AN: this one is quite long but I wanted this come out in time sorry for the long wait.
Jack was laying on the floor in his room after the last match, they managed to win but it was an uphill battle to say the least after making it to the final circle, Mirage ended up getting sniped from a kraber and Jack went over to help him.
He asked Horizon to cover him which she quickly nodded before he slid across the grass and grabbed the collar of Mirage's suit and pulled behind the nearest rock.
Soon after his cover was fired upon from at least two spitfires, Jack hoped with their focus on him and Mirage, Horizon would have a clear shot on taking one of them down.
But when he looked at her, she seemed shocked when her charge rifle fired, she jumped and ended dropping it.
Then a certain bombardment warning filled his ear and a red ring surrounded his cover.
"... Damn it"
But luckily Jack managed to get Mirage up in time and with his decoy assistance Jack was able to get both of the enemies down.
With another victory under his name, Jack laid against the window of his room looking out at the deep cast of space next to him was a cup of coffee, something he desperately missed from his time on the Militia ship.
His helmet was blinking rapidly from a call from BT, he was about to put it on when a knock on his door interrupted him, putting the helmet down and rising from seat, he approached the door.
"Hey, Jack is it?" He opened the door and saw Horizon, she was holding her drone near her chest.
"Oh! Didn't expect to answer so quickly, after I was supposed to meet Lifeline but I can't seem to find her. I was told by a woman named Wraith to find a lad that goes by Octane but it seems that he isn't here either." She shrugged.
He didn't know, she seemed to understand but before she left her gaze was directed behind him, following the gaze he saw his helmet blinking again and his eyes widen.
Shit! He left BT facing their direction.
"Is that morse code! Nice to meet ya too." Upon being spoken to BT stopped blinking and went dark after being found out.
"You speak morse code?" Jack asked.
"Of course never can be too prepared for travelling into a black hole orbit it seems you have a message from someone." That is not good.
He ushered her out the doorway telling her that he will give Lifeline a call after he gets out the shower.
After closing the door and making sure she wasn't standing in the doorway, he grabbed the helmet and put on.
"Sheesh BT how you just announce yourself to everyone on ship."
"It wasn't me, it was the Intruder, you have a message from them do not worry I hid myself with the back channels to avoid detection."
BT opened the encrypted messages and showed it to his pilot.
AB: I hope you settled in very well because now you help me while also helping you get home so I hope you like the city.
Leaving the legend ship was much harder than it looked when he walked past the main room where some of the other legends were and one took notice and waved to him.
"Mr.Cooper want to join us for outfit ideas." She asked which he titled his head.
"Sometimes we wear different outfits sometimes. It's quite fun." There was Wattson, Wraith, Mirage and Rampart on the couch as the holo screen played some type of video.
"It's not," Wraith said with a deadpan expression seeming to be dragged along to this occasion.
Wattson gave the phase runner a smile and picked up a drawing and showed it to her, Wraith's face scrunched " I'm not wearing that."
"But it fits you so well and the colors go so well together" Wattson pointed out.
"Yeah she's right both you and that outfit go well together both symbolize your grumpiness!" Wraith glared at Mirage for the comment and slowly rose from her seat.
Jack took this time to sneak away before he was a witness to a murder. After making it to the docking area he was relieved there was still a drop ship left.
"BT can you enter the coordinates inside the ship's navigation system."
"Affirmative, but pilot are you sure you want to do this. I'm still not a 100% sure trust is guarantee"
"I know BT but right now it's the best lead we got to go on, there's more to this I know." Jack walked into the drop ship
He checked controls and found the data knife emergency controls and stuck his inside. BT uploaded the coordinates into the knife and the drop ship came to life.
Jack sat in the pilot seat legs kicked up as they traveled. "Jack, do you think the Crypto's drive worked?"
"Hopefully, it was short notice to ask for it after the match but seeming how the ship's control isn't letting out an alarm proves if it worked." He owed Crypto for this one
He was surprised when Crypto agreed to help him, when Jack took a drop ship, the hacker would overwrite the security camera in the docking area to be on a loop for at least five hours.
"Have you gone over the plan?" Jack hummed as he relaxed staring out into the stars.
"Yeah, steal a data from some sort of Hammond worker, shouldn't be difficult."
"that's not really plan" BT thought.
The ship entered the planet atmosphere and descended on top of the building so he could jump out and close once he left. Jack had p2020 and a couple of arc stars just in case
BT notified him that the ship will be in orbit until his return so it won't be spotted. Jack understood and used his jump kit to traverse building to building until he found the one.
He landed on the roof of said building and peered down below waiting for his target. It was about an hour of waiting until the ship the target was in arrived.
The target definitely matched the picture sent to him, Jack viewed the landing pad where the ship doors opened exit and man was followed by four spectres with another four bodyguards.
Jack entered through an open window left open by a cleaning MRVN and snuck inside.
AB :The USB drive is on him once you get it there will be further direction.
"Sure boss me around this better help me get back." Jack thought as he made his way.
He was in a bedroom that had a railing that overlooked the floor below, the upper room was dark only for a glimpse of moonlight that peered through the window.
The man was in the middle of the room below where a large table was placed each guard took a place in each corner while the spectres broke off in pairs.
"Two spectres at the balcony entrance, another two guarding the ship." Jack took note.
"Odds of you getting that drive without being detected is at 4.7 percent." BT spoke about his chances.
"If you want to succeed, you will need to operate without the guards seeing you from their current position for this to work."
"And the spectres?" Jack asked.
"Give me a minute to form something." Jack didn't know what that meant but agreed nevertheless, he looked around the room and got an idea from the thermostats next to the bed.
He heard the man speaking downstairs and peeped in.
"I assure you, I exhausted every spectre, man and ship to that planet if you want to call it that and there have been no signs that it survived." The man explained to the person on screen that the table was shown on the holo.
The person's face was not shown and their voice was distorted.
"Keep searching if you can find it then find remnants of what's left. It is top priority for you." The man frowned but nodded.
The man moved away and touched a display that held two stalkers in its casing, quite the old model as well.
"If I may, what about the target? Is he any evidence then shall we not pursue much more?" He asked.
"Not yet too risky there is already the matter with the simulacrum but that will be dealt with later"
"Right I-" the man shivered as his breath chilled.
Jack lowered the temperature greatly as they spoke and turned on the ac for extra measure before creeping back into the shadow.
"Sorry it seems the conditioning is acting up, you! Fix the damn the thing." He ordered one of his guards who nodded.
He waited in the shadows until the guard went to change the temperature before Jack grabbed him and put in a chokehold, he struggled for a bit before going into a slump , not before knocking over a lamp on the bed stand.
"What was that?" The voice asked.
"It seems that one of my guards can't seem to WATCH where he's going." He yelled in the direction of the knock out guard.
Jack slowly laid the guard down and moved to the other side of the room before BT stopped him.
"Jack, wait , open that laptop on that desk." He opened the laptop and was met with a security clearance.
"Now plug that wire into your helmet."
As the man was speaking a sound came from near the display one of the guards noticed and went to check it out, he crouched down and picked up a coin.
Confused he didn't notice one of the stalkers activating and punching through the glass and grabbing his neck.
"What the-" the man didn't get a chance to speak as a guard was soon thrown at him causing them both to hit the table effectively ending the call.
The other went to fire his weapon but the second stalker slammed into him before picking up his firearm and shooting at the spectres.
It managed to take down two of the spectres before being destroyed however when the stalker was being shot at it ended turning around to damaged navigation systems and ended taking a few rounds to it's battery.
It soon exploded causing the last guard to shield his eyes not noticing Jack come from behind and knock him out.
He lazily tossed an arc star at the remaining spectres before walking over the downan who was still in a daze before moving aside so that the stalker can knock him out without Cooper being seen.
He grabbed the usb and pocketed without hesitation.
He made his way the way he came in and jumped building to building until he was far enough.
"Ok BT, that plan was pretty amazing." Jack said between breaths.
"Thank you pilot, but it was mostly chance if the stalkers would be able to stay active long enough for it to work but hacking into them was tricky."
"Well AB didn't really leave me a number to call back so let's head back home for a victory nap."
"Home?" BT questioned.
"I mean temporary headquarters." Jack yawned.