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May 6, 2073
07:35 GMT
Combat Simulation Room, Firefly HQ
Lyon, France

"Warning!" The automated message blared, "Combat simulation in progress! All non-essential personnel, be advised!"

The whole facility dimmed its lights, enveloping much of the simulated battlefield in shadows. Ember stood alone for the exercise as part of a test to see how well he'd perform on a solo op. His opponent was Chameleon, at the head of a squad of omnic decoys. They would both be using live rounds for the whole simulation, as both Fireflies were not ones to shy away from incurring injuries even in training exercises.

They'd both heal right after anyway.

Ember pulled his Sunburster stock tighter to his arm, then hurried along, sticking to the shadows as he cleared one corridor to another. The battlefield's setup was in the likeness of a rural town in the African boonies, complete with the burning oil barrels and festering tire stacks, and there were no shortage of good ambush points throughout.

The omnics were programmed to utilize any resource at their disposal to take the Firefly commander out, and were equipped with additional armored plating as well as standard 5.56mm assault-rifles. To pose as an additional challenge to Ember, the omnics were also upgraded with advanced tactical knowledge, making them just as flexible and as ruthlessly efficient as human operators- although such a high opinion was not wholly shared by the Fireflies themselves.

Once the robots were in sight and within firing range, Ember picked his first target and gently squeezed the trigger.

The Sunburster rifle vibrated violently in his arms as its emitter fired a single beam of light towards the omnic soldier. Its bright red glare left a thin spotty line across his vision as it tore through the air, hitting the android square in the torso and burning a path right through it. A loud crack emanated from the beam dispersal, an after-effect of the vibrations of the atoms in the air.

The omnic hunched over and toppled to the side like a felled tree. Unlike most people in the modern world, Ember had no qualms killing omnics, seeing them as little more than soulless machines. The misguided people of the 21st Century would like to think that AI's were worthy of mankind's respect. The notion both disgusted and annoyed Ember, a sentiment no doubt shared by many who felt the sting of the Omnic Crisis.

The created will never be on par with their creators, and so did not deserve their sympathy.

Suddenly, a Sunburster beam was launched from the opposite end of the street, hitting Ember through his armor and cutting a hole through his stomach and out his back. The next instant was filled with crippling agony as the Firefly diverted half his attention to fighting off the pain and the other in focusing on the exercise.

He realized then his opponent's strategy. Chameleon was using the omnics to funnel him in so he could get a clean shot, and so far it seemed to be working.

"Hey Ember! How'd I do?" He heard the cocky infiltrator call above the din of the battle, "That looked like it hurt!"

"Yeah..." Ember muttered as he took cover behind a pillar. The omnics moved in to close the gap, their weapons slowly chipped away at the concrete as they suppressed the Firefly commander. "Got me good you sharp bastard..."

He felt the pain fade away as his ruined flesh mended itself whole, then glanced up to see an opening in the wall opposite of his position. The only thing keeping him from running was the hail of gunfire pinning him down. Once healed, the Firefly reached for one of his grenades and pulled the pin. He cooked the bomb for a few seconds before tossing it down the corridor at the omnic advance. He knew it wouldn't be as effective against the machines as it would with humans, but it was enough to disrupt their fire while he relocated.

The omnics staggered back as the explosion slammed onto their bodies with the force of a dozen jackhammers, allowing Ember the chance to make a dive for the opening. The androids quickly recovered and pursued their quarry into the hole.

A risky move, which proved fatal.

Ember adapted quickly, utilizing the same funneling tactic Chameleon employed against him at the start of the exercise. He drew the omnics in through the hole and started cutting them down with his Sunburster. He fired his weapon without pause for a full minute until the last android was neutralized. By the time he finished killing the omnics, the Sunburster emitted a high-pitched noise as it overheated. The automatic cooling system began its long process of returning the weapon to functionality, ejecting a stream of hot gases from the rifle's barrel as it did so.

"You still there, boss? Getting awfully quiet over there!" Chameleon taunted.

Ember stopped to analyze for a moment where the sound was coming from. Chameleon's voice was getting the louder with every word, which most likely meant he was closing in. Never one to keep his distance from his targets, Chameleon always had a nasty habit of getting too close.

Good news for the Firefly commander. Just as Wesley described him in his file, Ember was most dangerous up close.

There were only a couple of omnics left, and Chameleon sent them in to flush him out. Ember's rifle had yet to become functional, and so he resorted to keeping a low profile and avoid a direct confrontation with the machines while his main weapon was out.

He heard the omnics' overt footfalls and audible mechanical servo whirs as they moved in and scanned the killzone where he funneled the rest of their squad into. The Firefly searched for higher ground and found a stairway leading to the roof of the building he was trapped in. Ascending quickly, Ember peered over the edge of the balcony to get a good view of his surroundings and come up with an idea of how to address the current situation.

Chameleon didn't give him the chance, he appeared right out of thin air and fired another shot.

The beam cut through the balcony wall and narrowly missed its intended target. Ember felt the passing heat of the lance as though a flaming torch slowly brushed by his shoulder.

That one was aimed for his head, a potentially fatal shot if it took the whole thing clean off. For all his enhancements, Ember was still human. Without a functioning brain, he was just another dead man.

"Merde." The Firefly swore under his breath and immediately vaulted off the balcony back to the street below. From his experience, the Sunburster rifle was able to shoot as quickly as its operator's trigger finger could, which was roughly 40-50 shots per minute before going on cooldown. Chameleon could take a few more shots, but could only land one or two accurate ones, leaving the rest as pot shots.

The omnics, detecting their squad leader's weapons discharge, surged out of the house and went right back on Ember's tail. They split up to cut off his escape routes, using their learning programs to take advantage of their initial scans of the battlefield layout. They calculated his routes and eliminated the non-essentials for the highest probability factor.

But Ember wasn't trying to escape, a fact that the machines barely considered, as they assumed the Firefly would do. The net was closing, Chameleon was just a few meters away from delivering the supposed killing blow. The logical solution would be to retreat and regroup. For such an advanced learning system, machines had a tendency to forget that humans were naturally unconventional in their methods.

Ember took the fight right to the machines, and just in time too as his rifle was ready for use.

He waited until one omnic rounded the corner before tackling it right into a nearby wall. The concrete slab came apart as their combined weight shattered it to pieces, although neither combatants were injured on impact. Ember wrestled with the machine and reached for the exposed black tubes coiled around its neck, where the essential wires were located, then yanked them free. The disabled omnic's multiple eyes blinked repeatedly as its systems were shorted out, allowing Ember the chance to seize its weapon and point its barrel under its head.

The gun discharged, rendering the android's face into a mess of ruined scrap and sputtering live-wires.

The last omnic doubled back to assist its fallen comrade, but it was too late. Ember was waiting for it, and shot the android to pieces. When his enemy went down, Ember cautiously approached the twitching omnic. He crouched to make a quick examination, then started to get up to move on. Unfortunately, this was all it took for Chameleon to close in on his target.

"Bang." He said as he decloaked himself, appearing beside Ember with his Sunburster trained on his head. "Game over, commander."

Not one to take defeat lying down, Ember used his rifle to slap Chameleon's weapon upwards and away from his face. He heard the Sunburster crack and fizzle as the blow broke both rifles apart from the impact, a flaw that came with energy-based weapons.

Too many movable parts, too easy to break. Glass cannons, the whole lot of them.

Ember wasted no time in knocking the infiltrator to the ground, and in one fell swoop, drew out his knife and stabbed Chameleon's firing hand into the ground, effectively pinning him in place. Chameleon cried out in pain, feeling the cold titanium blade cutting deep into his flesh, but fell silent as he found himself staring down the barrel of Ember's laser sidearm.

"Should've taken the shot, imbécile."

Both operators remained where they were, breathing heavily and sweating profusely from their exertions. Chameleon's anger died down, giving way to admiration. He laughed heartily and let his head fall back into the dirt.

"Mission failed, but you'll get me next time." Ember said, retrieving his knife from his opponent's hand. The alarm klaxon sounded again, indicating that the simulation was over. The lights came back on, and Ember helped Chameleon back to his feet.

"Next time? I thought I nicked you."

"No you didn't." Ember lied with a nasty smirk.

Just like that, the two Fireflies walked out of the Combat Simulation Room as friends. No hard feelings, just an ever increasing feeling of competition. When they first started exercises like these, the concept was utterly alien to both of them. Having grown accustomed to controlled military exercises, wherein simulated combat did not pose a true threat to the lives of the operators, although the simulations themselves were meticulously designed to be as close to the real thing as possible.

Thanks to their unique physiologies, Ember and Chameleon always had the real thing, even in training. Director Wesley approved the unorthodox method of keeping his operatives sharp as the Firefly Initiative needed only the best.

Adjusting to these new exercises was difficult, but over the years of working under Wesley it served to eliminate any doubts the pair had for the program. And it proved to have its benefits.

"Fuckin' 'ell!" Tac-Bang remarked upon seeing them. The Fireflies had gathered around the CSR command center for evaluation, and the two new recruits were excited to see the results.

"I heard the exercises were unconventional in the Initiative, but this is ridiculous!" Hazard exclaimed, her old corpsman training getting the better of her as she approached to have a look at the commander. "You alright, sir?"

"Yes, we both are." Ember waved her off just as she was moving to examine Chameleon's injury. Their wounds, thanks to their enhanced cellular metabolism, had closed up, leaving only faint scars in their wake.

"You cut through 'em like a hot knife on butter." Tac-Bang said, eyeing the computer screen displaying Ember's score. "Keep that up once we've deployed 'gainst Talon, the buggers won't stand a chance."

"No, never think that way." The Firefly commander cautioned, "Talon does not use omnics in their operations unless to act as bullet-sponges. Their operators are just as competent as ours. Assume that whatever we have, they've got something just as good- maybe even better."

"I think you lot will have just the opportunity to find out." Wesley announced, overhearing the group's small talk as he entered the facility. All operatives stood at attention, but eased off as the director waved it away. "Ember, Chameleon. Good work, as always. I hope you two didn't rough each other up too much."

"We're still good to go, sir." Ember answered confidently. Chameleon seconded that with a nod.

"Glad to hear it." Wesley held up a datapad, "Listen up, Fireflies. Just over nine hours ago, Nigerian Prime Minister Ishmael Abedoyo was taken hostage while attending an international technology summit in Lagos. We believe this to be the work of the LVA, a leading anti-Western terrorist organization founded by former Chechen separatists. We also have reason to believe that the hostage-taking incident had help from the outside."

"Talon's got its fingerprints on it?" Ember inquired.

"Likely. However, our investigation would have to be put on hold until after the Prime Minister is safe and secure. Your mission is to link up with host nation forces, under the command of Captain Olane and affect the immediate release of Abedoyo."

"Copy that, sir." Ember acknowledged, turning to his team. "Alright Fireflies, let's suit up and head on out of here."

May 26, 2073
09:35 GMT
Lagos, Nigeria

"Widowmaker." Amélie heard her commander speak through the comm channel.

She opened her eyes and sat up, a bit startled as she started to dream. The woman found herself back in her seat aboard a Talon dropship, heading for her first mission. There was a noticeable slight turbulence in her flight to the operation site, but overall the dropship seemed to pull a steady course to her destination.

"Widowmaker, respond."

The sniper pressed the button on her earpiece and replied, "Widowmaker here."

"Finally." The voice let out an exasperated sigh, "Transmitting details. How are you receiving?"

Her Latrodectus implant received the file upload from headquarters, interfacing with her headpiece and allowing the Talon operative to view her mission briefing remotely. "Loud and clear. Ready for orders."

"Your mission is LVA Leader Yosef Chkheidze. His safety is your priority. Maintain distance and provide protection covertly. We will be watching."

"Yes sir."

"And Widowmaker?"

"Sir?"

"No sleeping on the job. You will sleep only when we tell you to, got it?"

"Yes sir." Amélie replied, realizing that her headpiece also served as the eyes and ears of her superiors. Instead of chafing at the realization, the indoctrinated and thoroughly brain-washed operative found amusement at the prospect of having the organization's eyes on her work.

"Approaching LZ, heads-up!" The Talon pilot yelled from the cockpit.

Widowmaker removed her seatbelt and got up to the dropship door. She stepped out fearlessly into the cold, open air and fast-roped her way onto the roof of a towering spire. From there, she could see the whole city of Lagos. Just a quarter of a kilometer away, the LVA leader was holed up in a portside house, surrounded by a small army of ultranationalists. Her high vantage point allowed her to view every access point and every escape route. Her training allowed her to quickly form a concrete set of plans should the worst-case scenario occur.

Unbothered by the strong winds and salty, rich air blow from the sea, Amélie relished the freedom that came with the mission.

Talon had reason to believe that someone was going to make a move on the LVA and their prize, and it pleased her to know that they relied on her to ensure their schemes would come to fruition.

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