The shipping container was full of human figures. At first glance, Cade assumed that they were some kind of creepy sculptures, while Augustin feared that they might be dead bodies. After a moment, the two men realized that they were living people, held in suspended animation- like the clones used in the Apex Games. They were encased in glass cylinders, lined up in neat rows within the shipping container. Their eyes were closed, their bodies eerily still.
"Fucking hell," Cade breathed as he looked around the crate with narrowed eyes, his rifle at the ready. "What is all this?"
"Knowing Hammond, 'test subjects' is a likely answer," growled Revenant. He stepped into the enclosed structure and walked up to one of the cylinders, glaring menacingly at the unconscious body it contained. The assassin's arm reconfigured into a bladed weapon, which he raised.
"I'll put them out of their misery."
"What? No, no- these people need our help," protested Augustin. "We should take them back to headquarters!"
"Hell no, we're not letting a bunch of Hammond Robotics' experiments into our command center," Cade snapped in response. "We don't know who they are, what they're capable of, if the Syndicate can track them…! No, I agree with the Sim. Best thing we can do is kill 'em quickly."
Despite his violent words, the enforcer lowered the rifle to his side as he stepped up to one of the cylinders. The person inside was inconspicuous- brown hair, average build, a physique that was athletic but unremarkable. They had no distinguishing marks and would easily fade into the background among a crowd. Cade raised his free hand and tapped on the glass.
An arm reached around him from behind. Gloved fingers found his windpipe and squeezed- his startled cry cut off in a harsh noise. As he twisted his body and drove his elbow back to strike the assailant, dread washed over him for a fraction of a second- the thought that one of these creepy, half-alive bodies had woken up and grabbed onto him… A heavy clang of metal on metal resounded, and the hand on his throat released. The enforcer spun around and raised his rifle in a single, smooth motion. With air moving freely to and from his lungs, he was able to think much more clearly. Of course the human experiments hadn't come to life to attack him; how silly was that idea? It was the guard he'd seen earlier with the powered armor… His eyes glanced over them for a fraction of a second; almost immediately, they'd disappeared from sight.
Only after he'd rushed out of the crate, weapon at the ready, did it occur to him that Revenant had disappeared as well. Augustin was at his side, clearing the right of the shipping container while Cade cleared the left. Scraping and scuffling above the two men prompted them to look up- just in time to see Revenant go flying from the top of the container. The simulacrum hit the concrete hard. It didn't faze him in the slightest- he was already back up in a combat stance.
A blast of searing energy hit the ground where he'd been standing a moment before. He was up against the side of the crate now- their attacker peered down over the edge to line up a shot. Cade looked up and fired first. The bullet ricocheted off the exo-suit that the guard wore- the impact was enough to throw them off balance, which gave Revenant the opening to grab their leg and pull them down from the crate. Their weapon fell from their hands as they fell. Before it clattered to the ground, they had already pulled a combat knife with a hooked tip from a holster at their ankle.
Revenant caught the enemy by the throat and slammed them against the side of the shipping container. While in motion, they managed to put the blade through his shoulder joint and give it a sharp twist. Sparks flew- he lost his hold on them as his arm fell uselessly to his side. They swung one leg up and out to knock him back. His good arm caught their foot and twisted hard- they were forced to turn and drop to the ground to avoid having their ankle snapped.
They were moving too fast for Augustin to reliably track.
"Revenant," the corporal shouted from his position at the corner of the shipping crate where he could use its door for cover, "get out of the way, zanmi!"
"Just shoot him if you have to," Cade hissed as he shuffled sideways to take a wide angle. "Our engineers can repair him later."
"Ah, so ruthless, Cade… Mete absè sou klou," Augustin muttered under his breath. The enforcer ignored him- their adversary broke free of Revenant's grip and charged toward him. He took the shot. They fell to the ground- then immediately rolled out of the way and came up standing. The impact of the bullet had hit them hard, but the armor they wore kept it from tearing through their body. They leaped forward and knocked Cade to the ground. Cold steel pressed against the side of his neck… He pulled his arm back and struck his attacker in the chest with as much force as he could manage.
Given his augmentations, that was considerably more than an ordinary human would have been able to produce. The assailant fell backward- the knife clattered out of their hand. Augustin rushed forward and kicked it away. They struck him in the knee- the corporal cried out in pain and surprise as he hit the ground. Cade caught their extended arm before they could pull it back. He twisted his body, pulling them face-down onto the ground, where he pinned the arm and pressed his full weight into their shoulder blade. Revenant was upon them in an instant… He was finally able to tear through the powered armor, and moments later, their body had gone still.
Cade sat down heavily, breathing hard.
"Someone gave that one guard way too much caffeine," Augustin gasped. He got to his feet, wincing as he put weight on his injured knee.
"More like amphetamines," replied the enforcer.
"This isn't a guard," Revenant growled in response as he went through a tactical bag attached to the armor they wore. He pulled out a commlink device, popped it open, and activated the holographic data display. A picture of Cade loaded in.
The enforcer raised an eyebrow.
"Professional assassin. Congratulations, Dylan Cade- you're on the Syndicate's most-wanted list…" Revenant's sarcastic remark trailed off as he read through the file.
"How the fuck did they find me?"
Cade ran one hand through his hair, a perplexed expression on his face. He was careful, as were the rest of the faction's security personnel that he'd trained. They had their own encrypted communications network, switched out the devices regularly, never used the same license plates on their vehicles for more than one excursion… So many protocols designed to protect from situations like this, yet all of them had somehow failed.
In response to the enforcer's question, Revenant flicked the holographic display to another screen. Cade's file disappeared, replaced by a rendering of the three of them and their deceased adversary, as viewed from an angle above them. The enforcer's mouth opened slightly in surprise as he reached toward the commlink device, and saw his holographic model's arm reach out in unison.
"The Syndicate is watching us right now…?"
"No," said Revenant. "This isn't part of their surveillance network. It's used only by those who work… outside of standard operations."
He entered a command, and the angle of the camera slowly lowered. Once it appeared to be sitting on the ground, it seemed to advance on them. It zoomed in closer and closer, until Cade and Augustin were out of view and the holographic display was only projecting a detailed model of Revenant. He set the commlink device down on the ground and picked up a mechanical spider, which he held out for the others to see- the angle of the holographic display moved with it.
"Dear God, that's almost creepier than a real spider," Augustin exclaimed with a grimace. Cade laughed.
"Going to start squishing spiders like a normal person now, instead of tossing them outside?"
"I'll- ah, take it under consideration," the corporal replied.
Revenant dropped the spider drone and picked the commlink device back up. The mechanical arachnid scuttled away as he exited the surveillance display and returned to the file he'd been reading.
"So… you wrote computer viruses to hijack the brains of soldiers with neural interfaces."
The assassin looked up at Cade, who glared back.
"I also developed security measures to protect cyborgs from those sorts of viruses," the enforcer hissed. "Syndicate file probably leaves that part out, though…"
"Does Crypto know about your… particular skill-set?"
"Yes," Cade replied through gritted teeth. "Not sure why you'd care about his safety- Sim."
"I don't," Revenant answered. "Just looking out for my own interests… I need that data card."
The enforcer muttered something angrily under his breath. Revenant paid him no more attention- instead, he closed Cade's file and looked through the list of other potential targets that the enemy assassin had downloaded to their device. A lot of names he didn't recognize had been added to that list… One person who'd seemingly disappeared from the grid, as their name had been there since he worked for the Syndicate. He noted that Augustin, Mauser, and Colomar weren't on the list; nor were the Apex competitors who'd gone AWOL.
A name did, however, catch his attention: Victor "TorC" Croyhan.
He opened the attached file. It confirmed what Torc had mentioned the day before, when the two of them had met: that he'd been contracted to the Syndicate as a scientist, and assigned to work on an experimental neural interface that would allow something like telepathy between allied combatants. The project had been a failure, after which the Syndicate had determined that Torc couldn't be trusted to protect the secrets of their military strategy. They'd been hunting him since.
That didn't come as a surprise to Revenant. Scientists who worked for the Syndicate didn't get to just leave- such was the nature of the information that they had access to over the course of their work. If the executives decided that they were no longer useful, someone was sent to tie up the loose ends. Thorough, efficient, and brutal… The nature of the organization. He'd been the one to end plenty of lives under similar circumstances.
Yet- he owed something to Torc, didn't he? He hated that idea. He despised the thought of owing anything to anyone… Least of all, a scientist who'd been involved in the Syndicate's experiments. It was a strange thought, and a feeling that was foreign to him- the idea that he would protect Torc from his former- colleagues, if they could be called that… This confusion, this internal conflict, was ridiculous. It was human, and beneath him; something he thought he would have left behind now that the virus was gone.
He flicked through the holographic display with more force than necessary. The list of priority targets closed; a file directory opened in its place. Revenant expected to find maps, schedules, pertinent information on the person being hunted- there was very little. Cade, it seemed, was good at hiding his tracks.
The next thing he did was open the device's digital appointment book. Syndicate assassins tended to be a meticulous sort- calculating, thorough… If this guy didn't have a neural interface to keep their own schedule organized in spite of their disorganized human mind, it was likely that they logged their every move.
Revenant's prediction was correct. The defeated adversary had planned to stake out an up-scale building tonight in preparation for another assignment, which they'd cancelled when Cade had popped up on the surveillance grid- and on their schedule for tomorrow was…
Augustin grunted with effort as he dragged the body of another guard inside the shipping container. While the corporal moved them from the pavement outside, Cade stripped them of their equipment, ID cards, and uniform jackets- things that could be useful to the faction.
"We'll close the crate up and leave it here," said Augustin as they worked. "No strangers in our headquarters, and no murder of helpless, unconscious people."
Cade responded with a noncommittal grunt as he gathered supplies he'd taken from the guards and made his way out of the container. Augustin followed him out. From there they went in separate directions; Cade toward the van with all the gear he'd collected, Augustin around the other side of the container to retrieve the next body.
A sharp mechanical grinding caused the corporal to turn his head abruptly. Revenant stood a few feet away. Broken wires protruded from his mangled shoulder joint; the arm hung useless at his side. Augustin frowned.
"Are you all right, my friend?"
The assassin glared at him. Rather than answer the question, he responded by rotating the holographic display he was looking at so that Augustin could read it.
"Prisoner transfer, scheduled for twenty-two hundred hours," he growled. "The Syndicate has assassins overseeing the operation- they don't trust their guards to handle someone involved…"
He flicked to another screen, which displayed the names of the prisoners being moved.
"Go get Cade. Whatever plan he and Crypto had, it's going to have to change- Mila Alexander is on this list."