Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.
Penthouse floor of the Ryonia Building, 237 Obsidian Drive, New Taebid City
October 2498, Twenty-eight years ago
"So do either of you know why we were sent here to protect Lady Ryonia?" X'lish asked Nibet and Izagail via the microphone end of her standard issue communications headset: a wireframe band that connected two small padded speakers which lay over the holes in the side of her head that served as her ears with a microphone on a snaking wire coming out of one speaker. She was laying on her stomach on the top of a building adjacent to the Ryonia Corporations tower aiming through the scope of a sniper rifle at the penthouse window and the entrance of a secret elevator behind it. She, just like every other member of her team, was wearing a standard issue vanguard armor set: a black full body suit made from several layers of carbon fiber and ballistic resistant fabrics and a tactical harness designed to carry an array of equipment.
"You broke radio silence for that? Seriously?" Nibet asked. She was crouched directly opposite the elevator behind an opaque glass railing mounted on an open staircase that led from the lounge area of the penthouse to the rest of the floor. "That info's way above our clearance. It's not our business who's trying to threaten our members, just that we stop them."
"I agree with Nibet. It's not our place to question our orders. Even if we aren't privy to the inner workings of why they are issued." Izagail chimed in. He had pressed himself flat against the section of wall next to where the secret elevator was supposed to open up. Together, the three of them had set up a kill box to take out anyone who would try to use the elevator to gain access to the penthouse and the occupants inside.
"You always agree with Nibet." X'lish replied rolling her eyes.
"Well, she's always right. Obviously."
"That is so not the reason, and you know it."
"What are you two talking about?" Nibet probed. X'lish had been antagonizing Izagail for a couple of days, and Nibet was beginning to wonder what was going on between them.
"Ask Izagail. I'm sure he'd love to tell you."
"This is not the time or the place for this conversation." Izagail said, trying to change the topic before X'lish mentioned that he had the hots for her sister. "We've got a job to do."
"Right. The job." X'lish returned to her original train of thought, letting Izagail off the hook for the time being. "I'd feel more comfortable aiming a sniper rifle at an empty section of wall if I knew who was going to come out of the other side. That's all I'm saying."
"You already know who. People who wish Lady Ryonia harm. And that's all you need to know." Nibet was tiring of her sister's constant rambling.
"But who wishes her harm, exactly? A criminal syndicate? A rival corporation? Humanist spies? I'd like to know that I'm protecting her because someone wants to destroy the Order, and not because she failed to pay a loan or because someone got pissed at her after she bought out another company."
"Are you implying that our work is not holy enough for your standards? We are the protectors of the faithful. Be that protection against threats of external origin or against demons of their own making, our job is just as important."
"I guess so. But it's a hell of a lot less satisfying if we're fighting the latter."
"I don't really see the difference."
"Cut the chatter." Izagail interrupted. A circle of light appeared on the section of wall next to him. "The elevator's here." He crept back as the wall retracted and split apart, revealing the interior of the secret elevator. "Nibet. Can you see what's inside?" He whispered into his comm-set.
"Nothing, as far as the snake camera can tell." She had with her a small, handheld monitor with a handle. Connected to that handle was a thin, segmented, flexible metal line that ran underneath the railing she was crouched behind. On the end of the snake was a small camera pointed at the elevator, feeding information back to the monitor. "Switching to infrared." She announced. She pressed a small button on the side of the device, and the feed changed from normal to heat-vision. There were no heat signatures in the elevator, or anywhere in the walls next to or above it. "Nothing on infrared either."
"I'll check inside, just to be on the safe side." Izagail replied. He cautiously inched his way into the elevator. It was empty. "There seems to be nothing here. But I'll keep looking." He walked to the middle of the elevator and noticed that on the ceiling there was a maintenance hatch. He opened it up. "Hello." He whispered to himself as he jumped up, grabbing the lip of the hole and pulling himself up above the elevator.
"Izagail, where'd you go?" Nibet asked. His heat signature had disappeared from her camera display.
"Calm down. I'm up in the elevator shaft. Though I appreciate the concern." Izagail said as he walked around on top of the elevator looking for intruders.
"No I mean your heat signature disappeared. The shaft must be insulated, there's no telling who or what they could have hid up there."
"Oh relax will you? There's no one up here anyw-" Izagail made a strange grunting noise midsentence, followed by complete static.
"Nibet, what the hell happened?" X'lish asked her sister. She had the scope of her rifle trained on the entrance to the elevator, but nothing had moved since Izagail went in.
"I think Izagail's been attacked. Maybe even killed. Either way, our target is in that elevator." Nibet replied as she drew her pistol and poked her head over the side of the railing to get a good view of the elevator.
"Oh, don't worry. He isn't dead." An unfamiliar male voice spoke to the sisters over Izagail's comm-set. "He's just unconscious. For now. And if you want him to stay that way, your sniper on the adjacent rooftop will hold her fire while I come out of the elevator."
"Who are you?" X'lish asked angrily. "And how did you know I was here?"
"You've been talking on a relatively unsecure channel. I've known you were there since you started chatting." A solitary male bone stepped out of the elevator wearing Izagail's comm-set on his head, a balaclava with a hole in the middle for his nose to poke through, and what appeared to be military grade spec-ops protective gear. Nibet raised her gun to take a shot at him.
"No, don't!" X'lish shouted into her earpiece. "If you kill him, Izagail will die!"
"Izagail's life matters little compared with protecting Lady Ryonia! I'll do what I must!" Nibet shouted back.
"You'd better listen to her. If you kill me now, I'll release this button here." In his hand, the bone was holding a small device with one button, which he was currently holding down. "If that were to happen, the copious amounts of explosives we've placed on the foundations of this building will detonate, pulling the building to the ground and killing everyone inside in the process, including the woman you were assigned to protect. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"
"What do you want us to do?" Nibet asked spitefully as she lowered her gun.
"Toss your gun into the elevator." Nibet threw her gun as hard as she could directly at his face. He dodged effortlessly and the firearm landed inside the elevator. "Hostile. That's understandable, given your situation. But any more behavior like that and you die. Now turn around and put your hands behind your back." Nibet did as she was told. Another Bone, dressed in the same manner as his partner, dropped down from the hatch in the elevator's ceiling and picked up her gun. He was also carrying a pair of handcuffs. He walked over from the elevator to her and secured them around her wrists.
"There, you see? That wasn't so hard." The first intruder said. He plucked Nibet's comm-set off of her head and gave it to the second intruder. "I'm going on ahead. Make sure she doesn't try anything." The second one positioned the comm-set on his head, nodded, and aimed Nibet's gun at her head. The first one walked up the stairs and through the door to the rest of the compound.
"Before you try to kill me," The second one said to X'lish. "If I don't check in with my partner every so often, he'll let the bombs go off. So don't get any bright ideas about shooting me." With that out of the way, he sat down, with his back turned to X'lish. He motioned for Nibet to sit down as well. "Sit down. It's going to be awhile. We might as well get comfortable." Nibet grudgingly did as she was told.
"Just so you know, when I get out of these I'll cut your throat out." She said. He laughed, but she could see a bead of sweat run down the side of his face.
"You sound pissed. Let me take a guess. That guy up there's your boyfriend?" He nodded at the elevator.
"No. Unfortunately, he's just her friend. Though not for much longer, if I can help it." X'lish said into her comm-set. She knew the intruder was here to kill Lady Ryonia, but unless she kept him talking everyone could be killed, so she tried to hold his attention at least long enough for Selthash's team to get Lady Ryonia to safety.
"Oh. That is a shame." The intruder replied. "Just between us, I'd hate to have to kill him. I'd hate to have to kill any of you, to be honest. You all seem like really nice people and I hope all of us can walk away from this intact."
"What are you playing at?" Nibet asked the intruder callously. He ignored her.
"If it comes down to it though, you might not have another choice." X'lish was doing the best she could not to start screaming as she waited for Selthash's team to come bursting through the door with the first intruder captive. "Because Lady Ryonia's life is more important than any member of this team. And we are not about to let you threaten it wantonly."
"I think you've somehow mistaken why we've came here today. You see we aren't here to kill anyone. We just need some information from your client. As soon as my associate gets what he wants, we'll disarm the bombs and leave the building in peace. Assuming you don't interrupt, that is." Nibet could hear a hint of anxiety and fear in the intruder's voice. He wasn't used to their line of work. He wasn't a professional assassin. He was faking. But his partner wasn't.
"Don't trust him! He's bluffing. He may be a rookie, but his partner is here to kill Lady Ryonia!" Nibet shouted, hoping she was shouting loud enough for her comm-set to pick up her words and get her message through to her sister.
"Hey, can you keep it down over there? I'm trying to hold a conversation." His arrogant pretending pushed Nibet over the edge.
"That's it, I can't take this anymore!" Nibet shouted. She jumped up and swung her hands under her legs, landing in an attack position. "Least of all from an amateur like you!" She swung her right leg at his head in a roundhouse motion. He dodged back, and her leg barely missed striking his nose.
"Amateur? I'm hurt. Would an amateur have been able to dodge that attack?" The intruder mused. She screamed and thrusted her left knee at his gut. He threw her gun to the side and caught her leg inches from his stomach with both of his hands. She brought her hands, still bound together by the handcuffs, down on top of his head. He used his right hand to catch her fists from pounding his skull, and at the same time his left leg to kick her right leg out from under her, knocking both of them to the ground and slamming her on her back. He stood up as she recovered from having the wind knocked out of her.
"You're not going to listen to me not matter what I say, are you? So, instead of talking, how about we pass the time by make this interesting?" He asked her as she stood up. "I will not call in with my partner. This building will explode. Unless you can manage to pull this device off of my head in the next ninety seconds." He tapped the comm-set on the side of his head. "If you can, you, your friend, and your client all get to live another few minutes. If you can't, all of us blow up." Additionally, he took out a set of keys from one of his pockets. "And to make things really interesting, how about I give you these." He tossed them to Nibet. She caught them, and instantly used them to undo her handcuffs. "What do you say?"
"I'm going to rip the eyes out of your fucking skull with my bare hands." Nibet growled as she rubbed where the cuffs made contact with her wrists, a mixture of rage and glee permeating her voice.
"I'll take that as a yes." He responded as he stepped back into a fighting stance. "Let's get started, shall we?" Nibet instantly rushed forward and tried to punch him in the face. The intruder instinctively blocked with his arm, but instead of striking it she undid her fist at the last second and grabbed his arm. Pulling on the arm in her grip, she threw him to the floor and tried to break his leg. He caught her fist with his free hand. Then, lying on his stomach, he managed to get enough momentum to kick her in the face. As she reeled back, she released her grip on his arm and gave him enough time to stand up.
"I'll give you some credit, you certainly know how to fight." The intruder commented smugly as Nibet regained her bearings. She locked eyes with him and tried to roundhouse kick him in the face again. He dodged underneath her leg and jabbed her in between her ribs. She tried to punch him in the face as he stepped out in front of her again, but he swatted her fist to the side and kneed her in the stomach. Before she could catch her breath, he elbowed her in her temple and knocked her to the ground. As she tried to regain her composure, he continued to talk. "But you're sloppy. You let me get inside your head. This fight was over from the start." He moved over to her on the ground and tried to kick her in the temple, but X'lish interrupted him.
"If you kill her, I'll not hesitate to shoot you." X'lish shouted into her comm-set as she trained the sniper rifle's reticule on the back of his head.
"Oh would you relax? I said I have no intention of killing anyone. And besides, the glass in reinforced. There's no way you could actually shoot through it." He replied. For good measure he turned to face X'lish, unaware that Nibet was beginning to regain her footing. X'lish decided to keep him occupied until Nibet could make her move. She aimed slightly to his left, and fired a round. It punched a fist-sized hole straight through the window, which buckled from the impact and fell out of its frame, landing on the floor in several fractured sheets of glass. The bullet thudded into the ground to the intruder's right. He flinched slightly as the bullet flew past his face, his fear momentarily betraying him on his face. X'lish took note.
"It can't stop a high velocity round. Now surrender and call in with your partner like everything's fine. Or things will get messy."
"You can't afford to kill me. Without me, this whole building crumbles to dust." Nibet reared up to strike him in the back of the head.
"Who said anything about killing you?" X'lish asked. Right as Nibet was about to knock him to the floor, he ducked to the side and scooped up the gun lying on the ground. As she turned toward him, he shot her in the shoulder three times. She fell to the ground, winded but not wounded. He walked up to her, pulled a knife from his belt, stabbed her in the spot he shot her to make in opening in her suit, and shot her there again three more times. This time, the bullets went through. With Nibet subdued, he sheathed his knife, put the gun against her forehead, and spoke to X'lish though his comm-set.
"Your teammate is incapacitated, and therefore cannot continue in our little competition. You now have a few options. One: You shoot me, the bombs explodes, and you get to watch everyone die. Two: I shoot her, you shoot me, the bombs explodes, and you still get to watch everyone die. Three: We wait this out, my partner doesn't get back in time, I don't call in, the bombs explodes, and yet again everyone dies. Or four: You come down here and try to get this device off of my head in your teammate's place, and your friends have a chance at survival. You have thirty seconds to decide."
"I'll be right there." X'lish responded. Next to her was a tripod with a small rectangle positioned on top. She pressed a button on the side, and a hole opened up in the rectangle. Out of the hole shot a barbed, three pronged metal hook attached to a thick metal wire that swiftly bridged the gap between the two buildings, imbedded itself just above the broken window, and pulled taut. X'lish stood up from her post, taking her sniper rifle with her, and laid it on top of the wire. Holding on to both ends of the rifle, she leapt from the roof of the building and sped along the wire on her makeshift zip-line straight through the broken window. As she reached the end of the line, she let go of the barrel of her rifle and swung it around as she landed, aiming the muzzle directly at the intruder's head.
"Very impressive." The intruder laugher as he took a few steps back towards the area of the lounge that contained several high-end couches. "But you still can't kill me. Meanwhile I can kill you whenever I want to." He aimed his handgun at her head. "So now you've got two options. Fight me hand-to-hand, or surrender."
"If you think that I'd ever surrender to the likes of you Nibet must've seriously knocked something loose in your brain. You shot my sister. I'm going to repay you in kind." X'lish spat out as her finger tightened around the trigger.
"So her name's Nibet, is it? Nice name. And she's your sister? I never would have guessed. But unfortunately you failed to make your choice in time. So you, your sister, and your friend in the elevator shaft all get to die together in a second." He took another step back and his foot bumped up against one of the couches. In the blink of an eye he vaulted over the couch behind him, landed on the ground, and instantly rolled underneath another one and out of X'lish's line of sight. She lowered her rifle and instantly chased after him
"Time's up!" He shouted at her from the couches. She stopped, and briefly glanced at the open elevator before grabbing Nibet and dragging her desperately to the open window, prepared to jump out in anything exploded. When nothing happened, she paused, and considered that the whole thing might have been a ruse. She dragged her sister back from the window and laid her down at the foot of the staircase to get her out of the way. She began to run towards where the intruder had hidden himself, but just as she left her sister's side the ground beneath her exploded. Chunks of floor flew up past her face with a substantial pressure wave right behind them that carried her across the room. She blacked out before she hit the ground.
"Though your offer is much appreciated, Vanguard Jeleset, I need no protection from Kelkaid's phantoms. That man has been trying to get me to move my family to a more secure location where he could personally oversee our safety for almost two years now. No doubt to better control my children and by extension place the future of my considerable wealth further under his control. His warnings in the past proved to be inconsequential, and this one will as well." Lady Ryonia insisted angrily. She was conversing with Jeleset inside her substantial bedroom wearing a long, flowing red dress and black heels. Her children, Nemyunoi and Wunkhani, were playing on the other side of the room.
"Lady Ryonia, with all due respect, the threat is real this time. We lost contact with our men inside the NTPD, which means they've more than likely been compromised. And until we can ascertain what information, if any, they leaked about the Order, we have to treat this situation as if whatever party was responsible for the security leak has access to all of the information those officers knew. Now among the list of compromised officers is a man who used to work for you and had knowledge of your private elevator, which potentially puts you directly in this group's line of fire. We're just here to make sure you and your family remain safe until another team conducts an investigation and we know for sure whether or not you are in danger." Jeleset responded, her patience growing wearier by the second.
"And I assume once you learn that I'm in danger you'll escort me to a more secure location?"
"If that is in fact the case, we will have no choice but to extract you to our headquarters where you can be protected more efficiently."
"Of course you will." Lady Ryonia sighed and sat on her bed. "This is by far the most elaborate excuse Kelkaid has come up with to try to convince me to move. I can't believe I missed a dinner party for this." She stood up again and walked over to her antique ebony bedside table, upon which resided, among other personal items, a phone. She picked it up and began to dial a number.
"What are you doing? We can't have you communicating with the outside! Your phone lines could be being monitored." Jeleset shouted.
"Oh would you relax? I'm not calling Kelkaid, much as I would like to. I'm just calling my friend Patrick to tell him I can't make it to his benefit tonight. Now it you don't mind, I prefer privacy when making telephone calls." Lady Ryonia shooed Jeleset out of the door with a wave of her hand.
"Very well. I'll be outside if you need anything." Jeleset bowed and walked out of the room, carefully closing the door behind her. Beyond the door, Selthash and Viprus were standing guard.
"What's the word?" Viprus asked.
"She'll stay put for now. But if things go south and we have to move her to HQ, I don't think she'll be very cooperative." Jeleset sighed and leaned against the wall. "Though, with the way this night has been going, I doubt it'll come to that."
"Maybe we'd better check in with the other team, just to make sure everything's going well." Selthash suggested.
"Lady Ryonia lined the interior rooms of this floor with copper wiring. Our comm-sets are useless outside the lobby." Viprus replied.
"Paranoid bitch." Selthash muttered. Jeleset slapped him.
"Watch your tongue, weasel." She spat. "Regardless, we have our orders and they have theirs. If two highly trained close combat specialists and a sniper are not capable of holding a single room, then they have no business calling themselves Vanguards." Just then a Bone in military gear and a balaclava rounded the corner. All three of them raised their guns in tandem and prepared to shoot.
"I wouldn't, if I were you." He raised his hands, and in one he had his finger pressed on the button of a small detonator. "If you kill me, explosives planted on this building's foundation will bring the entire structure down around you in a matter of seconds, killing you, your teammates, and you client."
"You're bluffing." Viprus responded. "No one would be willing to sacrifice themselves just to kill an innocent businesswoman."
"Innocent?" The intruder scoffed. "You're defending this woman and you don't even know what she's done? I guess that's life for you. But that is beside the point. I am here to accomplish a task. You're mistaken to assume that I intend for any harm to come to your client. I actually need her alive, but I have armed this device as a means of insuring my survival should you be stupid enough to consider killing me. If you still think that I'm bluffing, by all means, shoot me now. In the few second of life you'll have left afterwards, I hope you enjoy the fact that you will be directly responsible for your client's demise." After a moment's hesitation, all three of them lowered their guns.
"Fantastic." The intruder beamed as he approached the door leading to Lady Ryonia's bedroom. Jeleset, Selthash, and Viprus all tensed up, preparing to subdue him when he reached them. He stopped.
"I know you're all waiting to attack me as soon as I get in arms reach. You should know, however, that there is a three second lag between when I take my finger off of this button and when the explosives detonate. If you think you're fast enough to take it from me in that timeframe, by all means, try." Instantly Selthash rushed forward and threw a knife at the man's forearm. The intruder caught the knife with his free hand and threw it back, grazing Selthash on the shoulder.
"That's smart. Sever my nerves and I can't move my fingers." The intruder commented as Seltash reached the man and drew a second knife. Before he could use it, the intruder struck Selthash in the neck and he fell to the ground unconscious. "Unfortunately, you lack the necessary training to implement such a plan. Now who's next?"
Viprus unsheathed the sword on his back, jumped up into the air, and kicked off the wall to propel himself at the man's face. Jeleset meanwhile dropped low and tried to sever his Achilles tendon while Viprus distracted him. The intruder jumped up, narrowly avoiding Jeleset's knife, grabbed Viprus's sword hand, and smashed his shoulder into Viprus's stomach. As his momentum carried him upward, he took Viprus with him and slammed him into the ceiling. As Viprus lost his grip from the force of the combined impacts, the intruder took hold of the sword and imbedded it in Jeleset's shoulder as he landed, pinning her to the ground. As she tried to free herself, he kicked her in the temple and knocked her unconscious as well. By this point Viprus had landed. The intruder approached him, dropped the detonator next to his head, and squatted down next to him.
"The detonator was a fake. There are no explosives. It was my partner's idea, actually: trick you into letting down your guard down so we could incapacitate you rather than just straight up kill you. If this was up to me, all six of you would have been dead almost an hour ago, but we aren't the bad guys here, so you're still alive. I hope you have sense enough to see that in the future. For what it's worth, kid, you all fought well. As well as can be expected anyway. Maybe in about a century or so, you'll be able to try to take me on again. Until then, get some rest." He punched Viprus in the back of the head, taking him out of the equation. Then he stole the handgun out of Viprus's holster.
With them out of the way, he stood up and opened the door to Lady Ryonia's room. Inside, Lady Roynia was still in the middle of her phone call. When she heard the door open, she turned around to admonish whoever had interrupted her.
"I said not to interrupt-" Her words caught in her throat as she stared down the barrel of a handgun. She looked behind him to see the three unconscious bodies of her protectors on the floor, and made a small, frightened noise.
"Hang up the phone." The intruder growled.
"Patrick I'll call you back." She said abruptly into the receiver. She hung up the phone and put her hands above her head. "What do you want from me?" She asked. "If you're here for money, I'll give you whatever you want, just don't take the only parent my children have left away from them."
"Spare me your sob story. You probably had your husband killed anyway. I'm her for information about the Order. Comply and I'll let your children live." He aimed the gun at the children playing on the other side of the room. Lady Ryonia almost attacked him right then, but she reevaluated her situation. Killing someone who could best three Vanguard wouldn't be an easy task, so she decided to comply with him until she found a better opening.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said apprehensively as she looked around in desperation. Immediately he fired a bullet right next to where the children were playing. Both of them looked up from their game confused and frightened.
"Play dumb again, or try anything, and I'll put the next bullet in one of their throats, do you understand me!" He shouted. Lady Ryonia flinched. She was on the verge of tears.
"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you. Just don't hurt my children, I beg of you."
"I'm sure you will tell me everything you know in due time. But right now, I'm here for what you can give me. I have it on very good authority that the primary server for every Order safe house in the city, possibly the entire province, is in this building. And you are going to give me access." She was silent for a moment.
"I understand." She muttered reluctantly. "Follow me, if you would." The two of them left the bedroom, Lady Ryonia in front and the intruder just behind her with his gun wedged in between her shoulder blades. She led him down the hallway and around the corner to the left, the direction opposite from where the intruder had come from. Eventually they reached an unassuming closet door. She opened it, revealing a small room with a few pairs of shoes in it. She pressed her hand against the far wall and it receded, revealing a hidden staircase that lead down into the floor below.
"After you." The intruder said in a mock courtesy that set Lady Ryonia's teeth on edge. She steeled herself and walked down the staircase, followed shortly by her captor. After a short descent, the two of them stood in a large, brightly lit room filled with rows of drives and databases.
"These storage systems look extremely complex." The intruder whistled, staring at the immense amount of data storage before him.
"According to my company's R&D branch, they're at least a decade more advanced than any commercially available electronic product." Lady Ryonia beamed with a slight sense of pride.
"And to think we invented the internet only ten years ago. Why hasn't your company started selling this level of electronics publicly?"
"Every technological advancement our civilization has produced has swiftly been procured, one way or another, by human trash. Our government's unwillingness to restrict, or at least regulate, trade with human powers means that, until reforms are put in place and crackdowns are made on offshore smuggling, we cannot risk our more efficient and capable designs falling into the hands of people who wish to do our people harm." Lady Ryonia responded.
"Is that just the excuse you give to people to drudge up old conflicts that no one cares about in order to justify your unfounded hatred of humans? Or do you actually believe in the skewed ideological worldview your order was founded on?" He replied. She was about to answer when he spoke again. "Never mind, don't answer. I'm not sure which prospect I find more disheartening and frankly I don't want to find out. Just take me over to the nearest access port." She led him over to one of the database racks and motioned at a slot.
"Can I access the entire database network from here?" He asked.
"I'm no computer expert, but you should be able to." She responded, barely able to keep herself calm and collected whilst talking to a man poking a gun in her back. Suddenly he lowered the gun and took out a thick black rectangular piece of electronic equipment from one of his pockets. He plugged it into the access port, and instantly all of the databases whirred to life.
"What did you do?" She asked frantically, understanding full well that she just committed high treason against the Order.
"What I have just done is of none of your concern. Now I need to know whatever you know about the Order." He holstered his gun.
"I'll tell you whatever I can." Lady Ryonia prepared to steal the gun from the man's holster while she talked.
"Oh you're not going to tell me anything." The intruder smirked. He grabbed both sides of Lady Ryonia's head and closed his eyes. "You're going to show me." She screamed as pain erupted from her brain. Images and memories flashed through her head. She saw her meeting with Kelkaid and the other high members of the Order. It stood out in her memory because Kelkaid had barred Tagyr from attending. They spoke of the excavation progress. Kelkaid showed them a map of the areas currently undergoing searches for artifacts, and the exciting news of finally discovering intact buildings. She began to lose consciousness as the pain became unbearable. She couldn't quite remember what the meeting was about anymore. Or even who was involved.
Lady Ryonia's memories fed themselves into the mind of the intruder. He saw the meeting. A man named Kelkaid. And a map of desert excavation sites. Just as he began searching more information, a gun fired and his connection with Lady Ryonia was severed. He dropped her dead body as blood began pouring out of the back of her head. He saw the bleeding form of the assassin Jeleset standing in the entrance to the server room.
"You said we were mistaken when we assumed you were here to kill Lady Ryonia." She hissed. She lost her footing for a moment, but balance herself again before continuing. "Well you were mistake when you assumed we were here to protect her. I have orders to contain the spread of information, preferably without losing these servers. I didn't kill you to keep them intact. But you used the threat of non-existent explosives to force your way into this room and voided that constraint." She carried in her other hand a detonator. "So thanks to some very real ones, I'm going to ensure you never leave." The intruder instantly grabbed his large electronic device out of the access port and ran for the stairs. She flicked the switch just before falling to the ground unconscious again. He escaped into the stairwell just as the ceiling exploded behind him.
He quickly recovered from the initial blast. Before his ears stopped ringing or the dust settled, he sprinted up the stairs and out the way he had come in, arriving back in the lounge. The explosion had entirely destroyed the floor of most of the lounge, which evidently sat directly on top of the server room. Stepping over the barely conscious body of Nibet, he ran over to meet his partner, who was laying down the unconscious body of X'lish on one of the couches.
"Oh thank goodness I don't have to keep pretending to be the confident yet relatable criminal. I swear I was about to lose my shit." He said as the intruder walked up to him.
"What are you doing, Faldr?" The intruder asked as his partner stood up.
"I thought we weren't going to use our names, Jigafta. I'm supposed to be dead and you're not supposed to exist, remember?" Faldr Milzaek asked.
"You didn't answer my question." Jigafta Utenki crossed his arms disapprovingly.
"What? I was making sure she didn't have a spinal injury or something. I didn't think you'd actually blow up the building."
"Well, that wasn't my fault. One of the guards got a little trigger happy, shot the target, and blew up the servers. I did the best I could with what I had to work with."
"Wait, what? No interrogation and no data? Did we get anything to make this trip not a complete waste of time?"
"Will you stop being so quick to assume the worst? The uplink was in for a solid minute. I'm sure we got plenty of good data. Enough at least to know where to start looking next."
"Somehow that's not reassuring. When does the helicopter get here again?"
"Did you light the flare?" Jigafta raised an eyebrow.
"Oh shoot!" Faldr yelled. He took out a flare from one of his pockets, struck it, and tossed it near the broken window. "Sorry about that."
"It amazes me that you can manage to subdue two highly trained assassins and yet you forget to light the flare to call our ride." Jigafta laughed as the two of them began to scoot their way around the edge of the hole in the ground to get to the broken window.
"Well I'm sorry I'm not a mysterious pseudo-military-assassin-spy person who still won't tell anyone his real name. Remarkably fighting the twins here wasn't that much of a challenge. I gathered from their conversations we listened in on that they weren't very socially experienced, so all it took was to get under their skin and push the right buttons. My façade did slip up a couple of times, but those ended up working to my advantage, so overall things went well."
"I didn't ask for your report on our enemy's ability to act in a social environment, I asked how you managed to fight one of them and survive, much less two."
"Oh, that. My dad taught me how to fight." Faldr commented matter-of-factly as the two of them reached the small ledge next to the broken window.
"Would you care to elaborate?"
"Just as soon as you tell me literally anything about yourself."
"That won't happen."
"I know. Oh look, the chopper's here." Just as Faldr spoke, a helicopter descended from above and parked next to the broken window.
"Need a ride?" Shouted a Bone standing in the chassis of the machine. Just then Izagail, whom the explosion had woken up, jumped down from the elevator shaft after having freed himself. He took in the scene before him, and locked eyes with the men that had knocked him out.
"Where's Nibet?!" He screamed. "If you hurt her I will cut you into a thousand pieces!"
"Time to go." Jigafta resounded offhandedly. He and Faldr jumped of the window and into the interior of the helicopter. Izagail screamed again and drew his gun, firing wildly at them as the helicopter flew off. Jigafta and Faldr meanwhile sat down and caught their breath.
"Jigafta, what the hell happened back there? You were supposed to be discreet." The third Bone in the helicopter asked.
"Nice to see you too, Daniel. Faldr Milzaek, I want you to meet my good friend and supervising agent Daniel Deyavara. He's not so bad once you get to know him."
"So this is the super kid you were telling me about? Nice to meet you." Daniel stretched out his hand towards Faldr.
"Nice to meet you too." Faldr responded, shaking Daniel's hand halfheartedly as the weight of completing his first mission with the FIC was beginning to sink in.
"Anyway enough with the pleasantries. I've already gotten the preliminary results from the data our tech department managed to grab before you yanked the uplink. We've got a long list of names and several locations. One stood out in particular. The military base General Haenkos runs."
"Well, we suspected him of having ties to the Order before. It honestly doesn't surprise me." Jigafta stared out into the distance.
"Well now what's our next move?" Faldr asked as adrenaline still coursed through his veins. Jigafta stood up abruptly. He moved over to Faldr and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"You will work closely with Daniel on following up any leads we managed to find. Especially the one about Haenkos. I have a feeling we'll find more servers there."
"And what will you be doing while I show the kid the ropes?" Daniel asked, hesitant to find out the truth.
"Something's come up. It's a personal matter. I'll have to attend to it right away. You might not see me for another few months." He grabbed a parachute off of an equipment rack on the wall and walked to the edge of the helicopter. "See you when I get back, kid." He jumped out of the helicopter and disappeared from sight.
"Jigafta!" Faldr shouted as he stood up in shock. He turned to Daniel. "We have to circle back for him! He could die!"
"Oh would you relax? He does this all the time. I'm sure he just needs to clear his head. Though usually these only last for a few days." Daniel took a seat and motioned for Faldr to do the same. "We can't find him while he's off doing his thing, so we don't try to. For now, all we can do is work with the information he gave us. Start going down the list and pulling this organization apart at the seams."
Faldr nodded and swallowed reflexively as he looked back to where his mysterious new friend had just disappeared into thin air, and for the first time since he started this adventure he began to seriously question what exactly he had gotten himself into.
The Headquarters of the Order of the Hallow Soul, Downtown Boneville
October 2498, Twenty-eight Years Ago
X'lish's eyes flicked open. Not that it helped much, because all she could see was blinding white light. Still, it was a marked improvement over the explosion that had knocked her out. At least she was fairly sure that was what had happened. What was not so welcome was the dull, oppressive pain that gripped every muscle in her body. It took her eyes a few moments to register that it wasn't seeing a blank white wall, but being blinded by a light on a ceiling. After this realization, her eyes slowly began to come back into focus, and she was able to turn her head slightly. As she observed her surroundings, she realized two things: that she was lying in a hospital bed, and that Nibet, Viprus, and Jeleset were all standing in one corner of the room covered in bandaged wounds and talking quietly.
"Hey look, she's awake." Nibet noted as she looked at her sister over Jeleset's shoulder. The other two turned around and the three of them gathered around X'lish's bed.
"How are you feeling?" Nibet asked.
"Exactly like you would expect after being thrown across a room by an exploding floor." X'lish winced as she sat up. "How's the shoulder holding up?"
"It's fine now. Though it'll take time before I'm back up to one hundred percent."
"It looks like you took one to the shoulder too." X'lish nodded at Jeleset's bandaged shoulder. "Mind filling me in on what happened while I was out?"
"I was stabbed, actually. But thanks for noticing." Jeleset responded coldly.
"About an hour after the break in we were airlifted back to base. You've been unconscious for three days." Viprus interjected. "The four of us were rushed to treatment, but Selthash and Izagail, who were both lucky enough not to suffer any substantial wounds, took off on a mission to try to track down the perpetrators. They haven't reported in yet."
"Wait, you mean the two intruders got away? Did you three at least get Lady Ryonia to safety?" X'lish inquired. Viprus and Nibet quickly looked at the floor.
"No, we did not." Jeleset responded spitefully. "We failed. All of us, especially you, failed. Lady Ryonia is dead." Jeleset turned around, walked out the door, and slammed it behind her.
"Lady Ryonia is dead? I thought the intruder's said that they needed her alive."
"They didn't kill Lady Ryonia." Viprus disclosed. "Jeleset did. Our orders were to protect the integrity of the Order. Normally that would mean protecting our charge, but if our charge were to become a liability we were instructed to kill her. Jeleset claims she saw Lady Ryonia divulge sensitive information to the intruders. She took a calculated risk and plugged the leak."
"That's… I thought we were protectors. A Vanguard, tasked with defending against those that would destroy us. To kill those we are tasked with protecting is just..." X'lish couldn't think of the right word.
"Wrong?" Viprus suggested. "Well, that isn't the only thing wrong with this situation. Two guys in masks broke into that building and practically convinced us to take ourselves out. We should all be dead right now. But they let us live. The guy we fought said that he was trying to prove he wasn't the bad guy. Maybe he was right."
"How can you even say that?" Nibet exclaimed. "We've devoted our lives to the Order. What we do is holy work, for the betterment of our species. Who are you to judge our goals unjust?"
"Who are you to judge them otherwise?" Viprus retorted. "The fact is that we were raised our entire lives to believe that what we were being prepared for was a just cause. But now, seeing our work in reality, I'm not so sure. The intruder said that we were protecting someone when we didn't know what they had done. As it turns out, a significant portion of Lady Ryonia's funds came from less than legal sources. Drug money, best I could tell from the files I broke into."
"I'm sure the Order never sanctioned her illegal activity. Have you brought this up with Kelkaid yet? I'm sure he'd be just as shocked as you are." X'lish tried to defuse the tension building between Viprus and Nibet.
"What if they did sanction her activity? What if Kelkaid wouldn't be shocked? It wouldn't surprise me."
"I'm leaving." Nibet threw her hands into the air and headed for the door. "I can't believe you're entertaining this lunacy." She left the room, and for a minute everything was dead silent.
"Viprus," X'lish began hesitantly. "What would you do if I told you that I might believe you about the Order?"
"I'd tell you to get some rest. And to not go looking for trouble. That'll be my job. Something's going on in this place. I'm going to get to the bottom of it." He turned around and left as well.
Twelve stories above X'lish's room in the infirmary, Kelkaid, Tagyr, and the Order's inner circle sat around a circular table. At everyone's position around the table sat a small monitor displaying a dimly lit cavern. Over the speakers around the room came a low, raspy voice that instilled fear in the hearts of every person in the room.
"I detest these group meetings, Kelkaid. I prefer not to communicate with you through such an ineffective medium as sound waves." The voice reprimanded.
"Of course, master. But I felt that the news of Lady Ryonia's death is a report the entire group should be present for. And since you still do not allow others besides me to speak with you in person, this must be how we conduct this exchange." Kelkaid replied, still hesitant to meet with his master after their meeting four days ago.
"Hope that your answer is truthful, Kelkaid. Because I do not tolerate cowards. Now, what is it that you wished to bring to my attention?"
"An intruder broke into Lady Ryonia's home three days ago. He and an accomplice took out six Vanguards and stole an unknown amount of data from our servers." Tagyr reported. "Then, according to Vanguard Jeleset's description, she was interrogated for information. Jeleset was forced to shot her to prevent a catastrophic intelligence leak."
"And this required a full emergency meeting for what reason, exactly?" Asked the voice.
"We did an autopsy of Lady Ryonia's body. Her medial temporal lobe was in tatters, and her prefrontal cortex had suffered severe damage. The damage patterns were consistent with victims of the… unique ability your kind possesses. This intruder was, without a doubt, your brother the Traitor."
"I had suspected that he was the one meddling with our work in the past, but this now confirms his involvement. We've already stepped up the pace of our excavation, and our latest report indicates that we may have identified the laboratory containing the Successor." Kelkaid maintained. "How do you wish to proceed?" The voice was silent for several moments.
"You failed to stop him this time. It is a feeling you must get used to. He will pursue us like a wolf now that he has information. We must act as if everything Lady Ryonia knew, he knows. Increase security on all of our dig sites as much as possible, and tell all of the cells in the Taebid province to go dark. Lastly you must tell General Haenkos to use every resource at his disposal to locate my brother's accomplices."
"It will be done, master."
"I would also like to converse with you in private about some matters, Kelkaid. Everyone else is dismissed." The rest of the inner circle stood up, bowed at their monitors, and left the room. When Kelkaid was alone, the voice began to speak again.
"Have I ever told you the prophecy I had the last time my brother and I fought?" It asked.
"No. This is the first time I've ever heard of you possessing the ability to prophesy, in fact. Truly you amaze me with your infinite capacity for ability."
"I do not require your praise. And I do not normally possess foresight. Only two beings ever have. My father, and his brother. But when a sufficient amount of energy is present in a location, like was when my brother and I fought, it can sometimes temporarily bend reality. That day, I received a message from my father from the future. It was only a few seconds long, but it was a potent warning of things to come. Would you like to hear it?"
"I would be honored to receive the words of the Crystal Lord."
"A giant stands tall, Ven's legacy razed. The fires of extinction are readily blazed. The shadows of wrath pierce the world. The Successor's mind is forever unfurled. Power ignited awakens the hoard. From the ashes rises the Crystal Lord."
"Forgive my brashness, but what does it mean? Are we abandoning that plan to raise a Successor?"
"No, it means that our plan does not stop with securing the Successor. We must then utilize him to release the Crystal Lord."
"Do you know how?"
"I have had almost a thousand years to prepare for this. And I've spent all of it planning for the day my father is free. But to do that we must first find the Successor. I just want you to have a clear idea of our end goal."
"Yes, master. I shall visit the dig site personally to ensure a steady increase in excavation." Kelkaid bowed and left the room to fulfill his master's plan. His master, meanwhile, relished in his thoughts alone. His solitude was brief.
"The last time we saw each other, you and that failure tore apart everything our father worked toward." Another voice filled the cavern. This one was higher in pitch, more feminine, but was still spoken with the same rasp. "So imagine my surprise when I find that after three thousand years you have finally had a change of heart."
"Sister." The Grand Lord replied. "It has been too long. I see that you are equally as formless as I am. Tell me how exactly did you manage to free yourself? And why did you come here of all places?"
"The situation in the Valley is destabilizing. The House of Mists is on the move. Every day their armies grow stronger and they test the limits of their power. The despair of the people fed me enough to free my consciousness, though not my body. I projected to your location to gain your assistance in tipping the scales enough to free father. Now it is your turn to answer my questions: why do you now help our cause, and why have you been reduced to such a state?"
"I saw what leaving father's guidance did to these people, and regretted my decision to lead them from their creator's side. The traitor disagreed, and we fought. He beat me, and now my body recuperates elsewhere. In my clash with the Traitor I was given a vision from father. Now I work to see that vision come true. And you can help."
"What would you have me do?"
"You can do nothing here as a mere presence. But you can further our goals in the Valley."
"What requires doing in the Valley? Soon Atheia will burn and we will have vengeance."
"And what will that accomplish? You know it requires two to break the Locust's seal, and that is a luxury we don't have. Yet. Keep Atheia from burning entirely. In time I will send you an omen which shall foretell the coming of the Successor. Then and only then will you make your move. Free the Locust, and the Nacht's veil shall tear away. Between the two of them, there should be enough energy to prime father for release. Then I shall return to strike the final blow."
"Your plan seems… fragile. What guarantees can you make that the Traitor does not stop you from sending the omen?"
"I have had a thousand years to plan. I have contingencies in place should the Traitor interfere. And your arrival has moved my timetable up astronomically. Not even Mon'Yaran can stop what is to come. Now go. Play your part."
"I will. But I have one more question. What will be the nature of this omen you will send to me?"
"It will be a symbol from this world. Something large. You will know it when you see it."
"I suppose I will have to be satisfied with that answer. Until we meet again, brother." The Grand Lord felt her presence leave. He laughed. This development was more than he could have dreamed of. Now, his success was guaranteed. It was just a matter of time.