of the cover. No one leaves here but us," Hydra ordered. Fiona open fired upon the rest of the guards hiding behind the cover, tearing it away with help from Hydra, who was running around and triple tapping anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in his sights. In three minutes, the room was filled with blood, and the crates had many bodies piled up around them in an attempt to move or use them.
Hydra opened his coms channel and was greeted instantly by verbal swearing and a promise to kill him when he returned. Gunshots rang out from above, Hydra identifying them as sniper rounds from his teammates' railguns. He opened the crate easily and looked inside.
"Uh-oh," Hydra said, the line coms going silent for a moment.
"Uh-oh ist der richtige Soldat. Sie haben es jetzt mit mir zu tun!" Dengar snarled.
"I'm staring at proto-type Opticors. Bratons, Hinds, Bazas, Boltors, It's like they have our entire inventory being made with scraps," Hydra reported. He looked at Fiona, and saw the sidearm on her side. "Arca Scisco."
"Hydra, your priority is those weapons. Fiona will give you all support she can. Oh, and one last thing. Vertrauen Sie niemandem. Nicht einmal sie."
"Natürlich Führer. Insider-Job. Ich werde Mich mit Aquarius in Verbindung setzen und ihn bitten, jeden im Inneren zu untersuchen oder Verbindungen zu allen Tenno- und Tenno-nahen Gruppen zu haben," Hydra replied.
"Verwirren Sie diese Mission nicht mehr, als Sie bereits Probie haben," Angel growled.
"Nennen Sie mich das noch einmal. Ich ficken wagen Sie," Hydra shot back, the two Cornerians with them confused by what they were saying.
"Um, what are you guys saying?" Jameson asked, Dengar clearing his throat.
"Back to work. New orders. Angel, Otto, eliminate everyone in the building. Hydra, Juile, secure and move all remaining cargo back to HQ," Dengar ordered, the two Tenno nodding, the other two still wondering what they were saying prior.
||Elsewhere on Corneria||
"I've been told that certain questions are off-limits by your Quinn. Any reason why that is?" Jennifer asked, Luna slightly smiling and let out a quick chuckle.
"Professionals always seem to have a trick up their sleeve no matter where you go, no matter what time it is. Let's just say that by your standards, it classified information," Luna answered.
"Classified how?" Jennifer tried to pry.
"I've been running interrogations on Sentient Fighters. You'll have to try much harder than that sweetie," Luna spoke. "Let me ask you something now. How are you and Quinn doing?" Jennifer quickly cleared her throat. "Got some noise complaints from his room the other night." Jennifer started blubbering un-understandable nonsense. "It was about an argument on what questions I would allow."
Jennifer glared daggers into Luna, who was confidently smiling now. 'She knows what she is doing. Back to business, see what I can get her to slip.'
"So, how long have you been leading the Maverick Hunters?" Jennifer asked.
"Roughly 800 years. Don't look so surprised. Most of it was from stasis. Body was stopped in time and an external unit was used. The Warframe Armour. Anyways, I believe you have more questions for me," Luna smiled.
"What kind of people made the first Warframe Amour?" Jennifer asked, Luna's face going prom pleasant to murderous.
"Someone who didn't get what he deserved. Next," Luna demanded.
"Actually, I'd like a name at least," Jenifer rephrased.
"Ballis. Next," Luna snapped back.
"So, the Maverick Hunters are like a family? The way Quinn spoke of them made it sound that way, and you said so yourself when we first ran into each other," Jennifer asked, trying to change the subject slightly.
"That is right. Each branch is like its own family. Oh the fun we have," Luna smiled, remembering all the times the leaders rough-housed and got beaten up by each other playing some "casual" Lunaro.
"What sort of fun did you have as a leader of a military unit?" Jennifer asked, curious about the dealings of the Commander of the Maverick Hunters.
"Oh, just normal things. Shall we shift the interview again?" Luna requested, wanting to get certain information out. "Something tells me you want to ask something rather sensitive and loaded. In more than one way."
Jennifer sighed knowing what she had to do. "Some of our techs up in your orbital station have leaked information and has started to cause unease between our kinds. They called it-"
"Apocalypse. I know. It was designed to-"
"Wait, Apocalypse? I was talking about a recently designed one under the name Aegis. What is Apocalypse as well as Aegis?" Jennifer asked.
"This is my first time hearing of the Aegis Project. Aside from the name, do you have any information about it? Who requested it, what it does though I can probably guess at what, and the team working on it?" Luna requested.
"The leaks aren't clear, but they are saying it was someone from the Rangers, and it's mainly Cornerian scientists and Sentient researchers. As for what it does, that part is the most speculated, and nothing is confirming anything," Jennifer answered.
"What it does is its name. Aegis is a shield. But other than that, I have no information about it. Apocalypse is an orbital weapons system. More dangerous than nuclear warheads, and with the right mass and payload, could wipe out the population of a major chunk of the world it is directed at. A last act against Sentients. It is only a proof-of-concept right now, but when we get back to our own dimension, it will be constructed there," Luna informed.
"Would that be what Project Eden Quinn mentioned is modelled after?" Jennifer asked.
"Yeah. It is. We do need to conserve cultures and innocent lives should a weapon like what I described were to be used. It would save as many innocent lives as it could hold. Sadly, we can't save everyone," Luna sighed, but almost everyone could tell that she experienced that before.
"And, would these weapons be used against us?" Jennifer hesitantly asked.
"Only if you shot first. So I wouldn't worry about our weapons being used against you," Luna informed, Jennifer letting out a sigh of relief. "Though I assume Quinn has a weapon you like using." Luna gave a highly suggestive look, Jennifer looking at her with disappointment.
"Don't ever say that again. That was bad, and you know it," Jennifer sighed, Luna shrugging.
"You can't kill them all," Luna said, raising an eyebrow and suspicion of everyone. "It's a saying from our home. You can't get it every time. Usually referring to a target wanted dead, it changed to 'you can't kill them all.'"
"That seems to sound like it evolved from 'you can't win them all.' It's odd how that seems like the only phrase that we share," Jennifer noticed.
"And how would you know that?" Luna asked, already knowing the answer. "Spend some time around the Hunters often?"
"Yes. Quinn has some interesting people under his command. I just when I think I have one figured out, they say or reference something that makes me wonder just how much they have seen," Jennifer commented.
"That's most of us for you," Luna revealed. "We prefer to be wildcards. Never can tell what we will do next. So, I believe if that is all, I will take my leave now."
"One more question. Why?" Jennifer asked.
"Because why not?" Luna smiled, getting up.
AND NOW TO GET TO WORK ON CHAPTER 5 OF CNL SO I CAN KICK BACK FOR A BIT AND TAKE A BREATH. AND UNLESS I GET THE CHAPTER DONE BEFORE TUESDAY, THERE WILL BE NO UPLOADS UNTIL AFTER THE 7TH OF NOVEMBER. UNTIL NEXT TIME!