Chapter 5: An Agent's Intro To Remnant, Part II
AN: This chapter may be a bit long, but that's cuz I wanted to knock off the Agent's Intro arc.
Agetol Thrawn studied the holographic screen in front of him. Displayed on the purple screen was the name and face of his host's daughter, Blake Belladonna. It had taken Kali a few days before she was ready to talk about the girl in the pictures she kept, and when she did, all Agetol could feel was anger.
She had a warm home, a family who loved her, and she threw it all away, just to play terrorist?
If there was anything Agetol hated more in the galaxy, it was a terrorist, especially the privileged ones, who'd at least had something worth staying for.
Agetol was leaving Menagerie today, and he had promised the Belladonna's to help find their daughter. While they disagreed at first, stating that they didn't need payment of any kind from a guest, they had eventually relented, as the two parents missed their only daughter a great deal.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Agetol said, dismissing the screen with a push of a button located in his bracers. Kali Belladonna walked into the room.
"Are you sure you have everything, Agetol?"
Agetol nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Belladonna. I should be fine once I reach my destination. After that, I'll start looking around for your daughter."
Kali wrung her hands. "Me and Ghira never had the chance to properly thank you for agreeing to this."
Agetol waved his hands in dismissal. "It's fine. You assisted me in my moment of need and took care of me, so it is only fair that I repay the favor."
Kali took a moment to embrace Agetol, leaving the Cipher Agent floundering for a few moments. She pulled away. "If you ever come back to Menagerie, this room is always open to you."
Agetol chuckled. "I'll keep it in mind. I have a feeling we will all meet again."
Agetol walked away from the house, a goal now clearly entrenched within his mind.
A Few Days Later
Agetol looked out the window of the train he'd found himself in, admiring the red foliage as it passed by.
He had to give it to Blake, she was able to cover up her tracks well. Unfortunately for her, he was Cipher 9.
No one could ever hope to hide from him.
From what he'd overheard on the terrorist cell's comm channels, they were planning to hit this train in about….three seconds. He heard a small thump, thanks to his enhanced senses.
It's time for these terrorists to see how Sith Intelligence handles things.
A group of the terrorists charged into the room, aiming their weapons at the crew.
"Hands up! Any sudden moves, we open fire on all of you, got it?!" a woman in a white mask shouted, her raccoon ears poking out of a hood.
The crew complied, kneeling down. Another member of the group, adorned with a pair of ram horns, walked around the room, overlooking the area.
"Wait a second, this isn't right. There's supposed to be thirteen guys here, but I'm only counting twelve of them. Where's the last one?"
The power cut out at that moment, stopping the train from progressing any further. Emergency lights flicked on, bathing the train car in an eerie red glow as alarms blared.
"What the fuck?! What happened to the engines?!" the racoon Faunus shouted. She grabbed one of the crew members, smashing his head against the wall.
"What's going on here! Why have we stopped!" she shouted.
"I-I don't know! T-this never happened b-before!" the crew member replied, terrified of the terrorist.
The racoon Faunus snarled, raising her pistol at the man's head. The ram Faunus interrupted her, forcing her to bring the pistol down.
"Where's your last crew mate? Either you give him up, or we kill all of you."
The crew member's eyes widened. "L-last? T-this is all there is! No one else is supposed to be here!"
The ram faunus snarled. "Don't lie! Your crew logs say there's a man known as Naas She'chu* here, on this train! Where is he?!"
The ram faunus stiffened, the sound of a knife severing his vertebrae echoed in the train. Agetol shimmered out of his stealth cloak, smiling.
"Right behind you."
P.O.V Switch - Blake
Blake stepped away from Adam, wondering how things could've gone this badly.
Had she truly been this ignorant of Adam's nature the whole time they'd been together? Had she been so taken by the cause he proclaimed he stood for that she willingly ignored all the signs warning her?
Adam took out his radio from his jacket. "Strike Team Delta, this is Adam. We're done here. What's your status? Have you got the train working again?"
Silence.
Adam clicked the radio again. "Delta, repeat, mission is done. What's your status?"
The team still didn't respond. Adam started to get visibly worried.
"Delta team, report. What's going on over there?"
The radio finally sparked to life. Both Adam and Blake perked up.
"Mission failed." A voice replied, his accent betraying his satisfaction.
Adam's grip tightened on his blade. "Who are you?"
"Me? Nobody."
"For some reason, I don't believe you. What have you done with my men?"
"They've parted from the train. Part of them here, part of them there, part of them over there, staining the wall…. Hmm. Perhaps that's why I'm covered in blood from head to toe."
Adam growled, his hatred of the mysterious figure on the radio visibly increasing, minute by minute.
"Come out and face me, coward."
"What is it with you terrorists and confusing bravery for stupidity? It baffles me. Although, if it makes you feel any better, I'm only here for you. Your men were just in my way. If you want to save your girlfriend, face me. Alone."
"Or what?" Adam growled.
"Or I blow up the car you're in. I'm in command of the train, and I can overload the systems in the cars to detonate the dust inside them. I'll have enough time to escape my car. You and Miss Belladonna, on the other hand, will suffer a rather painful death. I'd honestly prefer it if you came here, Mister Taurus. I like a challenge. Killing you with a few acts of sabotage would be rather anticlimactic. Now, enough chatter. I'll give you one minute to get to the back of the train. After that, I start slicing wires. I hope to see you soon."
The line went dead. Adam stood there for a few moments, before shaking his head.
"Blake, stay here. I don't trust this bastard to honor his word. He might try something."
Blake nodded. "Of course, Adam. Be careful."
Adam took one last look at Blake, before jumping up on top of the other car. He then started sprinting to the rear car.
Blake waited a few seconds, before she started working towards separating the car she was on from the rest of the train. As she was about to cut away the coupling, she felt the cold barrel of a gun press into the back of her head.
"Going somewhere, Miss Belladonna?" the voice she heard from the radio state behind her.
Blake froze in shock. How the hell did he get here so quickly?! She raised her arms in the air.
"I surrender." she stated, without a shred of the fear she felt inflecting her voice.
The voice behind her sighed audibly. "And here I thought this was going to be difficult. Hand over your weapon."
Blake hesitated for a few moments, before handing the man behind her Gambol Shroud.
"Hmm. A rather...interesting choice of a weapon." the voice remarked. The barrel of the gun was taken off her head. "You can turn around now, Miss Belladonna."
Blake turned around, only to be met by some….thing, that she'd never seen before.
The man in front of her couldn't have been human. His blue skin and red eyes were a testament to that. By that same token, he couldn't have been Faunus, either. A Faunus may have looked slightly different to the average human, but this was too much. It was like staring at an alien straight out of the bad movies she used to watch as a child with her parents.
P.O.V Switch - Agetol, A Few Minutes Earlier
Agetol turned off the radio he'd procured from his victims. After leaving Adam a quick message, Agetol turned to the crew, all of whom were staring at him in a mix of both fear and admiration.
"Alright, listen very closely. If you want to live through this, you will do exactly what I tell you."
Each member of the crew nodded.
"Alright. Form a group, huddle up. There's only so much space my cloaking device will allow me to use. Follow my lead. Any of you fall behind, I won't come back for you."
After the crew were huddled in a way that satisfied Agetol, he activated the cloak. As Agetol passed a third car, he heard an audible thump hitting the top of the car.
Right on time.
He'd give it another minute or two before Adam discovered the truth. He picked up the pace. A minute later, both the crew and Agetol had made it to the front quarter of the train, and lo and behold, who else to start their work for them separating the cars from Adam Taurus was none other than Blake Belladonna.
Agetol, refusing to take any chances, took his blaster pistol from his belt and pressed it to Blake's head.
"Going somewhere, Miss Belladonna?" he remarked.
Blake froze. She raised her arms in the air.
"I surrender." she stated.
Agetol sighed, a tiny bit disappointed. "And here I thought this was going to be difficult. Hand over your weapon."
Blake hesitated for a few moments, before handing him her weapon.
Agetol wasn't really sure what to feel about it. On one hand, it was finely crafted. It wasn't material he'd hang in his art gallery, but it was still worth some admiration. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel the mechashift weapons trend of the planet was something rather...foolish. There was a reason he always carried a sniper rifle, a blaster rifle, and two blaster pistols on his person all the time. Redundancy was far better than having all your chips thrown together for one weapon.
"Hmm. A rather...interesting choice of a weapon." Agetol remarked. He pulled his blaster pistol away from her head "You can turn around now, Miss Belladonna."
Blake turned around, and her eyes widened. Agetol raised his left eyebrow at her.
"Miss Belladonna, if you're going to stare at me that intensely, I'd prefer you buy me a drink first." he drawled, a hint of amusement coming through his voice.
Blake shook her head. "I wasn't staring." she replied stoically.
"Just as well. I'm not really fond of knocking back drinks with terrorists." Agetol replied back. Just then, Agetol heard a roar of anger.
Looks like Taurus found out.
"Would you kindly move out of the way, please." Agetol stated, pointing his pistol at the coupling Blake was about to destroy a minute ago. Blake moved to the side, and two green blaster bolts hit the coupling, separating them from the train. With the press of a button on his bracers, the engine started up again. By the time Adam had made it back, all he could see were small specks fading in the distance.
A Few Minutes Later
"If one more of you tries to offer me your gratitude, I'm going to start shooting people. Are we clear?" Agetol stated, annoyed. He was starting to regret not throwing the crew overboard.
"Where're we going?" Blake asked.
"Vale, apparently. They'll rest and resupply there, give their reports, and then head back to Atlas. I'm half tempted to join them. I've heard chatter that your terrorist friends are planning an attack there."
"Then why aren't you heading to Atlas?"
"Because as soon as we get back to Vale, I'm putting us on a boat, and we'll head to Menagerie. Your parents want you back very badly. I can't see why they'd want you back, but I made a promise."
Blake huffed, crossing her arms. "What's your problem with me? Who are you?"
Agetol frowned. "In order. You're a terrorist, and I don't see a reason to give you my name. Names are for friends, and you are not one."
Blake seemingly only heard the first half. "That was different! Things used to be different, we were better!"
"Where were your better ways the past five years, Miss Belladonna?" Agetol asked, cutting her off.
"Excuse me?" Blake replied.
Agetol smirked."I met with your parents, Miss Belladonna. Lovely people, if a bit saddened that their only child ran off to play terrorist."
Blake bristled in anger. "Don't you dare bring that u-"
"Why not? It's your own bloody fault. You ran off and left them to wallow in their misery. They didn't even know you were alive. Five years, you were gone, and you didn't even bother to send them a note. Be thankful your mother still cares about you so much. If she didn't, I'd have killed you on that train." Agetol replied, coldness seeping into his tone.
That shut Blake up quite nicely for the next few hours.
Many Hours Later, Vale CCT
Agetol walked into the room, Blake trailing behind him.
"Remember, five minutes. After that, we're leaving." Agetol remarked.
"I got it, don't be so pushy." Blake replied.
Agetol scoffed. Before he could say anything back, the line connected.
"Agetol! I didn't expect to hear from you so so-" Kali's voice cut off as she saw the person next to him.
"I brought Blake back. We're heading to Menagerie in an hour or two, and I thought you'd appreciate it if you got a heads up first." Agetol turned to Blake. "I'll give you some privacy. Don't you dare run away now."
Agetol took the opportunity to plant a bug or two into the system, opening up a holographic screen.
Wouldn't hurt to know the city a little better. No Watcher to give me intel right now.
Agetol activated his earpiece and started flipping through screens, using his photographic memory to absorb all the details he could from every bit of video and audio the CCT gifted him. A few minutes later, Agetol received a rather pleasant shock.
His screen showed a silver haired man with a bit of red war paint over his right eye fighting against a blonde woman. If one looked closely, one could see the man's body was glowing red.
Found you, old friend
AN: All the jokes about Cipher 9's title as a nobody/number are gonna be a prevalent thing Agetol does, since he likes playing around with words.
Naas She'chu means "0 9" in Mando'a. A little joke name Ike and Agetol came up with together. Everytime it manages to successfully fool someone, Agetol has to pay Ike one credit.
Rest assured though, that this name won't be the one Agetol will use all the time. The story is called Team S.I.T.H, not Team S.I.S.H
Another thing I wanted to mention was that every member of Team S.I.T.H will be able to use both their advanced class styles. Ike can go crazy with both dual wielding blasters and flamethrowers. Hadrian can carve people up with a double bladed lightsaber and lightning. Samael can ditch his shield generator and draw another lightsaber if the need arises. Finally, Agetol can switch from a blaster rifle to a sniper rifle depending on the situation.
Next chapter; A Sith's Intro to Remnant, Part II