Several hovering cars and ships flew over the large capital city of Super Smash Insanity, dodging each other as traffic seemed to swarm to one large epicenter. The clogging within the skies caused several shouts and curses, and people angrily tried to beat one and other out to find a parking spot. Needless to say, it was a busy night.
The epicenter which they all clogged to was a large mansion skyscraper which extended over every other tower in the city. This was the area of the banquet hall, and this was where all the Smashers of the games were to meet for opening ceremonies. All fighters and contestants were to attend, and as such the many spectators and fans from all over the universe swarmed the tower to see it.
It was still over an hour to the event, but catering crews had decked out the place in stunning detail, and as they worked, Master Hand descended from the sky to the tower, and began his progress checks. Sweeping through the enormous halls, he noticed that all was well, and the setup was quite nice. However, deep within him, and old anger was brooding.
For Master Hand, the Smash events were meant to be tourney games among Nintendo's greatest fighters, with an occasional third party being represented. Up through Brawl, that was how it had been, but after the Taboo crisis, he had fallen along hard times. He had lost too much power, and alone he could not support the tournaments nor select the fighters that he requested for his fights. His deranged clone Crazy Hand was of no help either, too busy formulating his own evil creations to show to the world. Alone and in trouble, a new figure had turned to him and offered a new deal, and with it being hard times, Master Hand accepted.
Master Hand knew that changes were coming, but what happened next shook him to the core. Instantly the new head of Smash was in deals with several different companies, and he talked of bringing as many fighters together as possible for the biggest tournament game show ever. No longer was it a small tourney for select Nintendo players, but an all-out gaming crossover-the last thing Master Hand wanted. For him it was all too much, and with every day he was realizing he was resenting his decision even more to agree to the partnership with the strange figure. He did not want that getting out though, so putting on his best appearance, he went along with everything as planned, growling beneath his breath the whole time.
Far of, on the southwestern mountains on the new world of Smash, a jagged overhang hung above the land below, and in the assistance from it one could see the bright lights of the capital city. Around them was desert and barren land-life itself seemed to be devoid in the area. Atop the tip of the overhang, Mael Radec looked over it with silence, almost preserving a kind of respect for such a harsh land.
Mael himself was no stranger to harsh environments, for his home of Helghan was oxygen lacking and run down planet, which many years ago his people were forced to live on after the ISA kicked them out of their original planet. Helghan had been used strictly for mineral purposes, and exposure to the harsh environment of the planet had left its inhabitants mutated and altered. In order to breathe on the planet, several breathing devices were used for the soldiers, who would go on to declare war on the ISA.
Radec knew what was at stake back in his own world, but he also realized the opportunity in this one. He was told that he would return to his own world when the current games finished, and if he did what he was supposed to do correctly, then he could go back with enough power and resources to conquer the ISA.
Standing over the overhang now, he calmly awaited the others of the so called "spies" the head of the games had requested so specifically. With him he had brought information on the suspect he was tasked with checking into, one Laurence Barnes, a.k.a. Prophet. As he waited a strong wind churned the land, and blustery breezes rose and danced across the desert. It was almost peaceful in a way, and the silence suited Radec just fine. The silence was short lived however, by the approaching footsteps from behind him.
"Radec, you came early," said the first one to come out of the cave behind the overhang.
"And you are?" Radec said in an emotionless voice.
"Wesker will do. How about you meet my associates-and your new co-workers?" He said in an equally emotionless tone.
From behind Wesker came a troop of several figures, each looking terrifying or sly in their own way.
The first one who stepped out wore a dark black hoodie, and held a sinister look in his eyes. His was of human ancestry, but instead of having a right arm he has what appeared to be a dark curved claw, as if it was a mutated skin.
"Alex Mercer," He said darkly introducing himself.
From behind him stepped a strange cyborg, decked in white, grey, and hints of black. His armored covered face boor two red eyes, and the design of his armor was wicked and terrifying. He had the appearance of a one great warrior-one who lost himself somewhere along the way.
"Smoke," He said in a robotically disguised voice.
Next up was a stoic looking man in white hair, wearing a blue cloak. On his side a sword was held, and as he approached, Radec noticed a cool and collecting look in his eyes.
"And you are?" Radec questioned.
"I go by just Virgil. Nothing more," He stated.
Shrugging, Radec looked behind him to see if anyone else would come. He was not disappointed, as next stepped out a large insect creature, with two large yellow eyes, long bladed arms, and a battle suit wrapped around his legs, upper arms, and midsections.
"He doesn't talk, but you can call him the Eviscerator," Wesker said.
The Eviscerator looked over Radec, question in his large eyes. Suddenly he growled and raised his blades to Radec, whose hand quickly slid down to his gun. Seeing his quick reaction, the Eviscerator nodded, and expanded his thin wings and flew back.
"May I also present, Mr. Bison," Wesker said simply.
Replying to his call, a large and incredibly built man stepped out, dressed in a red suit with a blue cape. He wore a commander cap on his head, and on his face he bore a devilish triumphant grin. Confidence and terror boomed in his voice when he spoke.
"This is Radec? The deadly general you told us of?" He asked.
"More than you can imagine," Radec said behind his breather.
"Moving on, there are a few more you should meet. Rounding out our group, I present to you Sesa 'Refumee, Shahkulu, General RAAM, Mercer Frey, and Dark Samus."
Each one of the figures looked to be dark, cool, and deadly. 'Refumee was supposedly a Sangheili Elite, one who turned against his own people to stage a heretic uprising. Shahkulu was a dark assassin, and Dark Samus, Wesker had said, was am evil cone of Samus, being far deadlier that he original copy. Mercer Frey had a devious mind and a skill for leadership, and knew how to get things done. General RAMM was a Locust general, and one who had the most terrifying appearance that Radec had ever seen.
Counting them all there was twelve, each deadly and cunning in his own right. It was a nasty looking group-that Radec knew for sure. Still, he trusted no one yet on this group, and he would not let his guard down around any of them. He still had little idea of what their mission was, yet that was answered by Wesker just the second he thought it.
"Now that everyone has gathered, we should go over why we are here. The head of this grand tourney needs an elite spy and enforcement team to work behind the scenes to get things done around here. In return, he has promised us each many new resources and powers when we return to our own worlds. If any of you doubt that this promise will be kept, then stop now and leave. I have experienced his gifts first hand, and if you do your job here the rewards will be great.
"So were an undercover agency?" Grey asked in a dark tone.
"We are the dark enforcement that holds these games together. He has given us the role of silently watching everyone and making sure that these games stay competitive, enforced, and even violent. If that means we have to make trouble to make the boss happy, then so be it. Antagonize the bad guys, stab the good guys behind their backs-look out for cheaters and destroy anyone who goes after our boss. Most off all stay out of the line of sight when you can operate in the underworld-we have quite a big one here in the new Smash Universe."
"Enforcement from the dark then?" Radec asked through his breather.
"Oh, in so many ways. No one gathered here can be classified as a hero or even a 'good guy'. We are all in this for personal gain, and pooling our resources and strengths, we can exit this better off than ever before."
"Mere desires do not fit me-I demand conquest!" RAAM said in broken English.
"So you shall have it. Radec wants the same things-believe me everyone will be well rewarded for what they do, and that brings me around to my final question-are you all in?"
Dark Samus, Mr. Bison, Smoke, and Virgil instantly agreed. After thinking it over, Radec did as well.
"What if we don't choose to accept?" Grey said in a darkly hushed tone.
"Then I set you free back to compete in the games, where each of you only has the slimmest of chances of winning, whereas here you are granted a great prize guaranteed. However, if you leave, we will be forced to keep a full time tab on you in the games, and if you make a move against our forces or mutter even one word about this group, you will be killed from this world. And I assure you it won't be better in your home worlds when you return!" Wesker said putting a lot of emphasis on the last part.
Considering this, the Eviscerator, Grey, RAAM, and Shahkulu agreed, leaving only 'Refumee and Mercer. Mercer showed no emotion at all, and did not show if he was even contemplating the matter or not. 'Refumee looked to be split on the matter, deciding if it was worth his time. Sensing this, Wesker said the one thing he knew would convince the Elite.
"Arbiter is here 'Refumee-you can kill him here . . ." Wesker said with a devilish smile.
Giving a hesitant sign, 'Refumee then looked upon simply and walked over, his mandibles clicking as he whispered something in his own language. Mercer, seeing everyone else join, looked up from under his hoodie and simply nodded.
"So . . . everyone is in then? Good, this will serve us all quite well. You have all been given a gauntlet communicator, and we have a full armor and hidden base far away in the northwestern zone of this world. As of now, you have each been given a figure to track down-see to it that you continue your study of the character and bring it back for the boss in investigate. Remember-we are the dark and silent enforcement-cause trouble or prevent it, we do it all for the sake of keeping these games interesting. If we do so, we'll come out of it greater than ever.
"From now on this group will go by the name, Spoken from the Shadows, and you are to report every week to the base to give information and reports. This is your chance everyone-this is the opportunity to get the big steal. Everyone is dismissed." With that, Wesker turned on his heal and exited into the cave.
It certainly was a big gathering, and lines came from nearly every entrance to the tower. Video game characters arrived as if celebrities and new arrivals were being seen at every turn. Cheers rang, cameras flashed, and several shuffled from here to there. Security was on an extra high, and a perimeter for safety concerns had been established early on.
Not more than a mile of a floating ship approached from the distance, carrying within it several mighty warriors. Captain John Price, looking from the window of the ship, observed the large city before turning back to his team.
"It's bloody crazy isn't it?" Ghost said with a smile, though no one saw it because of his balaclava
"You mean?" Roach said quietly.
"That were here, entering a tournament to fight video game characters-heck, apparently we are such characters! And none of us seem to have a problem with it." Ghost said again.
"Indeed. I would have thought all these characters would be freaking out right now, yet we all seem to be fine about it." Price said with a small nod.
"Who knows-maybe were all just in a place where nothing makes sense. We were told that after it was over we would return to normalcy with no recall of what happened in this tourney event. Perhaps everyone here was convinced by the figure running this event that this was just a different world, or perhaps even a different state of mind." Nikolai said while thoughtfully rubbing his chin.
"Whatever the case, we need to make sure to play our best game here. We may not know why were so 'ok' with all this craziness happening here, but since we are ok with it them we had better wallop these games into shape. Load those weapons men-we need to be ready for anything!" Soap spoke.
Not too far ahead of them in the next room of the ship. Commander John Shepard looked out his window at the fast approaching city. Next to him a holo-table was lit up with fluorescent blue lights showing a glowing blue map of the city, complete with inner schematics and approximate numbers. In the same room Marcus Phoenix sat with Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi. Together they all studied the layout of the city, pinpointing critical locations.
"Why exactly do we need to check every measure of the city?" Falco questioned.
"We still know nothing of these games. Being a commander who has experience with large battles and space wars, Shepard here recommended we get a better look at what may be ahead of us." Fox stated.
"I trust your judgment Fox. You said you had experience with these types of events, and I needed to keep tabs on what was going on here. I want to make sure were not missing something. A good general keeps a sharp eye out for any turn, and I think you and Phoenix are the two best suited for the job.
"Maybe. Whatever the case I think we all can agree none of us know what we are getting ourselves into." Phoenix replied.
"True, but I can warn you this-watch out for Ganondorf. You two have never had experience with him before, but he is arguably the most powerful figure here. Never trust him!" Falco said with a hint of bitterness.
"Understood. The map here shows nothing odd or out of place in the city, yet with all the clogging going on at this central tower, it seems there is no activity anywhere else in the area." Shepard noticed, looking at the projection.
"What about the other areas around the city? I heard that several different areas from several different games." Falco said.
"Indeed, but we detect nothing form these regions. It seems that everyone will be at the tower for the opening tonight. We best get set." Shepard said with a small nod.
"Attention, we will be reaching the landing zone in five minutes!" A voice sounded over the ships intercom.
"So, it begins then huh?" Falco asked Fox.
"We'll see, Falco, we'll see . . ." Fox said as his words faded into nothing.
John 117, or The Master Chief as so many had come to call him, was uneasy as ever, sitting on the cold bed of the room that had been assigned to him. No lights were on in the room, and no sounds echoed from anywhere.
In the silence, Master Chief was deep at thought, his mind glumly reflecting that he was to be somewhere in a little while. He did not move, but instead leaned his head back against the wall, the cool plating of his helmet making a soft thud on the plastered surface. In his mind he thought of only one thing, or rather, one person.
To call her a person some would call unfair, but to Master Chief, Cortana was more real than half the humans he had met in his life. An Artificial Intelligence Program designed after Katherine Halsey, the starter of the Spartan Project of which Master Chief was a part of, Cortana had been paired with him for quite some time, being the voice of reason, knowledge, and even humor when he needed one.
Perhaps he had been too late to realize when he did, but to hum Cortana meant so much more than he originally thought. Cortana was artificial, yet in the end Chief had realized that she was more human than artificial, and he was more machine. She was intelligent and thoughtful with a quick wit and humor, while all he was was a weapon used to destroy. He was built to save humanity, to be a warrior who could be unbeatable, and for so much of his life he proved that task.
He had destroyed multiple Halo Rings, defeated the Covenant, and had multiple times stopped the Flood, a horrific parasite, from spreading in his own universe. Recently he had defeated an ancient evil known as the Didact, a cruel creature of Forerunner ancestry who had a vendetta against humanity. In order to stop him, however, he had lost Cortana, who had slowly been losing her mind to rampancy, which occurred in all AI after a period of time.
Losing her had devastated Master Chief more than he could show, making him even more silent and cold then before. Following the horrible moment he lost Cortana he went in a dark state, where he talked to no one and even disappeared for stints of months over the course of the next year. Chief's allies and supporters, the UNSC, were kind enough to give him his space, and it wasn't long before they began to stop hearing from him all together.
For a long time Master Chief went rogue, ignoring orders, searching random places, and trying to find meaning in a world that to him had turned so black and white, or, maybe had been-maybe he was just seeing that now. His purpose was to simply be a tool of war, and the moment he realized that is the moment he lost Cortana, and since then he had become a hollow shell without answers.
"More machine than man . . ." Chief muttered under his breath, continuing to lose himself in the silence.
He had been told that Cortana was here, and that if he did what the boss of these games wanted, he would get her back. Chief would like to argue he was not an errand boy, but he had always been taking orders ever since he could remember.
"Is there even a chance at getting her back?" Chief wondered in desperation.
As if to answer his question, someone knocked on his door. Going up to the control key beside it, Chief pressed a small button which opened the door. The door then slid open quickly, revealing the imposing figure of Samus Aran.
"You?" Chief asked without emotion.
"That the way you greet me?" Samus asked.
"Can I help you with something?" Chief asked, again without emotion.
"I was about to make my way down to the opening event. Are you coming-I think it's a requirement." Samus said.
"Why should I?" Chief asked.
Samus shrugged, taking a closer look at the slumped figure against the wall, being more interested and confused by this silent soldier. Who was the Master Chief, and why was he so moody?
"Hey, Master Chief, I don't want to give orders or anything, but it is probably best that we get going to the event. You are competing in these games right?" Samus asked.
"Doesn't sound like we have mush of a choice, does it?" Master Chief responded.
"I guess you're right," Samus said before pausing.
With a sign, she overlooked Chief again, trying to get a read from the armored soldier. If he was showing something she clearly could not see it, so with her next question she went on a bit of a limb.
"Master Chief, you don't have to answer if you don't want but . . . are you ok? Is there something that's going on to you?" She asked.
Master Chief did not respond at first, as if toiling the idea over in his head. He wondered if he had anything to gain by telling her his problems, but then again she seemed like she was genuinely interested.
"Let's just say I have a lot of problems, and that somewhere along the lines I lost myself, if it was even there to begin with." Chief said slowly.
"It has something to do with that one person you were talking about . . . Cortana right?" She asked.
"Maybe," Master Chief said angrily and under his breath.
"I'm sorry if I struck a bad place with that," Samus then said with a sign.
"It's nothing. I'm just not a talker." Chief said seemingly emotionless.
Samus was fairly stunned. Just seconds ago he sounded angered and defeated over the mentioning of Cortana and now again he was without emotion, and looking just like before. Samus could see she was not getting anywhere, so thinking it over, she took a step back to leave, but before she did she turned back and addressed Master Chief.
"Alright then-you're still free to join me if you wish. I may see you there then."
With that, she left, and behind her Master Chief's door slid shut, leaving him again in his room in the dark.
It was ten minutes until the ceremony was about to commence, and looking up at the bright light surrounding the building, Pac-Man was at a loss for world. In his own world he was used to small grids, filled with dots and fruits, which he would always try to collect from his notorious enemies. But this whole city was far different from anything that he had known before, and as he made his way through the line to the front door, he accidentally bumped into the person in front of him.
"Who touched me?" Came an angry voice from in front of Pac-Man.
His mouth gaped open and he realized he could not form words to speak, Pac-Man desperately tried to put on an apologetic look on his face for whoever he had mistakenly bumped, but looking around to try and find him, he realized he could not.
"Down here you yellow smiley face!" The same voice sounded from in front of Pac-Man.
Looking down, Pac-Man found himself facing an enraged squirrel, whose cute figure as a tiny animal was offset by the vulgar look in his eyes and the nastiness in his voice.
"You watch where you put your blasted body!" The squirrel said in anger.
"Shut in Conker!" Someone said from above.
Looking up they both looked on as a raccoon dressed in thief gear lowered himself down to the ground, smiling widely as he saw the anger on Conker's face rise.
"Oh, darn you Sly Cooper, you little . . ." Conker started to say.
"Not as little as you," Sly Cooper said followed by a chuckle.
It was at then that the little squirrels face turned completely red, and he looked ready to pounce on Sly Fox, were he not interrupted by a voice that sounded above them.
"Attention all Contestants and guests of the games, we will now begin ushering in everyone to their places for the opening ceremony. The staff will now start you all off to your seats."
A few shouts could be heard above of Pac-Man, and turning in the direction of the shouting, he saw everyone in the line being moved up and into the building. Thankful for a reason to get away from the angry squirrel Conker, he rushed ahead to get into the building. Behind him, Conker grumbled something and slowly made his way in as well.
"Tsk, tsk, the temper on that one will surely get the better of him." Sly Cooper said as he made his way in after them.
Slowly other began to trickle in from all corners. Commotion was heard at one line where Crash Bandicoot was wildly jumping and flinging himself around. Annoyed that he may break something, the ushers tried to stop him, but he could only be stopped where a bolt of fire flew right in front of where he was jumping around, and seeing the burning ember, wisely deiced to step back.
Turning to see the thrower of the fireball, spectators and competitors saw the dragon Spyro, silently gliding his way up to the higher stories. Elsewhere, a simple and pleasant looking bear in clothing tried to get through a door that was crowding with characters, only for his bird companion to warn him it was not going to work. Seeing all the blockage at that door, Donkey Kong pounded his fists against his chest and threated to charge it when a cold shout came through the air, its piercing sound making everyone fall dead silent.
"Objection!"
Turning, they all found themselves looking at a well-dressed man in a blue suit and slicked jet-black hair, and appearing to be a lawyer. Indeed, when Phoenix Wright needed to object, he got the attention of the whole crowd.
In another part of the building, an usher called out a roll call, assigning contestants to their seats.
"At table 43," the usher said, "We have Gordon Freeman, Nathan Drake, and Max Payne. And over in the corner at table 76 we have Lara Croft, Duke Nukem, Cole McGrath, and Chell."
As competitors began to take their seats, the murmur amongst the people there swarmed higher and higher. The sound echoed down the halls, and anticipation built up with it. Everyone knew that the wait would not be too much longer-the event was almost about to begin.
Near a landing zone on the top of the building a ship flew down, carrying within it several of the old contestants. Stepping out into the cool night air, Link and Zelda took in the skyline of the city, and delighted by the sight, Zelda held fast as she gazed into what lay before her.
Link however, was still concerned with other matters. He had not seen or heard of Ganondorf since the beginning of the events, and letting the evil mastermind go loosely about his business in this new world did not suit him at all. He doubted that Ganondorf could be up to anything really bad, as whomever was running these games seemed to want it all to be fair. Still, there was never any discounting Ganondorf, especially after what happened in Brawl.
He continued thinking about this as an usher showed him to a door, but then it swung open by the force of a giant hand. From inside they heard jolly and loud chuckles, and upon hearing it, both Link and Zelda froze.
"No, not him . . . tell me they got anyone but him!" Link stammered out insanely fast.
"No . . . no . . . please be a dream," Zelda muttered in what appeared to be fright.
"Darn! I thought we came to peace with this! This was supposed to be in the past!" Link said as he slapped his head.
"My boy," Came the answer from the person that swung the door open, "This piece is what all true warriors strive for!"
Standing there before Link and Zelda, making their worst nightmares come true, was the giant and bellowing figure of King Harkinian. From behind Zelda and link the other competitors had stepped out, and were in awe at how Zelda and Link were acting.
"Uh, guys . . . why are you both quivering over a jolly king?" Pit asked.
"He's . . . he's . . . from CD-I . . ." Link muttered in defeat.
In answer to this, all the competitors gasped and took another look at the King. Standing well over six four, he was a rather big man with a gold beard and long flowing gold hair. He was dressed in a yellowish robe, and in his hand he held a purple chalice, which he was now drinking out of.
"So this is one of the infamous CD-I characters?" Ness asked.
"Let's just say it was a really dark time for the franchise." Link said to which the King gave a bellowing chuckle.
"Ho, ho . . . My boy, take this!" The king said, throwing link an object.
"The Tri-Force of Courage?" Link asked incredulously.
"How did you get it?" Zelda questioned.
"Enough!" The King said, turning away.
"Why is he acting this way?" Questioned Marth from behind.
"To my knowledge he can't use dialogue that was not found in the CD-I games, so he has to communicate in a strange way." Link said under his breath.
"And I thought that Ganondorf was your worst enemy!" Lucas said.
"Oh, he still is-the King, well . . . those of us that survived the CD-I years don't like to talk about it. Heck, we thought those games were things of the past. Apparently this was not the case." Zelda said.
"Well the good news for you two is that at least there are not any others." The Pokémon trainer said.
"Don't jinx it . . ." Link started to say before a strange sound hit all of their ears.
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," The sound rained down as a round man with elf ears, a brown short beard and wrinkled skin dropped down in front of them with a wild smile.
"Morshu?" Both Link and Zelda said at once.
"Looks like he not alone either!" Said Pit pointing up at a long bearded man riding a magic carpet flew down to where they were.
"Squadala, we are here!" The man on the carpet said, wiping off his purple robe.
"Gwonam too?" Zelda asked incredulously.
"This is 'gonna be a long night." Link said with a sign.
"I wonder what's for dinner?" The King asked thoughtfully.
Samus Aran listened to the sound of her armored feet clicking on the pavement as she strolled down to the tower. The Event was set to begin any minute, and at the pace she was going, she knew she would be late. Yet that didn't faze her, for at this point another tournament seemed like everyday life.
The thing that did bother her was the sheer scope of all that was going on. The older Smash games had been solid and straightforward-fight opponents, and explore the worlds set around you. Yet here it all seemed about marketing and getting big names. The first roster for the first Super Smash Bros has been composed of only twelve fighters, and from there it had steadily grown, but never too much. These games had now reached a status of over 1,000 contestants, and for all she knew there could be another 10,000 more she did not know about.
The tower in front of her was brimming with shimmering lights as music blared from the windows. There was reluctance in her as she walked towards it, knowing very well that once she entered, she would be entering an all-new sort of event she had never seen before. The uncertainty revolving this version of Smash seemed so different to her, and as she walked the uneasiness within her was growing.
"It's right up ahead-that tower there right?" Called a gravelly voice from behind her.
Turning, she found herself facing Master Chief, her looked formidable in the shadow of the night. Calmly approaching her, he again indicated the tower ahead.
"That's where everything is going on right?" He asked again.
"Yes, that's where all the contestants are supposed to go." Samus said.
"Contestants . . ." Chief mumbled to himself.
"So you decided to come after all?" Samus asked.
Master Chief hesitated for a moment, considering what he was about to say next. He was only coming to this event for one reason, to see what the person running it had to do with Cortana. He had said that she was somewhere around, and that to get to her Master Chief would have to be at the event tonight. Besides that, it would be a good place to meet with Marston and Shadow and see if they were able to discover anything else about the strange world they now inhabited.
"I'm here to find out about someone-I don't think I'm really in the mood for competing in . . . games." Master Chief muttered slowly.
"Completely understand you there. I thought it was nonsense when I competed in my first Smash event." Samus said from beneath her helmet.
Master Chief nodded, and then proceeded to the building with Samus following right behind. As they approached the main entrance, a R.O.B. bot approached them, his eyes glowing red with something that appeared to be rage.
"You are both late. Come now-we are about to start!" He said, leading them to an elevator.
With that, they followed, and the minute they got on the elevator, it shot them up through the building, almost warping at incredible speeds. As they zoomed up the tower, they found themselves looking out into a dark part of the city not far away through the elevators window. Nearly no light came from it, and though something about the dark part of the city seemed to irk Master Chief, he shrugged it off and turned away. With the possibility of Cortana being he had more important things to deal with anyway.
Had Master Chief looked harder at the shaded part of the city, he might have seen the tiny flashes of a zoomed in camera, watching his every move. The person behind it bore dark sunglasses, and his black frock coat caught the cool night breeze in spurts.
"So," Wesker said with a small smile, "You're the one that the leader thinks is the biggest challenge-the one with the greatest potential. What is it about you soldier that he finds so powerful and aweing? He said you could be the biggest part of this tourney, and yet you have remained so desolate since your arrival. Just what is it about you?"
"Wesker, the event is about to start. Frey and Dark Samus are covering the rooftops, and RAMM says the perimeter is covered and a blockade can be set up if anything goes south. Mr. Bison is in the tower, scoping things out, and the others are spread out and on standby." Alex Mercer said coming from behind him.
"Alright then . . . Mercer, I have a new task I want you to work on individually. I have given the rest of the team players to scope out throughout the games, and I want you to focus on one in particular. He is called the Master Chief, and he is considered a top priority by our boss. Don't do anything yet, but keep an eye on him and study him. This is one player we need to have a low-down on. Understood?" Wesker asked darkly.
"It's done," Alex Mercer said, turning away from Wesker and exiting the roof.
"Far from it Mercer-were just getting started." Wesker said after Mercer left, slowly getting up and leaving the roof as well.