As Sayaka pulled her sword from the dead man's neck with a flourish, two of the defenders rushed her, swinging at her from either side with heavy blades. Sayaka dropped low as the blades whistled overhead, kicking at the legs of one of her attackers. As he stumbled, she used the opportunity to roll away and spring to her feet.
With the two attackers too close to the Major to risk shooting, Tito opened fire on another, who responded in kind. The bullets struck home from both sides, with both parties stumbling backwards. However, Tito's superior armour absorbed the force of the bullets, leaving him unscathed. His opponent was not so lucky, bleeding from his forearm where a bullet had hit home.
With three of the partition operatives engaged in fights with Tito and Guntram, Dan sought to even the sides a little. Averting his eyes from the corpse of the decapitated man, Dan turned to face one of the slower people to respond, firing a tiny projectile which began to make a glowing blue outline of handcuffs.
The handcuffs attached themselves onto the stunned grunt as she struggled to move her hands. Her partner spun to face Dan, staring intently at him. Suddenly, Dan felt intrusive procedures at his implants, specifically targeting processors and motor units. His firewall held firm though, and the attack was rebuffed. As his attacker took a step back, Dan caught sight of the woman he had originally cuffed stepping forwards, hands free. Raising her hand, Dan felt malicious code entering his system again. His firewall began to buckle under the pressure, but some quick focus managed to rebuff the second cyberattack.
Meanwhile, Sayaka launched a lightning-fast slash at the arms of one of her attackers. Her blade slid cleanly through the flesh, cutting into the muscle. He roared in pain, lashing out wildly. Sayaka stepped back, laughing as the blade hummed past her face. His partner dived low, launching an upwards cut that Sayaka sidestepped with ease.
Tito, seeing Dan being pressed by two opponents, pulled out a grenade and hurled it at the pair. Both were caught in the crackling burst of static. The gunman continued his attack on Tito, blasting away. This time, the bullets hit Tito hard enough to punch through the armour, blood spurting from the holes in his suit.
Dan nodded a thanks in Tito's direction and smiled. These people did hacking. Dan did hacking. They were in his territory now. Everything slowed to a crawl around him. The man seemed to have tried to suppress his movement. That seemed like a good thing to use against someone attacking Tito.
Let the hacks come. Keep on trying to hack my systems. Waste your time away and then you will die. He began to enter code, attempting to break down the man's firewall.
The firewall was tougher than Dan expected, but he eventually managed to get through and grab the ability that he wanted. Unfortunately, his intended target was too difficult to lock onto, and he failed to target the ability. The man he stole the ability from ran forwards, twisting in with a heavy punch. It hit home, but Dan barely felt the impact even as a kick twisted in from the woman. Again, it hit home, but without enough force to seriously hurt.
Sayaka closed in on the man she had wounded earlier. Her sword flashed once in the flickering lighting, a smooth shining arc that passed clean through her opponent's neck. The head fell to the floor, accompanied by a crimson spurt. His companion roared as she lunged for Sayaka's throat. Sayaka merely twisted away, the blade hitting nothing but air.
Tito, support for Dan complete, turned back to his original opponent. As he opened fire, the gunman dived low, taking advantage of Tito's miss to open fire on Dan instead. The rounds punched into Dan, knocking him backwards.
'Pick your fucking partners.' Dan muttered to himself, drawing his knives out from his sides. He flicked the dials up to max and swung upwards at the man who had run in close to punch him. The knives cut into the man's arm, though the current barely seemed to faze him. The man swung his arm towards Dan's face, and his firewall buckled once again under the weight of code. His comrade turned to face Tito, a look of concentration on her face. Tito showed no sign of even defending against a cyber attack - her attempt must have been inaccurate.
Over on the other side of the room, Sayaka pivoted, slashing heavily at her opponent. The blade continued as if the woman was not there - a neatly bifurcated corpse falling to the ground in its wake. Tito spun back to his original opponent, blasting away to keep him from targeting Dan. The spray failed to connect, but the gunman was forced to slip back into cover. He attempted to counterfire, but the hail of suppressive fire meant he failed to do so accurately.
Dan gritted his teeth and pushed his advantage. He had a knife, this guy had fists, but he did hit
hard. Strangely though, he seemed to be backing up his attacks with code. It didn't matter though, the fact still remained, knife versus fist. Dan stepped in close and brought the knife down firmly towards the man's shoulder. The blade cut deep, and blood spewed from the wound. The man coughed slightly, crimson seeping from his mouth, as he collapsed. His ally spun around, targeting Dan again. Her attack overpowered his defenses, seeking to short out his implants. His improvised defensive code was forced to shoulder some of the effort, weakening his firewall.
Sayaka, having cleaned up her two opponents, rushed the gunman stuck in cover. Tito's suppressive fire paused, allowing her to slip in and deal a finishing blow. With his target neutralised, Tito turned to face the last defender, opening fire. Bullets spattered into her, drawing blood.
Dan froze for a second in shock. This was the first time he had actually killed anyone. Still, the hack to follow was enough to snap him out of it. Pulling out his gun, he took the shot that he hoped would end it all. The bullet hit home, but was absorbed by the armour. She retaliated with another hack. Once more, Dan found his firewall stressed and left weakened by the effort. Before Dan could react, Sayaka appeared behind the woman, sending her head flying. "You take too long to finish them. Keep moving." She stalked off towards the door at the far end.
Dan frowned for a second after she turned away. He wasn't used to this. Even the harsher captains usually respected that you had just been in a life threatening situation. Still, her incredibly brutal methods were very good motivators. With a quick brain acceleration, he had made all the notes he needed on the people they had just fought, a full documentation of the fight, complete with body scans. Half a second later, he was already running after Guntram, to the door on the far side of the room.
As the Institute team burst through the door, a silver flash blitzed towards them, cannoning into Major Guntram. As she crashed to the floor, the silver object was revealed to be Raptus, one of his wrist blades embedded into Guntram's torso. Blood began to dribble from her mouth as the android yanked the blade free and rose upright. "Hello, little kittykats. Come to play with Uncle Raptus, have you? I'm sure I have a sack somewhere around here for you all."
Tito wasted no time on words, responding with a hail of bullets designed to seal Raptus's movement. Though he was unharmed, Raptus was forced to back off and seek cover from the withering hail.
Dan quickly accelerated his brain and had a think. No, none of the people nearby would have healing abilities. Shit. Nevermind, she's a soldier, she could live. His brain slowed back down to reality, and he snapped his fingers, a blue light appearing. He opened his hands, and the light launched in Raptus Omega's direction, the form of cuffs beginning to appear.
Laughing, Raptus sidestepped the bolt. "Come now, kittykats. No need to try and scratch me, it'll all be the same in the end." He strode towards Dan, before suddenly jerking in shock. A blade punched through his torso from behind and emerged from his chest. Twisting his head, he saw Sayaka, blood still oozing from the corner of her mouth, standing behind him. He looked down again at the sword that protruded from his torso. His voice, when it came, was oddly distorted. "Now that's not fffair at all...all I wan...ted was to p...et the ki...tties until th...eir heads went...pop." The motors holding him upright shut off as the power died, and his metallic body clattered to the floor. "And cleared. Get scouring for intel." Sayaka yanked her sword free and sheathed it before walking off. Tito headed back into the previous room to search there.
Dan kneeled down by the side of the robot, and pulled out his knife, sawing at the middle of the robot's head. Once he managed to remove the metal casing, he carefully went to remove the electronic brain, careful not to electrocute himself or damage anything breakable inside.
The brain that Dan found was already blackened and scorched. It seems a failsafe had triggered upon Raptus's death, rendering the contents inaccessible.
Dan cursed. He quickly cut off the robot's weapons and fried them with a quick bolt of electricity from a knife. He took a careful look around at the room he was in, and also took a quick electronic scan. Dan's scan revealed a small broadcast signal from behind a large wall-screen.
Dan walked over to the wall screen curiously, yet cautiously and attempted to locate the source of the broadcast signal. The signal continued to transmit from behind the screen.
He got his knife and carefully stabbed it into the side of the screen. He placed his foot against the wall and attempted to pry it open. The screen popped off, smashing onto the floor. Nestled into the circuitry behind was a small chip with attached antenna, pulsing softly. The chip was decorated with a web motif.
With considerable care as not to trigger any failsafes, he clipped off the wires connected to the chip, and took it off. He took the antenna in his hands, snapped the very top of it off, and pocketed the top part. He called through to Guntram. "Captain! I've found some kind of transmitter with a web motif on it. I've temporarily disabled it. Once we get back to base, I may be able to track the signal from where it is receiving!"
Guntram paced over to Dan and looked at what he held in his hands. "Spider-related patterns. This looks big. We should get this back as soon as we can, I think that's this room cleared anyway. Graves! Report!"
"All done searching here, Major! Nothing to rep...who are you?! " Tito's voice spiked, filled with suspicion. "We have an unidentified contact within the AO!" Guntram snapped a look towards Dan, drawing her sword and indicating he should prepare himself, before rushing into the previous room.
Tito had backed up almost all the way to the doorway, gun trained on the newcomer. They stood just within the room, having clearly just entered. A tall figure, hooded and robed, the face disguised by a mask depicting the sun. When they spoke, the voice was calm and matter-of-fact, undisguised by any electronic distortion. "Good day to you all. My name is Apollo. I have come to acquire an item of great importance to us. The chip. I overheard your conversation through there, I know it is in your posession. Hand it over and we can depart amicably."
Sayaka snorted. "A waste of your breath. Why would I hand it over to one of Spider's underlings?"
A rich, mellow laugh emanated from beneath Apollo's mask. "I believe you misunderstand me. We have no love for Spider, and would gladly see him crushed and his ambitions thwarted. However, in order to catch a spider you must first find its lair. You have correctly surmised that the chips are the key to locating him, but several are required in order to identify his exact whereabouts. To go clumsily hunting for him would only serve to trigger his caution and cause him to scuttle off to another hiding place, thus invalidating the hard work put in to finding him. We already have two chips, and are closer than you are. We will ensure that the spider gets his dues. So we ask your cooperation. Leave the chip to us, and allow us to deal with him."
Sayaka's eyes narrowed. "Assuming I believed you, who are this mysterious 'we' you keep referring to?" Apollo spread his arms wide in reply. "We are EXODUS. I believe you may have heard of us?"
"Indeed I have. Apollo of EXODUS, I place you under arrest on the charges of conspiracy with Partition forces, collusion with the traitor Pirose, conspiracy to assault on a citizen of the Institute and obstructing an officer of Public Security in the lawful discharge of her duty. You do not have to say anything - we'll have plenty of time to talk back at the department. Place your hands behind your head and turn around."
Apollo snorted. "I hardly think so, Major. This is your final warning. Hand over the chip and..." His words were cut off by a vicious lunge from Sayaka, causing him to twist aside. "Go for a live capture if we can achieve it!" she ordered. "But we'll need to subdue him first!"
Apollo did not reply with words, instead twisting a vicious hook punch into Sayaka's head. The force of the impact sent Guntram flying across the room, crashing into the wall, where her jaw hung slack, the bones shattered. Tito recovered from his earlier shock to open fire in the cloaked man. The bullets hammered home, but Apollo gave no sign that he'd even noticed them.
'Stop!' Dan shouted, pulling out the chip. He held it high in his left hand and held a pistol pointed at this Apollo in the other. He had just come through the doorway. 'Make one bad move and I smash it. And before you get too confident, I was a criminal, I don't struggle to break the rules. You're under arrest. When you arrive back, I am sure that you will be the option of working for us. Then, you can get back on your mission to kill Spider of the Partition on our terms.' With that Dan created a spark of blue light from above the chip, and tilted his hand towards Apollo, the shape of cuffs appearing. The light appeared, but when Dan tried to direct it towards Apollo, it fizzled out. A message flashed on Dan's screen. "Error. Target not found."
Sayaka stumbled to her feet, watching the precarious moment of stalemate. Yanking a length of linen from within her coat, she tied it around her head, holding her jaw in place. Sword back at the ready, she waited for Apollo's response.
Apollo stared at Dan. "No, you won't. You want to see Spider fall just as much as we do, I'm sure. I doubt you'd be so pathetically immature as to help Spider. Wouldn't it be better to see the chip go to somebody who will use it to hurt Spider, rather than be destroyed, an act that only helps Spider? Frankly, your suggestion makes me think that you're a Partition infiltrator. I understand you already gave him some droids, why not some freedom too?
Besides, breaking the chip is no guarantee of your safety. My continued offer is the chip for your lives. You break the chip, I break your bodies. Then, I gather the pieces of the chip and take them to somebody who's much better with technology than you are, and has two intact chips to work with. And so we will have three functioning chips and the three of you will be dead. So go ahead, break the chip and do exactly what Spider wants."
Tito stared at the showdown, gun still trained. Dan had made his gambit, and he would see it through to the end.
Dan cursed inside his head silently, the man hadn't fallen for it. Also, target not found was certainly an interesting message. 'So, if you're so sure you can gather the pieces of the chip and put them back together, why haven't you moved yet? I can't trust a man of lies with something so valuable. Why don't we come to a diplomatic agreement? You will be outfitted with a unremovable tracker, and all information you obtain will be reported to us through a chip in your nervous system. In return, you get what you want. You get the chip.'
"You misunderstand the balance of power in this room, Daniel Tuite." Apollo's voice was cold now, as unyielding and forceful as iron. "I have proposed a diplomatic solution. Give me the chip, and you all get to live. I'm a doctor by trade - killing and maiming gives me no pleasure. I offer you this solution for that reason, and I haven't moved because I'd rather receive an intact chip and not kill you all than kill the lot of you and spend time picking up every last little bit of circuitry. So, Daniel, the next thing you will do is give me the chip-" Apollo's dash forwards was almost impossible to follow with the eye, stopping directly in front of Dan, his mask mere centimetres from Dan's face, "-or I will kill you, your friend, and your commanding officer. I understand you may have heard this said before, but you are in way over your head and way out of your league."
While Dan's eyes were unsuitable for tracking such quick movement, time was still incredibly slow. Apollo appeared as some kind of strange slow moving blur. Dan still had time to send a message to Guntram though. It read: 'Do I hand over the chip, or carry on fighting. This man is quite literally inhuman, my targeting systems can't even detect him as there. He is quite seriously out of our league, but I will die fighting if that is your command. A shake of head means carry on fighting, a nod means hand over the chip.' He looked slightly over Apollo's shoulder at Guntram, and closed his hand, turning it as if he was going to drop the chip into Apollo's hand.
Apollo, tracking Dan's gaze, turned and stared at Sayaka too, smirking as if he had already figured out what the message had said. One hand remained beneath Dan's, the other tucked behind his back where, in full view of Sayaka, a curved blade was sheathed. Sayaka's knuckles were white on her sword as her grip clenched tight enough to squeeze the blood from her vessels. What felt like an eternity passed, although in truth it was mere seconds. Eventually Sayaka gave a slight nod. Apollo's gaze snapped back to Dan, waiting to see what that signal had meant.
Dan gave an internal sigh of relief and lowered his gun, dropping the chip into Apollo's hand. 'I do hope you hold your word Apollo. Though I doubt you will tell me, how are you non-existant to my scanners. While this clearly is not in my power anymore, we appear to be working together if you do not lie in your plans to defeat Spider. If you will not tell us, we both have separate business to attend to.'
Apollo's fingers grasped the chip firmly. "I thank you for your eventual wisdom. Your commander has a triple fracture of her left mandible that will need some kind of cast to support as it heals. In addition, some dental work may be needed, depending on how much the force transferred through the bone. As for the other matter..." Apollo turned and strode to the exit. "I guess I could just say that I'm more human than you are, Daniel Tuite." With that comment, he stepped through the door and swiftly disappeared from view. Sayaka sheathed her sword and, standing upright and to attention, made a series of hand signals indicating that the staging area was to be reinvestigated, in case any lesser scraps of intelligence could be found. Tito turned to Dan. "I'll check your room, you check mine. I fancy my chances of not finding more enemies this time."
'Sure. Anyway, I'm not an idiot,' he said, drawing the top of the antenna out of his pocket. 'It's no chip, but this will still be configured to the same frequency as before. I'm sure the guys back at base will be able to do something with it, no matter how little. Oh, and don't worry about that guy coming back, the bottom of the antenna should be plenty enough to work out how to make the top part. It's just an antenna set to a frequency after all.' With that he replaced the chip in his pocket and turned away, beginning to repeat the process of looking around carefully and then electronically scanning each area he studied. As he worked, he thought about what Apollo had said. It was clear that he had been suggesting that he had no chip inside him, but that was impossible, everyone was given one at birth, the chip of the mother guaranteed authorities were alerted...
With both searches turning up blank, Sayaka reluctantly ordered the withdrawal to the floatcar. Irritation was written over her face as they flew back.
