Julian Harris's Story

Edmund was somewhat excited already at the prospect of someone appreciating his ideas. A big dopey grin was somewhat plastered across his face as Almario was quietly bidding his time for now. “Well, thank you so very much…”

He chuckled like an idiot easily flattered for a moment. A hand ran through Edmund’s hair for a moment before trying to compose himself. “We just listened to a very good speaker on the subject two weeks ago on campus. I am sure he would like to come in…” He had the contact information somewhere.

Oh speaking of which. “Just how exactly, or who do I send my contact information to??” He asked. Did he wait in line by that booth?

A vortex of flame ignited on the ground and swiftly dissipated. The concreted scorched as a short creature sat in a crouch. Its long tail snaked along the ground. Glom's skin was deep red like fire. A thin coat of fur covered his lanky limbs. Two horns protruded from his forehead.

The imp landed on the ground with a thud. There was a sinister mischievous look in his eyes as he snapped his fingers. A poster materialized in his grip, which he promptly stuck to a nearby bulletin board.

"It'll all be sent later," said Delta to Roxxy. "Thanks for signing up, really. We're evolving this city with every signature."

Giles reached over to the booth and handed the boys a clip board. "Right here. Just give us your name and contact information. You'll get regular updates by e-mail. If you like, let this speaker know, too!"

Alerted by the appearance of the demon, one of the officers, Saiga, marched over, standing close with an eye on him. His sort- especially ones with a gleam in his eye like he did- were never up to any good.

"Hey!" she called as he slipped something into the bulletin. "What're you doin' over there?"

For a moment Almario took the clipboard and pen somewhat looking this over as Edmund smiled. Maybe his twin was interested in this after all. “Thank you so much for giving us a few moments of your time.” He expressed the pair moving up on line. Quietly his double looked it over the form that needed to be filled out before just handing it over to his other half.

“I don’t even know why you would want to waste a perfect afternoon but if you’re going to might as well sign yourself up and so we can get back to what were going to do.” Pamper themselves.

Edmund frowned quietly, a part of him wanted Almario to attend but determined to make of the most of it he was finally handed the clipboard and studying the form diligently. Contact, name, this seem all pretty straight forward as the line quietly advanced up to the booth.

Tapping on her data-pad, Clarissa McIntyre analyzed the information scrolling along the screen, much of it trivial. Most of what she had wanted to find was already secured, but one thing yet eluded her: the security codes to the building's alarm. It seemed that they weren't stored in the databases, and countless days of searching had yielded her no results. Still, anything conducive to the fall of the Terran Government is helpful she thought to herself as she filed away an expenditures report. Working for the Syndicate Ring, a group centuries old that had worked to topple the Terran Government from the shadows, Clarissa was attempting to secure the City Hall for the operation.

Fizzing out, she grunted in frustration as the data pad died. Nothing to be done however; if she left the thing on too long, it might be tracked. Dissatisfied with her progress, she turned back to the government computer in front of her. It was helpful that a secretary job had been open at this place when she began her surveillance a few weeks ago. No one ever suspected the quiet, busy secretary "Anaiya Farrow" to be doing much important. Smiling as she thought of all the information afforded her by this position, she shut off the computer as it was time for her "job" to end.

Grabbing up the government issued data-pad, she walked down the corridors of the City Hall, examining the surroundings. Pretty soon, it would be theirs. A man- Kale Burbanks, one of the higher ranking secretaries in the buildig- stepped out of one of the offices lining the hallway, a perturbed expression on his face. Noticing her, he called out, "Mrs. Farrow, I have a report that needs to be given to Mayor Harris immediately. I would do it myself, but I don't have the time. Can I trust you with this?" Without waiting for her reply, he handed her a series of reports through the data-pad connection. Striding away hurriedly, Clarissa wondered what the reports contained. If she opened them, however, something might activate. And similar to the man's statement, Clarissa did not have much time either. A joyful expression dawned on her face as she realized that she now had an excuse to go into the Mayor's office. Maybe he wouldn't be there, considering how late at night it was?

Navigating herself to the office, she stopped outside the door and knocked. "Hello? Mayor Harris?" she called. Please don't be in there she thought.

Julian was in the process of shoving some folders into a suitcase when Clarissa knocked on his door. The large rottweiler laying next to his desk raised its head and gave a rumbling growf at the door when he didn't seem to hear the knock in his hurry to get packed up.

"Hm?" he said. "Oh, come in," he called.

Once the door opened he snapped his suitcase closed.

"Ah, Anaiya. Just leave the reports for me, and I'll look over them in the morning," he told her.

He was already a half hour late to dinner with his wife, and in more than a bit of a hurry. He was halfway to the door before he remembered something else.

"Oh, hey when I went to grab a cup of coffee, the card lock on my office was giving me some trouble again. Could you do me a huge favor and tell security about it for me? That thing has been acting up all week. They said they would have someone up to fix it today."

The card lock was a three part security measure, requiring his ID card, a number pad punch code, and a thumb print, but at the moment it was acting up and the locking mechanism wasn't activating when the door closed.

Offering a good-bye, Clarissa licked her lips as Julian walked out of the room. If he came back in while she was searching... "No time to worry about that right now," she murmured. Taking out a small scanner she had hidden inside her purse, she walked over to the desk. Running the device over the surface, she picked up fingerprints that had lain there. Hopefully they were his. Transferring the files Burbanks had given her to Julian's computer, she was able to establish a connection. Whipping out her personal device, she synced it with the government issue one. Running a quick search revealed nothing of use to her at the moment, except for his day planner. Reading it over quickly, she stored it away on her device. Knowing where the Mayor was would be useful tomorrow. Shutting off everything hurriedly, she stepped out of the office.

Darting a look around, she then passed the device over the number pad mounted on the wall. It may be broken, but it was always useful to know a code. Wondering whether or not she should investigate more inside the Mayor's office, Clarissa reminded herself that her superiors were waiting for the last bit of information.

Making her way towards the security office, she took out one of the bugging devices in her purse. Entering the room, she spotted the guard sitting at the desk. "Yes miss?" asked the man. Behind him were two more guards looking at the terminals.

"The Mayor told me to remind you that his security lock is having problems. He said you would have someone up to fix it today." she spoke, examining the room.

"Ah, completely forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me. Anything else?" he replied. Formulating plans and discarding them, she settled on something simple and effective. She tripped. Falling towards the ground, she rolled close to one of the computers. Rushing over to her, the guards lifted her up, concerned with her health. But not with her hand planting the device on the underside of the system. Saying she was fine and thanking the man, she left the room and walked into one of the janitorial closets. Pulling out her hacking platform, she activated the bugging device, gaining immediate access to the City Hall's security network. Running an encryption program and pinging her signal off all the devices in the building, she ran through all the files quickly. If they found her in the system, not that she thought they would, the plans were ruined. Deep inside the encrypted mainframe, she found the codes she was looking for. Quickly copying them, she disconnected from the system, remotely telling the bugging device to self-destruct. Relaying all the information to her superiors, a satisfied smile took hold on her face. With her mission complete, the Syndicate would soon rise.

It was nearly noon by the time Julian arrived at the City Hall, having been to a meeting with the Chief of Police all morning. As he entered the front doors, he made his way up the steps and through the metal detectors and various scanners that building was outfitted with.

Stringent checks upon entry where a necessity in a city with a reputation like Wing City.

Visual identification was rendered all but useless when shapeshifters walked freely, and metal detectors where all but obsolete when the grandma at the corner might just be a demon-lord of chaos in disguise. It was for these reasons that Julian had been advocating stricter regulation of the supernatural elements within the TNG.

It was this very matter that was what he had been down to the police station to discuss, and the various beeps and whistles of the scanners as he stepped through the archway into the building only further reminded him of why he felt this step was necessary. The security guards gave him a nod and he headed on inside, a rottweiler padding along with him.

He exchanged a few pleasantries with the receptionist at the front desk before heading for the elevator to take him to his office upstairs.

Outside his office he slipped his ID card into the slot, punched in the ID code, and pressed his thumb to the keypad. A moment later the lock released.

"Well looks like they got that fixed at least," he told the dog at his side.

He pushed the door open and headed inside to go over the reports that 'Anaiya' had left for him the night before.

Alfonso de Lauty stepped back from the viewport on his ship, The Arabia. Turning towards the assembled Syndicate Ring Council members, he smiled grimly in anticipation of what was to come. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we make history or die trying. Far too long has the Syndicate Ring stayed to the shadows, watching events from afar. No more! Today, the world will know who we are. It is too late to back down now, and our cause shall stay true. Return to your jobs, make plans for rule. But also make plans for escape. Not all plans end well," he stated.

Staring at him, the Councilors bowed to him, striding away while whispering among themselves. Sweat beaded on his brow. What if they turned against him? Quashing the emotion, he pressed a button on the console in front of him, signaling the start of Operation Check-mate.

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In Wing City, Syndicate Ring members assembled in anticipation of the event that was soon to happen. Split into groups of two or so, they took up positions around the city hall in a radius of no more than a block. With fifteen soldiers they should be able to overwhelm the building in time for the wave of reinforcements to arrive. Looking up, Jack Rickman exhaled the smoke in his lungs, dropping the cigarette and crushing it underneath the heel of his boots. As the only psionic in the initial attack, it would be up to him and the mage to subdue any extraordinary opposition. Shouldering his rifle, carefully hidden inside a collapsible guitar case, he meandered towards the City Hall with the rest of his cell. Through the neural plant in his head, he identified all the other Syndicate members in the area as well as the battle mech in the van stationed across from the city hall.

A beeping sounded in his ear before a voice spoke, "Operation Check-Mate is a go. Security and alarm systems have been temporarily disabled by our agents. They'll come back on when you secure the building. Change the world, guys. Good luck." Blanking out from his, Jack activated the jammer placed inside the building by the agent. Hopefully the three people inside the building had received the message, the mage was in there. Uncasing his silenced gun, the elite agents opened fire on the guards outside the door. The mech burst out of the van, plasma and concussion cannon armed, carrying on its shoulders a deactivated temporal stabilizer which would be set-up once the first floor had been taken.

The opening gunfire dropped one of the two security guards, but the other reacted quicker as he grabbed for his side arm and stepped around the corner of the wall.

"Shit. Everyone, get down!" he shouted through the lobby.

In response to the security guard's shouts, the receptionist dropped down behind the front desk and hit the alarm button there to alert the police, but with the alarm systems disabled it did nothing.

Fortunately the lobby was scarce of people this time of day, and there where fewer civilians to be caught in the gunfire. Those that where present scattered and took cover, crouched down behind chairs and potted plants - whatever there was to provide a meager bit of shelter and to keep low.

A second later and the security guard twisted around the corner enough to return fire at the agents at the base of the stairs to force them to take cover as well, rather than rushing the steps into the lobby.

"We've got gunman at the front lobby. Get security down here!" he barked into his radio as he took cover from any return fire from the agents at the entrance to the building.

Hearing the gun fire, the three agents in the building made their way to the bathrooms. On the first floor. Clarissa was waiting for them with some equipment she had smuggled in, mainly protective vests. Thanking her, they donned the armor before taking out the SMGs they had stored inside the briefcases they carried. Putting on silencers, they walked into the lobby and arrayed themselves behind the desks.

"If you put down your weapons, you will not be harmed," shouted one of the soldiers, training his weapon on the nearest guard.

Meanwhile, Clarissa made her way towards the security office, taking out her concussion pistol and .44 Magnum. Halting outside the door, she dropped the purse on her arm and breathed in deeply. Stepping around the corner, she let of shots from he concussion pistol at the guards in the room. If all projectiles connected, then there wouldn't be any need to kill anyone in the room.

There was only one security guard in the front lobby, and as he was swiftly surrounded he raised his hands up in a show of surrender. He knelt carefully and set his gun down on the floor, while throwing a glance to his fallen comrade, looking for any sign of life. He saw none.

The civilians where in a panic, but they kept down.

The lobby was lost, but there where officers scattered through-out the building, and the Mayor's office was fortunately on one of the upper floors.

Security was responding swiftly to the chaos and they where converging on the second floor to meet the terrorists in a more organized engagement should they try to take the upper floors.

---

Upstairs in the Mayor's office, four security guards swiftly disengaged the lock to enter the office.

Julian was on his feet as they filled into the room.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"Mr. Mayor, try to stay calm," one of the security guards told him before speaking into a radio. "We've secured the Mayor's office. It doesn't look like they've made it this far up."

Two of the guards took a knee and used his desk as cover to keep their guns on the door, while a third was on the phone with the WCPD. Julian grimaced at the situation before he slid a drawer on his desk open and pulled out his side-arm.

"Sir, what are you doing?" one of the guards asked.

"I'm not going to sit around here and wait to be shot," he explained as he loaded the gun and knelt down behind his desk between the two security guards. His own gun was now aimed at the door as well in the event anyone tried to breach it.

---

Meanwhile back downstairs, the security room had erupted into chaos. There where only two security guards manning the desks in there when Clarissa stepped in. As she brought up her gun, both dove for the floor and used their desks as cover. Though she had failed to take them down with the concussion pistol, they where pinned down and unable to utilize the building surveillance systems, or to coordinate the officers and security guards in the building. The upper floors would be going blind with only their radios to coordinate with one another.

One of the two guards signaled the other silently before he popped up from behind the desk to return fire on Clarissa. The other security guard waited a pause for Clarissa to turn on the security guard who had fired on her, before he too popped up to fire at her from his own desk, but not before the first took a round to the chest and dropped.

The remaining security guard, a telekinetic, raised a hand to the large filing cabinets and they shook violently before toppling across the doorway.

The soldiers walked around quickly, securing the hostages and moving them into a large office. Jack Rickman placed a psionic barrier around the room to prevent any escape, but a soldier was left behind to ensure that no one would get out. Jack turned on his radio. "Clarissa, is the security room secured yet?"

"No!" she yelled. "They have a psionic of some sort up here, could use your help."

"Can do, Alonzo, you're in charge until I get back. Take the upper levels and then send some to the mayor's office when I tell you," he said sharply. Concentrating, he opened a small portal, stepping out on the opposite side of the door from Clarissa.

"Long time, no see Jack. Can you take him?" she asked, gesturing towards the room.

"Stop mocking me and provide covering fire," he chuckled, smiling at her. Standing up as Clarissa began emptying rounds into the room, he placed a barrier on himself and made a small psionic shift past the file cabinets. Shouldering his weapon, he said"Drop the gun and you won't be hurt."
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Back downstairs, the mech walked into the building and made its way to where the other soldiers were waiting. The mage in the operation, which happened to be Alonzo, stepped in front of it. "Secure us a path to the Mayor's office," he commanded. Making a beep of recognition, it began striding up the stairs. Quickly casting a shielding spell on the walker, he detached the temporal stabilizer and set it up behind the counter in the lobby, waiting for fifteen seconds before turning it on. "Josie, Carter, Aluman, stay here and guard the lobby, make sure no one gets in. Non-lethal if possible."

Turning away, he took the remaining nine people up the stairs with him. Emerging at the top behind the mech, they saw the guards arrayed around the area and took cover inside offices before firing. The mech charged the concussion cannon on its arm and released a blast down one of the hallways.

The officer in the security room wasn't as keen to surrender as the one in the lobby had been. His eyes shifted to the psionic's gun, and a simple flex of telekinesis would in theory render the firing pin in the weapon too damaged to fire.

"Go fuck yourself," he said before he pulled the trigger on his own gun, aiming square for the psionics chest.

---

Upstairs the gathering of security guards had been left groaning in the hall as the mech discharged its concussion cannon into their midst. The second floor wouldn't hold much longer, and there was little between the terrorists and the mayor's office now except a few lingering security guards.

Grunting in pain as the bullet struck the barrier around Jack, he forced a rictus smile on his face. "Bad choice," he laughed. He shot out a blast of mental energy towards the guard in hopes of knocking him out quickly. While the guard was distracted, Clarissa began climbing over the file cabinets to enter the room.

---

Quickly and efficiently, the soldiers rounded up the stunned guards, knocking them out for the moment since they did not have the time or manpower for anything more at the moment. Following the mech as it made its way to the mayor's office, they tasered any one they saw to incapacitate them until they could return and secure them as hostages. Leaving two men on each floor to make sure none of the hostages caused any trouble, Alonzo, four other soldiers, and the mech continued on upwards to the Mayor's office. Stopping outside the door to the Mayor's office, Alonzo radioed Jack, "We're here. What now?"

The security guard wasn't near distracted enough to not notice Clarissa trying to climb over the filing cabinets, right in front of him. Jack's mental blast was disrupted as if had been dispersing across water when it was met with like energy from the security guard's own mind. While he couldn't direct another telekinetic attack at Clarissa while holding off Jack's psychic attack, he still had a gun which he raised and started to fire at Clarissa as she was still in the process of climbing over the cabinets.

---

Inside the Mayor's office, everyone was in place. Two guards to the left of the door, and another two behind the desk with Julian, all ready to fire on whoever breached the door first.

Of the men protecting the mayor, two were ordinary humans while one was a regenerator, and the other a shifter.

Clarissa yelled in pain as a bullet punched through her leg, causing her to fall to the ground. Rolling off the cabinet, she hid behind one of the desks in the room and took out a needle filled with morphine, injecting herself with it and waiting for the effects to set in. Meanwhile, Jack refocused his psychic attack upon seeing this. Deciding to take a different path in addition to the mental battle, he jumped on the desk the man was hiding behind and aimed a kick at his face.

---

Alonzo waited for a few seconds for a response from Jack, but received none. Hesitant, he decided to continue with the operation after thinking about the dwindling amount of time they had. Turning to the four soldiers with him, he spoke, "Alright, here's the plan. I will continue sustaining the shield around the mech. We have the codes to the door, so after I unlock it, set up two explosive charges to break any additional reinforcing. The mech will fire a concussion blast at the door and hopefully through it into the room. As soon as it fires, you are to throw concussion and flash-bang grenades into the room to stun those insides and then follow behind the mech, use it as cover. If there are guards and they are stunned, knock them out. If not, use lethal force. We can't afford to lose anyone in an attempt to minimize the number of deaths we cause. Ready yourselves." Walking over to the door, he unlocked it using the codes that had been recovered by the agent.

Returning to his position behind the mech unit, he commanded, "Masks on." As soon as everyone was secured against the stunning effects, he started counting slowly, "Three, two, one, breach." With that, the final breach commenced, shaped explosives detonating on the door.

Jack's decision to simply jump the desk left him in a rather vulnerable position. His shield might protect him from bullets, but he was dealing with another psionic. Airborne, and with little means to evade, Jack would be met with a wall of force aimed to intercept him, and throw him back against the far wall to pin him there like a net.

Meanwhile the security guard kept his gun trained on Clarissa while he spoke into his radio, requesting backup in the security room. Unfortunately, most of the potential backup had already been subdued.

---

Meanwhile upstairs, the mech's attack on the Mayor's office unfolded swiftly. The mech was met with a rain of bullets before the grenades sailed into the room from behind it. The shifter responded swiftly as his skin took on an armor plating that encased him in its entirety. The intent was that it would protect him from explosions, and he used his own body to pull Julian down and to shield him behind the desk.

Though intended to protect them from shrapnel, it served to inadvertently protect from the flash-bangs as well. The guard to the mayor's left was left reeling and disoriented though.

The two flanking the doorway fared about the same, with one man momentarily blinded and disoriented - vulnerable to being subdued - while the other recovered quickly. His ability to regenerate left both his eyes and ears recovering rapidly enough that he had his gun up to fire from the side at the guards that tried to follow the mech into the room.

Julian, though semi-shielded from the flash aspect of the grenades was left with his ears ringing and he felt muddled, and disoriented. The sounds of gunfire where distant and muted.

He failed to hear the guard yelling into his ear to stay down, and a moment later the guard was gone as he hopped the desk to engage the mech head on. With his body armor plated, he didn't seem at all apprehensive about grappling the machine as if it where just another man.

As Jack jumped up, he was slightly surprised to meet the wave of energy. It would be useful to remember that they were dealing with another psionic. While not nearly fast enough to dissipate the thing immediately, he managed to unravel it before he slammed into the wall. Rolling behind a desk, he motioned to Clarissa to stay put. It seemed that they were at a stalemate for the moment.

---

The mech pushed inwards rapidly, bullets deflecting off of the magical shield situated around its body. Swinging the plasma cannon towards the shifter while sweeping with one of its legs at the same time, the mech attempted to crush the person. The concussion cannon meanwhile shot towards the man next to the mayor, hopefully catching both guard and mayor in the same blast.

Surging forwards, Alonzo wove a shield around himself as well. Immediately noticing the standing regenerator, he threw a web of electric energy towards him, intending to finish off the man. Meanwhile, the other nine went in behind the mech, one shooting at the regenerator while the other three moved around the mech, one securing the stunned guard while two fired at the shifter, intending to take the man down lethally. As Alonzo had said, it was more important to preserve their lives than those of the guards.

It was a bleak morning, the haze of mist surrounded and enveloped the city streets, adding to the overall depressing atmosphere. People were just starting their days, heading to work in various shapes and forms. Wing City Hall wasn't particularly bustling with activity, but it was nonetheless active as various public officials began to go about their daily business. Bureaucrats, politicians, city police, and more entered the chambers.

Outside, making entrance into the building difficult were many assorted protesters. One prominent design of flag was waved in the air among them - a maroon, white, and black tricolor with an emblem in the center of an off-red skeleton wrestling a lion into submission. All of the people wore similar clothes; slim black uniforms akin to that of a military outfit. Each of them wore or had gasmasks on in some way shape or form. Despite being protesters, they were organized...planted here, by the NPM. And their goal was the same as ever, to make a scene. To show their displeasure. To convince others to their cause. And most importantly, to be noticed. They often vented their frustrations during these protests about their ideologies not being represented in government.

This had been a recent occurrence in the wake of a perceived lack of stability and lack of will on behalf of the Terran government to deal with what the group called "Rotten Organizations". What this meant changed frequently, but often it was in reference to the various governmental bodies in charge of Terra. Today, it was Wing City which had one of these faux protests. Tomorrow, it'd be another city. And another. Local cells were stationed, and people were sent across the world to participate in these protests to bolster numbers. In practice, with every protest, people are swayed to their side of things. Gradually ands surely, a poisonous brain rot culminated. They were radicals today, but the radicals of today could be the rulers of tomorrow...and that's what they truly wanted. To rule. To enact their "pure" Futurist ideology upon the masses, and to improve people.

It wasn't just Terra...the NPM had aspirations outside of Terra. The Aschen and Taiyou governments were tougher shells to crack thanks to their more authoritarian systems and were not quite as open as Terra, but in due time they could be 'enlightened'...

---

As time progressed, the protestors begun to become more aggressive, never outright escalating to violence but escalating nonetheless. Police stationed at City Hall begun to emerge for backup. Things were getting ugly, and putting people on edge...hoping this wouldn't escalate past a simple protest by delusional ultranationalists...