Shattered Boundaries - Arc 2

Arc 2 of End War Online: Shattered Boundaries.

Chapter 7
''November 26th ''

I had a difficult time getting to sleep last night. On top of that damn dream, I now had my father to worry about, as well as the fact that I could somehow see memories of other people through swords. I had no idea why he showed me that… what did all of it mean?

The dreams, my father, the sword… how did all of it connect?

But hopefully being in End War would help distract me. Surely there were more contracts to complete, more money to be earned, and more things to shoot. That always took my mind off things.

I slid down the stairs of HQ to find Rena and Lucy talking with each other.

Lucy was the first to notice me.

“Ah, Yamato! Good to see you!” She said.

“About damn time.” Rena said, looking to me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Seems she was back to her usual self. I didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing for me… I guess just the fact that she was a girl who hated my guts was enough to be a bad thing for me, but whatever.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I got some info on the third Nephilim.” Rena said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh… right, forgot about that…” I said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“How professional…” She muttered. “I got a friend up at Avalon-3 who I’ve been working with. She says she may have found something for us.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Avalon-3?” I ask. “A superweapon facility?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah.” She answers. “But that’s beside the point.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“And we have to go right now, I’m guessing…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yes we do.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Can’t just relax a bit first?” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You’re getting paid, remember?” She says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Shit, you’re right…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Across the room I hear a door open. I look over to see Jager and Duncan walk through together. I could only assume by the look of Duncan’s face that they had another drinking contest… and Jager won again, by the look of his face.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I don’t know why you keep insisting on these competitions, tovarich.” Jager said. “You know I’ll just win every time.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“HEY!” Duncan said, almost losing his balance. “You don’t… ah… you don’t know that! I’ll beat you… one day…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Heh, that’ll be the day…” Jager then noticed me. “Ah, my friend! How are you today? Up for a bit of shooting at the range?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Right after a drinking contest?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hey, you know me!” Jager smiles. “I can take enough vodka to kill great bear! Alcohol tolerance, you know how it goes.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">It was true. By now Jager had such a high tolerance to alcohol he could take whole bottles of whatever liquid fire he always drank and still be able to hit targets miles away with his sniper rifle. I couldn’t even count how many shots he took once just to get even a little tipsy.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nyegh…” Duncan walked over to me. “You!”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Me?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah, you!” His speech was slurred slightly. “You… you got something on your face…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What, where?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Right… no, hang on…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">He moved in closely to inspect my face.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh… no… nevermind… I was mistaken.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well you’re completely fucking inebriated.” I noted.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You know, it’s really amazing, I find!” He says. “How… um… oh, yeah… how this is a game and all… but I still feel totally drunk like I would in real life! I even get hangovers! How cool is that?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’ve never seen anyone so enthusiastic about hangovers.” I smirk.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“He keeps thinking he can beat me!” Jager said. “That kind of stubbornness is going to get him killed one day, just you wait.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Doesn’t know how to back out of a fight he can’t possibly win…” I say. “It’s an endearing character trait.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“It’s also incredibly stupid.” Jager said, patting Duncan’s head. “But that’s why we love him! More stubborn than the great bears I hunt back at home! And those things will still swipe at you with a face full of .50 calibers, let me tell you…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well, I think I’ll have to pass on the range.” I say. “Duty calls again.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Ah, women, eh?” He says. “I understand, I understand.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“It’s not like that, Jager.” I point out.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh, of course not!” He puts his hands up. “I wasn’t implying!”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Bullshit.” I say. “Better watch yourself. I won’t shoot you, but I don’t know about her.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hah! I know all about that, believe me, my friend!” Jager says with a big smile. “I’ll take care of Dwight. Some water and bread, he’ll be back up in no time.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“C’mon, Yamato, we’re wasting time.” Rena said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” I say. “I’ll see you guys later.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I walk with Rena outside to our vehicles. This time she brought her own bike so I wouldn’t get the pleasure of having her sit behind me this time around. I bet she brought her own bike just so she wouldn’t have to do that again… whatever.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">---

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">It didn’t take us long to get to where we needed to go. It was easy to spot from a distance on the highway on account of the huge fucking gun there being visible from miles away.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Avalon-3 was where the superweapon Athenor was stationed. Athenor was a giant photonic railgun capable of launching projectiles at near light speeds to hit an enemy anywhere on the globe instantaneously. The power of the shot is more than enough to disintegrate anything it hits purely from the kinetic energy of the shot alone. It was mainly used to defend against the Colossi, which were giant near indestructible creatures serving either the Angels or Demons and served as their most powerful weapons of war against us or each other. Our response to this was the superweapons, of which there were seven. Personally, Athenor was my favorite out of all of them.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“That’s a big fucking gun!” I shout upwards towards the thing, eyes sparkling and a big grin on my face.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yamato, cut it out.” Rena scolded. “That’s not why we’re here.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“This isn’t the image I had in my head about Maverick…” Rena’s friend smiled and shook her head.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I want it, I want it, I want iiiiit…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I ended up mumbling this over and over again while Rena and her friend – her name was Kimberly – talked about whatever it was they were talking about. I was a bit spaced out looking at the big fucking gun.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Big fucking guns = big fucking fun.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">However, my attention was caught when I heard the words “unknown PMC” get said, and I look over to the two.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Unknown PMC?” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah.” Kimberly said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Wait, were you even listening?” Rena asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Not at all. Fill me in.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Christ…” Rena put her face in her hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“To summarize, there’s a PMC of unknown origin that’s been going around looking for something. I’m thinking it’s this third Nephilim you’re so interested in.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hang on a sec.” I say, pulling up the menus for my Universal Information Processor that had the picture I had taken of that unknown PMC patch, bringing it up and showing it to Kimberly. “This look familiar?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hmm…” She looked closely at the photo. “Yeah… yeah, that looks like it. Our scouts have sometimes seen these guys during patrols.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What makes you think they’re looking for the third Nephilim?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well, we’ve been able to get some encrypted info off of one of the guys from our spec-ops division, and it’s mentioned the third Nephilim. I didn’t even know there was a third Nephilim. I only know of the two.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Did it say what for?” Rena asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nope.” Kimberly replied. “Nothing on why. But these guys are packing some serious hardware. Top of the line armor and weapons, way outside the public sector. Having a group like this disrupting our business wouldn’t be good for anyone.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Any idea how we can find out more?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I wish I knew…” She said. “These guys have been sticking to the shadows. We’ve found no info on their whereabouts and any attempt to track them has proven useless.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Do they have any outside contacts that you may know of?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Like I said, they’re playing close to the vest here. The best bet we have is investigating places they’ve already been, looking for clues as to where they could’ve gone. We’ve got some teams doing that now but we haven’t been able to find anything useful. Whoever these guys are they’re well trained in covering their tracks.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well nobody’s perfect.” I say. “I think I have just the person who can help out.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Who’s that?” Rena asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Lucy Kaldwin.” I say “She’s another member of Maverick, probably the best tracker right next to Jager. She’s been trained by her father who’s in the British SAS. If anyone can pick up a cold trail, it’s her.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sounds good. We could use the help.” Kimberly said. “Here, I’m transferring a list of locations that we’ve been investigating to your UIP. Hopefully she can work with what we’ve found.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I bring up my UIP and take a look at the file she sent. It was a detailed map of all the areas that they’ve encountered these guys. I look it over before closing the menus and nodding.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, we’ll see what we can do with this.” I say. “C’mon, Rena.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">We both head back to our bikes and head back to HQ.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">---

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hm…” Lucy looked over the map I sent to her UIP. She looked like she was lost in thought, her eyes scanning over the thing a hundred times over.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Um… Lucy?” I ask. “What’re you looking for?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Any sort of similarity between these locations…” She said. “Maybe some kind of pattern that can lead us to where they might go next.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You’d know more about that than I would.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Lucy continues to go over the map before speaking up after a few minutes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Strange…” She says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What’s that?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I can’t think of any way these locations are significant…” She answered. “Maybe we should investigate one of them.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What do you think we’ll find?” Rena asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hopefully something that indicates where they’re headed next. C’mon, we can go to this place right here.” She pointed to one of the spots on the map, the one that was closest to our location.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, let’s head out then.” I say. “The sooner we get this done the better.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Figured you’d want to lengthen this out for more cash.” Rena told me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m a mercenary, not a conman.” I said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What’s the difference?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Valid point.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">---

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The place we went to was a military office building in downtown Halfen. It was one of the places that were broken into, but you wouldn’t have realized it going in the next day. Whoever it was came in and left without a trace. They had people investigating already by the time we got there. The woman at the front desk directed us to the lead investigator in the building.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hm…” The gruff man said, taking his attention away from the papers he was filing through. “The military must be getting pretty desperate if they’re hiring mercenaries now.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Lucy stepped up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Do you know what was taken?” She asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Something from the databases.” He said. “Not sure which one the broke into, we’re suspecting the military’s but whoever did it wiped out any trace that they were there.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No security footage?” Lucy questioned.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Cameras were jacked beforehand.” The guy said. “We can’t figure out which way is up with this one… whoever these guys were they’re pros at this kind of thing.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Let me see a database terminal.” Lucy said. We were taken down into the main server rooms where Lucy was shown to a terminal that she accessed. Once there she started sifting through the data.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hey, Lucy?” I ask. “How are you going to pick up a trail if they didn’t leave any trail to begin with?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Wiping isn’t perfect, you know.” She said, typing on the keyboard and going through different windows. “There’s always a trace left. You just have to know where to look, and how far back to go.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“How does that work?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“If I can determine what route they took through the system I can find out where they went. To get to that point I’ll need to perform a system restore and…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“We already did that, lady.” The guy said. “No matter how far back we went there weren’t any leads.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well then I’ll just have to make one.” Lucy said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What now?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">She took another look at the map I had sent to her, typing on keys quickly as she did.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I can connect to all the servers that they hit from here.” She said. “I can compile the data from all of them at once and determine which database was tampered with by cycling all the data through all the terminals multiple times and check each one with a special program I have on my UIP.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">She quickly uploaded whatever it was on her UIP to the terminal, and pressed a button on the keyboard.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Right now I’m putting the program into every database they have so it can compile all the data and get it prepared for cycling.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Um… okay?” I pretended to know what she was talking about.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">It took a few seconds for the program to cycle through, but after that was done she got to work on processing all the data in all the databases.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, it’s sorting through all the databases now.” Lucy said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Won’t that take a long time?” I ask. “There’s a lot of stuff in there.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Shouldn’t take too long.” She said. “I mean, we got processing speed in the petabytes per second by now. Processing all this data should only take but a minute or two.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Now I’m no expert on computers, but I can remember my father telling me that processing speed used to be measured in gigabytes per second back in his day. Petabytes per second would be what the techie community would call “really fucking fast”.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“How are you supposed to find a lead anyway?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No matter what, it’s impossible to completely erase something from a computer.” She said. “You’re just taking out the routes that lead to it. It’s entirely possible to reestablish these routes after deleting them. You just have to have the right know-how and a certain program that can retrace those algorithms.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sure enough, it only took a minute and a half to compile all the data she needed. After that, she transferred what she needed back into her UIP, taking the program she used with it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, let’s see what we got here…” Lucy opened up the data she had compiled and sifted through it, looking over it thoroughly. “Hm… now this is interesting…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You find something?” Rena looked over her shoulder at the data she assuredly couldn’t understand any more than I could.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“They didn’t hack into any database.” She said. “They hacked into the game files itself.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What?” I say. “The hell does that mean?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“They accessed information on the game itself.” Lucy clarified. “Game files, player lists, account info, things like that.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“If they’re doing something like that why’d they bother hitting up all these different places?” The investigator guy asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“If they dug too deep into one place it’d be easier to track them.” Lucy said. “They don’t want to leave too much of a trace for others to pick up at any single location so they spread their hacking out over an area to make it harder for others to pick up on their trail. No doubt the mods of the game aren’t too happy about this either. They probably already know about this and are looking for them.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Can’t we let them handle it?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Your job is to help me find the third Nephilim, Yamato.” Rena reminded me. “It just so happens our path is parallel to the mods right now. We can still do our work as long as we stay out of theirs.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Right, right…” I say, turning back to Lucy. “Is it really that easy to hack into Chronotek like that?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Easier than it ought to be.” Lucy told me. “It’s especially easy since we’re in the game itself, within the same server network as everything else. Account information is usually safe, though. They lock that up as tight as the Pentagon. Besides, I don’t think they’re after something so petty here. More than likely they’re looking for player rosters in order to identify who this third Nephilim actually is. And by the looks of it they’re getting close…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Can’t you just go in and get it?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I don’t want to get in trouble.” She said. “Besides, there are a few places that they haven’t hit up yet. We can probably get catch them at one of those places.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, sounds good.” Rena said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“We should probably hurry, though.” Lucy noted. “With the frequency of these attacks I’d say we don’t have a lot of time to catch them.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You know they’re probably going to try again even if we stop them here.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Not so.” Lucy raised a finger and smiled. “No doubt these guys have a copy of the program they use to hack into the system. If I can get that and replicate it I can create a program that’ll stop it dead and cycle it through the entire system. That’ll block them out and force them to create a new program, which will probably take longer than it’s worth.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well let’s get going, then.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">We leave the building after Lucy was done sharing her findings with the rest of the investigation team, hopping on our vehicles and heading out. Rena and I followed Lucy to the next location.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">---

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The next place was a data hub. It was one of the buildings scattered around the world that helped process data to keep things like communicators, the internet, and UIPs up and running. Though UIPs ran on a completely separate system that combined all the others. Universal Information Processors were awesome and I’m glad Maverick had the budget to get them. Of course, I supplied a lot of that budget.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">We were expected, and the people there let us through into the main server room. We decided that the three of us would split up and cover a section of the building. Lucy would take the top floors, as that was likely the place they’d enter the building from. Rena would take the middle floors to act as a barrier on the way to the server room, and I’d wait in the server room, as a last line of defense.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The server room was a huge as fuck room that was underground, so there was no way they’d be able to pass directly to the server room, which let me hide up on one of the tall stacks of electronics in the darkened room eyeing the main terminal for anyone. Good thing I wasn’t too bad at stealth ops.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Everyone ready?” I hear Lucy say through my UIP.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“In position.” Rena says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Ready to go.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright. We probably have a few hours before they come in.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Do you even know for sure that they’ll try tonight?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Better safe than sorry.” She said. “If they don’t come tonight we can try again tomorrow.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I do hope I’m not wasting my time up here for nothing.” I say. “I have school in the morning.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">---

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">It was 1 in the morning. I had been kicked back sitting up top on this server rack for the entire time before I hear a voice through my radio.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Showtime, guys.” I hear Lucy say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“About time.” I say, jumping up to a crouched position.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">A few minutes later, I hear another communication.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“God a few but they’re on alert now.” Lucy says. “Rena, they’re heading down to you. About 8 of them.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I got it.” I hear Rena say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Another couple minutes later, Rena voices back in.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Got a few more. Yamato, the rest are on you. You got 5 on the way.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Only managed three?” I ask. “Thought you were better than that.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Shut the hell up and hold them there, Lucy and I are on our way.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Copy that.” I lie in wait, keeping my eye on the terminal at the far end of the room, keeping watch on the elevator at the other side. Sure enough, I see it come down, and from it, 5 gun-toting baddies walk out.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">They were definitely the same group; same kind of gear, same coloration, same high-tech weaponry and equipment. My guns weren’t going to cut it here, so I slowly unsheathe my blade from my back, which definitely would cut it, and just about anything else as well.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I hopped across the server stacks toward the enemy as quietly as possible. I end up lining myself up with the fifth guy, tailing the group. The team was on alert, wary of a possible presence in the room. Wasn’t going to help them much.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I boost the electrostatic engine in the handle of my blade and launch forward at high speed, impaling the last guy before withdrawing and boosting back up onto a server stack across the room. They didn’t even know what hit them. I was hidden again by the time they noticed I had taken down one of them. I see the commander of the group signal for this team to stick back-to-back and leave no blind spots. That wouldn’t do them much good either. Grouped up like that it was even easier for me to move in and cut into them.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">That’s what I did, boosting forward and cutting fast and hard, sliding along the ground after my strike and looking back to see three of the four drop down. I had killed two and injured one of them enough to ground him. The fourth, the commander, was hit, but it wasn’t anything major. He quickly took aim, quicker than I expected, and fired a laser bolt straight at me, I just barely manage to deflect the bolt with my blade before boosting forward and then up to dodge another shot, before coming down on him, cutting into him hard and fast, slicing his gun in half. It didn’t hit him, but I land a kick on his chest to get him distanced before casually walking over to the guy on the ground and stabbing him in the head, putting him down as well.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The commander was having none of that. I watch as he pulls a knife from behind his back and readies himself, activating the high frequency electric current through the blade that would make it stand against Armature, and give it incredible cutting power.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Of course, Armature was no ordinary blade. That plain HF knife he had would be able to stand against it, but not for very long.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I rush in as he does and strike off his blade. I quickly realize this guy wasn’t playing around. His skill with a knife surprised me. He was even able to keep up with my high speed attacks with my sword. Still, though, it wasn’t going to save him.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I block two swipes he sends my way before twisting and backing up from another slash and throwing my blade out towards his neck. He sees it coming and ducks under the swipe, but I activate Armature’s engine and use momentum to gain incredible speed in a spin that launches me up and sends my blade downwards onto him. He manages to hold his blade up against it, but he needs to back up before his blade breaks under the pressure of my attack. He resorts to taking out a laser pistol and firing at me while backing up. I dodge and deflect laser fire before rushing in and swiping at him, resulting in him blocking the first two blows and dodging a third. I rush in again and make a stab to him, but he dodges and grabs my arm and locks me in place, raising his knife up and bringing it down to the back of my neck. But the knife is thankfully shot out of his hand by Rena, who I notice across the room, her rifle trained on him. This distraction as he looked to Rena allowed Lucy to descend from one of the server racks, two HF blades drawn, and stab into the back of his shoulders, making him let go of me and allowing me to cut upwards through his chest, finishing him off as he falls to the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Woo…” I say, spinning my blade. “Nice save, Rena.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Think nothing of it.” She says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nice work, guys.” Lucy says, walking over to the commander and pulling the hacking program from him and putting it into her UIP, getting to work on a counter-virus.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, this should only take a minute.” She says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I dust my jacket off a bit before sticking my sword into the ground and leaning on it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You know you’d be dead if I hadn’t made that shot.” Rena told me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nah, I would’ve been fine.” I say. “May have had a scrape, but nothing major.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You didn’t look like you were in the process of getting out of it.” She smirked.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m good at close shaves.” I say. “See my face? Not a single hair on it.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah, sure.” She smirks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Seriously, though, thanks for the backup.” I said. “You aren’t that bad a shot.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well you aren’t too bad with a blade.” She says.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, I got it.” Lucy says, walking up to the terminal. “Now to get this thing into the system.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hm…” I say. “Which begs the question, how are we going to find this guy?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I turn to Rena.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“It’s not like we have any leads.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“We’ll figure something out, I’m sure.” Rena replies. “Maybe we can look through the data these guys have.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Probably our best bet.” I note.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">We’re both interrupted when we see Lucy suddenly stagger backwards, blood coming from her stomach, before she slumped down to the floor.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“LUCY!” I shout, making a run for her, which is stopped when Rena suddenly takes a slash to the back behind me and falls to the ground herself.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I just barely make out a figure jumping away… it was fast, but I was able to make out it was using optical camouflage.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Shit!” I shout, managing to block two incoming blades with my own, before slicing away third and backing away.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The fuckers had backup… these guys were using high-tech camo systems to make themselves nearly completely invisible. The only thing that could be seen of them was the outlines of their bodies where the light refracted enough to be visible. These guys were not to be taken lightly. I wasn’t even certain of what their tech was capable of. Further, I didn’t even know how many of these guys there were… this wasn’t a good situation any way I looked at it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I’m forced on the defensive as these guys came at me from every which way, giving me only split seconds to react in time to either dodge or block their blades. I stay beside Rena, blocking and dodging anything that came my way.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Rena!” I shout in between. “You alright?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m… I’ll be fine…” She said, struggling to stand up. “Just get to Lucy…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright!” I rush forward, deflecting blows and evading others on my way to her. She was in worse shape than Rena and she wasn’t going to last much longer.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I’m stopped when of them stands in my way and locks blades with me, pushing me back a bit.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Get the hell out of my way!” I shout, scraping my blade off of his and going in for a strike of my own. My blade is rebounded off another from behind and I’m forced to jump to the side before I get impaled from behind.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">These guys weren’t going to let me help Lucy… I’d need to take them out first… but they were coming from everywhere. I wasn’t fast enough… I wasn’t going to make it at this rate…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">That’s when I remembered… when I was with my father yesterday. The way I had felt the blade and let it guide me… I remembered how it felt to fight that way… I could remember my movements always being five steps ahead of the last, acting on instinct.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I felt Armature resonate in my hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I stop in my tracks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alright, let’s see if I can do it again…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing my eyes and holding Armature in both hands. I can feel it coming to me… I could feel the enemies around me, moving around quickly, circling me. There were six of them, twin blades drawn and ready to strike. I could see them, even with my eyes closed. I didn’t know what the hell was happening, but I didn’t want to think about it in case doing so would mess me up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I saw one of them jump from one of the server racks, straight towards me from behind. I’m faster than him, and I take a single step backwards and throw my blade out at incredible speed, slicing the guy clean in two before his blades met me. The next one came in immediately after from the other side, but I see it coming and push forward, managing to grab him right in the face and use his momentum to throw him into the ground, bouncing him up and allowing me to cut downwards, cutting him down instantly.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Two down, four to go.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I raise my blade skywards and launch myself up with the blade’s engine, putting myself above another who had moved in and allowing me to stab downwards, impaling him through the shoulder while simultaneously kicking another in the face. Balancing with a hand on my blade, I spin kick the second one upwards before twisting down to land on the ground, pulling the blade from the first one’s shoulder before spinning once and decapitating him, before bringing out my revolver, the Wolf 500, and putting a shot through the second guy who was still in the air.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The last two came at me simultaneously from different directions. I see it coming and launch myself towards the first, dodging his blades and impaling him through the chest, before boosting myself downwards and pushing the blade to the hilt while slamming into the ground. After that, I curve the blade back, throwing the corpse from it and cutting off the arm of the last guy, who staggered forward, holding onto the bleeding stump while I put the barrel of my gun to the back of his head, firing and blowing his brains out.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I stand there, still a bit in the zone, before I shake my head and bring myself back to the matter at hand. I put my gun away and rush over to Lucy, sliding down next to her and bringing her up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Damn…” I say, taking off her jacket and pulling up her shirt to get a look at her stomach. It had a hole in its side. Luckily it didn’t hit anything major, but it was still bleeding pretty bad.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright…” I bring out my medkit, which Abigail had insisted we all have, and manage to clean up the wound a bit before wrapping gauze around her waist, afterwards I take out an injector and push it into her arm, pressing the button at the top to inject her with a painkiller and epinephrine compound, which took care of the pain and gave her an energy boost.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Ngh…” Lucy moaned and woke up, shaking her head a bit and looking up to me. “Yamato…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You alright?” I ask, helping her to sit up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">She took a look at her waist to the treatment I had given her before nodding.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah… still hurts a bit, but… thanks.” I help her onto her feet as Rena came walking up to me, still hurt, but at least standing.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Took a good hit to the back.” She said. “Hurts like hell…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You going to be okay?” I ask. “How bad is it?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nothing to get worked up over.” I say. “I patched myself up enough.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">I walk over to one of the guys I killed and took a good look at their gear. White bodysuits with tiny octagonal fixtures all over it. This kind of suit was clearly designed to diffuse light as perfectly as possible… this kind of technology was in the prototype stages right now. How the hell did these guys get such an effective model?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Okay… as I was saying…” Lucy said, going back to the console. “Let me get this thing uploaded…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">She got to work while I continue to inspect the body. Rena came to join me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“These guys aren’t fucking around.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No kidding.” She agrees. “This kind of tech doesn’t even exist yet.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“It does now. Whoever these guys are they somehow have access to their own level of technology, probably built by them for them.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“How are they getting funding for this?” Rena questions. “They can’t possibly be self-sustaining if they’re producing technology of this scale.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Exactly what I was thinking.” I say. “I think if we can find out whoever’s funding these bastards we can find out who these guys really are… and why they’re after the third Nephilim.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Let me see what the guy has on him.” Rena said, activating her own UIP and picking off data off the guy. She looked through some data, but it looks like she hadn’t found anything useful as she scoffed. “Nothing…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I doubt they’d give sensitive data out to people going out in the field.” I say. “Nothing that could be traced back to the guys behind this for sure.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well at least we have a lead.” Rena said. “Find out whoever’s supplying these guys…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">A few second later, a thought hits Rena.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“The guys who were holding me hostage.” She said.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Come again?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You know! The MTA! They’re a private military contractor that produces high-tech military-grade equipment! They must’ve taken me in when I was snooping around looking for info on the third Nephilim where I shouldn’t have…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“The MTA…” I ponder the idea. “Well it’s a place to look for sure. Though I don’t know how they could get away with doing anything like that without he government stepping in.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“That’s the thing; the MTA isn’t regulated by anything. They’re their own thing.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hm… interesting.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright, I’m done.” Lucy says, walking slowly up to us. “We should probably let the military know what happened.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah.” I get up on my feet. “We think we may have another lead to find out who these guys are.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What’s that?” Lucy asks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Someone has to be funding these guys if they’re able to make this kind of technology for their forces.” I explain. “We suspect the MTA is a likely suspect for this.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Aren’t they the ones who kidnapped Rena?” Lucy.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Exactly.” I say. “We think that the nabbed her when she was sticking her nose in where they didn’t like.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well… that would make sense considering they aren’t regulated by the government. They could be doing all sorts of things without anybody even suspecting.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“We think the same.” Rena says. “We could head back to where Yamato rescued me and see what kind of info they have.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alright… sounds good.” Lucy flinched a bit at the pain in her side, but shook it off. “I’ll tell the officials what we found. You two can head back if you want.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You’ll be alright?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m a tough girl.” She smiled. “Don’t need to worry so much about me.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Heh. Yeah you’re right.” I say, turning and gesturing for Rena to follow. “C’mon, we should head back.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">While in the elevator going back up to the main levels, we kept quiet for a bit, but Rena spoke up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Um… Yamato?” She says, grabbing my attention. “What… um… what happened?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What do you mean?” I ask.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well… I noticed when you were going to Lucy that… well… you stopped for a second. After that you… I don’t know, something about you changed. I… you know what, nevermind. It’s probably fine…”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah…” I say, looking away from her.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">She wasn’t wrong. Something definitely had changed… as a matter of fact I think something about me was still changing… even now.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">