Jarven Zexxel
Code Name: Graz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQE9X64x9p0
A dark blot fell through the sky towards the capital city of Alexandria. The sunset was beautiful, though fleeting as darkness came swift like the tides of Death washing over the city proper. The blot flipped in mid-air and activated its grav chute within safety distance before landing on one of the highest vantage points of Alexandria. As he scanned his surroundings from his high vantage point, he rapidly mulled over the briefing that he had received from The Agents.
The Black Tie Syndicate was a crime organization unlike any other. They engaged in all manners of dark dunnits and were willing to commit anything to further their ends; even terrorism. Their leader, Miss Blonde, was the source of that boldness. Sexually alluring and equally voracious, she would have what she desires or blow it to hell so that no one can have it. Rumors claim that few things have stopped her from getting what she wants. The men she attracted to her organization are all suspected to be armed and dangerous.
And, in the other corner, about three different factions. You had to either be really good, really loud or Cloudburner to get that much attention. Jacked satellite info gave him a limited understanding of the city. Looking at it all through his HUD, he was able to see multiple spots of holo comm activity ping throughout the city, but he couldn't listen in on any of it without the proper decryption. His ultimate mission: to bring in or bring down Miss Blonde. The best starting course of action was to get that decryption off of a BTS member. He located the nearest activity and jumped off the roof in that direction, hoping it was BTS and not anyone else.
__________
He landed softly and quietly in an alley intersection. Peering down the length from behind a corner, he noted that he had only come across a truck that was unloading people who were either too young or too old; all of them sadly under-armed for this level of conflict. Shaking his head, he turned away from their position and ran, searching for new pings of holo comm activity. As he was running down the alley, he plowed right into a smaller man. The smaller man went sprawling to the ground, whereas Graz merely had to disperse his own surprise and slow to a stop. The flustered young man reached for his weapon, so Graz reacted by swiftly bringing his fist down into the poor kid's forehead.
He crouched over him to ensure he was (relatively) okay. Sensors didn't indicate any threatening conditions, but they weren't medical specialized. So, the kid may very well have a concussion and he was about to slip into a 17 year coma. Who knew, though? Maybe, maybe not. He whispered to the unconscious boy-man,
"Go to sleep, now, and dream of small, blond women."
In the moment, it just seemed to make sense for Graz to say that. However, in the next second, he couldn't quite understand why he felt the need to say such a specific thing. Maybe the details in the dossier on Miss Blonde had conveniently sprung up to fill in the whimsical blanks for advice he had for the kid. Advice that the kid...definitely wasn't able to hear. He snapped into full awareness, now. This was no place to dilly, much less dally. People were dying. Yes, even now when he listened carefully, he could hear gun shots and the occasional scream. While he had been zoned out, the fighting had moved from his position. He looked at what the kid was carrying: a couple energy packs, a watch, a recon rifle and...bingo! A long range holo comm device.
Surely, it was old. Surely, it was defunct. Yet, if they were relying on old men and young children to rally to the fight, then it made sense that they would spring for any and all operational equipment, just like those pea shooters he saw earlier. He poked around and pulled out the D-Crypt Chip from a bottom slot on the long holo comm device. The kid must have been running it to a needy, defunct unit. Maybe the act of Graz stopping this kid would keep old farts and inexperienced children out of the fight, saving them from the stupid chest thumping of higher ups.
He integrated the D-Crypt key into his comm suite. It was a specific temp key, so it would only be good for this event and in the ground fighting for the Commonwealth forces. This would help him find a BTS signal MUCH faster. They would likely be separated from most, if not all, of the Commonwealth signals, seeing how they're the ones being cornered here on this planet without allies. He ran on to pursue his mission.
__________
Wonders of Botany exhibit. 3rd floor window. Children's Museum of Wonders. This was his target as he scaled the outside wall slowly, but surely. According to developing news, a large number of hostages were being held here on this floor. The curtains were all drawn, so he didn't worry about balancing on the piece of wall jutting out as he tried to hack the electronic locks of the window before him. Before he got two of the code numbers, he suddenly heard children (along with some adults) briefly screaming quickly followed by gunfire inside. He was shocked and he remained so til after the gunfire had quieted. A military convoy of vehicles could be heard burning rubber and they were coming fast. It was this noise that made him snap out of it and act.
He jumped away from the window sill's ledge and aimed his right wrist at the wall. A strong cable leaped forth from the gauntlet and punched, with a satisfying crunch, into the duracrete wall above. This short rope soon became taut, which forced him to swing forward. He had brought his feet close to his body and then snapped them out forward to kick forcefully through the glass with ease. At the same time, a BTS member had come forward to check out the window and mark the progress of the local forces' arrival. He received a snapped sternum from the legs that came kicking through the glass and a contusion on the back of his head as he fell back and hit a table containing Fvalkyon Beauties and Striped Peat Stands.He hit the ground running, but was quickly yanked back. Thankfully, there was no one in line of sight, but they were certainly on this level. He could hear them. He looked back to find his grappling hook was not coming out of the duracrete outside. A man in a black and white suit and tie came around the corner, saw him and raised his rifle. With his right wrist suspended and pointed at the window, Graz had to act fast! He used his left elbow and wriggled his body to slide the Kyuzo war shield around onto his right arm, effectively stopping the rounds the BTS goon was firing at him. He used his free left hand to unholster his pistol and blasted the unprotected man within a fast flurry of shots.
He ran to the window, reached up, grabbed the hook with his left hand and yanked it out of the wall. The Commonwealth forces had arrived on the scene, but they weren't expecting a tall figure to suddenly stand in the window when they got out and took stock of the situation. The half-hearted, more-startled-than-not volley of slugthrower fire went wide, but scared the unexpecting Graz. A slight feeling of amateurism washed over him and he felt that something was out of place either in his mind or in his system. He couldn't afford to keep making these mistakes. He ran further into the museum. The BTS was definitely onto him, now.
Theme Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiLjTIeosBk
He ran into the main learning room which acted as the medium between all the different, fun, kid-oriented rooms meant to explore nature. A section of the floor was designated to play people-sized chess and the giant plastic chess pieces lay melted and/or broken off to the side. Two BTS goons were running across that floor, weapons raised, when Graz and they came within line of sight of each other. Graz' HUD calculated and his guided muscles threw the shield off his right arm. The shield bounced between the first guy's exposed neck and hit the other guy in the face, breaking his teeth. They both fired off a small volley of shots wide each as they went down. He swiftly followed up by running forward, jerked a flying knee up into the first guy (who was trying to stand up fast) and then gave the second guy a solid one-two to the neck. The door to his left opened and there was another goon. He unsheathed his dirk and threw it inhumanely fast at the guy, the blade slicing off the goon's trigger finger before biting into his shoulder. Whilst that goon fell back in pain, he pulled out his pistol and switched to auto. He had sensed two goons trying to make a safe move at the right time around a corner and his sensors picked up their sudden movements. He laid down suppressing fire around their position to discourage activity. It worked, for now.
He had an idea and moved incredibly fast to enact it. First, he started blasting the most ungodly noise out of his speakers. It was a noise that sounded pretty much like Satan dragging humans down a spiky chalkboard. It was incredibly confusing and disorienting to the BTS goons hiding around the corner. This window of opportunity allowed him to noiselessly grab a frag out of a pouch, pull the pin and roll it over to them without them being able to hear it before it was too late. He walked back into the room and ducked to the side as his dirk was thrown back at him. Of course, the dirk went wide, so dodging wasn't even necessary. The shocked man hadn't had the time nor the coherency of mind to pull the handgun out from down the back of his pants, of which he was also sitting on at this moment (quite uncomfortably).
Graz walked forward, kicked the goon's bloodied SMG even further than it already was from the shocked man, collected his dirk and grabbed the wide-eyed man off the ground.
"Where's your comm unit?"
"My what?" said the goon before his comm unit beeped.
"Unit 3-2. Maneuver to objective 3. Do you copy, over?"
That was all Graz needed. He elbowed the man in the forehead, grabbed the active comm from an inside coat pocket and scanned the device for its decryption key. New technology meant better ease of access. It took a matter of wireless downloading to get the decryption from the rather newfangled device on the BTS goon. Get with the times, Commonwealth. Join Verizon. For a short time, you can laugh at Paul Marcarelli for being the sellout Jared Fogle-lookin', back stabbing, whiner baby that he is. What's in your wallet?
Commonwealth and "whoever had joined them" joint forces were easily pinning down and suppressing BTS goons who were stationed downstairs. It was time for him to find a new way out of this joint before they locked down the whole area. Naturally, he looted all the bodies before sneaking out.
[member="Sara Lee Jones"] | [member="Dean Letham"] | [member="Aran Piett"] | [member="Kane Parsk"] | [member="James Harper"] | [member="Edric Vanyan"] | [member="Zeradias Mant"] | [member="Middenface McNulty"] | [member="Malok"] | [member="Kad Forgrin"] | [member="Kyrel Ren"] | [member="Yula Knezevic"] | [member="Miss Blonde"] | [member="Six-O"] | [member="Krest"]
