"Again, do it again!" A voice yelled through communications, almost bursting her eardrum. Her eyes rolled, but she reloaded the Mantis and fired, effectively shooting her paper target in the head. There wasn't a head left after she'd shot it, and the neck seemed to have disappeared too.
"Happy mother?" She smiled sarcastically, shifting on her two feet to get new orders. She hated taking orders.
"Hardly, but it will do. Go to the meetings room, and you'll get some new orders." With that, the voice dropped out, effectively, but rudely ending the conversation. Commander Jonathan Smith was currently running her ragged, forcing her to remember every nook are cranny of the station and was now forcing her to perform dull and boring exercises so he can 'evaluate' her level of skill.
I'll evaluate his head then shove it up his-
"Quit daydreaming Winters! You've got your orders, so hurry up!"
'Arsehole, his head is so far up his arse he can't even see this blinding artificial light.' Winter grumbled, deciding to climb through ventilation instead of walking like a normal, educated and proper person. She mentally slapped herself for acting like a baby as she gripped the vent grate and pulled it off with some difficulty. Strength wasn't one of her virtues, and nether was being ordered. Accuracy and stealth were her main suit. As quickly as possible, she jumped up and out of the security cameras view, hoping no one realised she was sneaking about. The vent was a little tight, but she put the grate back on and checked which direction she was facing, sensing the place wasn't that far away. Her memories floated back to one mission where she was in a similar position, but back then; she had half an army chasing her down, and even less room to mauver. But at least back then she didn't take orders, and she escaped in the end, with only a shot leg and black eye. Focusing on the present, she moved on her hands and knees, being as silent possible as she crawled above labs and training rooms. She noticed that everyone was busy, not ever sparing a glace around their rooms. She shook her head at this; think of all the people lost to armature mistakes like that. Suddenly she met an intersection and wished she'd been normal for once. Loud voices can from her right, and so she once again took a chance.
"Where is she? She should be her by now!" Her 'commanding officer' yelled, making all the poor sods in the room jump and scurry away.
"Relax mate," The metal grate gave way to the force of her kick, and she effortlessly jumped to the ground. "If I wanted to run, I would be half way across the galaxy by now."
"Jesus woman! Give me a heart attack next time!" The officer grumbled, and then mumbled something along the lines of 'I'm too old for this.'
"Is that a challenge?" She smiled, showing off her pearly white teeth. Commander Smith narrowed his eyes at her, and continued to yell orders at the cowering people. "Gez, lower your voice. I'm pretty sure you could send an army deaf."
"Quiet thief, I didn't ask for your opinion. Now go get some proper armour and meet me at the shuttle deck. We're going to see how good you really are." Once again, he shouted to a man to grab the data pad in his hand, and then stomped off somewhere.
Bloody hell, someone's got a stick up their arse.
With quick steps, she made her way in the direction she was pointed. Her boots slapped the ground as she walked, earning herself a few glances or stares. Sighing, she quickened her pace and made it to the small room in less than two minutes. It was deserted; only an air conditioner could be heard. Winter relaxed and took some more steps inside, looking around until her eyes landed on a case with two familiar names engraved into it.
'Crystal Winter'
One eyebrow rose, and she walked to the metal crate, unhitching the locks and lifting the lid. Her eyes lit up, as inside sat her old suit and Omni-tool, along with her precious Widow, in which she had completely modified herself. She gasped happily, as her brushed some invisible dust off the weapon.
"Hello Kitten, did you miss your mummy?" She gently lifted the gun, feeling its weight and gripping it like she normally did. It fitted her like a glove, and she laughed blissfully. "Mummy missed you." She pulled the heavy weapon close to her, hugging it like one would a living thing, but then stopped completely when she heard footsteps behind her. In the door stood a Drell, to her surprise, with an interested look on his face.
"You talk to your gun?" He asked curiously, walking into the room and stopped in front of a case similar to hers, but 'Shalnq Xolt' was engraved into it. She made a sound similar to a humph, and turned to look at the Drell again. He seemed buggered, with tired eyes and his hands shook as he lifted the lid of his case.
"Of course. How else would she know that she's loved? Wait, don't answer that… So, do you talk to any of your guns Mr Xolt?" Her eyes fell to his backside, which unfortunately to her, was not visible because of his jacket. That made her smile disappear for a few seconds, and she looked like a cat that lost a mouse. He only shrugged as he placed his gun away, along with a visor that she didn't notice. His scales were more on the blue side and with a few black marks.
Not the talkative type I take it.
"Well, I got to run. Hopefully I'll see you later pumpkin." At his new nickname she gave him, he turned to look at her. One of his eyebrow ridges was raised, but he replied with a curt good-bye. She grabbed her suit and carried it to a shower stall, and changed as quickly as possible. The main body piece hugged her tightly, giving her the feeling of a second skin, only this skin could deflected bullets and had a kinetic barrier. Though the main colour was white, it was surprisingly clean and well kept. Her black-heeled boots slipped on and she kicked the heel on the ground, making sure they were on properly. A silent sigh breezed out of her mouth, as she combed her hair messily with her fingers. Walking back to the main room of the armoury, she noticed that the Drell was gone, and his case locked.
Aw, but he was so yummy to look at.
A smirk graced her lips as she turned back to her case, pulling out her Widow and placing it on her back. Next, she strapped on her Omni-tool and activated it, watching as it glowed to life and filled with information. With almost all her equipment in check, she grabbed her blonde hair and tied it into a bun that sat tightly on her head, and then pulled on her old Mnemonic Visor, which of course she had customised. Finally, she closed the lid of her case and left the room, making her way to the armoury.
"About time. What, did you have to touch up your make up or something? And I thought I told you to get proper armour." Commander Smith crossed his arms and tried to stare down Crystal, in which she smiled and grabbed her hip. She noticed that he didn't really look angry at all... Suddenly something in her brain ticked, and she smiled even more. He was attempting to push her, make her angry, or upset. She decided to play along.
"What's the matter Smith? Menstruating or something?" She laughed as his face turned red with rage, but he quickly composed himself.
"It's Commander Smith, woman, so shut your mouth and listen. Your job is to grab some Intel that was stored in an off world warehouse. We lost control of it to The Blue Suns, and that intel is vital may help us with these disappearances. So get in there, and don't die. Actually, just get the Intel, and then die if you want. I don't really care." He eyed her, and then walked towards some humans who stood and watched. They seemed shocked in the way she talked to their commanding officer. She entered the shuttle with small steps and sat, getting comfortable and leaning her head to the side to watch out the window. The engine of the shuttle roared to life, but then quickly quieted down; leaving her in a silence she didn't really want. She felt the shuttle lift off the station, and then watched as her prison quickly disappeared into the distance. The pilot was quiet, and after five minutes she was bored.
"So, where are we going, exactly?" She was about to ask again, thinking he didn't hear her until he just shrugged.
"That information is not to be given to you. Sorry Miss." A cocky tone was in his voice, and she felt like slapping him silly right there and then. Instead, she sighed and decided that staring out the window would be entertaining enough right now. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and she had to refrain herself from unlatching the door and jumping out. Sure, stars were beautiful and she was privileged to be able to see them, even if it was day time, but after hours of staring at them, it lost its warrantee. She missed Earth, and she missed stealing from rich snobs who thought themselves about everyone that they wouldn't even notice what they were missing. But she didn't always steal for the fun of it, or for the money. Some things were stolen as a personal gain, like when she managed to steal Van Gough 'The Scream', and Leonardo di'Vinch's 'The Last Supper'. In fact, a lot of items she stole for herself were artworks or things old, vintage. She remembered a time when she took a famous and every old Asari artwork. They weren't happy at all, and she had to stay hidden for month, but in the end, it was worth it to her, so she placed it with her other catches. Reminiscing about the past seemed to distract her, and after about an hour, the pilot turned and informed her of their position, confirming they were about two clicks away. Kitten sat confidently in her gloved hands, and Crystal cleaned the scope and checked the nooks and crannies to ensure they were clean. They slowed completely, and simply hovered for a bit whilst the pilot typed furiously. The shuttle door opened and revealed a depressing site. A row of hundreds of burning warehouses greeted her, with black smoke burning her nose and eyes.
"Jump..." She tightened her grip on Kitten, and got closer to the shuttle's open side. It edged closer and closer to a flat expansion of cement, until the shuttle hovered about it. "Now." With a steady foot, she pushed herself out, and sailed through the air for a second. She bent her knees as she landed, and stood up straight, inspecting the area. "Miss Winter, we believe that this is the last known coordinated of the data. Uploading them now." Her Omni-tool beeped, and her visor pulled up a map and pointed her in the suspected direction. Rounding a corner, she heard the conversation of two people, both obviously men.
"I've got two unknown males ahead. Thoughts?" Her voice was a whisper, and she sat waiting for a reply.
"If human, eliminate. If not, then we have a problem." The pilot murmured, but Crystal ignored him as she peeked around the corner. It indeed was two humans, wearing Blue Suns armour, and she decided to go with the element of surprise. Her Widow folded up and she slipped it on her back, quietly cloaking herself and tiptoeing behind them.
"Did you head that?" One of the troops quickly turned his head, looking for nothing in particular.
"Maybe it's just the sound of you being an idiot." The other retorted, but before he had time to laugh at his own joke, a knife protruded out of his throat. He fell limp, and the knife was pulled from his neck, killing him instantly. His body fell to the floor, and his friend sighed in frustration.
"Stop being an asshole and get up." He looked down at his friend and kicked his leg. "It's not funny-" Once again, he kicked him, but this time a little more urgently. He noticed the small pool of blood that was forming, but before he could call for help, two hands grabbed his head and twisted, snapping his neck.
"Tangos down". She whispered, and continued on her way. At last, a small closed off room came into view, and she sneaked in with little difficulty. Her Omni-tool lit up as she scanned the consol and started hacking it, turning off the alarms as she went. It took but a minute for her to gain access to the files, and she uploaded them straight away. "I've got what we need." She declared, walking back to the LZ. She noticed that no one had yet noticed she was in there systems, so she decided to poke around. Why were Blue Sons here in the first place, she had no idea, but what did they want with this data, she wondered. Unfortunately for her, she'd already sent it to the pilot, but she poked around anyway. She pulled out everything or anything, looking for something. She hated being left in the dark, and that's probably what made her a good leader. Finally, files popped up, revealing that these apparent 'abandoned' warehouses was home to humans hiding from the recent abduction. Exactly two thousand were living here, but now it seemed they were killed, or managed to leave without being spotted. Anger filled her mind, but she pushed it away, making sure to vent it out later.
Time seemed to slip her mind while she searched for information that seemed to have disappeared. So she jumped in surprise when the pilot suddenly yelled out.
"Watch out, you've got hostiles incoming!"
Great, I can't wait.
With quick fingers, she wiped the main frame and decided a grenade would also plunder their attempts at gaining the information she also wanted. She placed a timer on the bomb and then left it, hoping it would take out some unaware troops. With that down, she skidded around a corner and noticed a large set of stairs with a long catwalk. Quickly cloaking, she took two steps at a time and unfolded her rifle, simply running for dear life to the higher advantage point. Five troopers rushed out with their guns draw, looking around for a target. Five turned to four as one's head exploded, and the remainder opened fire on when the bullet had come from. Her hands wrapped around a small metal ball, and with a push of a button, she sent it sailing to the closest enemy. It stuck to his chest, and in he and his squadron's last few moments, he clawed trying to get it off. Only one managed to roll out of the way, noticing the panicked look of his comrades face, but with that, his victory was very short lived as his head too combusted. Jumping from her elevated point, she rolled so her legs didn't take the shock of the fall, and she sprinted down the hall and cloaked once again. The Blue Sun's troops called out to one another attempting to spot and shoot the invisible force that had embarrassingly infiltrated their security. She tried to ignore their calls for her blood to be spilled, and continued running to the LZ.
"I'm at the landing zone Miss, waiting for you." The pilot announced, and she quickened her pace to a sprint.
"I'm almost there, but I've got a whole lot of people looking for me! So get ready." The shuttle came in to sight and she pushed herself, noticing that her cloak had faded. Bullets flew past her head and hit crates or continued their way into space. With her hands forward, she started flipping through the air, with her hands and feet barely touching the ground. This (she hoped) made her harder to hit, but it ultimately slowed her down. On the final flip, she kicked the ground hard, and sailed in the air. Time seemed to slow as she squeezed herself into a tight ball, and landed in the shuttle with a thump. Her bum took the impact as she landed on it, and she moaned in pain, rubbing where her tail bone would be.
"Kinetic barriers forty percent, we're getting out of here." The shuttle groaned and started its take off, but not before a missile smacked into the hull, making the barriers fell completely. "Kinetic barriers are down, we're not going to-" The pilot's cries were silenced as a bullet pierced his skull, and Crystal quickly took control, trying not to be sick at the man's now wide eyes. The shuttle shook to the side as it continued to take fire, but eventually, it stopped as it flew out of range. She grabbed a breather mask out of the emergence lock before she suffocated, and continued to fly back to the station. She had no clue where that was, but the shuttle did.
Topped by a machine. Awesome.
Suddenly, she realised the dead man wasn't going to call himself in and let everyone know he carked it.
"Smith, the pilot is dead and the shuttle damaged. I'll be back as quickly as possible." And with that, she looked at the body and picked the man up, placing him in one of the passenger seats. The hole at the front of the shuttle sucked out the oxygen and left the vehicle lifeless. She buried her face into her hands.
I'm so screwed.