SoH:Test Chapter- When the soldier cries

[CKW]

50 years. Of War. The man mentally reviewed the crucial moments of these dreaded years. The fall of the USA empire, now only a wasteland... The rise of the Third World Countries, a dreaded backstab at the global order, enough to wreak havoc and make mankind lose and suffer for the following half a century. The merciless siege of Europe, whose inhabitants defended until almost their last breath. The grudge hold over China, wich couldn't avoid the attack that reduced their power.

Yes, they had been dreadful years. So many difficult decissions to take. So many painful defeats to assume. Yet, he had to turn page again, and move. Others had to do in the past, and he wasn't going to be the exception.

Chief Marcus Lumina breathed over the glass of the shelf, and rubbed it, to clean the dirt that could hinder the sight of his well-earned and not-so-well earned trophys. Meticulously, he spent little time in praising himself mentally. A soldier wasn't supposed to be arrogant. He sat on his desk, behind the flag of the Special Actions and Tactics Commandos, the SATCom, and with no particular grace or care,swayed his hands across the VR desktop control, closed all archives, and logged off. He looked at his wrist clock. Colonel Santos hadn't arrived yet. Chief Marcus wasn't specially fond on having to wait and such petty incompetence was bending his patience. He snarled, and leant back in the syntleather desk coach.

The door opened.

"You're late, Colonel." Marcus lifted an eyebrown over his sunglasses.

What a weirdo. With the beret and the sunglasses despite there was no need of such garment. Thought Colonel Alice Santos. These creeps behind a desk were specially nasty, pulling the strings in the shadows. She had heard no good things from Chief Lumina. Some bad tongues rumoured he was even more powerful than the Caesar, when pulling the strings. That guy was giving her shivers.

"What's the meaning of this, Lumina? Why the chief of the secret service of the atlantic coallition wants to see a regular like me?"

"I'm afraid such questions exceeds by far your authorization, Colonel." Lumina smiled. He liked to play cat and mouse with the regulars... so unaware of the power strings behind the shadows. One thing the Shadow Master, as he had been adressed by his sister, the Caesar, had plenty
of.

"Really? For being a man, you're quite fast-thinker, Marcus." She smiled. It was really unusual that a man occupied such position of Power. Normally in the armies, men were the meat grinder. But the Chief... was another matter.

"I'll take that as a praise." He just said. No smile. Not hint of emotion at all."However, there's no time for flattery now. I've summoned you regarding some loose ties."

"Loose ties? Oh, I see. Cleaning up the evidence, eh?" She winked, amazed at the idea of SATCom commiting a failure.

"More or less. But It's not our dirt. The former goverments of the coallition did...something wich was not the wisest thing to do. Before I continue, I have to ask your absolute silence about this matter. This is quite a high level classified information."

"But you did say i hadn't enough clearance." Lumina leant forward, his eyeglasses dropping slightly, showing his sky blue eyes.

"Prove me useful, and you'll have enough clearance, Colonel. Plus you'll earn my respect. And people I respect are among the most powerful people. I have heard you were denied a promotion three times."

"How!?" She stepped back a little. She had never been too fond on the close distance, maybe because most soldiers did it to get a better glimpse of her too well-proportioned body."How do you know?"

"I just know".replied Chief Lumina. "And believe me, I can help into that." He eyed upon a group holopicture to his left, depicting his appearance beneath the ones who were in the pinacles of power.

Alice stared at the Shadow Master on his desk. Not good. Not any good. This guy possibly had access to all of her information, and all about her past. Maybe he could bring up THAT. Darn. She clenched her fingers. It was true that she desired the sweet power, but... doing a deal with
a guy like him...
"Are you offering me a bribe? But that's against the law!"

Law. The mere sound of it made Marcus laugh. A laughter filled with what appeared to be a chilling coldness and calculating spirit. "Against the law!?. Dear Alice,I AM the Law. I see you are not quite sure of what path to take.
Very well. I'll raise my offer. Do my job, and No one would know about Blimp Alice the Exotic dancer. Never again."

DARN IT! He knew that. Alice bit her nail. If the troops knew that, it would have been a complete mockery. Most officers would see her as a person who promoted the old ideals. "Very Well...boss... What do I have to do?" She almost snarled when pronounciating these words.

"Oh, not very much." The Shadow Master smiled with pleasure. "I've heard the living legend Cain is under your orders right now..."

(Soo... we're set. This post is not yet finished, but expect updates soon.)

[CKW]

(Note: For simplicity, everyone in the RPG will speak in English. In this part of the world, people
speaks Neo Latin as well, but that is for legal and official issues mainly.)
(GM note: We're starting without VO. Application for this chapter is now closed unless you convince me to make an exception).

"This one is on the house." The glass was filled again with the brewed liquid, as Cain sighed. Terribly exhausted in both inside and outside, he couldn't think of anything but drop dead on the bar stool. It was about time North Romans had to lose the positions against the Reapers. In this case, Ireland had been all lost, and the troops ordered to retreat. He had been there, covering the backs of soldiers whose only desire was the same as Cain's: find a suitable place to pass out.

"Today's a sad day, indeed." The barmaid leaned in the bar stool, next to Cain's. She had been the person in charge of "VESTIBVLA" bar for quite enough time to understand that it was the preffered hiding place for Cain when his mood was rock bottom. She brushed the red curly hair out of her face, revealing the eyepatch and the facial scar underneath. A gift from the front lines in wich she fought in the past.

"Whatever." Cain made a fairly lazy response, a clear symptom of both his bad mood and exhaustion. He knew Natasha was trying to cheer him up. But her good intentions were annoying him even more, he hated to be treated like a kid, a thing the redhead did constantly with their customers, mainly soldiers. Slightly older than him, Natasha, or Natt, liked to cheer up customers, for she had been a soldier and knew the importance of morale.

The War Hero neatly put his glasses off,resting next to his beverage, and pressed his nose in a stressed gesture, blinking at the same time. His green eyes locked with the spare blue one of Natt. "We had to retreat once again, but you may know it already... you seem to have ears all around the city. Furthermore, i think i have earned an enemy within our side..."

Not to speak about the lethal illness wich is mining my health, but no one has to know that yet. He kept to himself.

The fair-but-one-eyed woman fumed. "You know, i don't think it's wise to have enemies in BOTH sides of the battlefield.You'll end up dead, and that'll be a shame, since no one will help me of getting rid of this brewed rat poison" She tried to pat Cain's shoulder, but Cain avoided it by slapping the
barmaid's hand. She sighed, and looked around. Cain chose well his hiding places. VESTIBVLA wasn't a top famous place, and apart from the android cook, there was no one else in the bar but the moody soldier and her. All the fake wood chairs and tables were empty, wich gave the impression that the tiny local was huge, and outside,the street was quieter than usual. Not liking this atmosphere, the barmaid turned on the Holo TV.

***

A bad day. A bad day at all. First, the last struggle with those spawns of hell that pummeled the North-Roman soldiers. Then the order to retreat. Not that it was illogical, it could have saved lives by that way. But Sven hated the officers decissions regardless being correct or not. How could those pimpy women, and some men, who hadn't smelt the stench of the battlefield, dare to impose what was good to him and his platoon!? Yet, the thing hadn't remained just in there. No sire. Things weren't great, but that idiot of Neo-Praetorian had to blow it.

Sven gripped in his fist the ID plate, covered partially in gore. The first men down in his platoon for a long time. It was true that "Pepper" Vlad had been incapacitated since he sustained an ugly wound in the chest, and the medical android- wich was now next to him- couldn't identify the injury pretty well... But for god's sake! That Cain had fired off his laser goon on the face of the poor Vlad! He was nuts! There was no "justified mercy kill" or the crap the captain had spoken of! Critters that are seeded on people and grew there, bursting their chests to set free on a killing spree? Too freaky to be a real Reaper weapon...

Still, with the solo fight he had put soon after this injust act of violence, that son of a b*tch had pulled the creeps off long enough for his remaining troops to survive... And he had got out of the hell aswell. Perhaps that was the reason to be called a "hero", but in Sven's eyes, he was as just as good as a traitor.

He clenched his fist, to whitening point, whie with the other hand combed his moustache, almost peeling it off from the nose.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The medical android. Like all other men, she had been all time with Sven's remaining men, and she had been pretty silent. She couldn't believe that man had killed one of his fellow mates just because an infected nasty-looking wound. But she knew where he was hiding after such mess. Nearby. Cain was believed to be one of the most popular, yet most difficult soldiers to trace, but that Rob Bolt, a humble cook android had slipped it out in a data exchange he had with hers, some sort of a chit chatter to spend the idle hours of androids.

"...I believe he's hiding in a local bar called VESTIBVLA" She reproduced the information without difficult.

At the mere mention of the word "hiding", Sven's face turned into an angry mess, ready to leave and give the punk a lesson for wasting the poor Vlad... oh yes. Daze estimated that it was wise to follow Sven, as there would be possible wounds, sustained by the barfight that was incoming...

***

"Major Alphonso. It's always a pleasure." Alice finished with this salute, the militar paraphernalia that those nut-jobs liked. And by the looks of Alphonso, he pretty much enjoyed being in charge. He just adjusted his beret, taking special pride on show the height difference with the well-curved but not specially tall Colonel Santos. Yes, the Chief had briefed about his arrogance. An arrogant old carcass of a man, that needs to be dispatched. A pain in the arse. He's been sticking his nose of black ops in the business of the secret service. She mentally took special dlelight on some of these words, that had come directly from the lips of her powerful new boss, the Shadow Master.

Alphonso spoke shortly after. With a hint of annoyance and distaste of the voice. "Speak quickly. I have other business to take care of." He couldn't avoid eyeing upon the slip up of a fellow Black Ops electronics expert who had fried a computer, spreading a sickening smell of burnt rubber. That made the Nano-enhaced raise an eyebrown, almost mechanically with apparent calm. But in the fact, his face wouldn't allow him to display his building rage.
"Why do Elite Neo-Praetorians disturb me in this day?" He crosses his arms in his chest, embracing the many badges he had.

"To be sincere it is not a matter of us, it is from SATCom... Chief Lumina wants to see you, He needs to give you a mission only a person of your quality and experience can take." At first, the Major stood idle, again because he couldn't show distaste in his face, then, after processing the information, a mixture of self-pride and mockery laced his voice.
"Heh, so the Caesar's brother wants me to do something his lackeys can't do? It does sound interesting indeed."

Just as the Chief said. Use his pride against him. Alice gently smiled, and joined the Major shortly after, to escort this new "ally" to the meeting.

[Master Chris]

Alphonso had let the woman feed his ego, he knew that they would try to take advantage of his ego to lure him into this endeavour. He let the alluring Colonel work her magic nonetheless and allowed himself the pleasure of basking in her praise, if only for a moment. It was all a facade, he knew it and so did she but they had both played along. In the end, he was going to show them all how capable he was, that even in the face of their best efforts he would prevail and demonstrate, once and for all, that his flock, the nano-enchanced humans, were truly superior.

She led him to the briefing, neither spoke as they made their way to the secure room where he would find out what challenges lay in store for the self proclaimed father of all 'nanos'.

Bring it on, I shall succeed, no matter the cost.

[Wesforce]

Having quickly changed from his gore-soaked fatigues into civilian gear - Factory overalls and flat-cap - Sven hurried off-base, whereupon he discovered he had a tail.

'You!' He grimaced upon spying Daze, the android from his platoon. 'I mean... Dn;t you have duties to attend to, android?'

'Um... We were all given a few day's R&R sir, what with the retreat and all...'

Dammit, don't remind me!

Sven let his shoulders sag with a sigh.

'Don't call me 'sir' Daze, I'm not an officer. I work for a living.'

'Yes si... Sarge! Yes Sarge!' Said Daze hastily saluting. she really didn't need to do that, but Sven was in a hurry.

'Look, just don't get into any trouble. And don't follow me, got it?'

'Um, okay.'

***

Later, outside the VESTIBVLA, and Nat had finished sluicing down the small alley outside with the dirty washwater she'd been scrubbing the floor with. It was way past closing time, but only now was Cain leaving the bar. As a valued customer, Nat allowed him that.

And here he came, hunched over as if in pain, taking rather small steps, eyes downcast.

'Took the bastich long enough.' Hissed a rough voice from the shadows, shushed by a compatriot.

'Shut UP!' Hissed the voice's female colleague. 'That fat guy gave us enough food tokens to keep us eating for a month, and we can grab whatever we need off this bastich. Get ready-'

Shadows flickered, and still Cain trudged on, head down, stinking of alcohol.

'Okay military-boy, your tokens or your life!' Said the man stepping from behind a building. Stocky, chrome-domed and carrying a hefty Iron bar.

'Or your life first, then we'll take your tokens.' Said the female, Olive-skinned, with straight black hair tied in bunches and hanging down over her face so that only the cherry-red lips were visible. But she had a gun - Military service issue hand laser, aimed at Cain's back. She aimed lower so the targeting dot was on his arse...

[CKW]

Darn it. I shouldn't have drank booze tonight. What a moment for an ambush. If i was in perfect condition these street scum wouldn't stand a chance... Hell, Sven's really gonna pay for setting this up. He must be the one behind.Cain clenched his fists. Sure, if he was in perfect condition he could afford to use his psychic powers to clog up the arm from the woman. But time was closing to zero, and thanks to the alcohol in the bloodstream, his reflexes and concentration were almost null. If he didn't hurry up - as the criminals were closing with mean intentions- he was going to die in the dirt water that Natt had just tossed minutes before...

Wait... i got it!

"The hell!?" shouted the woman as her face was splashed by muddy, litter filled water, temporalily making her lost her target. Sufficient time for Cain to start running away, while the woman shot in every direction, scattering laser bursts throughout the street, wich exploded in sparks upon hitting. Even the iron bar guy was caught off guard, eventually turning his sight on his fellow partner. Allowing the target to flee.

Cain smiled. Although not quick and precise enough to immobilise an arm from a person, his telekinetic ability had allowed him to splash the water almost unnoticed, thus distracting both thugs. A burning pain was felt in his left arm. He had not been lucky. Apparently one of the laser bursts had reached him. It was a scratch, but it hurted nevertheless.

"HA! He's running into a dead end! Let's chase him!"

The olive-skinned thief shouted, while running before her compatriot, the crowbar guy. Sure it was a dead end... but with no street lights at all. They did realize that too late. Like Cain had planned, both assaulters had chased him to a dark dead end. Where he had advantage upon his would-be murderers, given he knew how to move in the shadows. Oh yes... he was going to enjoy this one. Those jack-asses would never knew what had hit them...

First victim was the hefty-looking man. He did make a lot of struggle when Cain's hands dragged him in the darkness, and put him into sleep by partially choking him. Instead of alerting the woman where Cain's position was, the faint sounds of struggle, then the dissapearance of her buddy made her nervous, her pistol aiming everywhere in the shadows, switching every few seconds from an angle to another. Until she felt the segmented knife on her throat.

"Do not move, and drop that gun." The ghostly, black dressed figure of Cain appeared from behind the woman.

"How!?" She hissed.

"I make the questions here, girl!" The knife was pressed against her neck, a faint red string began to flow. "Got it?" She didn't bother to move. Literally frozen to the spot.

"You were hired by Sven, didn't you? A fat, middle-aged man with a moustache..."He grabbed her olive hair with his free hand, and pulled it fiercely. "...no?"

The quivering lips from the woman gave no response at first. A tightening on the grip made the woman talk.

"It was this fat guy, he was very pissed. Middle aged man, he bribed us to set you a trap. He looke like a field trooper or something. He never gave us the name..." The woman continued talking, giving a more or less accurate description of Sergeant Major Sven, and how he bribed the two to teach Cain a lesson. That was enough proof, he relaxed his grip a bit.

"Just as I thought. Now, get lost! If i ever see you again..." The woman could feel that the knife was no longer in her neck. The target was withdrawing... Her perfect chance! Picking up her weapon, she spinned as fast as she could, just to find her captor was no longer there.

"I'll kill you..." A voice whispered from her back. Really close. She turned again, to find just darkness. He had left.

***

"Dear Alphonso. I'm glad we finally meet." Chief Lumina greeted from his chair, somewhere in a swift-made HQ of some sorts. Wires littered the floor everywhere, most of them leading to the VR desktop of the Chief. Ocassionaly, SATCom officers entered the tent where they were, and whispered something into the ear of the chief. The middle aged, tall and skinny man sometimes whispered back, not bothering to change his expression in his almost stone face.

"You must forgive me for this somewhat precarious meeting... but i'm afraid i'm a busy man... No rest for the ones who work in the shadows."

"But it seems that you can afford go in a trip to Australian beachs..." The Major sneered, standing still, proud of himself.

"Nice one, Alphonso. You prove you are the best of the best. And as such, i'll ask you to do a task from me. Of course, there will be a reward. Like upgrades on your enhacements. The government never pulled it out, but there was a project to recycle the beta-nano-enhaced individuals. They would be given the last versions of nano-enhacements. But i can pull a few strings so the project will be open for you... What do you say?"

He wants to be the boss. Funny. I will use that. The chief cynically smiled, waiting for the reply of the Major.

***

Cain's knuckles hit hard the barracks door. He knew this might be entering and asking for trouble, but he cared little about it. He just wanted to solve the Sven issue so he could finally rest after this long battle.

The door slid open, revealing a young woman with some medical signs on her. Sven's medical android. She inmediatly reacted upon the sight of the makeshift bandage cain had put in his arm, and her sight was distracted from Cain's face towards the bandage. Yet, Cain had little time for medical treatment.

"Where's the sergeant!?" Cain asked, almost shouting.

[Wesforce]

Sergeant Major Sven-Goran Klangerham strolled angrily around the streets. Destitute people, unwanted or unfit for the military hung around looking tired and hungry and cold. Sven had little time for them, and balled his hands into fists when they approached. He walked quicker, now going through the red light district.

A large gaudy sign advertised 'Real Fertile Men - In here!' in flashing neon, a desperate attempt to lure women desperate for children. Further along prostitutes appraoched him. Sven was by no means an attractive man, but these women were happy to see a man - any man - who came there way.

Sven pointedly turned his head and didn't give the emaciated women with their threadbare lingerie another look.

***

'Uh, Sarge,' Said Corporal Petrov Jenkins as Sven Re-entered the barracks. 'That Cain guy's been looking for you. Really quite angry Sarge.'

Sven frowned. I knew it. Those two morons fuxxed it all up and didn't even have the decency to die without blabbing. And for some reason, even though they didn't know who I am or why I paid them for this, Cain's been led right to me. But if he thinks he can change anything, he's got another thing coming.

'Listen up chaps, all of you!' Sven barked. 'We've got thirty minutes ready time. Let's look sharp. There's a chance we might have a surprise inspection on our hands and I'll be damned if we lose any brownie points. Got it?'

'Yes Sarge!' The platoon chorused as one and they all sprang to their feet, getting their beds and personal gear to tip-top condition. But someone was missing.

'Petrov' Sven collared the soldier. 'Where's that Android... female?'

'Out by the heads Sarge. With that Cain guy. I tried to tell you he was-'

'All right, enough Corporal. I'll be with you in a minute.'

Sven marched through the barrack block, the men turning to see him as he went, most with admiring eyes. Cain may be seen as a hero to many: Definitely not in this platoon, one of whose men he’d murdered.

and until he’s down on his knees begging for forgiveness, that’s all he will get from these men. This I swear.

Sven threw open the door, and was Dazey, apparently not leaving Cain, who was wounded, withiout giving him medical attention.

Sven stood smartly to attention as Dazey administered a large dose of tranquiliser to the famous Officer...

Dazey, I could kill you He thought.

Then...

Probably not.

[Artificial Idiot]

"What the John Bull do you think YOU'RE DOING!" Roared Sven as the superior officer fell into a comotose state.

"Administering a vital public service..." The android went to explain.

"SHHHHUUUUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUUPPPP!!!!" Sven screamed at the top of his voice, Dazey could only assume his adams apple was bobbing by the vibration of his double chin. "First you even ANSWER THE DOOR to the little fuxer, then you LET HIM IN and now you think it's a jolly damn well good idea to WASTE OUR SUPPLIES ON HIM?!?!"

"But Sargeant, every man, even a scumbag war hero who's possibly out to kill you, has the right to medical attention!"

"He killed one of my boys." Growled Sven, but then saw the way Cain hadn't moved through out. And then sighed "How much this time?"

"Well, when administered to one of the younger recruits a few months ago, about three weeks, Sargeant! However, taking into account the differ..."

"The point, please."

"My rough estimate is that this doseage should last three or four hours, Sargeant." She smiled brightly at her commanding officer, but he didn't seem anymore pleased about it.

"Drop down and give me fifty. Futher orders will be sent soon, if he wakes up alert Corporal Jenkins. And don't you dare treat him!" Said Sven as he turned and left, muttering something about 'more trouble than it's worth'.

Dazey grudgingly got down on her hands and knees and started to carry out her orders. She was still unclear about what was so bad in trying to help a fellow being, even if he had done you wrong in the past. But she had also made the Sargeant very angry... again. While she adored him, they all did, he hadn't seemed to click with her at all. Perhaps he'd even order a replacement...

With that simple thought sending a discharge down her mechanical spine, she doubled her pace.

[CKW]

Suddenly, Dazey felt something was not alright. The previously limp arm of Cain was grappling her hand, in a swift attempt to catch her attention. He hadn't too much time left. He was struggling to keep himself conscius, as the numbing painkiller was paralyzing both his body and mind. His temples beated with pain. He may have won this assault, by not falling unconscius as it looked, so the previous moves were left as a well placed façade. The dose was strong, but he was able to perform a final move...


"Strong stuff, girl...Shhh... No, don't alert anyone" He whispered, as the android turned her sight on his groggy expression. Maybe she just didn't understand why he had been awake for so long...
Trembling, and slowly, Cain slid a hand into one pocked, and pulled a small device. An optic disk, labeled with the word "Sven". The disk almost fell from his hand, but Cain was able to lay it over his chest.

"There...disk with the truth... why i killed that man... give it to sven... Clearance word code is "Gore"..." His words were slow, and his speech was beginning to fail... "...Apologies..."

And with that, he passed out, leaving the disk in the hands of the android. Hopefully she'd manage to know what to do with it...

(GM: The disk contains the truth about the Chest Burster weapon. A parasite organism that is injected in someone's innards, crippling him. After an agonic time, the parasite bursts the chest of the victim, and quickly goes on a killing spree on anything nearby that moves and breathes, dying soon after. This kind of weapon can cripple entire platoons. )

[Artificial Idiot]

Dazey examined the disc in her hands for a few catious seconds, and then thought about her current postion. On the one hand, she still had 25 of her 50 left over. On the other, she'd been ordered to tell the Corporal if the man woke. And yet, on a hand yet to be installed, a high ranking officer had just given the order to deliver a package to the Sargeant.

She pondered her situation for a few moments. Cain had never mentioned the delivery being urgent, and of the two commands given by the Sargeant, the subtle tones in his voice suggested the former would give him much more pleasure. So she dropped down and gave another 25, before springing to her feet, rushing out into the barracks before saluting in front of Corporal Petrov.

"Delivery for the Sargeant, SIR!" She said, sharply. Trying to imitate the men, a few of them snickered... she never could get this right.

"At ease." He said, Dazey out the saluting hand back at her side, but still remained quite rigid. "What we got here then?"

"Disc from cain, Sir. He says it contains the truth, Sir. Acess code is gore, Sir." If androids got breathless, Dazey would be panting by now.

"Deliver it to him personally, I'll stand watch over Cain."

"Yes sir... If he wakes up, tell him to keep pressure off the arm for..." She cut herself off under Petrov's gaze. The Sargeant had ordered her not to treat him... advice could be counted as treatment.

She walked through the barracks, steely eyes following her along the room. She normally got on well with the men... a few of them bore long term grudges about tiny things like three months out of action due to overdose in myserious circumstances... but they generally forgave her in the end.

However, letting Cain into the Barracks may have been a minor miscalculation. She liked Pepper, she really did. But there was probably a perfectly good explanation for all this... she could only hope she was holding it in her hands.

She walked up to the door of the Sargeant's tiny private room, knocking briskly on the door.

"Sargeant?" She whispered lightly, evoking mocking imitations from the battalion, which was a nice change from the finger being drawn over the throat sign they were using before.

[Wesforce]

'Sergeant MAJOR, you stupid bloody andy. Whats the problem?'

She proffered the disc. Again, if androids got nervous, she'd be shaking like a leaf.

Sven snatched the disc and whipped it over to his table, eyeing the cursed thing with a frown.

'You put it in your computer, Sergeant Major.'

'I KNOW, dammit. Blasted thing's asking me for a password.'

'Try "gore", si... sarge.'

'Humph. Is that his idea of a joke or something. Humph.'

Sven typed the keys with unnecessary force, almost punchuing the keys though his keyboard to the desk underneath. Data filled his screen.

'Okay, you may go Dazey.'

'Yes SAH!' she saluted, and made her escape. She went out and closed the door. Before realising she hadn;t been told where to go...

***

Sven read. He looked around the room. Then he read again, and again.

What will those DEVILISH CREATURES come up with next? Sven fumed.

Obviously this was Cain trying to explain murdering one of Sven's men. But why had he not told Sven, or explained to anyone? Why had he not taken Pepper back to the med-labs? At least if he'd died there, it wouldn't have been in vain.

No... Cain was a fuxx-up, pure and simple. And though Sven would never do anything to drop his mask of a loyal and obediant soldier, he would one day find a way of taking Cain down... But not now. If he failed to repent fully, Cain would feel justice. When the time was right. Wen he could get away with it. When he would find a way of absolving himself from implication.

But until then, Sven had work to do.

[CKW]

With an incomplete order , and her tasks accomplished, Dazey exercised yet another intelligent autotask assigment, exercise her own will. She looked in every direction, scanned the area, and stimated that some soldiers still need painkillers. She was about to start with the work when someone else knocked in the barracks door. Corporal Jenkins approached the door, mumbling something about not being a good moment for visits, and suggesting people to move the limp body of the War Hero. Definitely, Cain's unconscius body would attract undesired attention. The fast cybernetic brain of the android processed this information fastly: Cain had to be dragged away and concealed.

***

"Yeah, whatever... We are doing this YOUR way, smart ass." Roxie fumed. She didn't like this Radeon android at all. Too silent. And just why the hell he concealed the lower part of his face? It was creepy, specially with that metal
circlet that concealed his left eye. She knocked again in the barrack's door, and lit another cigar, wich loosely grappled with her lips, leaving traces of black lipstick.

And then the door opened.

"Now what?" The tired-looking male soldier eyed upon the newcomers. A tall, black haired android, with a creepy look. Most of his body was concealed in a dirty gray dust cloak, revealing in some places the blue patterns of the Praetorians, and it's badges wich identified him as a Liutenant. Next to him was an average woman, not very voluptuous, who kept her brown hair loosely pressed down by a cap, partially hiding her blue eyes. Her garments were of a Neo Praetorian, also, with a higher rank: Captain. The girl blowed a puff of smoke from her doll-like nose, and putted her cigar out of her lips. Like some sort of spoiled sister of a graceful damsel.

"I'm sorry Captain" The Corporal jolted upon sighting the distaste look, and performed a militar salute.

"At ease" The woman cutted. Her tone was dry and stained in disdain. She sighed."Now Corporal..." She took a closer look at the uniform."...Jenkins, do you happen to have seen Captain Cain here?"

Jenkins quicly shook his head. "Er, we haven't had the pleasure of his umm, visit". He quickly put a lie and his body to conceal the fact that Cain was being dragged to a closet on his back.

"Oh, well, thank you, corporal" She sighed. Once again. There was no signs of Cain. He had left for his usual drinking place soon after the mission had been finished and the regulars had been picked up, but where he went after that, it had been a mystery. Even his tracer was offline. This hadn't been the first time he pulled such a show, and this wasn't the first time they were sent to find him. In fact, it was typical of him and his depressive mood.

"By the way, I'm Captain Roxanne Hikes,Praetorian Pilot, and this is Liutenant Tsu Wong, Communications and Manteinance." She quickly turned up,as the android nodded, given that she had forgotten to identify herself first. She stretched her arm, ready to fill up all formalities and leave, when she noticed something else. Wong AKA Radeon was tapping on her shoulder,(and by the looks, he had been like that for a long time) while trying to peek what was behind the soldier's back.

"AND NOW WHAT, BOX OF SCRAP!" She fumed. She never liked his attitude. Most of the time boring, and when you thought he couldn't be worse, there were his oportune and annoying witty comments. After all, going to the barracks had been his idea, and he had been surprisingly sure about this. He argued that given Cain's mood and the whole issue with the Sergeant Sven, chances were Cain would go to talk with him and justify himself, just because he couldn't stand it.

The android pointed behind Jenkins, and his slow and deep voice pronunciated a single word that froze the whole conversation. Like he did many times. He didn't speak much. But when Radeon opened his mouth, you could expect the unexpected.

"Cain..."

The word dropped as a twelve ton truck in quicksand.

"WHAT!?" Roxie's cigar dropped off to the ground in disbelief, while she pushed the Corporal to one side to check out what the android said. She caught a glimpse of one hefty soldier and an android wich turned their sights on her, showing an expression of surprise.

The tough girl grumbled and stepped back.

"Why didn't you tell this sooner?"

The android just shook his head.

"...you were talking... with someone else..."

***

Sven almost fell off from the chair. The door had slammed open very fast, revealing an agitated Jenkins.

"S...Sarge!!!"

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" The heavy man yelled, grumbling and trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and where the fire was...

"Officers, Sarge. Blue-boys. They found their comrade Cain lying on overdose, and caught the whole cake!" Jenkins let this out, wheezing and fast, but Sven had got it perfectly, judging on the way he cursed and pushed Jenkins to sort out the mess...

***

"What a mess..." Roxie shook her head. Obviously, this was a whole bag of bull****... Cain was sent on overdose, probably because he was misunderstood, probably because it was a revenge from that Sven guy, or hell knows, maybe the android was defective. That female, young looking android that the blasted bolt-headed of Radeon couldn't help to keep his non-covered eye on her. In fact, she didn't care about this anyway. She just wanted to solve this quickly, or her patience would end.

And judging by the looks, the officer in charge would want it too. That heavy, moustached man flew towards the center of the mess.

"Sergeant Major Sven-Goran Klangerham?"

He just nodded and saluted.

"Captain Roxanne Hikes. Care to explain why the feck is Captain Cain lying on the middle of your barracks unconscius?" She stood upright, her lips firmly pressed, eyes locked on the sergeant, tapping one foot, and arms neatly crossed behind her chest.

[Artificial Idiot]

As the Sargeant Major would say, "fuxx it all". Dazey approached him meekly, this was all her fault, and he knew it just as well as she did. How could she have been so dyabolically stupid... still, she had to help.

"Sargeant Major...?" She said, her voice squeezing into the tension between the two officers. "I have some stimulants that, maybe, perhaps wo..."

"I think you've done quite enough for today." The Sargeant Major said, bluntly. Cutting her off completely. She could see him shaking, teeth clamped into his bottom lift... probably all the stress and strain of this fiasco. No doubt some horrible punishement was awaiting her when all this had blown over... and rightfully so! Good heavens, what had she done? "Why don't you... make yourself... useful and recount the details of the incident to the Liutenant?"

"Sir!" Dazey snapped, letting off a smart salute before instinctivly marching off to the medical wing. The Liutenant followed soon after.

"Dasiy Chaine, Battalion Medic." She introduced herself to the Liutenant, before going on to explain exactly what happened. "Soon after Captain Cain arrived here, I discovered that the officer in question had a cut on his arm. While it was nowhere near life-threatening, I decided it was my duty to give the man medical attention reguardless. So I escourted him to this room..."

And here was where the lying started. She couldn't admit she was defective, what on Earth would they thing of the Sargeant Major for not reporting it? They might even send her elsewhere after her repairs! The thought was too dreadful to dwell on, and the other android seemed rather distracted anyway.

"Unfortunatly, due to a mathmatical error, I regretably gave the Captain an overdose of anestetic... it was an unfortunate mistake, but one he will recover from in a matter of hours."

The perculier looking android didn't react for awhile. Maybe she'd got away with it... maybe he'd be happy with that... oh, surely the Sargeant Major would be so pleased with her!

"Why was Comrade Cain on the floor when we entered?"

"Ah..." She said, still that was rather easy to explain. "I felt that I should move him to a more comfortable position."

"All on your own?" The android inquired, perhaps with cold percision. But Dazey couldn't help noticing that his mind was not fully on the job... it was best no to speculate what was on his mind though, it could be awfully personal.

"Oh... well... you see..."

Fuxx. Fuxx it all. She'd really gone and done it this time...

[Wesforce]

'If I may have a word in private, Ma'am?' Sven interrupted, senseing that Dazey was on the edge here.

'I think the whole matter can be sorted out here in front of the common soldiery, don't you sergeant-major?' The woman smirked, smugly.

'Very well' Said Sven, and he held up the Disc. 'Cain was apparently holding this disc on him, and has reportedly just come in from the outside world. Its my belief that he had this disc on him when he was out there, and that this Disc holds Top Secret information due to the yellow and black banding. I will not speculate as to why Cain had this disc on the outside, Ma'am, or why he brought it into my quarters without my knowledge or permission...'

Everyone in the room turned, shocked.

The Captain was furious.

'Is what he says true android?' She asked Dazey.

Truthfully, Dazey began

'Yes, he did bring that disc into these quarters, but I cannot speculate as to what is on it but from the black and yellow banding.'

That was enough to derail the proceedings. The Captain had to know the men would talk. Word would spread like wildfire on a base like this, and Cain's reputation would be sullied... Unless they controlled it somehow.

'Take him away.' The Captain growled, indicating Cain to her android subaltern. 'Klangerham, I'll deal with you later.'

They left in a hurry. When they were gone...

'Sarge... is that true? Is Captain Cain a spy?' Asked Jenkins.

'Its not for us to think about soldier. Put the incident out of your mind.'

'Right sarge' Said Jenkins, but Sven knew he wouldn't.

Sven knew Cain would get off scot free. That brown-noser had his tongue planted in strategic positions amng the Officer classes, henceforth he always seemed to be able to get away with anything. Even murder.

His fists became balls of rage. His face turned red, he shook.

He espied Dazey trying to slink off.

'Dazey...' He said.

'Uh, yes sarge?'

'Good work' He said, after a pause.

[Master Chris]

Chief Lumina had been waiting for an answer for a solid few seconds. Alphonso was going to accept, they both knew it, but Alphonso felt it was necessary to plant a seed of doubt into Lumina's mind before answering, the smug bastard had it coming. Just as Lumina started to stir anxiously, Alphonso, with a blank face, nodded and spoke:

"Of course, in the service of humanity, I would go anywhere and do anything."

It was almost laughably insincere but Alphonso knew that this kind of tripe was acceptable, almost required for such upper echelon meetings. The brass wanted to feel secure and safe, so much so they'd swallow the anything that had even the slightest reassurance to it.

Major Alphonso was right for the vast majority of the military aristocracy. Chief Lumina, however, was a man of infinite cunning and prowess. Where Alphonso had thought he had manipulated the man sitting opposite to him, it was, in fact, he who had been played for a fool.

The Major took his leave:

"I expect the details of this mission to be delivered post-haste, please see to it I am supplied with soldiers that are able to keep up with me. That is to say, Nanos."

With a perfect salute, the Major clicked his heels, turned and marched away. It didn't matter that he hadn't been officially dismissed, the meeting was over and everyone knew it. Alphonso made his way to the car-lot and summoned his driver via his commslink. A few moments later, a sleek sedan rolled up to him without making a noise (that was the advantage to electric motors these days), the Major hopped in and spoke a single word to the black screen that seperated him from his driver, a D-grade buffoon.

"Home."

What he didn't know was that no D-grade driver sat behind the wheel but an agent who had 'disposed' of the original driver and taken his place. Cameras and listening devices littered the rear compartment of the sedan, watching and listening for any signs of foul-play on the part of the good Major...

[CKW]

(GM: Wesforce, the woman(roxie) is a Captain And the android(radeon) is a liutenant . It just looks plainly odd if you swap the roles since how in hell can an android be furious?

Nice one, MC. :) )
(There you go, I edited it Nyer, I mean CKW :p )

"Sometimes a patriot has to break the rules." The agent, who had dispatched Alphonso's driver coughed, while pointing to an envelope to his side.

Alphonso understood it, and in a moodless attitude, neatly extracted the documents from it. He readed the description of the mission. A covert ops, unnoficial one. He frowned. So that's why Lumina had called him. Definitely, that mission required of an exceptional soldier. Just like him, the pinacle of human technology and prowess.

"Lumina wants me to kill Cain?" Alphonso snorted, sensing the irony of it all.

"Not exactly. That theater is already set up so all you have to do is to assure the plan works. You're a nano-enhanced, and that will serve as a cover to have a place in the team. You'll be supervising Cain. That will be your cover."

Alphonso laughed.
"I could aswell tell this to the authorities and have your chief arrested. End of the game."

The agent left the limo. He was tired of this crap.

"Two words. Kill Switch..."

If Alphonso could show anger, he would be red by now. Not only Lumina had fooled him, that bastard always had a secure. Kill Switch. All nanos had one. Activation of such meant a fulminant death. To assure the nano-tech secrets were carried to the tomb.

"Very well." He finally resigned. It was best to give the man what he wanted.

***

The Colonel sighed. The theater had been set up by the Shadow Master. She just needed to perform an small role. She grabbed up the phone, and typed Captain Roxie's phone.

***

"Sergeant Major?" One of his fellow men boldly asked. Being a cauldron of rage right now, Sven could have exploded at any moment.

"NOW WHAT!" He boomed.

"A... a... call.... sarge. An old friend of yours. At least is what he says."

Sven just turned up, pushed past the guard, and grumbled to the office. He didn't ever bothered to see who was in the phone. He just snarled something wich could be understood as a "what".

The man on the phone chuckled, his many badges moving from side to side.

"Having a bad day, son?"

It was when Sven realised it was General "Sparks" Cassidy. Possibly the only officer who Sven liked. Because he had been a war dog like him.

"Well, it makes me feel guilty for saying this, but i want you to do a favour for me..."

Sven saluted, sighed and went on. This is the point where he had to wake up from nightmare.

"..Y'know. The Iron Lady, Caesar Lumina is pulling out a last show on this chapter... Looks like our retreat was not clean, and there were some leftovers that had to eliminate... Neo Praetorians are running the show. Not that i'm not satisfied with the troops, they're as dangerous as they are gruff... It's just that this old dog needs someone else in to be completely sure the mission is a success."

"So all you need is a babysitter? BAH! You never change, Elthon."

The general nodded. "This old dog needs some knock off, and by the looks you need it too. We'll continue with this tomorrow morning, with a good ale if you like."

"What do you suggest?"

"Vestibula." Sven shivered slightly when "Sparks" mentioned it. "That wonder-boy of Cain told me t'was almost empty. A perfect place for two old dogs who want to share stories, don't you think?"

He winked,allowing his old, somewhat overweighted expression show a small tip of irony, waiting for the response of his old buddy.

Just then, the medical android stepped in. Alleging somewhat of the disk that Cain had brought earlier had dissapeared...

The overweight, toothpick-chewing general chuckled.

"You finally got some feminine touch in your platoon, Sven..." He sneered.

***

"Don't you think that's plain WRONG" Roxie said, as Radeon flipped the disk with the yellow and black stripes in his hand. "Stealing... and that?"

"...covering...tracks" Radeon just nodded, and placed the disk in one of his pockets.

"Whatever, I wonder when the sore boy will awake." She sighed, still waiting on her feet, leaning on the wall outside Cain's flat. Radeon was by her side, on his own thouights. Maybe he was reminding himself some kind of task he needed to do.

There was no much more to say, after all that Colonel vixen with her attitude of look-at-me-but-don't-touch-my-slut-body she called boss had been contundent. Roxie would never admit it, but she was actually jealous of her beauty. But there were other things to do. As stated, the message left few doubts.

"Oh my, Cain blew it. Sigh. Just brief him when he wakes up. We're not that rushed to do so. But I want that loony awake by tomorrow. We'll discuss a little assigment we have to do then, with the other members of the team."

She repeated it all over. Well, at least Cain looked peacefully now, not like when in battlefield. So different from that cauldron of rage and determination.

"I'm going to take a nap, you watch for Cain." She announced, while stepping away to her home... a few meters away. Roxie never cared about luxury houses, so, like Cain, still held a small flat, having spent all of her credit in her favourite hobby: vehicles.

Radeon just nodded. He wished that androids could sleep so he would never be asked to babysit this way. Well. Duty Calls He repeated, ready to stand idle for hours...

***

Alphonso was quickly delivered back and safe into his flat. Maybe he would have to hire an agent instead of an idiot as driver. But the situation was dreadful. If half of what Lumina said was truth, Alphonso was the puppet of him. He could have kept it in secret, but the bastard enjoyed on how such thought irked the nano-bot's mind. He had been told to join the Briefing,tomorrow in late afternoon,alongside Cain's team... the would be corpses.

He then saw the dirt stain on his suit. It had been a bad day.

[CKW]

(EGAD, DOUBLE POST. CURSE THE WORLD!)

The fresh coffee inundated the emptiness of the VESTIBVLA. Morning or late night, it didn't matter. As Cassidy had heard, the whole place was always near empty. A sleepy and dazed looking Natt poured the hot beverage in two cups. Having Cassidy here was quite a surprise, though- but given that Cain sticked around most of the time here, it was not that impossible that such people approached the humble bar, and it was feasible that Cassidy had a meeting with someone else, the barrel-chested man next to him, wich Natt adressed as gruff tough soldier, possibly a platoon chief.

Cassidy poured the sugar in the beverage, and without even thinking it, swallowed it at once, despite it was hot. He didn't show a hint of noticing it or being hurt, though.

"A fine place for knocking off, indeed. Cain-boy isn't any stupid." Cassidy finally said, while grabbing its chewed out toothpick, and throwing it, replacing it with a new one. Sven couldn't avoid a hint of anger to the mention of that name. "Almost empty, charming service, and good coffee!" The general cheered up, winking at Natt, while dropping his euphoria soon later. "Well, business is first, son. Y'know. I wanted to meet you here since walls have ears, specially in the viper nest that is the headquarters. You know the blue-boys, the right hand of our wee beaty of Caesar are going to be sent in a black ops, regarding some of the stuff we left when we ran out of Ireland. It is odd that i wasn't informed of this. We could have torched whatever hi-tech toy those secretive Black Ops and SATCom bastards could have left. But hey, i won't question those kind of stuff, after all,they have to DO something from once in a while, no?"

Sven nodded, while lazily dragging the spoon around the coffee's liquid.

"Now, the question is, why the hell are the Neo Praetorians fiddling with it. These guys are of the likes of us, but like say, a honor division, elite troopers... you got what i mean. Anyway, what i was saying. Oh yes, something's really fishy in there. I never trusted Chief Lumina from SATCom, y'know, that little wimpy man who has been sulking around in the shadows since the iron Lady came to power. He's apparently behind the Neo Praetorians assignation of the mission. Whatever he's planning out, It's not looking any good. I want someone inside the cake. And by the looks, you're my top man right now, Sven."

Cassidy rubbed his bald head, after having finished, before dropping the last question.
"Are you in?"

***

The two guards posted outside the VESTIBVLA,gave Dazey hints of where she had been asked to go. After surprising the Sarge talking with the top rank General, she had hoped "Sparks" Cassidy would get angry at her. But soon she found out he was not of that kind. He just laughed at her flawed behaviour and cheered her up. Nevertheless, this man had ordered to meet him as well as he had done with the Sergeant Major, something about a mission asignation...

She found no trouble in getting past the guards that escorted the entrance to the place, and soon she was standing next to the two old war dogs.

Cassidy just chuckled again, moving his massive body. "Heh, looks like i'll have to explain the stuff twice again." He ventured to say.

(GM: This meeting is for Wes character as well as AI. Since Cain and other NPC's are under my control, and MC is having difficulties to post, anyone but Wes and AI characters will skip forward to the meeting of the afternoon, while Sven and Dazey are still with the morning meeting. I apologize for inconvenience)