"Salamander, we need to find out what they have planned, head to the office and find any Intel you can on their attack plans."
"Copy that, I'll get closer and see if I can overhear their conversation." Sal replied to the old man.
"Negative. Get a vantage point and use your Laser Microphone instead." The Director ordered, sharply. "Once the room is clean then you can slip in. We don't want to risk open confrontation if we can avoid it."
"Got it, Sir." The man replied, he rubbed his eyes as they slowly started to water. He put everything back in its place then slipped out of the back of the van. Looking around quickly, he got his bearings then slowly moved back up to the second floor, moving silently behind the terrorists. Sal climbed up onto the rafters and shimmied his way along them. Sweat ran down his brow as he got into a good position for the Laser Mic.
"Reporting the first signs of Sarin exposure. I've got a runny nose and weeping eyes, I am starting to sweat." He informed his handler as he wrapped his legs around the beam and swung down, hanging upside down like a bat as he reached into a pouch.
"Don't push yourself, Mister." M replied, she had a very clear worry in her voice.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it." Sal said as he pulled the device from its place on his belt. The mic automatically connected to his Tac-com as he aimed it at one of the office windows.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0
"Alright, thanks for the report, Storm." Black Steel said as he took his hand away from the radio on his chest and turned his focus back to the white-haired man in front of him.
"Money checks out." The Merc said in his rough, gritty voice.
"Of course it would, we wouldn't try and double-cross you Phantoms, not since you have been so helpful in procuring resources."
"Better keep that in mind. Now, what do you plan on doing after this little shindig?"
"We'll pack up and head to another city once we are finished here, got a lot of places lined up for these vans over the next few days."
"What kind of gear do you think you will need?"
"Hmm." Erigor lent back in his chair and looked thoughtfully at a nearby corkboard. "Undoubtedly, there will be conflict after this strike. So I will need a weapons shipment, guns and ammo. They must be unmarked weapons too."
"All of our supplies are unmarked to prevent tracing them back to the source." Black Steel informed the man, idly. He moved over to the window and looked out at the warehouse floor. "What kind of guns are we talking about?"
"They need to be compact and concealable. And have enough punch to get through standard body armour."
"You'll be after PDWs then. We can provide tungsten tipped 5.7mm ammo to be used in the P90 platform. That will give you the concealability that you desire along with the armour penetration of the tungsten ammo."
"Good, good. I'll send you the location we'll be at in a week's time. We can arrange shipment and payment from then." Erigor said, briskly, he took a bottle of whiskey from a small fridge under his desk along with two glasses.
He poured a portion of whiskey into both glasses and raised one. "To business."
"To business." Black Steel repeated as he took the offered glass, they clinked them together and downed the contents in a single gulp.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0
"Sir, I think that is all we are going to get." Sal said as he watched the two men drink to the deal.
"Alright, get inside that office, find any information you can." The Director replied, firmly.
"Copy that, Sir." The man replied, his chest started to feel tight, his breath getting short. He put the Laser Mic back in its pouch and slowly shimmied back along the beam. His sweat was flowing out of him, almost like a river.
"Are you ok, Sal?" M asked, her voice full of worry as she watched a display that had all of his vitals and bio-feedback. "You're showing abnormal responses."
"Just the Sarin taking effect, M. Don't worry about it." He grunted as he landed on the catwalk. He wiped his watery eyes clear and moved along the elevated path. 'Push through it Sal, people are counting on you…' The agent said in his head as he heard the office door open.
"Men! How are the vans coming along?!" Erigor shouted as he walked out, leaning over the railing as he gazed upon the line of pest control vans.
"We are setting up the last one, Erigor." One of the people shouted back. "Just hooking it up now."
Captain Black Steel gazed around at the floor and grabbed the radio on his chest. "Storm, how're things looking outside?"
"Snow is getting heavier, we might have an hour before it gets too thick."
"We have enough time, make preparations to bug out of here."
"Copy that. Storm out."
"You better get these vans on the road and in position, ASAP." Black Steel said as he looked to the white-haired man next to him. "Mother Nature waits for no man."
"I hear that. Once that last van is ready I'll have my people drive them to their targets."
"Good, I'll take my leave then. See you next time, Erigor." The Merc said as he walked past the terrorist and made his way back to his team.
Salamander stepped around the corner and slinked along the wall, moving silently past the terrorist leader and slipping into the office, unseen.
"I'm in the office." He said as he quickly glanced around. He spotted the corkboard and made his way to it. "Looks like they are planning on hitting the city of Silene next."
"Can you find any more information? Something about their current plans for now, then we can focus on their next target." M asked, looking over his visual feed.
The man quickly skimmed the board, his fingers landed upon a map. "I've got a map with markings, Calico, looks like possible targets. Thirty circled, eighteen have been crossed out, leaves twelve targets."
"They would be our locations. I'm gathering strike teams to eliminate these vans." The Director said, quickly.
A shout from outside the office caught Sal's attention. "Erigor! The final van is done! We're ready to leave!"
"Director, I don't think we'll have time to intercept the vans or stop the attack." Said Sal, he wiped his eyes once more and swallowed the build-up of spit in his mouth. "By the time the teams reach Calico, these vans will be in position and the blizzard will be in full force."
"Osprey, you need to take out the drivers." M ordered, quickly thinking up alternate plans.
"Negative." Sal interjected immediately. "That rifle will punch through the drivers and hit the canisters of Sarin in the back. Even on the lowest setting, it will over-penetrate."
"Shit. What about the engines?"
"Could work, I can easily make the shot but if the engine grenades itself from the force, it could hit the piping and release the chemical weapon." Osprey chimed in, her voice sounding dull from the shit show of a situation they were finding themselves in.
"Salamander. Do you have any info on their route?" The Director asked, hurriedly.
The agent quickly flicked through notes and other maps, the grating sound of the large warehouse doors sliding open entered his ears, causing him to curse softly aloud. "Fuck…"
"Get these vans on the road, remember your destinations, hunker down and prepare for the operation, remember the plan!" The voice of Erigor drifted up from the warehouse floor.
'Time is running out…' The agent thought to himself, working harder to find a route.
The sound of multiple engines starting below him caused him to let out a sigh of defeat. "Sir. There is nothing here on their routes, they would most like be in the vans. And they could be different for each one to avoid suspicion."
"Put trackers on them ASAP. Quickly, before they leave." The old man ordered, firmly.
"Copy that." Sal replied, he stomach starting to churn from the toxin in his system, it almost made him retch. 'Tough it out, Sal, you have a mission to complete…'
He reached into a pouch and took out a dozen tracker drones as he moved to the door. He knew his body would be able to handle exposure better than a normal person, but he still needed treatment soon.
With a sweep of his arm, he threw the drones to the vans and watched them latch on as the vehicles started to leave the warehouse.
"Bad news." Osprey said. "Those vans are heading away from me, I don't have a clear shot on the engines. Please advise."
…
"Sir?" Sal asked as he ducked back into the office.
The two agents were met with the frustrated voice of their Director. "Hold fire, we don't want to risk rupturing the containers. Those trackers are transmitting so we'll send the info to the local law enforcement so they can intercept the vans, we can only hope they can stop them before they reach their targets. Start pulling out of there."
"Copy that, Sir. Osprey, cover me while I get out of this place." Sal said as he walked back over to the desk. He scanned all of the Intel he can find regarding the next attack. "Sir, if I come under fire, what are my directives?"
"Lethal force is authorised, but if you can slip out unnoticed then that benefits everyone as the vans won't be on guard."
"Affirmative." Sal was starting to feel fairly ill thanks to the Sarin in his system, he bent over and steadied himself on the desk, his stomach was churning and the tightness in his chest was leaving him breathing heavily. 'Fuck… I need to get out of here.'
The man looked up at his reflection in the window, he was looking pale and had started to bleed colour back into his hair due to losing control of the flow of his magic. Sal pulled the cloth from over his mouth and nose and coughed into his hand. 'Damn…'
The once-again pink-haired agent pulled himself together and headed for the door, hoping the clamour of the vans would drown out any possible noise he made. He held a hand to his chest as he moved slowly along the catwalk.
CRACK, Ting.
A bullet ricocheted off of the steel support beam next to his head, the man groaned and looked to the shooter. 'Fucking hell…'
"Good job, Storm." Black Steel called out. He took a good look at the man upon the elevated walkway. He watched the white drain out to pink completely.
"Agent Salamander." The Merc spat out, his face contorting into a snarl.
"Hello there, Captain Black Steel." Sal called out as he leant on the railing. "Funny seeing you here."
"Who the fuck is this!" Erigor shouted, he pointed at the agent. "Shoot him!"
"Bad Fucking Idea." Black Steel warned the man, knowing full well what the Agent can do. He turned to Storm. "Fall back, we are done here."
"What the fuck!? It is just one guy. SHOOT HIM!" The white-haired terrorist leader shouted at the Phantoms.
"Wasn't on the order, Erigor, kill him yourself." Black Steel said as he turned to his soldiers. "Or die trying."
Erigor pulled out his .357 Magnum and pointed the snub barrel at the Merc. "What has got you so scared about one man?!"
"I'm not scared, but you should be since one of your men is already dead." The pierced man said as he pointed behind the terrorist leader.
"What?!"
Thud
The man spun around and saw that the closest terrorist to him was laying on the floor, her throat slit with brutal precision. "What The Fuck?!"
"You know. You should really listen to Captain Black Steel over there." Sal told the white-haired man, his tone stoic as he slowly walked out from behind his back. "He and I have bumped into each other before, and even had to work alongside each other. So he knows what I am capable of."
Erigor slowly looked between the railing where the man once was and back to the agent next to him, panic slowly setting on his face. "How… Who…?"
"I'm Salamander. Agent Salamander. I work for the FTA. That alone should tell you exactly who and what you are dealing with."
"F… T… A…? Ah FUCK!"
"Boss, what should we do?" Asked one of the terrorists, his eyes on the lifeless body surrounded by a pool of her own blood.
"Kill The FUCKER!" Shouted Erigor as he pointed to the agent next to him… Only, the agent was no longer there. "Where the fuck is he now?!"
The terrorists slowly walked around the warehouse, searching for the agent who had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Black Steel turned to his troops. "Go and load up. Storm and I will be out soon."
"Yes Sir." The Mercs replied, snapping off a quick salute before leaving the warehouse.
"Captain?" Storm asked curiously.
"Watch carefully Juvia… You'll see why, even though I have beef with Salamander, I still respect him and the Agency he works for." He told her, quietly. "Above."
The blunette turned her eyes to the roof, she noticed the pinkette standing up on one of the ceiling beams and was eying his targets below him.
Sal dropped from the ceiling, quickly and quietly. He landed behind one of the terrorists and placed his hands on their head, one over the mouth and the other behind their head.
SNAP
The sound echoed throughout the silent warehouse as the body slumped to the floor, the terrorists all snapped around to their fallen comrade but the agent was already at his next target.
The pinkette used his momentum to land a bone-shattering kick to his target's head, causing it to explode in a shower of gore. He drew his twin Glock 20s, both with custom-made FTA Suppressors, his watery eyes making it hard to aim properly. 'Fuck this.' With two quick shots from the twin 10mm pistols, two of the terrorists fell to the floor.
The terrorists finally managed to overcome their shock and started opening fire on the lone Agent. Erigor watched in horror as the man ran through the hail of bullets, miraculously not getting hit by any. The Agent quickly took out the terrorists, one by one, each person's life ending with rapid double taps at close range.
As a woman fell dead at the hands of the deadly agent, the body was intercepted by a heavy kick to the abdomen. Sal sent the body flying at two men who were standing practically shoulder to shoulder.
The man moved like a blur, closing the distance between the hostiles in a split second. Click-Click Click-Click came the sound of his pistols as they dry fired, they had run out of ammo.
Agent Salamander came to a stop behind the two men, a completely black Bowie Knife gripped firmly in each hand. Neither having a speck of blood on them. The man put the Bowies away and took his pistols back out to reload them as the heads fell cleanly from the men behind him.
"Oh my…" Storm muttered, her eyes wide, she had never seen anyone so lethal yet so calm and in control. "Ju… Juvia doesn't understand, how can he do that?"
The white-haired man slowly backed away from the carnage, he had heard rumours about the FTA and their Agents, but he had never believed them, even when other cells had reported on conflicts where they had come across an agent.
The agent slowly turned his eyes onto the frightened terrorist leader, the last remaining living terrorist in the warehouse. He slowly started walking to the man, placing one of his suppressed Glocks back into its holster.
"We don't really know, but when a new Agent turns up on our radar, they always seem to have a different special ability. Some are noticeable, Agent Knight has Psionic Powers for example, and she is very skilled at using them." Black Steel replied to his subordinate, he pointed at the Agent as he slowly made his way to Erigor. "That man though, we don't know what his ability is, but he can seemingly predict all attacks. It is very hard to land a hit on him. "
Erigor turned away from the menacing man and started to run for the exit, only to be met with a soft click followed quickly by a subsonic 10mm bullet as it tore through his left knee, silently. Thanks to the modifications on the suppressors done by the Archivist.
"Gaah Fuck!" The white-haired man shouted in pain as he fell to the floor, he started dragging himself along the floor to try and leave, blood trailing behind him from the gory remains of his knee.
Sal silently walked up to the side of the man and placed a boot squarely on his back, he pushed Erigor into the ground and prevented him from dragging himself any further away.
Erigor struggled to breathe with the heavy boot pressing him into the concrete. He turned his head, slowly – to look back at the pinkette out of the corner of his eye – only to stare down the barrel of his Glock. "Wait!"
Click
The soft sound of the pistol firing echoed in the warehouse, singing the elegy for Erigor's last moments.
The casing clattered to the ground and rolled a few feet away from the body. Sal lowered the pistol to his side as he turned to the last two Mercs in the building. "Tell me, why the fuck did you supply them with Sarin!"
Black Steel held his hands up. "A job is a job. We got paid, what they do with it is none of our concern."
"I should shoot you. Not only for supplying terrorists, but for also torturing and murdering one of my friends!" Sal shouted, his anger flaring and causing his eyes to flash red. His stomach flipped and he staggered away from the bodies, bending over as he vomited up bile onto the concrete. "Fucking Sarin."
"I didn't torture Agent Ignatius. That was the Boss. We were just tasked with bringing him in." Black Steel said, he let out a soft sigh as he reached into one of his pouches and walked to the pinkette who was showing obvious symptoms of Sarin poisoning. "I had to leave the room. I've never seen the Boss so… Enthusiastic… about interrogating someone. Gotta give your man props though, not once did he budge."
Sal righted himself and wiped the remnants from his mouth with his sleeve. He watched the man cautiously. "We are trained to resist all forms of interrogation, and also trained to use all forms of interrogation too. You know, Ignatius had a son, I had to break the news to the poor kid."
Storm looked down at her feet, her eyes brimming with tears at the news. "Juvia wants to know, how old is the boy? What is his name?"
"Romeo, Romeo is his name. The kid is a teenager, he looked up to his dad, wanted to be just like him. He idolised me, every time I was training, be it fighting or shooting, he used to ask if he could join in." Sal informed them, Black Steel came to a stop before him and took out an Auto-Injector.
"This will counteract the Sarin, it will be gone from your system in about half an hour or so. Take it." He said as he offered the syringe to the Agent. "We had them on hand just in case some idiot got a face full of vapour during handling and transit."
"Why are you giving this to me?" Sal asked, he was hesitant to take the offer of help from the man he hated for everything he had caused, but here he was standing before him with a genuine, albeit faint, look of empathy.
"Look. You and I butt heads from time to time when we run into each other, but I respect you Salamander. I didn't intend for that Agent to die, I was just doing my job, just like I am with these deliveries. Boss' orders."
Storm quietly walked over to the two men, she gently took the medical device from her superior and offered it to the agent herself. "Juvia has no quarrels with you Agent Salamander. Let her help you."
"Quirky aren't you?" Sal said, smiling at her use of third-person speech, they probably had it on record somewhere but he found that she somehow put him at ease, somewhat. However, he still remained cautious of the two Phantoms. "Ok, but how do I know this isn't some kind of trick?"
A small tentacle of water formed on the tip of Storm's finger as she removed the protective cap from the tip of the device, it slipped down the hypodermic needle and extracted a minuscule amount of the contents from the syringe. "Tac-com please."
Sal lifted his arm and allowed the Merc to deposit the liquid into the receptacle. It only took a moment for the analysis to complete, aside from the pure water produced by the woman, the reading came back as a mixture of Atropine and Pralidoxime Chloride, the medicine used in treating exposure to organophosphates like Sarin. His eyes rose from the arm-mounted computer to meet the deep, compassionate, dark-blue eyes of the female mercenary. She moved the injector closer to the man, reaffirming her offer to aid him.
He slowly took the Auto-Injector from her, looking at it cautiously once more but gave in, right now he didn't have the luxury to doubt them. He jammed it into his thigh and hit the button. "…Thanks, might have saved my life, but I still don't trust Phantom Lord." Sal handed the device back to the blunette, looking between the two Mercs as a question popped into his mind. "Is it true, that the head of Phantom is corrupt? Everything we have seen has pointed out that he is working both sides."
Storm nodded, vigorously, her eyes going as cold as arctic water. "People inside the company have been starting to question his motives, his sanity. He has been sending us on odd jobs for a little over a year now."
"She is right." Black Steel said, gruffly. "The Boss seems to be going off the deep end, who knows what he would do next… Some people in the company that believe he is correct, and is doing the right thing, and others are against him."
"And what about you two?" Sal asked, curiously.
"We are against him, so is everyone I am in charge of, I handpicked all of them." Black Steel replied, Storm nodding along in agreement.
"Interesting…" The agent said, he looked between both of them. "You hearing all this?"
"Yes, the Director is too. See if you can get them to come to HQ, He wants to talk to them." M replied, she sipped a tea to calm her nerves.
The man sighed and turned his full attention back to the two Phantoms in front of him. "Looks like my Director wants a word with you two about your boss. When you two have some downtime, head over to Magnolia and drop by the FTA. Head into the underground carpark and tell the guards there that I am expecting you. They should hopefully let you pass without any issue."
"And if we don't want to go?" Black Steel asked, idly, as he rolled his eyes.
"We aren't going to drag you in kicking and screaming if that is what you are wondering." Sal said as he waved his hand in a circle, idly. He walked past them and headed for the rear entrance, he felt his airways slowly open back up, he stepped outside and took a deep breath of the cold winter air. Looking back over his shoulder one last time at the two Mercs, he left them with one final thing. "Keep the offer in mind, we may be able to help with your situation."
"Let's go, Storm, we have to give our report."
"What will we say, Sir?" The blunette asked as they made their way to the waiting SUVs.
"Handover was a success and the clients paid us in full. Just how it happened."
"Then we left once the deal was done?"
"Exactly."
Five Minutes Later
Agent Osprey jumped down from the rooftop near the car. She landed next to Sal, almost losing her footing. "We need to head to the Safe House, ASAP, that blizzard is starting to roll in and I don't plan on getting caught in it."
"Wouldn't want you to freeze to death." The pinkette replied, quickly. "You alright?"
"Thought my hands were going to freeze to the rifle at one point, but aside from that, I am fine." The green-haired sniper said, she turned her eyes to the white sky. "What about you, sounded like you took a face full of Sarin?"
"I did, fucked me about too. But what is more surprising is that I was given an Auto-Injector to counteract the toxin by Storm and Black Steel." Sal hurried to the car and unlocked it. "Get in."
Osprey rushed into the passenger side of the black muscle car. She looked over at the man as he started the vehicle. "I don't know how you trusted them…"
"I don't, but they seemed like they were being honest with me. And if there is some kind of schism going on in Phantom then it would be good to have people on the inside." The pinkette replied, pulling back out of the alleyway and swinging out onto the road.
"Good to see that they aren't all a bunch of yes men." The greenette mused aloud to herself.
…
A couple of minutes had passed when Osprey finally noticed that they hadn't left the street yet, they were sitting at an intersection. She turned her head to look at the man.
Agent Salamander was gripping the steering wheel and gear stick, firmly. His face had remained stoic but internally he was seething with anger, evident by his red eyes. "…Fuck It All!"
Osprey wasn't surprised by his sudden outburst, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "The vans?"
"Yes." He growled, his visage slowly contorting into a snarl, his inhuman fangs glinting in the lights of the car.
"Want to talk about it?"
The man slammed his fist down onto his thigh in frustration. "We couldn't stop those vans, now they are on their way to their targets, we have the trackers in place and can intercept them much faster and more effectively than the cops."
"What can we do? The blizzard is coming in. It would affect the police's response times."
"GGRRAAAHH!" Sal pushed his foot to the floor and wrenched the steering wheel around, his mind made up. "We're intercepting them! I don't give a fuck! Fuck our orders!"
That is it for this chapter, I hope you have enjoyed it, feel free to follow/favourite and leave a review if you have any feedback on the chapter. I'll see you all back here for the next chapter.