A middle-aged Ruskedan woman clad in a gray Conjunction uniform walked up the stairs of the Pargrad Council Building, a six-story building made of beige stone and light-blue glass. She was short and dignified, with skin like porcelain and hair as black as charcoal. At a distance, she could be mistaken for a doll, the sort that sat creepily on shelves. Five other Conjunction soldiers walked closely around her, two at her sides and three behind her.
The colorful flag of Ruskeda that sat atop the building's roof blew gallantly in the spring air. The flag was split into two rectangles, a red one at the top and a green one at the bottom, with a simple blue triangle at its center. The woman glanced up at the flag before she looked at the crowd gathered around her and her entourage. Several armed Ruskedan soldiers held the crowd at bay and preserved a wide path up to the building for the similarly-armed Conjunction soldiers.
“I don’t like this crowd. There are too many of them, and they’re too close,” said one of the Conjunction soldiers. He was a light-skinned man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. “This place was just attacked a few weeks ago. Shouldn’t these Ruskedan soldiers be doing more to secure the square?”
The area around the building was known as Pargrad Square, the heart of the coastal city. Light-brown bricks covered the large open plaza and the wide streets that led into it. The council building was at its center and served as Pargrad’s seat of government. Decorative steel towers jutted out from the four buildings at the corners of the square. The towers twisted over a hundred meters into the air and offered the best views of the city. The Spires, as they were called, were some of the most notable landmarks in all of Ruskeda.
“We’re in the Conjunction, young man. People are free to leave their homes and peacefully amass in public. There’s always a risk of violence, but we’re prepared for that.” The steadfast woman said as she continued up the stairs.
The woman paid little mind to the cheers that rang out from the masses gathered in the square. The numerous medals plastered on the chest of her uniform told the few that didn't know her that she was a decorated war hero. She'd piloted all-manner of aircraft during her 30 year military career, and had shot down more enemy ships than most of ?ba's pilots. More recently, she'd become an administrator overseeing the joint security plans of Conjunction partners. The soldiers that joined her acted as both her security and her assistants.
“They are loving you, Colonel!” A young, redheaded Conjunction soldier said to the woman beside them with a gleeful grin.
Before she could make it to the perron of the staircase, the decorated woman caught a glance of a lean, brown-haired man pointing his palm at her from the edge of the crowd closest to her. A shot soon rang out as the man's palm opened up to fire a concussive round at the woman. Several people screamed out in terror upon seeing the man's arm transform into a grenade launcher. The Ruskedan soldiers had little time to respond to the sudden attack.
Though the round struck the woman point-blank, a golden flash of light nullified its concussive force entirely. Her assailant was nearly blinded by a searing yellow dazzle that was directed back at him less than a second after the impact of his round. He screamed out in pain as his eyes and face began to burn.
Some of the people in the crowd around him started to grab at the man before the Ruskedan soldiers could get to him. Despite his pain, he leapt up several meters and out of the crowd through the use of his cybernetic legs. A brown-skinned Conjunction soldier of Esdegonian descent stepped away from the rest of the entourage. The soldier's face was obscured by his uniform's grey, brimmed hat. He raised his rifle and shot the attacker in the head before the cyborg could land safely behind the alarmed crowd.
"Gotcha." The Conjunction solider said, smiling with a smug satisfaction.
The other soldiers in her entourage crowded around the woman who'd been shot and quickly trained their weapons on the masses around them. The Ruskedan soldiers quickly pushed back what was left of the gatherers and formed a line outside the council building to prevent their entry. Most of the crowd ran away down Pargrad's wide boulevards to perceived safety.
"Can't believe that it actually worked." The lightskinned Conjunction soldier laughed and said with a wide grin.
Gunfire began to be heard from the streets that led into the city square that the soldiers stood in. The Ruskedan military guards that had been securing those streets began to yell out "They're here!" and "Ceders!" as the guards were killed one-by-one. The crowds that had remained outside of the council building started running in a blind panic to the street behind the structure. They were quickly wrangled by nearby Ruskedan soldiers and directed to the bunkers at the sides of the building.
"Don't forget the plan! We need to get Colonel Chereff out of here right now!" An older, burly male Conjunction soldier said to his fellow soldiers.
Four of the Conjunction soldiers rushed their crouched leader up the stairs leading to the lobby of the Pargrad Council Building just as a group of brawny Ruskedans ran into the city square. Their brawn hid extensive and illegal cybernetic modifications that made the group deadly to even the military. The cyborgs transformed their bulky arms into fully-automatic guns that they fired at the Conjunction soldiers. The bullets that made contact with the entourage protecting Colonel Chereff were deflected by the same golden barrier that had protected the colonel from the concussive round.
"Alright; Game on," said the Esdegonian-born Conjunction soldier that had stayed behind on the steps.
The man touched the black clasp on his ear and rubbed it gently with his right thumb. He began fading from view until he was completely invisible. The Ruskedan soldiers around him were too busy with firing at the cyborgs to notice his magic trick. Several of those cyborgs began dropping lifelessly to the ground from unseen bullets, some of which were from the Ruskedan military snipers on the roofs that looked out onto the wide-open square.
“For the God-Queen!” One of the especially-large cyborgs screamed as he ran towards the council building.
The cyborg was easily over two meters tall and armored like an Old World tank. He charged through Pargrad Square like it was a football field, leaving small craters in its brickwork with each step he took. The invisible Conjunction soldier took a few well-aimed shots at the cyborgs eyes, head, and heart, but his bullets bounced off of it. He was directly in the cyborg’s path, but the soldier stood his ground. Before the soldier could change his ammo out, he heard a yell from a short distance behind him.
“Die Monarchist Scum!” A Ruskedan soldier yelled as he charged at one of the cyborgs from cover.
The Ruskedan soldier had several grenades strung about his chest blinking and primed to explode. The Conjunction soldier leapt back a meter or two as he watched the other soldier tackle the cyborg brute. A deafening blast rocked the square and knocked the wind out of the surviving soldier’s lungs. As the smoke cleared, the soldier could see that only a smoldering crater remained where the other soldier and the cyborg had made contact.
Most of the Ruskedan soldiers hid behind fortified blockades set up near the bottom of the council building's stairs. They’d been protected from the blast wave, but were still shocked by the sight of it. Many of them had never seen actual combat before. Those soldiers looked on as the invisible Conjunction soldier neutralized six more of the cyborg terrorists seconds after the explosion.
"Good job, Srell. We’re glad you survived that insanity. We're pursuing the Ceders left on the side streets. Prism's treating the casualties near Pargrad Square." A deep, authoritative voice echoed in the invisible man's mind.
"Thanks, sir. How many of these cybernetic freaks are left?" Srell asked over the telepathic link as he shot the last two Ceder cyborgs left in the city square. "If Ruskedan Intelligence can be trusted, that is."
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"Looks like we've got a dozen left." The deep voice echoed in Srell's mind again.
"Make that eight." The monotone voice of a calmer man was then heard over the link. He too was invisible, and he'd killed four cyborgs while they ran down a side street towards Pargrad Square. "I'm coming to join you and Leanna, sir."
"Sounds good. We'll pursue the last of these terrorists while Srell guards the square." The leader's low voice communicated telepathically to his team.
"Ursun, I've healed all of the soldiers that I could. One of them didn't make it, sir." Prism's youthful voice was mired with guilt as it was sent over the link.
"You did your best. Come join the rest of us. We'll need your help in locating the last eight Ceders." Ursun, the team's leader, said to Prism with his deep, disembodied voice.
Prism stood up from the dead body of the Ruskedan soldier he'd tried to save. He sighed before leaping towards the side of one of the four-story buildings that framed the street he was on. After his foot made contact with the building's surface, he made an acrobatic leap towards the opposite building. His black-booted feet landed evenly on the flat rooftop.
He gazed towards the south of the city, where the docks were. He knew from Ursun's telepathic message that his leader was on one of the rooftops in that direction. Prism began leaping from rooftop to rooftop, moving with an agility beyond any normal human.
It only took him a minute to reach his leader, Ursun, a tall man in full battle dress. A man and a woman stood close to Ursun on the rooftop near the center of the large city. They'd all disengaged their invisibility to tempt a direct attack from their remaining enemies.
"Are you good on mana?" Ursun asked Prism aloud.
Ursun was an imposing man with a short, scarlet-red goatee. He stood with his arms crossed across the opalescent-red chestplate of his sleek combat armor, the same type that the rest of his team wore.
"I'm good." Prism said to his commander with a quick, firm nod.
"My drones haven't had any luck finding any of the stragglers." Leanna said while tapping on the temple-side of her glowing smart visor. "It's up to you, Magical Boy." She added with a playful smile that made Prism lighten up a bit.
Leanna's pouty lips added to the allure of her small, angular face. A few strands of her green hair had fallen down from her helmet. She occasionally swept them out of her face with a graceful movement of her slender fingers.
"We came all the way out here just to stop a gang of religious fools. We're RED-1, for goodness sake." Lorias said coldly with an upturned chin while he looked in the direction of the Pargrad Council Building.
The blue-eyed Lorias could have been a male model, but he'd chosen to be a mercenary instead while he was still a teenager. Every strand of hair on his pale body was light-blonde, and his eyebrows were only visible because of their thickness. He gripped his high-tech variable sword in one hand while the other hand rested on his hip.
“RED-9 is busy dealing with the Destructors on the other side of the country, as you very well know.” Ursun said with a shake of his head. "Both the Ruskedans and the Conjunction paid us well for this job. Quit turning your nose up at it."
The brown irises of Prism's eyes became blue in color as they started to shimmer. He crouched down and swiveled his head from left to right, taking in his surroundings bit by bit.
"This Ceder cell's upgraded cybernetics are too much for the local authorities to handle. Our stealth enchants and Prism's shielding magic are about the only things that could've saved Colonel Chereff." Leanna gestured while she spoke to Lorias in an attempt to elucidate him.
Lorias stood quietly by while the others spoke. He resented what he saw as Leanna's know-it-all behavior. He'd been in the same briefings as her and his combat experience dwarfed her own. He'd been dealing with the Queen-worshipping Ceders since she was still in primary school. The homegrown, international terrorist group had been named for their desire to have their respective nations secede from the Conjunction and join the Queen's monarchist empire.
Lorias' hunter eyes stayed transfixed on the flag that flew above the council building. It wasn't the time to correct Leanna's behavior, he thought to himself.
"We can't let these zealots delay the Pargradan security plans any longer. They nearly blew up the council building in their last attempt, and this group is even bigger and more deadly than the last." Ursun said.
"I've found some of them." Prism said loudly. "They're tunneling through the sewers to get into council building. They killed all the guards that were stationed down there without us knowing..."
"Figures." Lorias said under his breath.
"Any idea where the others are?" Leanna asked politely as she recalled her own flying drones back over to her.
Prism stood up and looked towards the city's docks. He squinted his blue eyes as they glowed faintly, channeling more mana into his enhanced sight spell. Prism was soon seeing human mana signatures through even more buildings than he had before. He made out four fast-moving figures with cybernetic limbs far in the distance, on the outskirts of Pargrad's downtown area.
"The last four are trying to escape to the docks." Prism said without taking his eyes off of them.
"Can you get to the men underground in time?" Ursun asked his small alien teammate.
"I can. I'll merge with the stone ground and swim through it until I'm in the sewer." Prism said while making the shape of an arc with his right forefinger.
"Shouldn't we evacuate the council building, just in case?" Leanna asked.
"No, it’s the most secure place in the city. This could be a diversion to draw the colonel and her entourage out." Lorias turned to say to Leanna.
"I agree." Ursun nodded and said. "Go, Prism. The three of us will head off the Ceders that are trying to escape." Ursun said, pointing to Leanna and Lorias.
"Sir!" Prism shouted and gave a quick nod before leaping off the edge of the roof.
Ursun chuckled while he watched Prism jump into the street below as if diving into a pool of water. The stony bricks that composed the road rippled when Prism made contact with them like they were made of water. The alien disappeared beneath the surface before the road stilled and returned to its normal, solid state.
"I'll never get used to seeing things like that..." Leanna said with a shake of her head.
“We’re lucky he’s on our side.” Lorias said, his eyes looking down at the street.
"With me." Ursun ordered loudly.
He took off running a short distance and then leapt off the roof's edge. But instead of diving into the ground like Prism had, Ursun clicked his heels together. He soared through the air at high-speed for a few seconds until he landed smoothly on the roof of a taller neighboring building. Leanna and Lorias joined him there seconds later using the same maneuver as their leader. The cyborgs ran quickly but the magically-boosted mercenaries moved much faster.
"Dang, you guys are having all the fun now." Srell's voice echoed in the minds of the rest of RED-1 as he watched them zip overhead.
"Keep your eyes peeled down there. There could be more Ceders here than we thought." Ursun ordered Srell over their link.
"More than twenty? That'd probably make this the biggest Ceder cell anyone's ever seen." Leanna mused telepathically.
The ground shook beneath Srell's feet as a shockwave rocked Pargrad Square a few minutes later. The Ruskedan soldiers standing guard around the entrance to the council building gripped their rifles tightly while they looked around in fear. Srell's eyes checked to see if the building's exterior took any damage before he radioed Colonel Chereff's entourage to check on their status.
"We felt it too." The young female Conjunction soldier replied back to him. "But everything seems to be okay in here, for now."
"What happened down there, Prism!? Did you neutralize the Ceders in the sewers?" Ursun's voice bellowed in his team's heads while he and the others continued towards the docks.
The others grew worried when Prism didn't respond for a full minute. They knew that the alien was still alive, as their telepathic connection continued to work. If he died, then all of the magic that they used would cease to function.
"Shit..." Srell said aloud.
"If we can't confirm that he neutralized those targets..." Leanna communicated through the link.
"Lorias, head back to the square. Srell, get to the colonel and have her head to the top floor of the building. It'll be easier to defend her and the government officials there if the Ceders breach the basement." Ursun ordered telepathically.
"That won't be necessary."
Prism's weary face appeared in the minds of his teammates, along with the blasted bodies of the four Ceder terrorists that he'd been tasked with stopping. Small orange flames along the ground illuminated the area around Prism. It was as though he had a camera trained on him while he stood in the cindering section of the brick-laden sewer. Embers could be seen floating in the air behind him where the bodies lay.
"Sorry about the explosion. These guys are outfitted with kingdom-tech. I wanted to be sure that I could kill all of them at once without any issues. The fire spell made me black out for a second, so I couldn't talk for a little while." Prism said into the field of expanded perception that he relayed to the minds of the other mercenaries.
"You had us worried for a minute." Srell shared along with a feeling of relief.
"Prism, once you're good to go, meet up with Colonel Chereff. Make sure that there aren't any sleeper agents in the council building with her." Ursun ordered just as he, Leanna, and Lorias landed on the road leading into the city docks.
"Right away, sir." Prism replied through the link.
Prism’s irises glowed white before he dove into the wall of the sewer as though it were water. While Prism swam up to the basement floor of the council building, Ursun dashed towards the Ceders that had made it to the concrete docks. Dockworkers ran from the scene as the Ceders leapt away from Ursun and fired on their pursuers.
Leanna and Ursun ran to cover behind the base of a large robotic crane before they started firing back at the cyborgs. Three of the Ceders held their ground behind the massive support pillars of another, larger container crane. One of the terrorists kept on running towards a pair of armored hovercraft at the end of the dock.
Lorias dashed around the robotic crane until he saw a safe path to his enemies. He became invisible to all but his teammates after swiping his ear clasp with his right thumb. He jumped onto a large shipping container and drew his variable sword. With a flick of his wrist, Lorias twisted the sword’s grip in a single fluid motion. The blade of the sword began to glow until it was as red as a hot poker.
"Distract them for me." Lorias spoke into the minds of Leanna and Ursun. "I've got to stop that asshole from escaping, and I don't want to get caught in any crossfire."
"Leanna, are your drones nearby?" Ursun asked her telepathically.
"They are." She replied, pointing at two black specks high in the light-blue sky.
"Have them swoop down in an angle at the Ceders. That should draw their firepower away from us for long enough."
Leanna nodded to Ursun before sending the command to her spherical bug-drones using the dronepack she wore. The flying drones dove down towards the dock and quickly caught the eye of the three Ceders that were firing on Leanna and Ursun. When two of the terrorists took aim at the drones, Lorias jumped up and fired himself at them with his magicked boots. He twirled with the cauterizing sword in his hands, slicing his enemies' hardened cybernetic limbs like a hot knife to butter.
Lorias landed beside the third Ceder, a lanky man who nearly fainted after seeing the bodies of his two allies suddenly fall apart in neat sections. The Ceder shivered and screamed while his eyes looked around wildly for the cause of his friends' dismemberment. Lorias, still invisible, shook his head at the man before lopping off the cyborg’s arms and legs in two clean slashes.
"We've got a prisoner, now. I'm going after the last one." Lorias communicated through his team's psychic link.
Within the next ten minutes, Lorias cornered the last Ceder atop the hovercraft while Prism safely escorted Colonel Chereff and her entourage to the top floor of the council building. Ten minutes after that, peace was restored within Pargrad by the Ruskedan military, and the Conjunction security meeting began without any further interruptions.
