I WILL END THIS...EVENTUALLY!
The Assassin: WOOHP Files
By: Nate Sindel
"How long?" he asked the short blonde.
"Since before I left, they said it was something to help my heart," she looked away. "Devin found it about a year ago, but he didn't have the equipment to remove it, and it seemed deactivated, and..."
"Gracie...you're rambling," he looked out towards the bay, his full view obstructed by several buildings. "The important point is that it's out now. Shit, now I have to move my plans up."
"What do you mean?"
"Hmhm, don't you know, Jerry doesn't sleep, so WOOHP doesn't sleep, they'll be on the move very soon," he charged for the edge of the tavern/hotel. "There's some things I have to get."
With that he was gone over the edge, only the reappear with two jet thrusters sticking out of his back. He was not going to let them get the jump on him this time; he was going to prove to his father that everything can, and will, go wrong. A ripple ran down him from the tip of his head to his boots, encompassing his hair was well, the next instant he disappeared.
"Best to inform Devin of the new arrivals," she hurried through the roof access, thankful to have her body under her own control for the first time in days.
He landed silently on the doorstep of the Carter home, placing his hand on the knob, and feeling nanites fill the keyhole, unlocking it for him. As he entered he noticed something...both Carter women were awake, in the hall, looking at him with a dumbstruck expression. They appeared to be getting ready to head up for bed for the night.
'Stroke of luck,' he thought before speaking. "Uh, yeah, need you to come with me...now."
"Where?" Kana asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"A safe place...shit is going to go down," he glanced at Lydia. "Pardon my French."
She seemed to deflate slightly, profanity tended to do that to her, but they had hashed this out long ago and determined that if he excused himself with the phrase, it would be fine.
"Well, then I guess we're going," she said, grabbing her keys off the rack and heading for door, which Nate immediately moved out of the way of.
"You heard the lady," he quipped to Kana.
"Yeah, yeah," she immediately followed her mother out the door.
As they descended to the driveway, it was silent, entering the car was silent, the ride was mostly silent, with Nate giving directions every once and a while. Soon they arrived at the tavern, placing the car in the back; this one didn't disappear. He led them in the back door, down the basement stairs, to a large metal door, next to which Devin was standing. The lights within clicked on and illuminated another staircase, this one going down beyond the light.
He led them down, down, down, soon another lightbulb came into view, but the stairs continued. Finally, after almost a full five minutes, they reached another metal door, which Nate opened with ease. Inside was a large, large room that seemed to be a smaller copy of the park room inside of WOOHP. This room though may have had the artificial sunlight of the other room, and the trees, and bushes, but this room had something else...a small house - a cabin really.
"I suppose just consider this your home away from home," Devin said, walking the ten feet across the "lawn" to open the front door. "It's fully stocked, just about everything-proof, and should keep you comfy and cozy, snug as a bug in a..."
"That's enough Devin, no need to embellish it," Nate cut in, "you're not a realtor."
"Little do you know," the older man chuckled. "Simply put, it'll keep you safe."
"Thank you," Lydia nodded, looking around. "But, how?"
"The artificial environment generator that Doctor Rivage invented," the green-haired assassin answered. "That and a clever use of holograms."
She nodded, moving towards the cabin, leaving Kana to scout around. Devin looked over at Nate, seeing the far too content look on his face. With what would be happening soon, that was the last thing he wanted to see on his friend's face.
"So this was her family?"
"Yeah."
"I see the resemblance, her sister looks just like her," he nodded to her backside.
"No getting any ideas."
"Now you know me better than that, I only enjoy the view," he chuckled again and left. "Let me know when you're ready to go, I've got some stuff to pull out of storage."
The door closed and latched.
Nate heaved a sigh, that he got them here and safe was good and all, but what's going to happen tomorrow...or later tonight? He looked around and noticed that Kana was watching him again, and with good reason. His shifter clothing seemed to have come to life and was currently working its way down his legs and arms, covering him in his combat suit.
"You gonna have time for a quick goodbye?" she asked, walking back over.
At his nod she embraced him, pulling herself close to him a tight hug, and she smiled slightly when he returned it. Something was wrong though, his arms were slightly loose against her back, as if the slightest move would hurt her.
"My sister was a lucky girl to have snagged you," Kana said, catching the assassin off guard. "I was jealous of her for a time, all the times you and I had argued, it was because of this stupid crush I had on you. But I had been so young then, and couldn't get over the fact that she had someone who was so perfect."
"I'm hardly perfect," he breathed, not sure if he was defending himself, contending her point, or just saying it. "All the shit I had put her through, and she'd just take it all in stride. She never flew off the handle when I showed up covered in blood, berating me for getting it on her carpet, or complaining that I missed a date. If anything, your sister was the perfect one, and I was the lucky one."
"Ahem!" came the clearing of a throat from behind Kana.
"Pardon my French," he quipped as Kana released him.
"You'll come back, won't you?" she asked. "I mean, you gotta get us outta this place when you're done."
"Don't worry," he walked to the door, "I'll come back, and, who knows, I may have a friend with me."
The door closed and latched before Kana could piece together what he'd said. What did he mean a new friend, she just poured her heart out to him and he's just going to brush her off...AGAIN!
"Why that..." she started for the door.
"Kana. Bed. Now," came her mother's even tone from behind. She turned on her heel and trudged toward the house.
"Fine."
Nate arrived at the basement in time to see Devin opening storage lockers, pulling out his weaponry. It had been a while since he'd seen his friend this dead-set on something, going as far as to unpack his powersuit. Various kinds of pulse rifles, phase cannons, shield discs, explosives, and armor pieces littered the floor around him as he began suiting up.
"It's been a while, think it'll still fit?" he jokingly asked the man on the floor.
"Heh, I hope so," Devin replied, pulling the black material on.
Once it was on he began picking up the various pieces of armor and attacking them. All the armor began to flow over the suits surface, filling in the gaps between the pieces, giving the suits surface the appearance of a mirror finish. Two guns were hooked to his hips, two on his back, shield discs were placed on his upper arms. The armor flowed again to cover the weaponry.
"Ah, feels good to be back in this," the barkeep struck a few body-builder poses as Nate laughed.
"Just remember the strain it puts on your body," he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Having your muscles augmented is great, but remember what happened last time you tried to push it too hard."
"Yeah, I know," Devin brushed off Nate's hand. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna try to lift a twenty ton tank over my head again. That's what the guns are for."
"You two comparing war stories again?" Grace asked as she came down the stairs. "So when are we leaving?"
"'We?'" Nate asked, looking over her old black spy uniform. "What makes you think you're going?"
"Well someone has to keep an eye on Mandy," she huffed. "The three of you will be so busy fighting that you'll be leaving her completely defenseless."
Nate sighed, he had been planning to leave Mandy with the other three spies. Perhaps...
"I have an idea."
The streets of Los Angeles were barren, cars were left empty, motorcycles left unattended, doors unlocked, some ajar. A chill wind howled between the artificial canyons formed by the buildings, picking up dust and other small bits of debris. This is the scene that welcomed the lone motorcycle weaving between the cars in the middle of the road.
"Looks like everybody decided to get the hell outta Dodge," Nate commented casually to his non-passenger. 'They're everywhere, he's certainly planned this out as to make sure there's overkill.'
After stopping the bike, he got off to inspect the barrier of cars, stacked two-high. He unholstered his revolver and looked over at the alley conveniently placed for his use. That was really, really stupid of them to do; to expect him to fall for something so obvious. He snorted, looking around once again at the idiots using his stealth technology...it was almost shameful that they would stoop to using his tech.
"Gotta hand it to them at least, they're trying to be smart," he chuckled and holstered the revolver. Ok, he could play this game a little longer; rearing his arm back he drove it through the wall of cars, literally blasting a hole through it.
"FIRE!" came the order from above as several plasma cannons were fired at him, he sighed.
Wires ripped themselves from buildings, telephone poles and through the pavement, and, to a chorus of silence, quickly ensnared, snapped, broke, and constricted all the WOOHP agents before they could sound an alarm. He then stepped aside to avoid the agent thrown through the hole he'd just made, Devin had arrived...finally.
"YEAH, TAKE THAT YA' BASTARDS!" he cried with excitement as he swung one of them around like a club, bludgeoning the others around him. "Ah, feels good to be back in the action."
"I'm sure it does," Nate quipped as he walked through the hole. "Could you try to be a little more quiet?"
"Why? It's not like he doesn't already know we're here," Devin shrugged before turning to see another agent get hauled from a ledge through a window by more wires. "Heh, they can't even get terrain advantage, high ground does nothing when we got something higher."
"Yes, almost in position," the green-haired assassin looked up. "They're readying the Daedalus now."
"Good, I want to see that hunk of junk I built get wrecked."
"Hmhm, it will," he laughed a little more. "We'd best continue to move."
"Yeah."
So they began walking, the conveniently placed alley had been all but forgotten, but Nate hadn't left a single soul alive within it. The walking was somewhat boring, what with most agents being taken care of before they could do anything. It wasn't until they rounded a simple corner before they stopped, there, in front of them, were Sam, Alex and Clover.
"We can't allow you to proceed," Clover said.
He head hit the ground as Nate finished his swing, a slightly sadistic smile on his face. While crouching, he spun, the blade sliced clean through the other girls' legs at the knees, toppling them. He stood and sheathed his sword, looking down at the broken remains of three robots. Sighing he stepped over to the Sam and Alex robots who were raising themselves with their arms.
"Pitiful, he can't even make a good robot that act like them," Devin said, walking over.
"This a distraction." Wires began seeping through the asphalt, wrapping around, and crushing the remaining too robots.
"For what?"
"The powersuits above us, honestly Devin, I think you're losing your senses."
"Shut up, I don't have RSP (robotic sensory perception) like you," the older man snapped back.
One of the powersuits landed in front of them, a hulking mass of metal that stood roughly 12 feet tall, it's thick arms and legs hid many weapons, and the two "wings" on the back housed both jet packs for quick, powered flight, and several melee weapons. One of the large, barrel arms opened to reveal a cannon, which was at the moment spinning and powering up.
"MOVE!"
Nate and Devin rolled out of the way as the cannon fired, fully demolishing the rest of the car barricade. Immediately afterwards the arm was removed by a sword swipe from Nate, who then had to move due to the attack of another suit, then roll out from under another. Both feet of that one were sliced off as well, leaving it to topple over. Nate stood, brushed a lock of hair from his face, and beckoned the next one.
Devin had whipped out a pulse rifle and was going to town, even though the armor reflected it. He knew what he was doing, he had helped to design these things, thusly he aimed for the lightly armored "head." This was just an oval piece of metal, with two glowing "eyes."
"Seriously, come on, is this what they do with my designs?" he asked no one in particular as the first one's head was destroyed, rendering the pilot blind.
The green-haired man was having a somewhat difficult time, his sword had been broken. After the mandatory "I liked that sword" line, he was currently ripping shits on the one that did it. After ripping off the initial chest plate, he was going to town on the innards, at last reaching the pilot.
"Hi," he smiled cheerfully enough to make a little girl cry. "You know, I really did like that sword."
"S-s-sorry?" the pilot questioned.
"S'all good, I got more," he then stood up, and turned to he rest of them. "Well, your mech's about useless, later."
He leapt at another one, grabbing the fist that was thrown at him, and literally wrapping himself around the arm, using the newly-formed claws on his arm to climb along. A small missile rack opened in the shoulder, and Nate only had a split second to put his shield before he was blasted from his perch. He landed hard, into the side of a building, actually through the side of the building, and out the other, into the alley.
"Ha, not so tough," said the mechanical voice of the pilot, opening the cannon arm to fire.
Devin slid in front of it, pulse rifle at read, and fire straight into the cannon, exploding the arm. He sighed as that was the last of the energy in the power pack, and ejected it. Another mech threw a punch at him, forcing him to ditch the gun altogether, and block, the extra strain causing the green lines on the powersuit he wore to glow brighter.
"I think you helped me crack my knuckles," Devin smirked, before using his position - currently holding the mech's hand - to swing it around and throw the whole thing into the one behind it.
He was beginning to breathe heavily, the suit was taking its toll. Reaching back, he pulled two sticky grenades, hucking one left and one right, both attaching to two mechs. While looking to make sure the grenades stuck, he didn't notice the one behind the one in front of him, the panels on it's arm opening, revealing many, many guns, all aimed at him.
"Shit!" he jumped to the side just in time for the barrage to demolish the rest of the building behind him.
At that point a beam of energy lanced from the rubble, obliterating three mechs at once. This was followed up by the sound of rubble being tossed aside, and there, on top of it, was Nate, looking completely disheveled. He was also extremely pissed...he did just have building dropped on him after all. In his hand was not a sword, it wasn't even the revolver, in his hand he held his scythe.
"Ooooo, getting serious, aren't we?" Devin said as he detonated the grenades.
"I haven't brought her out in a little while," he replied, as he appeared behind another mech; said mech promptly feel apart, having just been slashed eight times.
Wings burst from his back, but they were small, soon forming hands, which reached down and grabbed the two shotels. The two swords extended into their full forms, and were soon used to cut another mech into quarters. Nate jumped, landing next to Devin, his three weapons at the ready as Devin was pulling out two phase cannons, and hefting them to his shoulders.
"Let's do this," Devin quipped as he let loose a barrage, which passed through the shield the first mech erected, to strike the target, which blew up in a spectacular explosion.
"Hmhm, you and your projectile weapons."
Nate leapt towards the nearest mech, blades flashing in a fluid motion, slicing it to bits. He then spun, lashing out at everything around him, including an innocent mailbox and soda machine. Explosions from rockets and gunfire lit up the ground around them, all of the round missing him due to the almost dance-like moves he was making.
By the time he had stopped his swathe of destruction, having ended up at the outside of the mass o' mechs, he had changed. He now sported a long, metal tail, which was holding a very, very long, very wide katana. Two more arms had appeared from his back, holding in each a desert eagle. With a somewhat confused look on his face, he turned back around at the mechs which turned to see him.
"Huh, guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
With that he leapt onto the closest mech, the claws bursting from his boots gave him the grip he required. He then lashed out with everything, destroying the mech beneath him, and shooting a couple others in the head with his eagle. His tail whipping out slicing another mech in half diagonally.
And all this was going on while Megadeth played "Symphony of Destruction" in his ears.
Leaving the torn mech behind, he leapt into the fray again, dodging a blast from Devin's phase cannon. Needless to say the number of enemies was decreasing. Another dodge and slice sent Nate into a headlong meeting with a hand that closed around both of his, and the scythe. He struck with the two shotels, but found them grabbed as well, and his tail was currently being stepped on.
The hands began crushing, and while the two in back succeeded in ripping off his wings (in reality he ejected them), the one in front simply took the opportunity to bend his scythe, and mangle his hands. The shocked look on Nate's face could have only been rivaled by the pissed look that followed. He slowly looked up into the face of the mech that did the deed.
"You...bent...my...Shiva."
Wings, full-sized, burst from his back, impaling the two behind him. Then, lifting the limp carcasses off the ground, he swung them around, crushing the one directly in front of him, but only enough to immobilize it. After extracting the two from his wings, he rammed the wings into the one in front, on either side of the pilot's body, severing his arms at the shoulder. The wings then removed themselves and shifted into giant hands, forming fists above his head, which were then brought down repeatedly onto the mech, each blow emphasizing his words.
"Do. You. Know. How. Long. It's. Going. To. Take. Me. To. Fix. Her!" with the last pound he crushed the pilot's chamber.
All the other mechs just stood there, watching this display of raw power and anger, many of them took off, leaving only a few left. Even Devin was standing there, stunned that his companion could reach such depths of pissed; it almost seemed like he was envisioning Felicia's killer. But he knew better, he knew that that weapon was his first, and his favorite, it was the only one he graced with a name.
Finally, after getting over their initial shock, five jumped him at once. They seemed to have an attack pattern, even if the first one was blocked by a wing, and was subsequently dismembered. The assault kinda worked, as a shield was now in place to prevent further interaction.
The shield dropped for an instant, and Nate whirled around, dropping the desert eagles and grabbing the shotels, cutting the remaining four to shreds. But as that attack finished, another caught him in the gut, and the blow sent him into another building. That mech was dispatched by Devin. That left one more.
"That was pretty good acting Girly," Devin yelled over to the hole in the building.
"Well, I wasn't in control the entire time," called Monica as she stood at the hole. "Oh, look who's left."
TBC
Alright, that's it, this ends the chapter, I'm pissed that I had to drag it on this long. But, yes, surprises abound in the next chapter, I'm sure the more clever of you will understand what's higher than the high ground (which, as you know, adds +5 to agility).