"Ugh… These emails are too vague."
Eboni growled a bit as she tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair, her eyes locked on her displays.
"People with special prosthesis… and an odd anomaly with "healing water". How is anyone supposed to work with that? No amount of internet search has lead me anywhere and my personal intel are stumped. You know it's bad when THEY'RE stumped."
Tadashi frowned at this, crossing his arms.
"Guess they were vague on purpose for…. well, probably this very reason. To throw anyone off if they were ever to be found out."
"Yeah, and I hate it. It's one thing to deal with fire walls and hacking passwords. It's another thing when you're given cryptic information in the form of vagueness." Eboni ran a hand through her hair. "I hate it, hate it, hate it, HATE IT so much."
Tadashi put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Eboni. We'll figure something out. Just… don't curse anyone."
"I make no promises."
Tadashi shook his head before looking over to Obake.
The man was currently over at Eboni's work table, making adjustments to some gear.
"What do you make of any of this, Obake?"
Obake shrugged.
"Can't really make anything of nothing. What we need is more information. If need be, we'll just pay Dragoness a visit in jail. I'm sure three months has given her plenty of time to think about what she did."
"Maybe but knowing her she'd probably not tell us anything unless she could get something in return and that something would probably be freedom."
"And knowing who she worked with, she would be airtight about her information. Liv isn't a fan of people who leave loose ends."
"Then we're screwed." Eboni flopped in her chair.
"Not entirely, we just need to look from a new angle." Obake remarked, not looking up from his work. "We do have names, Naoki, Coilin and Drake to work from, we just unfortunately don't have last names to go with them or locations to give us specifics."
Eboni leaned her head back.
"We're basically sitting ducks till I dunno, some divine being drops something out of the sky for us to work with. Other than that, I don't see what else we can do-"
"They say what we are, but we don't have to be!"
Eboni and Obake both straightened up at the sound of a song playing out of nowhere.
"The heck-"
"Ah, sorry." Tadashi held up his phone. "Ringtone for a friend of mine. They really like Fall Out Boy." Tadashi unlocked the phone, answering the call. "Hey, Kuro, long time!"
"Hey, I don't have a lot of time-Ack! Hey, keep that thing away from me! But we need you to hurry over here to Hollow Creek. It's bad!"
Tadashi's look turned serious.
"Where in Hollow Creek? And what's the situation?"
"You're not gonna like this. It's near the hospital I used to work at, Hollow General and it's a fire. Not too awful that the fire department can't deal with it-" There was a crash in the background, as Kuro let out a curse under his breath. "Look, the person who started it is here and they're NOT backing down. They're wiping us out pretty fast. How quick can you get here to help us even the odds?"
"What kind of person?"
"I dunno, Dominic got 'em in the arm and I saw metal. I doubt it's human."
Tadashi narrowed his eyes.
"I'll be there in 15 minutes. I'll be bringing a cavalry with me. Hang in there till then."
"Trying- Ack! Gotta go!"
Click!
Tadashi immediately put away his phone.
"Eboni, get the Phoenix Cycle ready to go, notify Trina that I need her help and get a paramedic team put together at Saga General Hospital and have them head straight to Hollow General."
Eboni nodded.
"You got it. What's going on?"
"Not sure but if you ask me." Tadashi hurried out of the room. "I think we just found one of the things we're looking for."
oooooo
They had to be careful. One wrong move and it was over.
They couldn't believe their situation.
Dangerous calls, they were used to. That was part of being in first response. Be it fires, people who were out of control, or bad weather, they went wherever they were needed. Their patients lives counted on it.
But this… this was something they never could've imagined being in.
"We're cowering behind our own ambulance because it's waiting for us. It's toying with us!"
Kuro peered around the corner, a figure illuminated by the flames, staring them down. Waiting. Their hands raised to strike at a moment's notice.
"It's waiting for us to move because we don't have a choice." Kuro sighed. "And we know what we have to do. People need us and if we can't get back over there, then we gotta force our way through. Connor, what are the odds Ebony can run that thing over?"
"It'd flip the bus and we'd all be dead."
Their gaze went to a toppled over fire engine lying several feet away.
"... That was not pleasant."
"No it wasn't." Kuro looked back over, narrowing his eyes. "... Watch my back, I'm going for it."
"I don't recommend it but you're gonna do it anyway."
"Yep."
Kuro dashed from their hiding spot to his target. The target in question, something that resembled what appeared to be a young woman but it certainly wasn't one with the metallic plating that made up some of its skin. Not to mention the unsettling red eyes.
Kuro went to give it a hard kick in the chest, only for the being to catch his foot with both their hands. They gave a crazed grin as they locked eyes with Kuro.
"Such strength… Father would love to have such things under his belt." The grip tightened. "I'm sure you could go without a leg or two for a day. You'd live."
Father?
Kuro growled, struggling to get free, slamming his hand into the side of their head.
They didn't budge, their grip tightening before spinning around, knocking him off balance.
"UGH! LET GO OF ME!" He kicked up with his free leg.
The robot scowled.
"I didn't want to do this." The grin returned as they let out a giggle. "I guess I'll just have to use force."
They struck their free arm out, a blade protruding itself from the top of it.
"You'll feel a slight pinch." She giggled again. "Now hold still-"
CLANK!
The robot was sent flying into a wall as an armored figured punched her hard in the face. Kuro backed up a bit, getting a good look at the figure.
The armor they wore was various shades of dark gray and had purple EL wire patterns. Their face was obscured by a full on helmet with a black tinted visor. They looked to Kuro, offering a hand.
"Sorry we kept you waiting. Traffic was terrible."
Kuro took it, rising to his feet.
"Nah, perfect timing. You missed the throwing of everything in a ten foot radius." He looked over the figure's shoulder at the robot, narrowing his eyes. "Got any ideas how to take it out?"
"Hm… A few. If I may?"
Kuro held up his hands, taking a step back.
"Go for it, I'd rather not lose my legs again."
The robot got up from where she was sprawled out, growling at them before taking a running start.
"I'M NOT DONE HARVESTING!"
The armored figure charged at the robot.
"There shall be no such thing." They drew out two discuses from their back that lit up with a purple charged energy. "Now, let's see how well you deal with concentrated plasma!"
The robot was hit square in the chest with a slashing motion from the two discuses, sending the robot stumbling backwards before they were kicked down.
"Whoa…" Kuro whispered.
"Impressive, right?"
Kuro jumped, looking to his side to see Takashi was now present, all donned up in his Phoenix armor.
"You're friends with this guy?"
"Yep." Takashi grinned, moving to stand next to Kuro. "The public knows him as Grid Ghost but since you get to know all kinds of secrets, just call him Obake."
"Obake eh?" He crossed his arms. "Good to know." Relief came to his eyes, as he turned to Takashi. "Thank you for this."
"Anytime. We were glad to help. Now, I believe we both got work to do. How many victims?"
"We already had four of the initial eight victims transported before tall, metallic and knife happy showed up. Four are left, all firefighters that she took out."
"Leave that to me and Kame then. Obake will take care of the insane one." Takashi grinned. "After all."
Another figure was hiding in the shadows.
"It's two against ones."
Before the robot could react, they were grabbed from behind by what seemed to be a duplicate of Obake.
"Now you're gonna be a good little robot and tell me things I need to know and maybe I won't maim you." Obake growled, keeping a firm grip on the robot.
So glad I was able to rework the nanodex in time.
She let out a shriek, struggling against him, but it was no use.
"That's not the answer I asked for. I'll ask one more time…Tell me, everything."
"NEVER! I won't betray my Father!"
… I swear, I'm going to punch whoever this "Father" is.
The side of his face glowed as he tapped into her systems, the robot going still, her red eyes glazing over.
"Now… Tell me what I need to know."
"Specify information."
"Who is ''Father"? And what are you here to harvest exactly?"
"Father is Naoki Takeuchi, brilliant prosthesis innovator and my creator. I am here to collect data on El Curacion Del Eden for they have prosthesis that Father desires to have in regards to his work and for the research of Liv Amara in improving the human body."
"And why does Liv want prosthesis exactly? Improving the human body is vague."
"Unknown. She never specified. All that is known is that her research all revolves around repairing and improving the human body."
"Hm… I see…"
Can't say that about me. She was killing me with my issues.
"That'll be all then. Now, run along back home."
He let go as the robot stumbled forward, a lost look coming to their eyes before they ran off, disappearing around the corner.
Now, the game of cat and mouse begins. Be a good little spy for me now.
He turned back to where Takashi was, his gaze on Kuro in particular.
Prosthesis huh? How advanced are they that they're worth maiming someone for?
Obake's hands balled into fists, as did his robotic twin's.
Because if even Liv has her eyes on them, then it's definitely not something ordinary.