Kali White's Story

Slightly earlier that day.
Broker life can be entertaining, and boring when there is no one who wants information from you, such boring day occurs every now and then. Today is such day for White, each broker decides to solve boredom in their own way. She’s usually solving it with sketching, and gathering information. She was up and high, on the roof of building well known in this place, known for important office that resides inside.

Today was a normal day, except for the boring part where you have no broker deals, last thing left is sketching and waiting…

White sighed.

"Rai, look around for something interesting, and tell me if any group makes some kind of move" Black sphere reacted to her voice. She heard a reply through an old communicator in her ear.
"Of course, do you want me to update you on their movement? "
She chuckled.
"On their movement? Rai, update me on everyone’s movement, but do please start with them…"
"Certainly, as always little is known about their movement…though representative of theirs visited Darkstar Nightclub for reasons shrouded in mystery, and about your usual question, no noticeable activity "
Her body seconds ago stiff, now relaxed slightly.

"Good, update me when something changes…" She said, before returning to sketching.

*Time skip to current*

"Kali, there has been a change…"
She raised head slowly, pencil movement paused.
"Go on…"
"Darkstar Nightclub had an incident reported just now, in which club manager died…"
She laughed.
"You mean slave trader and criminal boss, good he’s dead…but there will be another in his place, anything else flying around? "
"Hired work, Mailman, payer unknown" Key words were enough for her.
She nodded, looking down at people walking in and out of the building.

Funny it is that they look up so rarely, but always look down…

She observed as two people tried to pass one another but bumped into each other instead, and she saw something else as well.

Seems like Mailmen caught someone’s attention, maybe someone I know…

Kali decided it was time to get inside building, as she stood up, one thing came to her mind - would anyone notice someone’s on the roof finally?

OOC - If I did some kind of mistake tell me :)

The wind whipped though Samantha's hair as she raced towards the city on her motorcycle. Strapped to the back of her bike was a small black box. This box contained some very important things that a certain crime boss didn't want to see the light. Unfortunately for him Samantha had been hired to find this box and bring it to the city. The job had been simple enough.. Slip in, slip out.. but things are hardly ever simple. And now after leaving good ol Sal's Villa in flames Samantha raced for her life followed by Sal's goons.

Samantha looked behind her to see five bikers and a rather well armed and armored Humvee baring down on her. A Laser blast flew inches from her head. Samantha drew her Laser pistol and returned fire. Her shot hit the rider of one of the motorcycles causing him to fall dead and send his bike into the one next to him. Two down...

The city was close as the other three bikers pulled close. Lead and laser danced around Samantha but luckily for her the bikers where bad shots. But she knew that soon the Humvee would be in range... She knew it's guns would turn her and her bike into paste. She had to get to the city they wouldn't dare follow her there. Not within range of the city defenses....

A rocket flew past hitting just in front of Samantha. The blast threw her from her bike and soon she found herself surrounded by Sal's goons.

"Well, well looks like the end of the road for you little Ghost Rider..." Said the leader who had dumbly got out of his Humvee.

Samantha just smirked as she stood and dusted herself off. "End for you..." She said before unleashing a circle of flames. The goons where caught surprised and Samantha slipped away tossing a firebomb into the open door of the Humvee. Moments later a huge explosion came behind her but Samantha didn't even look back.

She soon found herself within the city black box still safe on her bike as she headed towards the government center. It was time to get paid.

Ash woke to the sun shining brightly through his bedroom window. The light activated the chlorophyll in his veins causing a surge energy to course through him. He pulled himself out of bed and dragged himself to the showers. He found it was easier to live on-site with the Black Thorn delivery service and safer for his family as well.

He pressed his ID tag to the scanner and the water turned on spraying him with steamy hot water. He washed up quickly before the water turned off only five minutes later. He wrapped a towel around his waist before returning to his room where he got dressed and loaded up his gear. He holstered his sword at his side on his hip, put his goggles on his head and grabbed his backpack before going to the kitchen where the reader board with the assignments for the day. He wasn't feeling hungry after the sun hitting him, nevertheless he scanned his ID at the fridge and which promptly dispensed a type of cereal fortified with all kinds of vitamins. He ate it with a groan at the lack of flavor.

After his tasteless breakfast, he went to the door and ran his ID through one more scanner which then dispensed a piece of paper that looked like a grocery receipt. It was his assignment for the day, and all the instructions that he was expected to follow. He looked over it as he walked out to his modified motorcycle. He was being sent to the hydro-electric dam to "intercept" a new prototype power cell shipment and deliver it to the central government office for "testing".

"Snatch and deliver. Sounds simple enough." He spoke to himself as he he starter his bike up and drove out of the city in the direction of the dam a few miles away. As he drove, he was passed by a red haired woman speeding off in the opposite direction on her own motorcycle. He soon came to the smoldering wreck of a burning Humvee and maneuvered around it.

It didn't take long before he was outside the power plant at the dam. He saw the truck being loaded with the standard power cells but he didn't see the prototypes yet. From his vantage point his goggles were able to zoom in on the power cells being loaded. He saw all of them get loaded up until finally a small silver box was loaded up and it had no markings on it. He knew this had to be the prototypes. He created what looked like a gnome made out of a small tree and it crawled up out of the ground and into the back of the truck snagging the box before the truck was sealed shut. The small creature brought the box to Ash. He checked inside to make sure it was the right stuff and he saw power cells with a green liquid inside instead of the usual yellow and he sped off on his motorcycle after securing it to the back of the bike.

He got back to the city and drove up to the central government building to make the drop-off and he noticed the girl from before as well as two others, a boy with blue hair and a guy with cybernetics all with packages of their own that were delivering. Ash suddenly had a bad feeling about all of this and he was reluctant to make the delivery. He also couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He looked to the building rooftops nearby but saw no one so he put it out of his mind. He still was uneasy about all of this but the reward seemed too good to pass up.

Vale checked his Armguard Multi-Tool, which not only acted as a protector but also as storage for many of his tools and devices as well as weapons, and checked the clock function as he walked forward.

"The hell...seriously?"

Vale had been walking for awhile now, and was about to make it to the Government Offices in Kelkari Square. The security there was on average a lot higher, so he thought they would make their move before then. Yet, all they did was stay at the edge of his hearing range, and remained silent and undetected in every fashion. Only Vale's hearing, which was superior to his other enhanced senses, could hear them. He had yet to catch sight of them.

As such, the only thing they were really doing was irritating him. He had to keep tabs on them, and it was technically easy, but mentally he was starting to get irritable. Enough that his eyes had started glowing a bit once more. They really had come up with the most annoying method, and judging by their movement speeds if they ran there was no guarantee he would be able to catch and lock onto them all in time. So he could not stop this either.

And as this drew his focus, the short boy ended up walking right into someone without even noticing, falling down and landing on the road with his hands stopping his back from joining his butt.

"Uwa! So..sor...Ray-nii?"

At first, Vale was going to apologize for being distracted as he walked, but noticed it was someone he knew. Rayne Gray, the older man with a tail who was a Mailman for a different company. Well, it was not like every company was rivals with another company, though there were a few who did have those, they were not typically hostile aside from exceptions.

Calling him by a nickname, Vale said this as he pushed off the ground and got back onto his own two feet.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you also got a job from the Government Offices?"

Jobs could come in from the Government, and those were almost the exclusive holders of people that would send out assassination deliveries. Vale took all sorts of deliveries, from normal packages to tech retrieval to a few assassinations himself. He pretty much always found himself in combat one way or the other, as it seemed to spread he was extremely proficient at combat. In fact, he was one of the few Mailmen who risked going through Reagen's Pass, a valley through a mountainous area that provided routes to many other areas and cities, but was teeming with robots and mutated creatures. Some of which had the habit of setting up traps.

"Ah, right. Still gotta drop this off. Mind if we talk and walk?"

Even though Vale asked this, he had already started walking, and he even started talking without checking to make sure Rayne was keeping up with him.

"By the way, did you hear about those missing Mailmen recently? From what I know, still completely unknown what happened to them. YOu think it is some sort of Serial Killer or something? Or you think it was something else?"

Vale noticed that the ones following him were still doing nothing, almost as if they wanted him to reach the Government District.

"It feels like strange things have been happening lately..."

He mentioned this as he finally stepped into the Kelkari Square, which was the address of the Government Office Building he was supposed to meet the man to drop the head off too. However, before he made it there, he got ambushed.

Not by the attackers though, but by some kids.

"Big bro!"
"Vale-niichan!"
"Vale!"
"VB!"

"What is it guys?"

"Andy says he could beat you in basketball!"

At those words, Vale sent a sharp glance to the kid in the back, who appeared to have a shiver go down his spine. However, since he apparently already stated as much, he decided not to back down. Vale just had what appeared to be an innocent smile, but one might be able to sense that he was not going to be nice about what happened next.

"Is that so? Then I guess we will need to play 1v1 to find out, instead of the normal 3x2..."

"Wait, now hold on Vale-niichan...we shouldn't leave the others out and....oi, wait! You guys! Why have you already retreated to the bleachers?! And when did you get that popcorn!?"

"Do your best~"

Immediately the game started, and the boy did his best. At one point, he actually began to control the earth itself using his supernatural abilities, but Vale destroyed them all and tripped him up, and then scored, without using his it seemed. With that done, Vale put back on the jacket he took off revealing his short sleeve shirt, picked up the case he had security measures activate to defend it, and then continued onto the Government building.

"Well done! Can I assume you are Vale?"

But before he could, he was intercepted. Not just by anyone though, but by the very Government Employee he was to deliver it to.

"Sorry, I just came out to get lunch from one of the stalls really quick, and I could not help but notice. Anyways, may I see the package and your idea?"

So...this got them a reaction?

As the Government Officer held out his ID, Vale opened the box and showed him the head while noticing the people in the shadows had finally made their move. Rather, they were moving a bit erratically and different from before. Realizing that this could cause an issue, Vale quickly had the official confirm the completion of the Contract, and then use his ID to register the distribution of the reward. Once that was done, Vale finally decided to ask something.

"By the way, there were less guards then usual it seemed, and there is a weird air about the city. What do you think that means?"

"I...am not sure. To be honest, this job came in as a priority this morning. Someone wearing a hood showed us something that gave him authority, and then asked us to deliver the request to Express Blue Delivery. Ah, now that I think about it though, there was something about his eyes...it almost felt like they were glowing..."

"Wait, what did you say?!"

But before the man could answer the question, a loud explosion rang through the air as a pulse of heat and force swept through the square. The children further way were fine, but Vale was knocked down again and because of his lighter body nearly sent flying. The only thing he knew for certain right now is that someone just set off a bomb, and now those people who hid in the shadows were drawing weapons and preparing to attack people.

And to think, Vale woke up wishing for a nice, peaceful day....

Ash had been walking slower since he got the feeling he was being watched. He was glad he had fallen back a bit as the explosion went off. Out of shear instinct, he encased himself in a ball of thorny vines like a bubble as the flames flew at him. He protected himself from the majority of the blast, but the ball of thorns was pushed away like a giant tumbleweed and Ash was sent flying back. After the initial blast, the thorns withered away at his command and he examined the situation. The government building where he had been bringing the power cells was now nothing more than burning rubble.

Ash grabbed the bow of power cells and, acting only on instinct, manifested vines up the side of the nearest building. He climbed as quickly as he could and surveyed the damage. He looked all around for someone that looked suspicious who might have been responsible for the explosion. His mind started putting things together at a fast pace. Whoever blew the building up was most likely going to be going after the items being delivered and was hoping to get them while the delivery people were incapacitated.

Ash watched from the roof tops as bystanders ran away screaming and even saw a few people running out of the building still on fire. He pulled down his goggles and looked down at the surrounding buildings and saw inside. There were people running along to the windows and they had weapons. He looked to the square and there were still the three other people he had noticed as delivery people. He had no way to warn them so he manifested vines that sprouted from the floors and ripped the weapons from their hands. He knew it wouldn't stop them, but it could slow them down long enough for the others to get out of there.

Slightly earlier.

Kali slowly went downstairs, wondering what will happen now.
"Warning, single ignition detected! "
"Huh? " There was no time to react, it was laud, and blast force made her lose balance, quickly she began to fall from stairs. As she was getting closer to fire and death with each stair step , walls on both sides began to crumble. Through sheer luck she fell outside, screams filled with pain of those who were dying as she fell, stuck in her mind.

Current Time.

She lied between rubble, tired and wounded with black sphere levitating nearby, close to ground.
"What a…" She hissed but never finished, instead…
"Rai what did I break? " Black sphere immediately scanned her.
"Fractured leg, pierced heart" Rai couldn’t change voice pitch, but it was obviously a joke.
"Really? " She replied smiling weakly.
" Joke, reality is that you are mostly fine, except your right leg…"
She sighted, and closed eyes for a short moment.
" So what is wrong with my leg? "
"Small wound, bone intact, possibly slower movement"
"I’m lucky for once as it seems, I’ll just lie here for a while, my head…" She gave Rai a tired look, then quickly glanced at leg.
"Judging from that, I’m supposed to take care of it"
"Well, you’re the one carrying things for pain, anyway let’s watch what happens next"
Neglecting pain Kali slowly cleared enough rubble to see everything, but at the same time leaving enough to make it harder to spot her being alive. People living torches running and screaming in agony indescribable, seemingly young man wearing leather jacket stood as only one besides living torches, for now. Focused he was on the buildings, buildings with people running inside.

One window suddenly shattered, glass falling and barrel of gun appearing, soon caught in vines. Whoever was inside had weapons, and the longer she focused on the scene, the quicker she realized vines were young man’s doing.

Beautiful, I wonder what will happen once all those lying people get up…the living ones of course.

What possibly was about to happen, was a perfect occasion for sketching in her opinion. She reached for her old sketchbook, only to find out it’s not where it’s meant to be.

"What a joke…" she hissed, finishing something she thought would never be finished. Last thing for her left, to wait and watch what will unfold.

Samantha's contact in the government office was taking his sweet time. Samantha was growing impatient. She noted then the other mailmen all with packages...and all here about the same time... Samantha shook the thought out of her head and went back to staring at the government center.

"Your tattoos are pretty!" Came a small voice from a young girl.
"Don't bother the Lady..." The child's mother scolded her.

Samantha was about to say something when she noticed something off.... A few seconds later the government center blasted into fire and death. Without thinking Samantha quickly covered the girl and her mom. Using her powers she made the fire go harmlessly around herself, the child, and mother.

"You...you saved us!" The mother said happy.

The young girl hugged Samantha as she looked to the burning building. Samantha knew that even with her powers there was no way for her to save anyone inside. She just stared on not sure what to do..

(Blueshadow mentioned he might not be able to post for a bit due to Christmas stuff to me in a PM, so he will get a post up when he can while we continue)

The bomb had gotten everyone's attentions. Alarms were going off everywhere, and an unclear number of attackers were now targeting people nearby. Smoke bombs were being thrown everywhere, and others were live grenades. Not just explosive, gravity grenades, pulse grenades, sonic grenades, cryo grenades. All were thrown as weapons against the people. It was an overwhelming attack, with that bomb having disrupted the minds of all the able fighters with it's loud and deafening roar, and the shockwave created from its explosive force.

Vale was not sure if he was the first one up, but he did not take much time to get back to his feet. The bomb went off right in the building he was to meet the official in, if he had not encountered him outside. And if he had not been wearing his headphones, that explosion would have seriously disoriented. Granted, he almost always wore them. But with the big explosions over, even with the minor ones, he could not afford to be lenient on his abilities. And so, he took his headphones off...

Almost instantly afterwards, his eyes shined its brightest as he picked up the sensory information. He folded up the earpieces on those headphones and put it on his head like a hairband, except a different feature activated. It wrapped around his ears without covering them, and a neural link was established into his head. A HUD projected in his sight, and his gauntlets helped synchronize with it instantainously. Even if Vale was a combat genius, that did not mean he could just beat up everyone barehanded. Tools, weapons, armor, shielding. Vale understood the importance of all of it. In the end, no matter how much of a genius he was at combat, evne with his mutation, he was still human. A bullet to the head would likely kill him without some sort of divine luck, a knife ripping his heart out would kill him, getting incinerated by a bomb would definitely kill him. He understood all that, and although it was not everything, it was his understanding of that which truly made him a combat genius. The knowledge of knowing his limits, and when he had to run away.

No matter what material used, or how softly one walked, there would always be an echo, a vibration. Hearing was actually the perception, interpretation, and receiving of those vibrations, which made hearing closer to the sense of touch then sight. No matter how silent someone was, as long as those vibrations were in play, Vale could hear them. Of course, there were limits. Softer ones were harder to hear at long distances, and if there were many noises at once, it would also be harder to interpret. With all the explosions, there was no way Vale could account for every enemy. Especially when the enemies had more then just those that hid in the shadows.

Bursting through a wall, a cargo truck nearby, and one coming right from underground, three large scale robots emerged in the square alone. The enemy was not playing around, they meant to cause a scene. To spread chaos. And to kill the people they wanted to kill. And it was clear as day to Vale. He could not account for every enemy, but even before the robots came out he could see who were the targets.

The mailmen who were responding to the enemy.
The mailmen who were trying to save the innocent bystanders.
The mailmen who were rushing to investigate the situation or seal the area and preserve order.

"Echo".

The robots did not wait after emerging. They did not say some corny lines, wait until after they emerged to transform or release weapons, nor did they scan for enemies and only then to wait for a kill command. The moment they emerged, the three of them fired upon Vale with rockets, lasers, and chainguns. But Vale did not wait either. In fact, he made his first move before the robots even showed up.

And the weapons that fired at Vale...no, at where Vale was no longer standing, all missed. But not just missed, but they actually collided with each other instead of hurting anyone nearby or destroying a building. While they did look like Warbots, there were clear marks that showed reassembly and likely reprogramming, but even then their aim was just a little too off given the other factors of the attack. And furthermore, one of them had their optics fly off while the other had it's power circuits cut through by a holographic energy blade.

"I guess they have good reflexes after all".

In truth, Vale had aimed for the power circuits of both robots, but one detected the other getting damage and instantly evaded. Of course, it lost its main optics circuits, but neither the attackers or the original creators of the Warbots were stupid. They did not place all of the optics in just its head, and certainly not the processing core. Optics were scattered throughout the robots among other sensors, and the processing core and power core were protected in heavy metal armor. That was why Vale chose to cut through instead of using ranged attacks, so he could focus on power instead of distance.

But if that was it, Vale would not be as well known. While he missed the circuits with one blade, he had two gauntlets and managed to cut through the circuits of the second robot according to the evasion route he predicted it would take. As for the reason he aimed for the circuits and not the core, not only were the circuits easier to cut, but there was no risk of explosion.

"Haha! I probably shouldn't be saying this, but its been a long time since I had this much fun! That criminal had a disappointing amount of security! I did not even break a sweat, that security a novice could have beaten! Left me all charged up for this fight...wait, what?"

Amid his excited talk to himself, he caught onto a discrepancy. He knew that place normally had higher level of security. But when he went today, it was so much lower then what he remembered or heard. It was softer, easier to target. Had it been harder, he might have built up some fatigue already, been in trouble. If the bomb did not kill him, it would have left him in a worse state...

"...someone did soften up the security, but...why help me like that, and not just tell me in person? I mean, that job...just who did post it? Could that man have been my father?"

Of course, Vale did not let this line of thought distract him. He continued to evade the all out barrage of the final robot using everything he had to kill Vale. Of course, even if he finished with the robots, he could tell. There were others attacking all over. A number on the streets, others sniping from rooftops, and a few more hiding in the crowds, waiting for a mailmen to pass by responding to an obvious danger and missing them. Vale only noticed them because he had been monitoring the people following him from the beginning, otherwise he would have missed them. And in truth, it was likely there were some he still missed. He did not have a good read on every enemy after all.

The final robot finally launched a larger rocket from its main weapon, but Vale sent a series of sonic pulars at it and caused it to be flung into and blow up the final robot. There were a few other robots as well, but it seemed to be they sent the three most dangerous to this one location. Of course, there others were still plenty threatening. They all were capable of killing Vale. But Vale had no intention of letting himself, or other Mailmen, become victims so easily.

And also, from a rooftop nearby, Vale heard the trigger of a gun get pressed and immediately hopped back as a sniper bullet pierced through the air where his head used to be. Snipers were exceedingly annoying for Vale because if he neglected a single one, the speed of the bullet could pierce his head before he noticed it due to the speed of the shot.

He immediately looked over to see where the sniper was, but...when he looked over and used his tech to scope it out, he saw the sniper was already dead, body drooping over the side of the building, and next to him was a cloaked man. But more then that, Vale saw it. On that rooftop so far away. Blue hair, and glowing blue eyes under that hood.

"Father...why now?"

(Well, I got a bit excited and ended up typing up a lot....but, this should give everyone a good idea of what is going on. Now, I wont say which way it is or isn't, but Vale did something abnormal and assumed just because he had the same blue hair and eyes as himself, it was his father...although, given he never encountered anyone else aside from himself with those traits, you cant say its wrong too....well, I will leave it at that)

A few minutes before the bombing...
Lucas sat straight and stone face in the only spare chair in the cluttered office of Dr. James Martin, the head researcher at the local research center, watching the good doctor reaction as the man stared wide eye at the two prize sitting on his desk.

"Th-this is amazing Mr. Maze." said James running a hand over a war bot hard drive, before reaching over doing the same thing to the new still working war bot power core. "I never expected both of them and in such fine conditions it almost imposs-"

"Maze" said Lucas suddenly cutting off whatever James was going to say.

"Pardon?" said James in confused tone.

"I don't care for honorifics attached to my name doctor," said Lucas calmly rising from his seat and moving to stand in front of the desk. "they annoy me so I prefer clients address me simply as Maze"

"This meeting grows tedious Lucas," came a voice to the to Lucas's left.

Lucas glanced over to see an image of a tall man in his late forties wearing glasses dressed in nice clothes and lab coat standing next to the desk arms crossed. Lucas immediately recognized the image of ARC's creator that the program like use as an avatar when he wished to talk him. Lucas focused back on James and saw no sign that the man noticed the third party now moving to stand next to him. He'd seen it every time ARC generated the avatar, an image only Lucas can see and hear him.

"Now then Dr. Martin," said Lucas choosing to ignore ARC's presence. "We should concluded our business with my payment."

"Ah yes, right you are." said James digging out a transfer pad. "You have an ID card right may I see it?"

"I never leave home without it." said Lucas pulled out his ID and handing it to James,watching the man inserting into the pad and authorizing the transfer of credit to Lucas's ID card.

"Here you go, the payment plus a bonus for collecting both samples" said James handing Lucas back his ID. "Pleasure doing business M-Maze"

"You as well, Doc" replied Lucas throwing a hooded coat on as he headed out the door. "Let me know when I can help out again."

Once Lucas left the research center he flipped up the hood of his coat as begin to make his way through the crowded streets of the city. He ran into almost no problems most because the people parted to avoid him due the raider mark on his face or his glowing green eys, but there was always a person or three who spite at him. Lucas ignored them all and continued on his way.

"I always meant to ask," came ARC voice again and Lucas glanced over to look at the avatar "You have power to alter your features why don't you fix your eyes and face."

"Two reasons, one it wouldn't be permanent making it a waste of your power and my focus to to keep it hidden and two is I don't want too I don't have a problem with either." said Lucas as he looked at all city folk trying to advert their eyes from him. "It's other people that can't deal with the mark."

"Hmm fair points." Said ARC "So what now Lucas?"

"We need supplies and fuel, however there no reason to rush it." Said Lucas thinking ignoring looks people were giving him."we have to wait for my contact to reach me with the information about raider movements."

"And that would be a lot easier if we set up base here for awhile." finished ARC

"Yeah we can use the time to gather the needed supplies and extra funds." said Lucas coming to a stop in front of a community bored near the city government building."perhaps one of the local delivery companies won't mind taking on a freelance Mail-"

Whatever Lucas meant to say was drown out by a massive explosion coming from nearby followed by screams. He turned to see a large bellow of black smoke coming from nearby. The sight suddenly brought back a flood of bad memories that had Lucas balling his hands into fist however a new sound filtered into his brain.

"Weapons fire?" He thought turning to watch a trio humanoid war bots shooting at some of the fleeing people.

Charging forward Lucas morph his hands into claws, and slashed two of the bots weapons into little metal chucks that clanged as they hit the ground. From the the way the bots reacted Lucas figured they didn't expect him which made it far more satisfying when he followed up first attack with a punch to the face to one of the now disarmed bot caving it's head in. He heard the third bot spun around to engage him as he grabbed the second disarmed bot. Instantly Lucas morphed his left arm into a large blade that cut straight through the bots weapon and hit a soft spot above the power core that safely powering it down.

"Now then," said Lucas morphing his hand back to claws and turned his attention to the bot struggling to escape his grasp. "that leaves only you tin can."

"We most eradicate targets." came the mechanical voice.

"Oh shut up," said Lucas as he used his Nano bots to hacked the bot's brain "and let me see what you know?"

Lucas's mind was suddenly filled with attack plans, list of targets, and protocols for combat. He begin flipping through the information and noticed one eerie thing, a lot of the targets were mailman or government workers. The thought of mailman being targeting didn't set well with him. He was starting to wonder when a file caught his eye, studying it he realized it was plan use heavy bots to overwhelm the square

"Well damn." said Lucas cutting the connection and dropping the now shut down bot on the ground.

Lucas turned to look in direction of the the pillar of black smoke, and could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the square. He didn't have do anything, it wasn't like he was on the hit list like the the others, And yet he found himself running towards the conflict. A part of him of know it was the right thing to do for the other mailmen and the civilians sure to be caught in the fighting.

Drawing closer to the site of the bombing he ran into more reprogrammed war bots as well as several unidentified individuals barring down on a red haired tattooed woman defending a woman and child. Lucas flung off his coat as activated his exo-skin that gave him a demon appearance and morphed arm blades on each arm to quickly cut through those blocking path. Suddenly Lucas was blindside by something that sent him flying through a building.

"Oh ow" moaned Lucas as he slowly got to his feet. "Alright anyone see what hit me?"

Looking around he saw that he was standing front the bombed building. He also noticed several pieces of broken war bot lying on the ground and standing among them was a blue haired kid of about nine he guessed, he was terrible when it came to guessing kid's age, staring at something. Shaking himself he attempt to call out to the boy, but before he could a missile flew over his head hitting a nearby building.

"Ah damn it I missed" came a voice and Lucas turned see a man wearing a heavy power armor stepping out of the hole Lucas just open. "I don't know who you are but I won't let you interfere any longer."

"Oh really" said Lucas popping his neck. "That sounds like a challenge, I accept."

Ash was suddenly aware of the warbots and the various types of grenades going off and smoke bombs being used to disorient and distract him and the other mailmen. He noticed the three bots attacking the young boy with blue hair he'd seen earlier. He torn through them with ease it seemed. Suddenly the rooftop fell out from under his feet as a warbot blasted it with a grenade launcher. He got buried under the rubble of the building as it collapsed in on him. He didn't have the time to react and surround himself with vines like before. He was a little scratched up, but his enhanced healing fixed any injuries relatively quick.

As much as he hated to do it, Ash knew he had to leave the power cells there and come back for them after the bots and the henchmen were eliminated, provided they were still there. He surrounded the box with more rubble and marked the location on his HUD display.

"This should be exciting. It's not often someone gets the drop on me, even if they are a robot." He smirked. He looked over at the blue haired kid and saw him staring up at some guy in a hood on another rooftop in the square, they both seemed to have the same glowing hair and eyes. Momentarily he pondered if they were related based on the look on the kid's face. The red haired woman from earlier was also nearby and had just saved a lady and her young girl from the explosion. She seemed to be in shock, as she was just looking on in horror. The warbot that had blown up the building must have been distracted or had it's sensors blocked by the smoke and flames. Ash pulled out his plasma edged sword and, before the warbot had time to notice him, he cut the machine into several pieces. He cut into the machine's heavily armored casing and then reached in and pulled out a square part, ripping it away from the wires that clung to it. It was the memory core of that machine and it would have some very interesting data on it. He put the core in his backpack just as a laser blasted right next to his head, barely missing him. He ran in a serpentine pattern to avoid the laser blasts before slicing this bot right up the middle. Each side fell to the ground twitching and smoking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw anther man fighting someone in power armor right after a missile took out yet another building.

Ash couldn't see much through the smoke and flames that were spreading now and Ash couldn't see what was happening. He wanted to get to the high ground, but he knew that would make him an easy target. In the stress of the moment, Ash seemed to turn into a mutant plant creature. From head to toe he was covered with vines, bark and thorns. He looked like a monster and he could fight like one now too. He went back to hacking through warbots using his sword and plant powers in a blur of speed and agility.

Warbots, gunmen, fire... it was chaos....

"Where are the government troops?" The mother asked voicing the very thoughts running through Samantha's head.

"I don't know but I need to get you two out of here" Samantha said as she looked on. "They seem to be busy fighting the others..."

Samantha was cut off by the girl "More bad guys down the street" she said pointing.

The new squad of enemies had seen them and opened fire. The child got behind cover but her mother was not so lucky....

"Mother!" The girl screamed as her mother's body fell lifelessly to the street.

"Stay put!" Samantha ordered the girl as she drew her gun and yelled at the gunmen "Hey bastards burn in Hell!"

A rage filled Samantha, a burning that became a red hot flame. The fire flew from Samantha like a holy light the flames so hot the attackers where burned to Ash with a single touch. But her fire blast had brought the attention of an enemy rocketman. Lucky for Samantha the rocket missed but the blast sent her flying into a wall.

Samantha looked up her body in pain and her vision a blurr. She made out the shape of a large metal man looking over her... A warbot with it's gun pointed right at her chest. The sound of a laser blast. But Samantha didn't feel the burn of a laser and the cold of death. No she saw instead a warbot with a missing head.

Seconds later the young girl shaking was handing Samantha her pistol. "Let's go avenge my mother..."
Samantha took the gun with a grim look. "What's your name kid?"
"Nora...Nora Fraiser.."
"Ok Nora...stick close and we'll get though this... together"
Gun in one hand fire in the other Samantha stood up heading once again into the fray.

People calling for help, raining bullets everywhere, death comes for innocent and not so innocent. She heard it all, watched it, yet she still lied between rubble. Battle on rooftops, battle wherever you look, soon more lives will be gone, and yet she didn’t want to move at all.

"Isn’t this the best moment to do something? " Rai asked her, black sphere as always worried for lack of reaction.
"What can I do? This isn’t my field…" She started, but Rai interrupted her.
"That is a false statement"
It annoyed her a little, she got up slowly…thinking if one old command could still work.

"Rai, I believe you’ve been gathering information about location of machines and tried to get an access to them, correct? "

"Correct" Short answer, faint hope for unarmed people who are too far from mailmen or any other way of surviving through this ordeal.

"Initiate old command to all machines, hopefully some will shut down…" She watched as woman died, child crying…her reaction far too slow, she knew that at least one simple command could’ve been sent earlier, but she wanted to watch rather than interact this time.

Her choice paid in blood was, and it's bad for business...

I can be really terrible person as it seems…

She continued to watch, only to hear something new.
"AC box has been damaged just now, rooftop" Rai informed her.
"Who...died?" She asked, not caring for where exactly it was, or how exactly it happened, for it was but a needless information to her now.

If anyone died, that is…

She thought, and waited, still watching rather than acting.

OOC – considering it’s an old command she got, some robots will shut down but not all I guess, I’m curious if anyone will decide to use that fact in next post :)
P.S : Hmm Kent, I wonder who he is...anyway accidental

White told Rai to record everything that happened about AC “accident” in this mayhem situation for later, not thinking any longer about it she focused on other things. She continued to observe individuals that caught her attention, one feisty and an incredible arsonist as it seems, who also happened to save a child from death, then there was shouting child that made her laugh for the first time since it started. There were also three other individuals, one of them with weird amulet seemed to be in hurry.

“Rai do tell…where is he going?”

“Judging by the package he carries, Black Thorn service is a possibility”

She smiled, she could for fun accidentally stumble upon him. Maybe be kind and show him a shortcut, and in the meantime give information about injured people's location to security and organizations that could do something about it, some people are sill in need of help and maybe they will receive said help.


“Ahh the sewers…Rai please be so kind and tell me how to reach that young man before he gets to his destination and possibly with a shortcut for him, I’m bored of seemingly doing nothing.”
“Right away, though wouldn’t it be better for you to…” He started again with the same thing.
“No, it wouldn’t…actually fine, it will be faster and it’s simply for observation purposes” She smiled.

Hopefully he’s not that good, if he is he will notice something’s way too off about me, oh who am I trying to fool? Me? It’s so obvious this time…

“Rai I’ll shut you down for a short moment”
“Certainly, discharge would be unpleasant to say the least.”

Later in a different place, cleared of any hostiles she waited for one person.
White brought Rai back online, and soon expected person will arrive in hurry, unless there was an error...
“Rai how big chance of error is in this case?” there was no reply, it was a needless question meant to kill time and Rai knew it.

OOC- I think it may be misleading so discharge is not a reference to what Kent saw, also I hope it's alright with you all.

(I'm going to assume that Zaria meant Ash, not Kent, as Ash is the one in the city running around in the city and has an amulet, while Kent is still in the desert on his way into the city.)

Ash looked around scanning the area on all light frequencies looking for a way out of the square. It was difficult to tell the difference between the warbots and the City Security bots. Ash looked to the streets. Too many warbots blocking the exits, debris and rubble blocking alternate routes. Ash was feeling trapped. He didn't see any of the others he had earlier, and yet he still felt like he was being watched.

As he switched his goggles to tactical mode suddenly he saw an exit highlight in his HUD display. There was an entrance to one of the sewers hidden in the basement of the building across the square from him, but getting to the building and past the armed gunmen and warbots was going to be tricky part.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a few hours of trekking and killing every wild creature that tried to kill him, Kent was finally nearing the edge of the desert. He was getting really thirsty and he pulled a canteen out of his bag. He opened the canteen and pressed it to his lips but only a dribble poured out. He saw a what looked like an oasis just at the edge of the desert as a river bordered the desert and the city. Palm trees and small plants grew along the river making the border look more distinguished from the rest of the landscape.

Kent ran up to the water and dunked his head in the running water. He pulled his head out and shook it as his hair shimmered in like a pearl in the sunlight. He felt refreshed, yet he was cautious as he heard the sounds of distant screaming coming from the city.

"That's not what I'm here for. I can't go off saving people on every job." He sighed as he tried to convince himself that he was only going to find the new crime boss and that it would be enough to save so many other people.

Ash managed to get past the bots and the guards. He got into the building and followed the path on his HUD display and made it to the basement and the sewer entrance. His goggles showed him a display with a path to get to the Black Thorn Delivery home base.

As he followed the path through the sewers, it seemed the only thing he really had to worry about was large rats. He reached a manhole not far from the head quarters and slowly lifted the cover and scanned the area. He saw no bots or guards and he crawled out.

He still felt like he was being watched. He scanned the area on some other light frequencies. He didn't see anything, but life signs could always be masked. He grabbed the silver box of experimental power cells before heading off in the direction of home.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kent walked into the city. There were people running away and screaming as he walked in slowly. He analyzed the situation as he looked around seeing rubble and burning buildings and it wasn't long until he realized there was an attack on the central government building.

"Well, this is going to make things difficult."

Vale listened to all the reports, but noticed that one of the voices was familiar. He didn't point it out though, knowing better. Well, the channel was not that unsecure, but given waht the enemy had done so far better safe then sorry. But, in exchange the enemy really could not risk using the channel for tricks unlike a private channel as others would be around to hear it and observe as well.

But when one signal suddenly went dark, Vale looked around. He didn't hear anything, though...he was starting to develop some nasty side effects from using his hearing to this extreme for so long. But it was not anything of immediate concern, so Vale decided to press forward and go towards the location of the transmission. Of course, since she cut out before giving specific coordinates he only had to on on the freqency strength it did have and the general direction it came from, but it was better then nothing.

He also heard a report from a woman, and it sounded like it might be the one he saw earlier.

"Good to know. A signal cut out just now, heading in the general direction it came from to investigate. Keep an eye out just in case, but it looks like its pretty much over. Still...better make sure that signal going out was nothing serious".

Vale himself did not encounter any enemies on the way there, but...

What the hell?! The box is following me?!

Vale could hear that damn message box tunneling under the ground, following him while remaining out of sight.

Vale would thoroughly question that box later to learn its secrets. He then sent out another transmission burst, hoping others could tell him what was going on in that area. He extended the range a bit to be safe, so it might catch some other people on accident, but it would possibly provide him with more information anyways. And learning what was going on would help, so he continued to listen to others report in.

And then, as he did that...even though while it was basically over it was not over yet, several specific Mailmen were beginning to get contacted about some strange but extremely great paying jobs...it just required going through the most dangerous region near the city.

White was waiting for far too long, and slowly boring it became…just then someone sent some kind of transmission. Actually not one transmission, two…one coming from Mailmen that seemed to be in need of information, and second known thanks to Rai, there was some kind of job for Mailmen, job meant for specific people. At that point it seemed like she finally had to interact with more people, even though she didn’t want to.

“Rai connect me to Mailmen channel, please.” Rai did it immediately, and she took a deep breath…

“Anyone who hears this, and gets strange job with incredibly big pay for it, don’t do it…unless you have a group, though it’s still a bad idea.”

When such jobs appear just after attacks like that, it’s best to avoid them…even more if jobs are meant for specific persons. Usually it’s a way to finish job that failed, at least partially failed at first, but there are other cases as well. White expected something else to be possible, but she wasn’t sure about what it was, yet.

Hopefully no one will ask why I'm skeptical about this job...

Lucas activited his armor skin as he stood watching closely what the plant creature did prepared to defend himself should he need to, however it turned out to be an over reaction as the creature’s plant feature fade around his its face to reveal a human one. The man, now that Lucas could see it, flashed up a ID badge from which Lucas could only make out the man’s first name was Ash before he fled down the road destroying mechs along the way. Lucas was stared flabbergasted at what he just witness for a while until Arc manage to gain his attention again.

“Lucas...LUCAS you in there.”

“Huh” said Lucas “what? Oh Arc sorry I didn’t mean to zone outing just...”

“Not everyday you see a mutant with that kind of power,” said Arc finishing his though.

“Yeah.” Said Lucas deactivating his armor skin and rubbing the bridge of his nose suddenly aware of just how tired he was. “Hey Arc did you manage to get the guy’s full name off his badge?”

“Afraid not.” Said Arc’s voice.

“Do you think can find out?” Asked Lucas sitting on a chuck of rubble and digging out a ration bar “you know recreate the image in the augmented reality like you do with your avatar so we can get a look again.”

“Hmm, one moment.” Said Arc and Lucas bit into his food as he felt Arc connection go quiet a moment before coming back. “Your in luck I was able to do it.”

Lucas eye glowed a soft green as his vision changed to see a digital image on the Ash’s badge floating in front of him.

“Ash Rosenior huh” said Lucas looking at the image. “Of Black Thorn Delivery”

“Perhaps you can stop by later and see about work.” Said Arc

“Yeah perhaps,” said Lucas getting up and brush off his hands. “but first we need to secure the city.”

Lucas activited the remote call program he installed in his bike, calling it to his location. It took a few moments for it to arrive and when it did he heard several people talking over each other on comm channels. Lucas placed his hand on the receiver and used his nano bots to connected to it.

“Arc filter them.” He said

“One moment,” said Arc a moment later the signals separated “here you go.”

Lucas flipped through the signals listening to them until he came across one that peck his interest. The channel had at least four people on it. The first voice sounded like a child asking how everyone’s zone were. The second voice was of an older woman going by Horus who indicated her area was clear before a terrifying sound cut her out.

“Arc tell me that wasn’t what I think was.” Said Lucas

“Afraid so” said Arc “perhaps we should stay away from that area”

“Hmm we’ll see.”

A third voice cut in, that of a woman saying that government boots were on the where she was. The first voice came back telling everyone who was listen he was investigating Horus postion. Lucas was about call in when a forth voice of another woman came on warning all mailman to be cautious about a job.

“Sound advice,” said Lucas before patching in to the channel “This is Lucas Maze my area is clean, and government agents are coming heading over to investigate a signal lost.”

“Lucas,” said Arc as Lucas tuned out of the channel and started up his bike. “This signal lost we are going to investigate wouldn’t happen the same area where an EMP would be right?”

“No comment.” Said Lucas before setting off.

Ash had just started walking when a communication came across his goggles' built in communication system. The message was sent to all mailmen and warning them not to take any new high paying jobs. He then heard another message from a Lucas Maze saying that the area he was in was clear.

"Well if everyone is checking in on here, this is Ash Rosanoir and the south west corner of the town square is still being patrolled by warbots and there were a few guards out there too. I had to find alternate means of escape and the guards are probably listening in on this channel so giving away your positions is probably not the best idea." Ash replied before he received another message for a job with a high payout.

"Figures, best paying job I've been offered in three months and it's just a fake." He said as he looked at the box of power cells.

"And these things. Well, since I don't have a client now ...and I'm not getting paid for the delivery, I guess I'll keep these for my trouble." He muttered to himself as he continued to head toward Black Thorn Headquarters. The city had gone eerily quiet now that a lot of the people had evacuated. It was a sound that always gave Ash the shivers.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Kent remained calm as he was flooded with the people running out of the city. He simply walked through the crowd in the opposite direction as them. Kent's holographic HUD activated and he received the same messages that everyone else did. He didn't respond as Ash had made a good point about giving away locations.

Things started to fall into place in his head. The job he was on right now was most likely a distraction for something else. The reasoning behind it did seem to be a little weak and the pay was ridiculously high. He scanned the city, assessing the damages and to what buildings. He saw that a majority of the damage had been concentrated on the government buildings in the center of the town square. He scanned for warbots and found a concentration of them in the south west corner of the square.

"They must be protecting something or someone." He muttered as he jumped to the fire escape of a nearby building and climbed to the roof to get a better view. He scanned the building closest to the warbots and saw nothing inside that looked suspicious.

"Unless that's meant to be a distraction too." He quickly turned back to the farthest area from the town square looking for any signs of strange activity. Then he saw it, a single warbot that wasn't patrolling but seemed to be guarding a building. The building was out of the way from any of the evacuation routes. He tried to scan it and couldn't see through the walls using any light wavelengths. They seemed to be lined with dampening panels. What ever was in that building was the source of all this trouble.

Kent used his HUD to get onto the mailmen channel and secure it with temporary firewall that would block out anyone from tapping into it or cut off anyone who already had, but it was only for this one message.

"To any mailmen listening to this, I found the source of all of this. There's a building in the North East corner of the city that's unscannable and being guarded by a single warbot. I'm almost certain that the explosion was just a distraction for something else and it's going down in that building. No one should go there alone, I've sent my co-ordinance embedded in the message and anyone looking to figure out what's going down in that building can meet me here in the next five minutes or I'm going in on my own." He informed everyone. Now he had to wait.

White heard another message, coming from mailmen, talking about the possible source of all of it. Something that caught her attention, and annoyed little.

“Rai why didn’t you…” She started.

“Too vague information gathered, possible trap or already abandoned, also there was a firewall that almost thrown us out of mailmen channel when the message was sent out. Possibly another reason to suspect trap or someone from mailmen trying desperately to hide this message.” Rai’s reply made sense, they could leave machines in form of distraction, message she won't comment.

I still want to check that…

She slowly moved from that damn spot, tired of waiting…it seemed like there was an error in earlier calculations.

Let’s just make it a quick travel from here to there…

“I’ll shut you down again Rai…” She said and shut him down without waiting for reply.

"I see, I'll be there in few minutes, please do wait till then." - Came to her mind, but it would be weird for person that isn't a mailman reply to this message, staying silent and going there also. Either choice would be bad, but she wanted to go there...

*Few minutes later*
She finally could see building that was mentioned in message, and she could see someone. Who was that silver haired person,is what made her wonder...
She waved to him or her from a distance, whoever that person was, she would soon learn.

OOC - Silver haired means Kent.