Catherine Jennings's Story

Catherine Jennings, OmniCorp's Director of Terran Expansion and Innovation, walked briskly through the corridors of the Wing City Underground's main TLF building. The ageing woman could have retired years ago on a hefty pension, but stayed on at OmniCorp by choice. Now appointed the head of the company's relief aid, it only made sense that the representative that the Ri owned company would send would be a Terran-born human.

Alongside Catherine walked what appeared to be a robot, albeit an incredibly sophisticated one. With a smooth 'skin', the suited humanoid entity held itself with more composure than even the experienced businesswoman herself. Hex, as the entity was called, examined its surroundings with interest. Its lack of any facial features made that hard to tell, however.

"Tentatively excited; I have high hopes for these negotiations, Ms. Jennings." Hex stated as they walked.

Catherine nodded, "I am confident that the Liberation Front will be more than welcoming of our offer of aid. OmniCorp is a Terran company by roots, regardless of the affiliation that Ms. Evantus has with the Ri." she responded.

Before long, the guide that Catherine and Hex had been following led them to a meeting room - obviously, this section of the building had recently undergone renovation. Hastily plastered walls and laid carpets replaced bare brick and concrete, and ornamentation was haphazardly scattered around the place. The oak door was held open for them, and the two OmniCorp representatives entered.

Catherine took the offered hand that Lelantus extended with a diplomatic smile, nodding. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Haima." she said, "Allow me to offer my congratulations on the ongoing success of the Terran Liberation Front, on behalf of OmniCorp."

To the side, Hex turned his faceless head to nod at Lelantus. "Respectfully amiable; we have followed your campaign closely, Mr. Haima."

Catherine glanced at Hex, "Allow me to introduce Hex - an AI, and my assistant."

Catherine took a seat opposite Lelantus, whilst Hex remained standing behind her. "You are of course aware of why I am here, Mr. Haima." she said, her expression turning slightly grim, "An unfortunate state of affairs, that the Aschen have committed such an atrocity on our home-world, and think themselves to have the moral high-ground simply by offering to mop up after their genocide."

Catherine herself seemed slightly out of her comfort zone too -- navigating the 'politics' of the business world was one thing, but diplomatic meetings to negotiate with a man who was the leader of what could potentially be the ruling body of the entire planet was something else entirely. It was a whole other game.

"Any aid that OmniCorp can feasibly provide is offered without hesitation, you know, of course. You merely need to authorise us to proceed, and if you wish direct us as to where we might be most needed."

"OmniCorp is a Terran company. It was founded here, in this city, and first expanded outwards, not upwards. When Terra was attacked, so was the heart of our assets - we lost a great deal to the Aschen glassing." Catherine steepled her fingers, shaking her head. "OmniCorp owes a great deal to Terra, and the last thing we want to see is its sovereignty snatched from under its nose. It is in our interests to make sure that we have a stable base of operations here, and a stable government is necessary for that. We are a powerful company, Mr. Haima, and we have more than enough resources to spare to bring aid to the planet that enabled us to become so."

"I'm delighted to hear it." Catherine replied, smiling. "I will inform Ms. Evantus of the developments, and initiate our aid operations as soon as I return to our headquarters. I am sure that the Terran government and OmniCorp will enjoy a fruitful and strong relationship in the coming years."

Catherine nodded to affirm this. "Any time the Liberation Front wishes to contact or contract OmniCorp for any reason, they are welcome to do so. And while we are no army, our mercenary arm, the Golden Legion, is prepared to come to Terran aid if circumstances should require it, heaven forbid that they do."

Catherine too rose, and took Lelantus' hand with a nod. "I look forward to the day that Terrans stand united under an elected leader. It will be a fine day to be a Terran, if ever there was one." she said, "For all the strife Terra has suffered, the light at the end of the tunnel will make it worthwhile."

"Hex will remember the way we were led," Catherine said, nodding her head, "I'll be sure to keep you up to date." she added as the AI proceeded out of the door and turned to wait for her.

"Optimistically cheerful; it was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Haima. OmniCorp looks forward to a strong future for Terra." Hex said, and Catherine smiled.

"Hex said it well. Until next time, Mr. Haius."

A black sedan screeched to a halt on the highway just behind the NPA vehicle as the explosion went off, its rear end spinning out slightly and hitting the lane divider in the centre. "Oh, bullshit." the elderly female driver cursed, her voice more resignedly peeved than shocked or angry. "Sometimes I can't believe this fucking city."

Catherine threw her car into gear and hit the accelerator, turning about to start driving back the way she'd come, only to find the road totally blocked by a small pileup. "Really?" Hitting the switch on her window she stuck her head out to yell, "Get your hunks of junk out of the god damn road before you get us all killed, assholes!"

Being dressed down in such a manner by a woman in her fifties - even if it was a sharply dressed and snarky-sounding woman - probably wasn't the proudest moment of the drivers behind her, but it didn't change the fact that they weren't moving any time soon. "Christ almighty..." Catherine muttered to herself, throwing her door open and grabbing the gun she kept in her passenger seat before stepping out onto the road.

"Can't you fuckers wait till after god damn rush hour?" she shouted off in the direction of the attack angrily.

Things seemed to be picking up fast. The traffic had stopped, the crowds were panicking and getting out of their cars, and it looked like there were already injured civilians. Still, it couldn't be helped. They had chosen to do it during a high-traffic time, after all. Now they had no choice but to see it through, while Godrage planned to keep as many innocents alive as he could. A reputation to be upheld was not a reputation taken likely, and his reputation for avoiding unneeded collateral was becoming legendary.

"Ready," he simply said, knowing that the others would hear him through his ear-mounted communicator. The moment someone got out of that carrier, he would be ready to shoot them right in their CBM.

The sword digging through the top of the transport was a bit unsettling at first, Jacob, who was waking up after taking a haymaker, wasn't really enjoying the ssight. "What the fuck?" The Englishman shouted, pressing his chained body against the inside of the vehicle.

"Masks on." Riley ordered, his team reaching below their seats. Almost simultaneously they were putting on gasmasks. They didn't know if their attackers were going to be using tear gas or any kind of poisons. They had to be prepared for both. "Don't I get one?" Jacob asked, a soldier forcing a mask over the young man's face.

"Prepare for flashes." One of the soldiers told the others, the group aiming their weapons with one hand at the roof. Their free hands went to the foreheads of the soldiers on their lefts.

"Be ready to head out of the back. Driver, cover us when we move." Riley ordered.

The top of the vehicle would open up, then flip off onto the road with a clatter. The woman, half her face covered by a cowl, the rest of her in slick, light body armor, looked down on them with pale blue eyes, sword in hand, red hair framing her face. Then, just like that, she disappeared.

"Now's your chance, Godrage. They're in clear view."

The girl landed on the ground with hardly a sound, waiting for the driver to step out from his seat. She was ordered to kill, but if she could avoid it...

Rick managed to get to his feet slowly, peeling the helmet on his head off. His back burned and his right leg felt like it'd been struck by a baseball bat several times. He looked at the helmet in his hands, there were scratches and gouges where it had made contact with the asphalt.

With a sigh he tossed it over his shoulder and took a step towards the source of the explosion.

He got a few feet before something slid into his ankles causing him to tumble over back onto the road.

Rick's landing was softer than it should have been when a body hit asphalt. A body was laying beneath him. It was a pale skinned woman with fiery red hair and pale blue eyes.

Dead, pale blue eyes.

It was the body of Bailey O'Reilly, Cassidy's sister. There was nothing but a torso. The woman's body had been crushed beneath a white sedan. Saving the woman was beyond possible. Bailey stared up at the sky with her mouth hung agape in a pool of congealing blood.

"Bailey, oh God, Bailey! Someone help, please! I c-can't move! Please," Cassidy cried from inside the wreckage of the white car.

Cursing under her breath, Catherine began to move away from the ensuing confrontation and towards one of the nearby wrecks that had caught the worst of the blast. She grimaced at the sight of the dead girl crushed under the vehicle, muttering something about wearing seatbelts. The older woman glanced at Rick.

"Get up," she instructed curtly, "You're alright. Keep moving before you aren't."

Then she moved onto the interior of the sedan. The vehicle was upside down and the doors were jammed shut. Thankfully, the back window remained easily accessible, since the weight of the vehicle had tilted it forwards onto its hood. Catherine moved around to the car's rear and waved a hand over the device on her wrist. The omni-tool flickered into action, holographic display lighting up as she adjusted a few settings on it before hauling herself up towards the window.

From there she surveyed the damage. There was just one more occupant of the vehicle, trapped upside down in her seat by her seat belt. "Hold tight, kid. We'll get you out of there before this gets any worse."

That was a promise she knew she couldn't keep in full. Things tended to escalate pretty quickly around here. But still, hopefully she could live up to the first half of the promise.

Returning to the ground, she gestured at Rick again. "I'm going to need your help. Get up. Try not to look at what you landed on. You can freak out later, right now I need you running on focused adrenaline."

"Negative," he replied, holding steady to his trigger. "I can't quite get them in my range. The moment I have a shot, I will take it."

He kept surveying the area, especially his own flanks. He didn't honestly expect that they could have possibly known about the ambush, but there was certainly no harm in taking quick glances to make sure everything was running smoothly without a nasty surprise on the way.

Below, he could see some sort of rescue operation taking place - a figure that had climbed up against an overturned vehicle, presumably to find a trapped passenger. In a way, he felt bad for them, but he would never allow such thoughts get in the way of the task at hand.

"Drop the weapon?" An NPA agent yelled at Iso, he and a few others creeping up behind the woman. "We have backup en route. You won't get too far before we get you, just give up now." The officer commanded, assault rifle kept on the woman as he crept just a little close to close the distance and make sure if he fired a shot it would hit.

The others on the street took cover, searched the rooftops for snipers or attended to the wounded. They weren't as much of a fighting force as they could be until backup arrived. With the traffic stopped on both sides of the highway, the only backup that could show up was by air. Their attackers would see that coming and aircraft being shot down over a highway was bad for the people down below.

Within the truck armored truck, which was now similar in looks to a sardine can, the Invictus soldiers began to remove Jacob's cuffs. Two of the soldiers moving to the back doors to push them open when given the signal.

"Sunny, you and I will go from the top and peacock." Riley said to one of the female soldiers, "The rest of you move Jacob, use the vehicles stopped on the road for cover from snipers and enemy fire. Link up with the NPA, we'll have air support soon to at least keep us apprised of the situation." Riley continued.

"On three." Sunny said to the team, "One... two..." She began, the group simultaenously moving at a silent three. The back doors shot open, Riley and Sunny climbed upwards out of the truck. They made sure they were obvious targets, "Look for flashes. That'll be our sniper." Riley told his comrade.

The rest of the soldiers moved as soon as Riley and Sunny were out in the open, pushing and pulling Jacob towards several vehicles that had crashed due to the sudden stop in traffic.

The group spotted Catherine and the overturned Sedan, "Looks like they need help." One of the Invictus solders said, "Riley, this is Temple, I'm sending a few guys to go help some civilians. Link up when you get our way and regroup." Temple said, "Pillsbury, Danny, go help them out. We'll keep on going." Temple ordered, two of the male soldiers sprinting away from their comrades to assist the trapped Cassidy.

"If only we got paid extra for this." Pillsbury said as he and Danny moved, "You might get your picture on a wall in a bar at least." Danny responded, "We can only hope it's not put up posthumously, man." Pillsbury said.

"Right on."

Iso turned her head as the NPA agent came closer. A thin, red brow rose at him.

In a flash, she was gone, out of thin air. The next she would appear, she would be behind him, sword slashing in the air to tear at the tendons in his arms, to cause him to drop his gun. She would then disappear again, whether she had landed the hit or not.

She would reappear once more high in the air, free falling, assessing the situation from above. She would not be there for long.

The other agents had swarmed the streets, now, shooting at Invictus and the NPA, trying to down as many as possible.

Rick barely had time to process he had fallen onto a corpse before some old coot was rambling off orders at him. Looking around he found that the entire highway had become chaotic....he even heard gunfire.

Ok, let's take this one step at a time shall we?

First, he decided to not take a nap on someone's dead body, rising to his feet slowly, he turned to face the young woman trapped inside the car and begging for help.

"Uh, right, just stay calm. I'll help you out of there as fast as I can." He nodded to her as he stumbled over to the rear of the vehicle.

He reached for the revolver in it's holster on his waist. "Hey cover your ey-" he stopped mid sentence as his nose caught a familiar odor. A glance over to the driver side of the vehicle confirmed his fear.

Gasoline from the vehicle's fuel tank was spilling out onto the street...and towards the other wrecked vehicles, one of which was already suffering from a fire in the engine compartment.

Well, shit, better make this quick

He decided to forego the gun in favor of removing his shirt. He quickly wrapped the cloth around his hand before he slammed his fist into the rear window as hard as he could, shattering the glass. In a couple of moments he crawled through the window, accessing the inverted interior.

"Is anything broken?" He asked Cassidy as he reached her seat.

As gunfire broke out in the street, Catherine cursed under her breath. She followed Rick's gaze to the trail of gasoline and stepped forwards with a sweep of her arm. The kinetic-manipulation functions of the OmniTool kicked in, and she forced the trail back a few paces, before sweeping a small pile of debris in the way to stem the tide. As the attackers opened fire on the NPA officers, including those moving over to help her and the girl trapped in the car, she raised her own pistol and fired back in retaliation to provide them cover as they moved across towards their small group.

A small kinetic shield from her OmniTool deflected a few bullets that came her way, and despite a bead of sweat running down her forehead, she maintained her calm as she backed away again, then ducked back behind the vehicle.

Cassidy was trying to get her seat belt undone so she could crawl out of the sedan. It was jammed and it made her panic. Tears ran from the corners of her eyes and her heart was pounding like a hummingbird's wings inside her chest. She stopped screaming for a minute.

Cassidy looked at her palms. There was glass embedded into her skin and blood everywhere. She looked at her legs and then her feet.

"Oh God. No, no, no, no, no," said Cassidy. Her ankle was snapped and bone peeked out of her skin. She drew in a lungful of air to scream but it was choked down as a voice came into her ear. Cassidy's panicked eyes looked over Rick as if he were the most beautiful sight to be seen in Wing City.

"I-Im... stuck. Please help me. My sister. Have you seen her? She's pregnant. Oh God I don't know where she is, please... get me out of here," Cassidy cried out as she twisted to grab a hold of whatever she could of the man.