Area 99 is a gigantic military facility protected by huge concrete walls that encircle the important buildings within. Soldiers frequently patrolled the walls and they used the most cutting edge technology that could be found on this planet. Bypassing the guards to sneak into Area 99 is not going to be easy with how many layers of security had been put in place.

However, he is the mercenary Zind. He can and he will complete any job as long as he's paid enough to do so.

The arm bracers that he wore softly hummed into life. The energy shields that came forth morphed its shape until it surrounded him and his client in a small dome. The energy shields quickly changed colour and refracted light such that they were soon invisible to the naked eye.

"Nifty. Must be a five star equipment," Silver Wolf remarked when she understood how they were going to sneak in. Zind's weapon is a real piece of work considering how backward the entire planet is.

"Fought tooth and nail to get my hands on it. Alright, let's keep our silence from here on out. Follow my footsteps and I will bring you in."

She heeded the advice of her guide and silently followed close after him. He went through on his promise and really led her through the layers of heavy patrol under their camouflage. They soon managed to infiltrate the most important building of Area 99, a facility that obviously held something important.

Like the stellaron, for example.

"Dark, dreary, moldy, boring place. Look exactly like the kind of place where the final boss of the stage will be at."

"Please don't jinx it," he replied as he kept a lookout while Silver Wolf busied herself with hacking the lift terminal to bring them directly up to the control room so that they could figure out where to go next.

"I'm not jinxing us. I'm just making a prediction based on my past experiences and observation."

"Can you just please keep your mouth shut? How long until you're done?"

"I finished reprogramming a long time ago and now we just have to wait for the lift to come, but it's taking forever to reach us. Argh, the technology of this place is-"

"-so backwards. Yes, I know. I heard you the first time."

The lift finally arrived and both of them winced at how loud the creaky rusty metal doors of the lift opened itself. They quickly glanced at their surroundings and unanimously released a breath they never knew they held when they realised that the unwanted noise produced by the lift did not attract any attention. They quickly entered the lift, winced once more when the lift doors screeched as it closed with a dull bang that seemed deafeningly loud with how silent their surroundings were, before noisily making its way up with rhythmic creaking noises.

"This stage is a horror game. Maybe we should have just grind some levels and then use the level difference to speedrun the stage instead."

"For once I think you are right," he agreed as they both stood in the lift as it creaked and groaned while making its way up as if doing its best to announce their arrival. The dusty speaker at the top left was blasting some soothing music as it was programmed to do during the uneasy ride. It felt like the whole facility would have heard them coming.

"Do you think we would be greeted with a warm welcome when the lift doors finally open? It's kind of a classic trope when the protags are about to reach the boss fight."

"Can you please don't?"

"Or the lift would suddenly stop and crash, and we have to get out prematurely and climb up to the quest marker on foot while taking down all the mobs along the way."

"You play too many video games."

"Huh? How'd you know?"

"Why would I not know- whoa!"

The lift groaned to a violent stop, swaying precariously from side to side as the lights flickered and the speaker sputtering static noises until it ceased entirely. Zind turned to look at Silver Wolf as the girl turned to look at the merc.

"You should really learn how to shut up."

"This is not a jinx, this is a prediction. See? Video games aren't all that bad, it teaches what we should expect next. Now we can plan ten steps ahead."

Zind's palm met his face and he decided that he really did not want to continue this conversation any further. They couldn't stay trapped here forever, so he used his strength to quickly force the doors open, cautiously checking their surroundings before climbing out and pulling Silver Wolf out with him. The lift had stuck at the forty-third floor.

"Where's the control room located again?"

"Sixty-four."

"You mean we have twenty-one more floors to climb?"

"Or we can find another lift?"

"I think that's the only lift."

"... Great, everyone would have noticed the lift had broken down so… wow, this stage had a time limit winning condition too? We have to literally speedrun it? This stage just went from hard to legendary mode."

"Someone's coming," he covered her mouth with his hand when he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly cloaked themselves again and pressed their bodies against the wall at a corner, only to quickly pull his hand away in disgust he felt something slimy brushing across his palm.

"Why the hell did you lick me?"

"Because I couldn't breathe?" She hissed. His hand was big and it covered her nose together with her mouth. They quickly shut their mouths when the footsteps got louder.

"This is squad C-12. Seems that the lift had broken down at floor 43. The doors are open but there are no occupants. I think it had broken down again," someone among the two men patrol reported through the comms. Silver Wolf poked her head out a little from where she was hiding Zind's back. These soldiers were wearing what could be described as a gas chamber suit. How primitive. She hasn't seen any of such outfits other than the retro games that she used to play.

A flash of brilliance hit her. She quickly tugged at his shirt to catch his attention, eagerly pointing at the two-men patrol, gesturing wildly with her hands and she knew he understood what she's trying to convey.

"Seriously?" He mouthed in silence and she replied with a dramatic silent nod. This is an infiltration mission, and what's an infiltration mission without a bit of impersonation and stealth element?

The two-men patrol started to head back to where they came from. They didn't get so far as three metres ahead before two dull thuds resonated across the silent dark musty corridor and the sound of something being dragged across the ground could be heard until it disappeared. Minutes later, two individuals dressed in those same bodysuits were climbing the stairs, but one of them looked obviously shorter and the suit was obviously far too large for her size.

"I wish this came with XS size. Also, this stinks."

"What else were you expecting when you stole their chamber suits? This thing's stuffy as hell, of course it would be full of sweat."

"Why would a patrol squad need to wear gas chamber suits anyway?" Silver Wolf grumbled as she quickly altered the size and condition of her suit with her aether editing, causing the suit to shrink such that it now fits her better and the stinky odour was removed. There, much better now.

"How would I know? Best get moving, in any case."

"Freaking twenty-one floors."

"Or you could edit the lift back to working condition."

"That would be too sus. We would be exposed right away."

"Then twenty-one floors it shall be."

"I miss Blade and Sam already. If they were here we would be able to just speedrun this stage with the power of level difference."

"I'm sorry for not being an immortal or a cool metal humanoid."

"It's okay, you're cool too. I'm not expecting too much out of an npc anyway."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Their banter helped kill the boredom as they made the gruelling climb to the sixty-fourth floor of the facility. They finally located the control room, entered it, a few more dull thuds followed shortly and soon, the genius hacker was already sitting on the operator's chair, her fingers swiftly dancing across the keyboard in a blur as the numerous screens flickered under her control.

"Urgh, this operating system is so outdated that even museums wouldn't want to put them on display. I swear, this planet-"

"-is so backwards. Yes, I know. Did you find it?"

"Bingo. Fifty-two floor… We have to climb back down?"

"At least we are now climbing downwards rather than upwards."

"This is such a waste of time," Silver Wolf grumbled but continued to try hacking into the facility's system through the control room since she's already here. "The whole of fifty-two floor is a gigantic lab. Let me see if I can first disable the security measures from here… Pfft, this is going to be sooooo easy."

"Let me guess, because this planet is so backwards?"

"Hey, how'd you know what I was going to say?"

"Good question, how do I know?" He said sarcastically. "So, your plan?"

"Speedrun this using the power of level difference cos I'm not going to wear this stupid suit any longer," Silver Wolf declared as she removed the stupid suit and the gas mask that hid her identity. Screw the suits, she's a Stelleron Hunter. She's not afraid of making herself known to the galaxy. Impersonating as the two-men patrol was a stupid decision to begin with.

"Putting on the suits was your idea."

"It got us here, didn't it?"

"Did we even run into a single mob on our way here?"

"Hey, you are starting to speak my language. Good job!" She praised her companion and gave him a pat on his back… Ew, so sweaty. Urgh, she's sweaty too. Those stupid stuffy suits.

They made their way back down the stairs. The fifty-second floor was clearly different from the rest. It's sparkling clean, it's bright, it's spacious, it's white, just like what Silver Wolf would expect out of a futuristic lab of a mad scientist trying to prevent the end of the world by trying to end the world itself.

The perfect boss fight is coming. She can feel it. Her gamer instincts were screaming.

"Follow me," Silver Wolf walked confidently ahead, knowing that all the alarms and security weapons had been deactivated previously when she did her work from the control room. The lab was surprisingly void of human presence, it would seem like the final boss was very confident in the heavy layers of security measures that they had put in place but it was simply too bad for them that they had run into the almighty Silver Wolf. Hacking into those outdated systems didn't even give her a challenge, they were even more retro than retro.

They soon reach a gigantic vault and in it sits just one single object floating on a pedestal.

"Found ya," Silver Wolf grinned and adjusted the purple glasses on the top of her head. She raised her right hand as pixelated purple motes of light quickly materialised to create a protective translucent gauntlet. Zind watched curiously as Silver Wolf carefully reached her hand out and held onto the stellaron with the tip of her fingers before smoothly extracting it from its container. The purple motes of light changed its form, swiftly transforming into a small box that kept it sealed before Silver Wolf caused it to vanish into her inventory.

Mission complete.

"So that glowing yellow marble is a stellaron?"

"This is also my first time seeing a real one, but from what I was told they could take on other forms aside from being a glowing yellow marble," Silver Wolf dusted her hands. "Alright, mission complete. No boss fight, surprisingly, I was half-expecting a boss to pop up just when I was about to touch that stellaron. That kind of cliche story development never gets old."

"Can you please stop jinxing us?"

"Jinx? That's not jinxing, that's a-"

"Prediction?"

"Hey you are getting smarter! This NPC is evolving!"

"Let's just go," Zind shook his head and walked ahead, only to stop in mild disbelief when he reached the exit and found himself facing an entire platoon of soldiers with their rifles pointing at him.

Urgh, of course things won't go that smoothly.

"Oooh, so the boss fight finally came. I told ya, there will be a boss fight," Silver Wolf blew a low whistle and cautiously poked her head out from behind him to better observe the odds that they were facing. "Oh, no boss? Only the mobs? Or do we have to clear the mobs before we get to meet the boss?"

"Can you please just, shut, up?" Zind seethed through gritted teeth as his shields materialised into view and he took a defensive stance. Ten, twenty… no, approximately fifty rifles were pointed at them. The lab was spacious and large, it could fit a whole lot of people here and there weren't many places where they could hide and take cover. That's not good news for them.

"Zind the mercenary. Drop your weapon. The same goes for your accomplice."

"Uh oh, you are recognised," Silver Wolf said as she unwrapped a fresh bubblegum from its wrapper, popped it into her mouth and started to chew on it. Zind looked deep in thought while cautiously observing their opposition.

"The stellaron, will the monsters really disappear if you take it back with you?"

"Huh? What?" She looked up to face him when he unexpectedly asked her an unrelated question. Dammit, why is everyone around her so tall? She has to crane her neck to speak to them every single time.

"The monsters plaguing this planet, will they be gone once the stellaron is gone?"

"Of course, that's why we are collecting them in the first place," she replied as if that's the most obvious thing in the world. "Don't believe me? Just clear out the monster horde a few more times after today is over and you will find that there won't be anymore monster respawns. You'll see then."

"Fine, I'll place my trust in you this time," Zind made his decision, a leap of faith that he had never once done ever since he became a mercenary for hire. This is crazy, absolutely crazy, trusting a stranger that he had only known for a few days to have the solution to removing the problem infesting this planet for three centuries, but he thinks he's crazier for even placing his trust in her in the first place.

But if her words really could be trusted, then this is still worth the gamble, doesn't it?

"Think you can take them on?"

"If I'm alone, getting out wouldn't be an issue, but since I am not alone…"

"Hey, I know I said that I'm not good at combat, but I can pull my own weight. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Always make sure you stay behind me and not more than five metres away from me. I cannot guarantee your safety otherwise. That means that you have to keep up with my pace. Can you do that?"

"That's it? Okay, sure," Silver Wolf blew a huge bubble before the bubble grew smaller. "What's the signal?"

"Why would we need a signal? Weren't you the one who wanted a speedrun? Just do it."

Their feet kicked off from the floor at almost the same time. Shots were immediately fired but they bounced off harmlessly when Zind simply raised his energy shields in front of him, his charge never slowing down with Silver Wolf easily keeping up with his pace.

"Gas squad!"

The regular infantry at the front knelt down while continuing to fire their shots, revealing a separate squad carrying rifles loaded with gas rounds and the muzzles pointing at the infiltrators' direction.

"Oh, so that's what the gas masks were for. Should have brought them along."

"A little too late for that now. Match my step."

Zind skidded to a sudden stop and Silver Wolf timed hers perfectly to sync with his. The mercenary swung his shield as the shield changed form, elongating in the blink of an eye as Zades swept the elongated weapon construct in front of him with the powerful swing of his arm, throwing the mobs aside and clearing the way forward for them. The shield quickly reverted back to its original shape just as the gas rounds were fired and Zind's eyes narrowed, about to take action when the voice of his client reached his ears.

"I'll handle this."

The gas rounds mysteriously vanished into motes of pixelated light, confusing the soldiers and Zind immediately capitalised on this brief moment of opening, ramming his shields into the nearest group and breaking their ranks apart like an unstoppable force. Silver Wolf quickly kept up, nimbly dodging the hands that tried to catch her.

"Jump!"

She didn't question why he told her to jump. She immediately placed her left hand on Zind's shoulder and used it as leverage to push herself up when she kicked off from the floor with a powerful jump, somersaulting over his head to avoid the electric batons that nearly clubbed her head. Oh, so that's why.

Better do something about them.

She aimed the small cannon attached to the terminal she always wore over her arm and fired her shot while in midair. The resulting cannon blast blew away the riot squad that had started to flood the lab with their numbers, each wielding a riot shield and electric baton. She landed back on her feet with a crouch, keeping her body low because she heard him yelling at her to keep her head down. Zind's shields swung past above her head almost immediately, sweeping away the mobs around them with every swing of his arms.

He's pretty strong for someone who doesn't look as muscular as Blade is.

"This way!"

She followed his lead and they soon found themselves running across a narrow metal bridge hovering at least ten stories high from the nearest ground floor she could see. Another squad of mobs were blockading the other end and were starting to open fire, not that it was of any use since the rounds simply bounced off Zind's shields.

Zind rammed himself into the crowd and bam, people started flying again. Hmm, she got a feeling that Blade and Zind might work very well with each other seeing how they both had such straightforward fighting styles. Maybe there would be a team synergy buff if she puts them together? Plus ten percent attack buff when Blade and Zind are on the same team?

She turned around to quickly fire another cheap shot at the group pursuing them from behind before quickly running after Zind. Man, the npc's really fast. Can he slow down a little? Her legs are not as long and it's getting really tiring to try and keep up. Be more considerate of people who are vertically challenged!

They continued running with him leading the way and she cannot help but give him a reminder when she saw no road ahead. If they continue running they will soon fall and land down on the ground below in two bloodied smears.

"It's a dead end!"

"I know! Jump!"

"What?"

"Just jump!"

They both jumped off the ledge and she panicked a little when she felt gravity taking hold of her body and being engulfed in the sense of weightlessness that came from falling through the air. That soon changed when she felt him pulling her over, wrapping his arm around her waist and slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. She saw how the shield in his other arm narrowed in shape to take on the form of an energy blade, the edges now dangerously sharpened and he jammed the energy construct into the nearest pillar to slow down their fall. A long jagged line could be seen along the length of the pillar as they made their descent, accompanied by an equally nasty metallic screech that forced her to cover her ears with her hands.

So he found a secret shortcut. Okay, she can make do with that.

They managed to land down safely onto the ground below thanks to his ingenious idea and he began to sprint with her still slung across his shoulder. One shield was raised above their heads to prevent their heads from being blown up from the bullet fire raining down on them from the mobs which they had left behind on the fifty-second floor, another shield was raised at their front so that the merc could continue in his mindless charge. Meanwhile, she fiddled around with her terminal with a bored look on her face. She's almost certain that Zind would be more than capable of steamrolling through the mobs in this building since he's so overleveled, but she remembered that there were numerous automated turrets outside this building when they were infiltrating the place earlier and that would be a huge obstacle in their quest for escape.

Could she somehow rig the automated turrets from her terminal and get them to shut down in advance?

"Huh, where are we going?" She asked when she finally realised that this wasn't the route that they should take to head outside.

"I've actually been here once before and I happened to know where the garage is. It's where they kept all their vehicles. Helicopters, armoured jeep, tanks, any standard military vehicle you can think of are all there. Why run when you can drive?"

"You are awesome," Silver Wolf shivered in anticipation of being able to drive a real life tank. "Can we drive a tank can we drive a tank? I want to drive it!"

"Uh…" The mercenary trailed off hesitantly as he kicked down the doors to the garage with strength that a man of his stature should not humanly possess. He's not too sure if he wants Silver Wolf sitting behind any steering wheel ever again.

"I'm a speedy driver and we need all the speed we can get now!"

"You know what? Driving a tank is fine, but I will be the one driving. You get to operate the weapon system."

"That's even better."

He made his way towards the garage that held the tanks. He released his hold on her and she jumped down from his shoulder. They dispatched the soldiers at the garage with incredible ease and she quickly ran up to the nearest tank that caught her fancy. Both of them entered the armoured vehicle and slipped into their respective seats. Zind started up the engine and the tank began roaring to life, the terminal displays lighting up one after the other as Silver Wolf looked at the controls in front of her in awe. It looked almost exactly like the controller in which she played her console games!

Awesome!

"Split screen co-op play let's go!" She cheered excitedly, her gamer instincts allowing her to quickly get used to operating the weapon system before she took aim and fired a shot at the closed shutter door, blasting a huge hole in it as Zind skillfully drove the tank out with both speed and agility. The entire facility was already on alert and they were already starting to be surrounded by other mobile weapons when they drove out of the garage so she fired another shot, sending another excited shiver to tingle up her spine.

The recoil, the sound, the damage; it's all so good! This game is so fun!

"Can you blast down the gates?!" He shouted from the driver seat and she quickly tried to locate the gates with her eyes. She pressed the trigger and another aether edited shot was fired, firing a round that could blast a hole through any defences that could be put up in this backwater planet. The gate crumbled, and whatever roadblocks that the military tried to hastily put up at a moment's notice were quickly crushed under the iron treads of the tank. Everyone at Area 99 could only watch and stare at the departing tank until it became a small speck on the horizon and disappeared from view completely.

None of their helicopters could start up and the operating system just wouldn't load for some inexplicable reason, all of their automated turrets were suddenly shut down, and while they still have armoured jeeps the garage doors of the garage where the jeeps were parked just wouldn't open no matter how they pressed the switch. Just what on earth happened?

"Woohoo!" Silver Wolf cheered and laughed happily once it was certain that they had lost their pursuers, still riding on the adrenaline high from the excitement of completing her newest game. She hadn't played such a fun game in ages!

The tank came to a stop so that they could catch a break once they were certain that nobody would be able to catch up to them.

"You are pretty good, player 2!"

"Not too bad either, player 1. The automated turrets weren't attacking us for some reason. Your work?"

"Yup!" Silver Wolf proudly admitted. "The helicopter operating system, the garage doors where the jeeps were parked, I also had them all handled. Couldn't let them affect my gaming experience now, can I?"

"I never gambled on something this crazy my entire life. I'm trusting you that everything you said is true. The stellaron, take it away from here."

"You betcha," Silver Wolf gave him her word before asking him a question. "But what are you gonna do now since Area 99 is aware that you are behind this break-in? Didn't you say that the facility was jointly operated by the few remaining cities? Do you even have a place to go?"

"Just like there are cities who benefit from the protection of the alliance that built Area 99, there are also other similar factions that flourished without relying on such an alliance. I will just move to one of those places. Someone of my calibre would be welcomed anywhere."

"Confident much?"

"It's the truth."

"Whatever you say, country bumpkin npc," she shrugged her shoulders with a grin. "Well, I really gotta make my move and hand the stellaron over to my boss pronto. I'm gonna log out soon, but I will try to drop by whenever I can so you better remember that you still owe me a few driving lessons. I'm cashing on it when I'm back."

"I'm not too sure if I will be looking forward to that but okay, you got a promise," he agreed. "So how are you going to… log out of here? Don't you need a rocket to send you to outer space or something?"

"Rocket? That's so ancient! Whoever uses a rocket to go to space nowadays?!" Silver Wolf scrunched her face at the method in which her player 2 mentioned.

"Pardon my ignorance for having lived on a backwards planet for the entirety of the two decades of my life."

"Fine, let me show ya," she eagerly beckoned for him to follow him as she threw the hatch open to climb out of the tank. She was pleasantly surprised when she spotted her two colleagues standing not too far away under the shade of a withered tree. Kafka noticed her gaze, giving her a smile and waving at her from afar.

"Kafka! Blade!" Silver Wolf waved back enthusiastically before quickly climbing down the tank and running up to the both of them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You are in a very good mood," Kafka cannot help but notice how lively Silver Wolf was, which is a stark contrast to her usual personality since she usually presented herself in a stoic and aloof manner. "And of course we came to pick you up since you already completed your assignment. Elio told us that we should wait for you here, so here we are. Good job, Silver Wolf."

"Keep it up," Blade added before going silent, not intending to tell their newest recruit that the real reason why they were here was because they were worried about how she would fare in her first solo assignment.

"So how did I do?"

"To quote Elio: "wonderfully, just as expected"." Kafka replied before turning to look at the local native of this planet who had walked up to them behind Silver Wolf. "And you must be Zind. Thank you for taking care of Silver Wolf."

"She paid me, I'm just doing my job. You are Kafka? And he is Blade?"

"That's right. Silver Wolf told you about us? Good things, I hope."

"Didn't badmouth any of you, at least. So… you guys can really head to outer space without using a rocket? I'm curious how you guys would manage it."

"Country bumpkin," Silver Wolf stuck her tongue out at him. "We use spacecraft that can warp through space-time, how else?"

"Don't say that, you'd be asking the same question I did if you lived here your entire life."

"If you really want to experience what interdimensional space travel is like, you can join us for a ride," Kafka offered with a smile on her face and her hand outstretched in Zind's direction. "Of course, you would have to be mentally prepared that you might not be able to return to Velura ever again because that's just how vast the galaxy is."

"... Kafka?" Silver Wolf looked at the older woman in both shock and surprise but her genius mind quickly pieced out those unsaid words. Her gaze interchanged between the Velura mercenary and her colleague, the look of realisation on her face growing with every second that passed.

"You mean… Elio, he…"

"Zind had caught Elio's interest although he never elaborated what or how. When Bladie and I were making our way here Elio told me to extend an invitation to him, I'm just doing as he instructed," Kafka explained to Silver Wolf before turning back to Zind. "So do you need some more time to think about our offer? We can stick around for two more days before we really have to depart."

"I'm just surprised. I never imagined I could have the chance to visit outer space in my life," Zind replied after getting over the surprise. He never liked Velura much anyway, there's really nothing keeping him here and especially after he had just royally pissed off one of the major powers that controlled the civilisation in this world.

Why stay here when he now has the chance to visit other planetary systems, something unthinkable in both his lives? Why stay here when there are so many other greener pastures elsewhere?

"Oh? You don't need more time to think about our offer? Even when you don't know what we really do and what our goal is?"

"Whatever you guys are doing, it's something morally and ambiguously grey, right? I've been doing that since I became a merc, I'm no stranger to that. As to what you guys really do, whatever your goal may be, I know that you guys need to expand your stellaron sticker collection before you can do anything else and assuming that everything that the gamer girl told me about the stellarons is the truth, then I don't mind giving a hand. I don't like these yellow glowing marbles much after everything that particular stellaron had done to this planet and to my life."

"Wow, how noble of you," Silver Wolf sarcastically clapped her hands with a stoic look on her face and Zind gave her a look of warning in return.

"That said, I'm a merc at heart. I don't trust anything but money. We do get paid fairly for pulling off these kinds of stunts and risking our lives as wanted criminals hunted by the entire galaxy, right?"

"Our organisation does have its own sources of funding and none of us felt any pinch in our wallets before. Is this answer satisfactory?" Kafka answered.

"Yup, I'm in. We can leave whenever. I hate this planet anyway."

"Cool, now I'm no longer the youngest recruit."

"You mean the most junior recruit. I'm still two years your senior."

"You are still my junior."

"True, but you are still the shortest hunter."

"Can you stop making fun of my height?"

"No, because I've got nothing else to tease you about since I'm an illiterate and ignorant country bumpkin."

"Oh great, now there's two of them," Blade murmured under his breath and Kafka stifled a laugh.

Things definitely will get very lively from here on.

AN: I've read comments from somewhere that the Trailblazer used to be a Stellaron Hunter? Does anybody know if there's any official canon source material somewhere that states as such? Cos if TB was indeed a SH before he/she joined the Astral Express I think some revision into the plot of this story might be in order…