KodiaX 987: The Game of King of the Hill

[KodiaX987]

"Your full name, sir?"

"Kod Gregoire Nainsev, with a trema on the i."

"Previous job, if any?"

"Restaurant owner and cook."

"Schooling?"

"Awgo Elementary School, Awgo Hills High School, two years of Emoha College in cooking."

"Current age?

"32 years old."

"Reason for joining?"

"Personal likeness of fighting, and hope to protect manking through its journey to planet Ragol."

The android stared at him.

"You are kidding me, right?"

"Let me guess, everyone told you that word for word, huh?"

"Yep. *sigh* Alright, smarty-pants. Here's the form; take it to this guy over there and he'll pass your registration through. Got any fighting experience?"

"A bit of boxing, a lot of improvisation."

"Just what I needed. Any official experience?"

"No."

"Then off to the training grounds you go. Personal suggestion: beat up your own officer in a fight. He'll chew the hell out of you for thirty minutes, and then tell you good job and let you in immediately."

"Looking at his face, I was about to do that."

"Okay." The droid stood up and shouted at the concerned officer: "Hey Stopher; this guy wants to beat you up tomorrow morning!"

Kod raised an eyebrow. "Did you really need to tell him that?"

The android simply looked at him. If he could smile stupidly, he would have. "Hunters Guild tradition. See you and your bandages tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

There wasn't that much of a line out there to finish the registration, but then it was mid-afternoon. That meant he would end up with all the antisocial bastards and thugs, which was fine by him, because that's what he was too.

"Well, look who's here..." He muttered to himself as he saw a familiar face nagging the registrar android...

[Percival]

I like... I like alot. did'nt know what to expect from the thread title but I'm glad I read it. It made me wonder if you were a professionnal writer so I went and checked your profile for "interests". Are you writing professionally or is it only a hobby? By the way, I was amused by the name of your Fonewearl.

Your fellow Montrealer,





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Percival on 2003-02-04 13:06 ]</font>

[KodiaX987]

I'm no professional, but if I get to find some time to novelize my fics, I'll do so. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif In the meantime I post at fanfiction.net and PSOW as a hobby.

Say, what part of Montreal do you live at? Who knows, you might just be BWS-1's neighbor. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[KodiaX987]

Chapter 01: Mister Basement Thug

"Reason for joining?"

"Same as everyone else."

"Here's the form; take it to this guy over there and he'll pass your registration through. Got any fighting experience?"

"Not until I talk to Sarge."

"You guys seem to love him these days. Is he one of your in-laws?"

"No; it's just me being an antisocial bastard."

"Just go, okay?"

Kod chuckeld at the conversation. If there was a single person who could act like him in every way, it just had to be his old friend.

"Hey, Freddie!" He yelled. "Frederik Baker, you moron, come here so that I may kick your ass!"

Fred turned around. If he was Kod's twin on the psychological side, he wasn't on the physical. Whereas Kod was a 7'4" tower, Fred was on the short and fatty side... But that didn't stop him from answering his friend in the proper manner:

"Kod Gregoire Nainsev, why you little no good sunnuvabitch, you've got yourself a fight! Just let me have a beer before we start, okay?"

Laughter from the two. It was going to be the best training camp ever.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kod couldn't find a room that wasn't full. Fred had been lucky going in the east section. In the meantime, Kod was still looking around in the west one.

Tired of searching, he tried another method:

"If there's a free bed somewhere, give me a yell!"

"Screw you!!!"

"Thanks, man!"

Kod pushed the door open to find three biker-like men smoking cigarettes.

"Yo." He said. "I'll be your resident bastard for the next four weeks to come."

"Sweet." The tallest biker muttered. "Okay, Bastard. My name is Tall Jack, the one next to the window is Death, and the tattooed guy over there is Animal."

"Tall Jack, Death, and Animal." Kod nodded upon saying these words. "Okie-dokie. And your last names?"

"Our what?!"

"Last names. L-A-S, well, you know."

Tall Jack sighed.

"Fine. I'm Brookin, he's Penn, and he's Hyde. And you? What's yer freakin' last name?"

"Nainsev. In the hope that I get 97 as my trainee number." He marked a pause. "You guys are friendly as hell for thugs."

"Hey!!" Animal yelled. "BASEMENT thugs! We ain't any of yer overground shit an all!"

"Uhh, as he says." Tall Jack commented. "Besides, we're too tired to kick ass today. And another thing, you would've made a great biker, man--"

"By the way," Kod interrupted, "is Animal a redneck?"

Silence.

"Ah did shoot a shotgun once." Animal muttered between two puffs of smoke.

Kod merrily nodded. "He's a redneck!" Tall Jack laughed.

"I like you! And I thought we were gonna have some weak nerd with us who'd bail out at the first sign of blood. Too bad, I would've been able to get the two beds together and sleep on a queen size. Man, queen size beds are classy! You can screw your girlfriend without falling on the floor every two damn minutes."

Kod raised an eyebrow as he sat on his own bed. "Right, man, you are tired. Any way to reach other rooms here?"

"Yell."

Kod opened the door and did so:

"PAGING FRED BAKER! FRED BAKER, PAGING THE HELL FRED BAKER PLEASE!!"

He heard a voice from the far end of the corridor.

"ROOM E79! WHAT ABOUT YOU?"

"W22! THE BASEMENT THUGS ROOM!"

"YOU'RE THE SHIT, MAN!!"

"THANKS!"

He turned around to find Tall Jack an inch away from his face.

"Man, warn me next time. My hangover is still going."

"But it's 4 in the afternoon!!"

-----------------------------------------------------

There were at least one hundred men standing next to each other. And in front of them, dressed in dark blue and black, was their torturer.

"Gooooooood morning, girls!" He yelled. "We're gonna start with the first lesson right away, before I even ask what your stinking names are! Bastard! Get over here!!"

Kod stepped out of the line. The man in black continued.

"You said you wanted to fight me. All right, get in stance. Ready, go!"

*BLAM!!!*

"Rule number one of a good hunter, the enemy is never honorable." He said as Kod put a hand to his bleeding shoulder. "Therefore, you shouldn't be either. The quicker you end the fight, the better. By the way, Bastard, you win. I was expecting you to cry like a schoolgirl for the rest of your days!" He put the gun back in his pocket. "And stop holding your wound like this! You should be proud of your status and you should put in your head, whether you like it or not, that if it doesn't kill you, it's just a damn scratch! Bastard, back to the line you go!"

Kod did so, making sure he got himself next to Tall Jack to whisper a few words.

The man in black smiled.

"By the way, my callsign is King. And I think I know most of yours now; I overheard you guys making aquaintances yesterday evening. And now, let's all be nice little schoolgirls and respond to my attendance sheet. RODENT!"

"Yes!"

"BUTCHER!"

"Yes!

"SAMURAI!"

"Yes!"

"ANIMAL!"

"Yes!"

"SIMON BITCH!"

"Yes!"

"MORON!"

"Yes!"

"BASTARD!"

"Ouch."

"MOUSETRAP!"

"Yes!"

"LASER!"

...

[KodiaX987]

Chapter 02: Fast Forward to F***-ups

The men had gone through push-ups, sit-ups, runs, sprints, kicks, punches, and to King's amazement they were all standing.

It was mid-afternoon. Each trainee had been given a light photon gun, which would fire fake bullets. King glanced at his watch.

"By the way, you guys fucking need to cut down on the swearing. It has a tendency to rub off on me."

Laughter.

"SILENCE!! Okay, here we go for pop-test number one, yep, right on the first day; I'm evil like this. You guys all have a light photon gun. The ones in the east wing are in yellow suits. The ones in the west wing are in blue. It's east against west, get shot, point your gun upwards and get off the field. Battle starts NOW! GO!!!"

Kod was in the middle of the line, and so he quickly ran for cover while most of the other trainees tried to shoot each other right away. Fortunately, no one had the wit to attempt to shoot Kod during his run.

In just a few seconds, 100 had gone down to more or less 30, every single one of them hidden behind rocks, trees, and other frustrating obstacles. To top it off, Kod wasn't at his best since he had been shot by King in the good arm's shoulder.

He waited a few minutes. He sometimes heard shots, but for most of the time, it was a trench war. For all he knew, everyone could've stayed nicely hidden behind their rocks and just wait until the whole team starved, which clearly wasn't the sweet way to go.

I guess someone will ged fed up and try to run for it, he thought, but then he also knew everyone else thought the same thing.

There was another blue guy a few feet away.

"Hey, Bastard; see anything?" He said.

"Nothing; I don't feel like showing my face up from here. hat about you? You stick your head between two branches and tell me!"

"I'm in the same situation, man..."

*BLAM!!!*

"Your name, by the way?"

"I'm Junk. So what do we do?"

"Call the guy next to you, make the message go around, I want a fix on who is where in all this."

The message went around, and came back. There were 20 blues left, and at most, they saw about 7 yellows.

Kod: "We're good. Where are they though?"
Junk: "Oh, just saw a yellow speck. At your 11 o' clock."
Kod: "Can you aim for him?"
Junk: "Nope, the rock's right in front of me."

Kod turned to his right.

Kod: "Snakeyard! Self, eleven, better catch it!"
Snakeyard: "Caught!"
Chopper: "Say what?!"

*BLAM!*

Chopper: "Ouch!!"
Snakeyard: "One yellow down! Six more to go!"
Kod: "The joys of on-the-fly codes. Right, Junk?"
Junk: "Sure, man! Oh! Message from Animal! Yours, twelve, dashing."

Kod raised his head (and his hand) just in time to spot a yellow attempting to change hiding spots. Two shots and he was out of the game.

Junk: "Coconut! Self, two!"
Coconut: "Missed!"

Kod frowned.

Kod: "They're getting the hang of it. We need a new strategy."
Junk: "What do you suggest?"
Kod: "Uhh, let's try to make them panic their asses off. Have a couple of guys fire until the world stops, and then we'll shout codes again; only the blasts will cover part of our sounds."
Junk: "Right now?"
Kod: "You have a better voice than me; go ahead."
Junk: "SATURATION!!! FIRE LIKE HELL!"

A flurry of shots went off, satisfyingly covering the next coded messages. Two minutes later, the yellows were down to three. Then two.

Kod: "STOP FIRE!"
Junk: "STOP!!!"
Kod: "Hey Fred, are you still in it?"

He heard a faint shout, and turned around to see Fred waving to him from off the field.

He turned around again. He felt lazy...

Kod: "There are two of you guys left! Raise your hands way up, stand up and admit your defeat!"

...

Junk: "Helloooooo??"
Snakeyard: "Hey!! Get up!!"
Animal: "Come on, we don't feel like getting you!"
King: "The blues win!!"

All eyes turned to King.

King: "Actually, there aren't any yellows left. You guys missed a few messages during your saturation run. Okay, good points: you guys won. Bad points, had you been using real photon battires, the government would go bankrupt because of you! Bastard, next time plan your strategy better!"

"Just watch me." Kod muttered to himself.

King: "What? Do you want me to challenge you in a fight again?"

Kod looked at his gun. Okay, maybe later. King grinned, tapping the gun hidden in its suit to show its presence.

"Everyone back on the field! Set yourselves up, no shooting until my command. Let's go!"

[KodiaX987]

03: The Difference

"Hey Tall Jack... Who's this guy over there?"

"Him?"

"Yeah, the one with the green suit."

"He's from the army; apparently he likes to visit the place once in a while. Heard he's a sarge; one of the drill guys."

Kod sighed.

"Let me guess." He said. "King's run out of vocal cords?"

Laughs.

"Negative." Tall Jack finally answered. "According to what I know, he comes here to pick out any exceptional guys and make 'em do army training instead. But don't worry; if he ever picks one of us, my own mother's the Virgin Mary."

Animal chuckled.

"Tell 'im the truth, ahright? The army sarge, well he don't like us 'cause we're trainin' for bounty hunter jobs instead of volunteer army. He says we don't have the guts to survive army training, so we go here instead. The Softcore Field they call it. A place for sissies."

"What's his name?" Kod asked. Animal raised an eyebrow.

"Sargeant Rohan Hunte. Why?"

Kod marked a pause. He pondered his answer very well, because he was about to tell 'em a good one.

"I bet ya that within the first two weeks of my getting outta here, I'll be higher on the military food chain than he is right now."

"Okayyy!" Animal sneered. "And how ya gonna pull that off, huh?"

Kod grinned. "Being the bastard I am right now!"

--------------------------------------------------

The first of four weeks had gone by. The trainees had refined their shooting skills, strategies, and physical shape. Kod didn't hear about Fred very much. Since they were in opposite wings, they often ended up one against the other, and never in direct combat. If Kod was shot at one end of the field, Fred would get his at the other end.

King announced the plan for the next weeks: week two was saber training. Week three was for rifles, and week four was going to be any and all mental capabilities. Once that was all done, they would get one day off, and then they'd go through the final test: running, climbing, combat, guns, sabers, strategy, exercises, situations, the whole nine yards from 5 to 9, no food, and in full combat gear.

If they succeeded, the suit was theirs.

Upon finishing his training briefing, King took a good look at the trainees, a look which lasted a lot longer than usual.

"I'm starting to get old!!" He yelled. "Usually after week one I have at least thirty-five guys too chicken to keep going! And you, Cow Ass, what are you still doing here?!"

"Training, sir!"

"Well you'd better pull off a miracle, 'cause the way you're going, it's heading right over to a fat failure! And you, Bastard! How's the money flowin'? You're comfy? You've got a bed? You're all dressed up like an obedient schoolgirl and you feel ready to party along with us?

"..."

"Yeah, you'd better keep yer trap shut. Listen up, skirt-wearers! This week, it's sabers! And if Bastard ever tries to make a throwing axe out of his own weapon, you guys have orders to immediately stop whatever you are doing and slash him until he cries in pain! Do you understand me?"

The answer came in unison: Yes, sir.

"One more thing! I got an announcement from the Guild that space ship Pioneer II will be ready for launch in two months! There will be thirty thousand happy winners boarding in, and part of the Guild is invited. I highly suggest that, for your own sake, you give 100% efforts starting now. This is one hundred times the current effort you have been pulling off since you all got here! Are you able to give me 100%?!"

YES, SIR!

"Then show it right away! Each one of you has a low-power saber, a buckler-type photon shield, and a photon frame. It's free-for-all, last one standing gets a cookie. When your suit power reaches zero, raise your sword high up and walk out of the field! Go!"

The don't-fire-right-away technique proved to be the best method once again. No one attempted a swing. Everyone just ran off in different directions until they reached a safe distance.

Kod had his saber at the ready, but he kept it off and instead hid behind a tree; the same one Junk had used when he had called for yellows a few days ago.

The viewpoint was perfect. He was just near the rim of the field, thus allowing no one to take him from behind. With this strategy, all he would need to do would be to wait until there was one person standing, and then step in and finish the job.

"We have a winner!!" King yelled. He stepped into the field, dragging one of the trainees along. "Congrats to Cinderella who managed to get seven guys before being brought down. Spaceman, you may be the survivor but you got only one pitiful kill. And as for those who got zero, I expect much better from you next time around. And... as for those who got zero and are still standing, BASTARD! Step outta here!!"

So much for the strategy, Kod thought to himself.

King approached him, and, without ceremony, took the shield and frame and threw them away.

"When you're a coward, you win nothing! Situation: you've decided not to do the five hundred meseta job of the week. You gotta eat, so waddya do? You sell your frame and shield, 'cause you need the cash for your food! Bastard, you want your stuff back, then fight for it! I expect ten kills before the fight's over. Everyone, step into the field! We're doing the whole thing over! GO!"

--------------------------------------------------

Middle of week two...

No one had quit yet. Not that they had beef against King, far from it. Actually, all they wanted to do was impress the hell out of him, and they had a heavy argument: someone had noticed a teammate do a great save during one of the saber exercises, and he then saw King smiling and clapping his hands.

So far, the maneuver was going pretty well. Kod still was King's pet peeve, but as far as he was concerned, he was much better than quite a lot of the trainees out there.

"Yeah, but a bit smarty-pants for a trainee." Tall Jack muttered with a smirk.

Kod layed on his bed.

"Two weeks and a half, and I'm homefree; no one will be able to tell me what to do and how to waste my time," he said. "Once it's all over, I work round the clock and complete as many hunter jobs as possible, and then I get my ticket for paradise land."

Tall Jack chuckled.

"Come on, man. Yeah, they're gonna fetch a few trainees, but dammit, you're older than a lot of us here. They don't want old people, they want people fresh from the womb and fresh from the bunkers. They're not gonna want you, it's a lost cause, man!"

"It isn't!" Kod snapped. "Remember that I still have my cooking diploma. All I need to do is use that to say I want to open a restaurant in the ship. Bing-bang, job is done. And I'll tell them I'm also a hunter in my free time; hell, a workaholic! I can handle that."

Animal laughed.

"This isn't a kitchen out there." He sneered. "It's outer space. And this is only the second ship. That means, if ya want to be aboard Pioneer II, yeh gotta be one guy within the thirty thousand and first to sixty thousand and first best people of the world. And how many are we again? A few billions?"

"Pioneer's payed by the government alone, not by the United Countries." Tall Jack replied. "That lowers the numbers down to just a billion. Still, it's a shitload, Bastard. If any of us makes it in, I'm ready to ear a whole octopus raw."

Kod grinned. "No problem then, you have a deal. And better yet; I bet you that we will all make it inside the ship!"

Tall Jack's eyes opened wide. "You're on crack, man. But if you lose, you're eating the octopus!"

"Done deal, loser!"

[KodiaX987]

04: Freedom II

Off day.

The radio was happily blaring out The Bad Bad Bird while Kod and Tall Jack admired the structure that was to take off in less than a month.

There wasn't much to say about it, at least for now. The ship itself was complete, but the modules weren't installed, and all the tests were accomplished on computerized simulators. That meant the big launch would be the only one.

"Sucks for an off-day, huh?" Tall Jack muttered.

"Pff, don't tell me about it. I should've stayed in my bed, all nice and comfy... This freakin' training camp's taken off all my imagination! Had I been a normal person, I would've watched a movie or something, but man, everything just... Looks bland now."

"That's the trainee spirit." Tall jack replied with a shrug. "Besides, it's raining. Just hope that we'll have sunshine tomorrow. The test is gonna be a bitch if we have to run the mile in the mud."

-----------------------------------------------------

"AHH CRAP!!"

Everyone agreed, King was getting on their nerves. Not only had the chief watered the entire test field, he also added a few kilograms to the suit to be worn.

"This is the last step, girls!" He screamed. "Each and every single one of you has to wear the entire suit for the whole test. The suit contains a beacon linked to a chrono-watch. Checkpoints have been set up so that you'll need to go through the entire test field if you want a valid time. The chrono starts when you get past this red line. When the first team goes ahead, take a step forward, and then start running! First team, go!"

Kod looked at Animal.

"Fifty that Ripple won't make it."

"I'm not taking it."

"Oh, come on."

"Red line, dude!"

"Oh!!"

And away he went.

-----------------------------------------------------

Everyone had passed the tests so far. The last one was going to be a team effort. The group would be divided into 25 teams of four, randomly selected. "Randomly" was probably a light word, because Kod got stuck with people he had never even talked to before...

The goal was simple: last team standing is the winner. The more members still in the game when it ends, the better you are.

Kod knew right off the bat his team wouldn't make it. They were all rangers, but they had all been given sabers. No shooting this time, it was all close-combat techniques.

Unfair... Kod thought to himself.

"Names?"

"Pig."

"Checkers."

"Goat Cheese."

"Great... Stick to the far side of the field, we'll go at it full-forward."

The go signal was given. Immediately, Kod's team went over to the edge, but this time sticking in a wide-open area.

"Come and get a piece of us, suckers!!" Kod yelled at the other teams. It was expectable, a dozen people came over to take the opportunity.

He located the visibly weakest person of the team, and disposed of him with ease. That thus gave him two sabers to work with.

His team wasn't doing so well. Everyone else had adopted the same strategy, and Goat Cheese was the first to be eliminated.

Kod took advantage of the lack of attention to backstab two people, and then come to the rescue of Pig, who was having trouble on his own side. Three sabers against one, Kod's team ended up winner of this one.

"Checkers, report!!"

"Alive!"

He was much closer than Kod had thought. Perfect.

"Gather up!" He shouted. "Move to the other side, repeat the maneuver."

The field was large enough for them to move around without trouble. One taunting strategy later, Kod had gotten two more kills, and Checkers had gotten one too.

There were only fifteen trainnes left on the field, including Kod and his two teammates...

...Correction, one. Pig had received a saber right in the face.

Kod took a look around. No sign of Fred...

"Fred!! Where are you?"

"Still in!"

One look to the right, one look to the left, nobody. He dashed in the direction of the voice.

"Show yourself, man. We need to get on with our obligatory challenge!"

Fred laughed and jumped down from the tree he was in. The other trainees were busy fighting each other. That would give Kod and Fred equal chances.

"Checkers, stick aside. Fred, who's yo daddy!"

"Good question, Bastard!"

The first saber clash was violent, too much according to Kod. Fred had strengthened up during his training, to the point where the fight might actually take up a lot more time than usual. Adding to complications was that Fred had also taken the idea of wielding two sabers, despite the severe decrease in accuracy.

Something flew by Kod's ear. Correction: Fred had decided to go at it single-saber.

The balance was impossible to judge now. Fred had a better handle of his saber due to the fact that he operated two-handed. As for Kod, he was able to deal swings faster, but his accuracy was mediocre; too often, hits that should have gone through went far off on one side, not dealing a single piece of damage.

Fred attempted a stab. This was Kod's chance, who swung down both sabers as fast as he could, but the fat man managed to step away in the nick of time.

"Fight's almost over!" Checkers yelled. "Wait... Actually we are the only three people standing!"

Fred chuckled. "Has your buddy done much?"

"Three kills." Kod replied between two blocks. "And I got eight so far!"

"Still under the goal of ten you had been imposed!"

*SWING!*

"I got it two weeks ago, on the shooting range!"

*CHUNK!*

Fred stepped back, and picked up the saber he had thrown some minutes earlier. Both him and Kod stood motionless, waiting for someone to attack...

"OW!"

Checkers fell to the ground. He had been hit by none other than King himself.

He grinned.

"Fight's over, you two. Else this is gonna last until tomorrow morning! Bastard, I see your kill count is eight! Way below the goal I had set for you! What's happening? You can't get into shape now?"

Kod smirked. "Better shape than Fred at least."

"Hey!" Fred stepped over to him. "Repeat that just for--"

*SWING!*

"Gotcha!" Kod grinned and helped Fred up.

"I should've known..." His friend muttered as he got up. "Still, you only have nine kills now."

"Hint hint hint!!!" King yelled. "Does he pick it, does our contestant pick the challenge?"

Kod readied his sabers, and stood, without a guard.

"GO!" He yelled.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kod was the first to attack, throwing one of his sabers right from the start, followed by the other one. He picked up the one Fred had left on the ground, and completed his combo by an attempted stab.

King had gotten his gun and fired, but Kod had seen it coming, and had blocked off the bullet with his shield. Now at close range, it left King no option but to draw saber as well. He blocked the stab, and kneed Kod in the stomach. Taking a step forward, he brought down his saber, which met the shield instead of the head.

Kod pushed the offending saber away, and attempted a wide swing, which barely managed to scratch King. The chief had put on some advanced armor... Not only did King have more experience in figthing than Kod, he also had better armor!

"Talk about equal fighting!" Kod shouted after he managed to kick King in the stomach.

"Say what?" King nagged back as he drew his gun again. This time, Kod was there and immediately disposed of the gun with one quick swipe.

Both stepped back, intending on trying another strategy. King got himself into a low stance. He was going to try some rising moves...

Bingo!

Kod had an opportunity right there. Taking a leap, he managed to land his left foot on King's shoulder, while the other foot proceeded to kick the chief straight in the face. King fell backwards, taken off-guard by the maneuver. As soon as he landed, his throat met the blade of the saber.

*COUGH!*

Kod removed the saber. He had finally beaten King's ass.

The chief stood up and rubbed his neck before making a final shout.

"Everyone to center field! Those with ten kills or more, pick this gold pin and off you go! Those with eight or nine kills, take the silver pin! Those with five, six or seven, pick up the bronze pin. Everyone on the field tomorrow at eleven, in full gear! Good night!"

[BWS-1]

Man, you post fics everywhere! I can't keep track of all of em! Mwahah, I like the first chapter a lot for some reason, go figure. Anyway, yeah, I beleive all white androids are montrealers but I wouldn't say that Percival is my neighboor afterall, Montreal's a freaking big lil island ya know? http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Then again ... who knows

>_>

<_<

*spots Percival

Hey there!

*waves

...

*stops being off-topic, goes back to his fanfic reading

[KodiaX987]

05: Twisted's First Meeting

The hunters positionned themselves in the main hall. King was behind a table, on which sat exactly seventy-nine badges and envelopes.

"Gentlemen!" He said, no scream this time. "This group has passed at a seventy-nine percent rate of success, that means seventy-nine of you will receive their hunter license. From there, you may either get back to your old job, become self-employed as a mercenary, or join the Hunters Guild and work as a team, supporting the police and the army. Each one of you will receive his hunter badge with section identification, and his license, which must be signed in order to become valid."

He motionned for two army privates to come and distribute the medals, and the continued while the privates did their job.

"You may also, if you wish, join the army boot camp under Priviledge Status. That means you get to do only what the army does and not we. Hence, you won't have to boot camp twice in a row. But since I know most of you guys will go the the Guild, I suggest you go ahead and look for a hunter job right away, and start making some cash! The quicker you get to complete those jobs, the more money you'll have to upgrade yourselves."

The privates had finished the distribution. Without a word, they retreated from the room.

"This is end of the hunter boot camp, gentlemen. You are not pieces of shit anymore; you are true, full-fledged hunters! You have a suit, an armor, a weapon and a shield. Thirty-five of you I see have been assigned to the fighting hunters. Twenty-one here have been chosen as rangers, and three have been seen as best fit in the force team. All three groups will have to co-operate in order to complete most jobs, so be sure to diversify it when making buddies. Those are my tips. Now get outta here and start makin' some cash! Bus leaves for the Guild in half an hour! Dismissed!"

Most people stayed to talk to King for a while, but Kod wasn't interested. He folded his envelope and put it along with the badge into his pocket, and left for the bus. He knew the quality of army supplies when they came for hunters, and his thinking didn't fail; out of all the seats available, there were about four or five that looked halfway comfortable.

He went all the way to the back, and sat sideways on the seat on the left-hand side. Only two minutes had passed when Fred joined him on the opposite seat, full of himself in his brand new black and crimson suit.

"You don't look too shabby in your clothes either!" He said with a laugh.

"Blue owns you, son-of-a-bitch." Kod replied while pointing to his own suit. "Soon as I get the cash, I'm changing that steel-epaulettes model for a Gor-T coat. You can't move in that piece of junk. What about you?"

"I think I'll go for a light coat and heavier pants. But then, maybe the suit isn't broken in yet."

"Oh, it's possible to do that?!"

Laughs. More hunters came in. Before fifteen minutes had elapsed, everyone was in the bus except for one person.

Tall Jack...

Someone got off and went inside the building. Two minutes later, he came back with a disgusted look on his face.

"Let's go. He stoned himself to celebrate."

"Idiot..." Kod muttered as the bus drove him away.

----------------------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed already. Many of the new hunters had done pretty well for a first attempt. There were some exceptions of course. Fred broke his leg after two days and was assigned to the communications offices until the wound healed. Tall Jack's drug trips were less frequent, but more serious. As for Death and Animal, both got killed during a major shootout against a biker gang.

Kod had jumped on the easy jobs first to start up a good stash and equip himself better. Unlike the army, hunters had to buy their own stuff to fight with. The better equipped a hunter was, the better he was in the eyes of others, because he had done jobs worth more money.

It was late night. He had been working round the clock for the past two weeks and thought he had well earned his little evening of fun. There was a puck match on TV, his city against some lost hole on the west coast. His scream of joy was heard a block away, signal that the Stainless Steels had won six-nothing.

The phone rang.

"Yo?"

"Kod; Fred here."

"Yep?"

"I've got some sweet stuff for you. Someone brought us a job request for three thousand, but since the offices are closed, I can't publish it until tomorrow."

"So what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, since I know about the job and no one else does, how would you feel like being the first to get it? I'd give it to you without even publishing it first."

Kod frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your job properly?!"

"Hey, I'm in comms now. And I think I'll stay there. It's stable, it's relax, and I have a good amount of cash coming in. I don't want to get myself killed out there like those two a few days ago. You should feel happy you've got an insider in this place for the sake of heavens!"

"Stop stealing my line, will you? And I'll take your damn job while I'm at it! (Laugh) What is it?"

"This one was requested from mister Wisco Robertson. He says there is a meeting of devil worshippers tomorrow at eleven in the evening. A member told him they were going to go en masse to the offices of Kasieri Motors and blow themselves up."

"Kasieri Motors?! The sports car company?"

"That's it all right. Rich as hell, the symbol of capitalism right in front of your nose. Oh, and there's a message with his request."

"What?..."

"It reads 'lost an android?'"

Kod marked a pause...

"I remember making that famous Halloween prank if you remember that... But I'm pretty sure my prank android got a fatal error and deactivated herself in the hours that followed. I had programmed it on a rush."

"I know; anyways. Three thousand bucks for you if you can stop that from happening."

"Too easy."

Fred laughed and put Kod on hold while he made some changes to the computer files.

"Okay!" He said after coming back on. "You're all set; have fun and happy hunting!"

"Thanks!"

So Fred was going to be his private newscaster! That man was one true friend, always ready to help his buddies and make sure they had nothing but the best.

I'll be in Pioneer II before I even know it, he thought. Rich, full-equipped, and in a sweet position to start making some good changes.

The Hunters Guild was dirty and rotten to the core; Fred was just a proof of it. Everywhere people broke the rules and formed alliances against each other. Instead of being a guild, it was a huge dog-eat-dog contest of sorts, which he didn't like at all. This guild needed discipline and order. There were too many dimwits in there, even though King had done his best to keep the chickens out of the place. Still, there were other boot camp trainers, and he guessed a lot of them must be soft and very bribable.

But he'd keep Fred in there. First, he was friends with him. Second, he could come in handy. After all, nothing like having the news and jobs before anyone else did. He was sure Fred would take the head of the comms office in less time than it takes to say "rabbit".

The phone rang again.

"Yo?"

"Yo?! Sweet melody coming from you, mister!"

"Hey, I'm at home and relaxed. It's ten in the evening and I'm about to call it a day. Who's on the line?"

"Your friendly devil worshipper."

A pause...

"We tap the lines regularly." The voice continued. "And we know you'll try to get us. Well, just give it a shot, and I bet you five thousand meseta that you'll die trying. Oh hell, I'll give you ten thousand just to stay out of the whole thing; I also happen to know what your bank is. A quick deposit, and hop! You are richer!"

"I have an honor." Kod sneered back. "And a sense of justice."

"Okay. But do you know who called for that job of yours? That Wisco guy, he's a black market dealer. He's as illegal as we are."

"Dealers make useful stuff. They don't kill, at least. If I had to choose which one to shoot first, it would be you."

"No problem. See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

A click. The unknown person was faster in hanging up, good signal that he wasn't very happy with that had happened.

Kod clicked the speed dial and called Fred again. He told him to add some comments to the job file, namely that the man had tried to bribe him, threatened to kill him, and might be in fraud operations.

This would kick the price up, way up to at least ten thousand. The government won't laugh when it'll read this. The government never laughs when it comes to money. And they'll throw in a bonus just for that piece of information, should he complete the job.

Three quarters he would keep. One quarter he would offer to the fresly arrived female he had met in the main hall yesterday.

No problems so far. Time to take it smooth.

[KodiaX987]

06: Crazy People

Kod was at a disadvantage. He had been trained for saber fighting, and going close quarters with a bunch of suicidal cultists was only going to add to the casualties...

He clicked his comm.

"Garage, this is Bastard."

"Bastard, listening." Fred's voice answered.

"Send Purple over here; there's more targets in my line of sight than there are cars in this city!"

"I'll believe you. Hold on a moment... ... ... ...Okay, she's on her way. How much time before they get too close?"

"Say, fifteen minutes."

"Ten-four."

Kod put his binoculars away and checked his gear again. He had fifteen minutes to lose. And if Purple doesn't show up in time, he'll have to forget about rewards altogether.

"Bastard, this is Purple!" The comm shrieked.

"I'm here. And cut the volume down."

"I can't; it's stuck. Listen, I see the targets, but I can't count them. How many?"

"There's seven. And they're all jammed up together."

"Good! Get back to the sidewalk, I'm starting the plan now."

"Not now!! I'm on the top floor here!"

"Then run faster! Out!"

Shit, shit, shit, Kod thought to himself as he raced back down the stairs. He picked up his comm again. "Garage, Bastard here. Since when do fellow hunters make each otehr's jobs more difficult?"

"Oh, that?! It was just me telling her to make you sweat a little. I told her you just loved to be given nearly impossible orders!"

"So if she's doing that, she loves me, right?"

"That, and she wanted to test your reputation as a hothead."

Kod disabled the comm. He had heard more than enough of it.

He emerged onto the sidewalk and the cultists were only a minute away. A bit further, he could see Purple's car screeching around an intersection.

He put his hands in his pockets, which held a hidden saber. He hadn't brought any guns due to the high level of innocent people in this part of the city, but he was starting to regret it.

Purple parked herself at record speed, got out right when the cultists were going to walk past her, and released a Rabarta spell.

Everyone next to her had been frozen over. This was his cue. He pulled out his saber, and methodically slashed at the cultists with his blade at low power. Seconds later, the group fell to the ground, unconscious.

-----------------------------------------------------

The printed report was the best piece of text ever. The cultists had armed themselves with black market chemical bombs, highly illegal, and found guilty of participating in an attempted planned mass murder.

The proof: one of them had been stupid enough to note all the objectives down on a sheet of paper.

Purple's work had not been considered since she wasn't officially participating in the job, but Kod handed half of the reward over to her anyways.

Fred was busy entering the new imformation and closing the job plan when he noticed Kod's gaze.

"Hey, buddy. Come back to earth."

"Huh? What?"

"Get your mind on the job. You look sleepy."

"I'm worried. My plan didn't go as I thought."

Fred froze in place. He gathered his wits and his answer came back with a harsh tone:

"Idiot! If it had been your plan, you'd be dead! Why didn't you call up for a Force right off the start?!"

"I thought I wasn't gonna need one."

"Listen here, Kod. I know you want to solo these jobs out, but if you want to live healthy, you'll have to get used to teamwork. They aren't all out here to get you, you know."

"Okay, like who?"

"Like her! If she didn't care about your ass, she wouldn't have come."

Kod sighed. It was true.

He turned around to take a look at the nicknamed "Purple." She lived up to her name at least, as she wore a white and purple set of robes, and braided hair dyed purple.

"Does she wear contact lenses?" He asked Fred.

"Yep. According to the files, they are naturally brown."

"Figures."

Fred laughed. "Hey, I could call you Blue, you know!"

Kod placed a hand on his spiked blue hair. "But my eyes are steel gray!"

"More blue than anything. If you could eat your potatoes blue, you'd do it! And your friend here would take beets!"

"Oh, come on; for the sake of heavens, I'm not that obsessed, am I?"

A voice came from behind: "Yes!"

He looked over his shoulder. Purple had stealthily sneaked behind him.

Thinking it over, he then said: "Okay. Maybe I would eat them blue..."

-----------------------------------------------------

Purple gave him a ride back home, as he had walked the way over to his job instead of frustrating himself at looking for a parking spot.

Her car wasn't bad after all, at least much better than his. The seats were of comfortable leather, the paint seemingly new, the radio system high quality and pumping at a fairly high level...

"Sweet car you got." He said.

"It's not mine, really... I'm a spoiled girl."

"What about job rewards? Did they get you out of your parents' grasp?"

She laughed. "My father was a hunter. That's what's gotten me into it, actually... Besides, I was thinking, well, if I could prove myself before the departure of Pioneer II, maybe they could find a spot for me in there."

"Same here."

"Hunters think alike!" She giggled.

"By the way, what's your real name?"

"Oh; right. You only know me as Purple. Oh, my first name is Yowa... My family name can't be pronounced really well, so I'll leave it out. Oh, by the way, why would you want a fresh new Force into such a dangerous job as the one you called me for?"

"Two things. Number one, with good strategy, it's not dangerous; the only danger was you messing up your technique. Number two, I needed someone with fairly unpracticed Rabarta techniques, this way it would freeze the targets but not kill them on the spot. There you go."

"First time my weakness is actually used for something."

"It won you seventy-five hundred meseta."

"That's the worst part of it!" Yowa replied with a laugh. "We're here."

Kod's cellphone rang just as he got out. He only said "Okay" after a while and then hung up.

"Job available, tomorrow, for fifteen hundred, and I need a teammate. Want to join?"

"Sure. See you tomorrow!"

As she drove off, Kod pressed Call Back. His friend responded on the first ring, as usual.

"Thanks, Fred!"

[BWS-1]

Kod, this is by far, the best fic I've read from you.


*amazed O_O



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BWS-1 on 2003-02-21 17:44 ]</font>

[Kupi]

Kicks the living snot out of my fanfic... X_x It's interesting the way everyone takes a different view of the Hunter's Guild when they write fanfics... and the way you take one that is undoubtedly the farthest from that which is used in PSO. Very well written, and I look forward to reading the rest of it.

[BWS-1]

I'm just curious of how such drill is applied to androids, is it the same? Were there any androids in the bunch? Do they get plugged on a PC for 60 hours and have to deal with a huge amount of information comming at the same time? Is what I'm writting giving you any ideas Kod? heyhey http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BWS-1 on 2003-02-24 13:17 ]</font>

[KodiaX987]

Androids come in ready-made; all they need is the required programs and they can go hunters. Most of the time, an android will be used when a teammate is required.

Sometimes though, a free android will want to join the hunters. Same thing applies anyway; he's fed the programs to know how to duke it out, and into the hunters you go!

[BWS-1]

I guess now people would have one more reason to say that being a HUcast is the easiest class to be XD

[KodiaX987]

07: Space and Nebulosity

"Does that recall anything to you?" Fred said upon looking through the window of the

revolving restaurant.

Kod shrugged. "Probably saw that in a cartoon once. Oh yes! The school principal brings a

date over and meets one of his former students who ended up a waiter."

Fred laughed. "Yeah, I remember. That part was great, huh?"

"It sucked. Get over it."

Fred took a few more peanuts. They were four to sit at the bar section of the restaurant.

Besides Kod and Fred, Yowa had joined at the last minute, and Fred had brought a friend of

his from the comms office: a female newman hunter named Armi Prosis.

They weren't in a hurry. After all, the drinks were good, and the black leather sofa seats

were very comfortable. Besides, they had noticed upon their entry that all the window

tables had been taken. If they went to eat now, they would be stuck somewhere in the middle

of the smoking section, which wasn't a good thing due to Armi's newfound asthma (yeah

right.)

She caught on to his idea almost immediately and muttered "You gotta quit smoking." to him.

Fred replied with a rude comment about the disadvantages of trying to learn telepathy.

Kod heard that.

"Hey, I didn't know that was part of the curriculum!"

Fred glanced at Kod before taking a good gulp of his drink.

"It is now." He said and put the empty glass down. "Government's published a new set of

standardized practices for hunters. So aside from ice, fire and electricity, you can now

get a bit of mind reading... But believe me, it doesn't work well, at least not yet."

"And what makes you say that?" Yowa interrupted. "Your date check up on your brain too

often?"

"No; I'm speaking fact here. Ask Armi. Whenever she tries those exercises, she comes to an

acceptable result, but far from what it really is. Point is, despite her shitty results,

she's thousands of miles ahead of some other trainees!"

Armi nodded to that. "It just doesn't work; I think I'll put a stop to it because it's not

really effective yet. For all the time I've put in, it isn't worth it at all." Kod shook

his head.

"I wonder how many newman guinea pigs they had to go through to get those publications

done."

"Go to a cemetary." Fred said. "Count the number of girls with goddess-like bodies and

pointed ears, and you've got yourself a good approximation."

"They gotta stop this..."

"Hey, talk to the department, man!"

Kod sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll take the words outta your mouth; newman chicks are

too beautiful to die!"

General laughter. Armi raised her fist high up.

"Pointed ears pawa!" She exclaimed.

They let themselves calm down for a few seconds, and then Fred stood up.

"Window table's free!" He announced. "Let's go claim it."

Armi went ahead to sit at the table while the others met up with the waiter, saying they

were ready to eat. The waiter turned around to see Armi waving her hand for him to come

here.

That formality done, Kod put his menu down after five seconds.

"Found it."

"What?"

"Ribeye steak."

Fred let out a "Pfft!" and scanned the menu for something that would compete with the juicy

slab of meat.

"I'll go for the lamb chops. What about you girls? Salad for tonight?"

He felt a heel pressing on his big toe, followed by Yowa's response: "That, and the biggest

plate of porcini pastas ever made."

"Be careful what you wish for." Kod warned. "There's so much luxury in this place I bet

they'll go all out and give you the equivalent of a football field."

"No shit!" Fred interjected. "Last time I went to a big cash restaurant, I paid one

hundred and fifty meseta for two slices of shredded smoked salmon. To think I can get three

times the fish at the supermarket for twenty-two and ninety-nine, I think I'll forget about

big portions."

Kod frowned. "So much for a ribeye request!"

"They might give you an ounce if you behave like a good boy."

The four erupted in laughter. Several heads turned to see the source of the joy, and stared

until they had finished their fit.

"'Scuse me!" Armi said afterwards, only to laugh some more. Kod downed his drink.

"You bastards." He said in a fakely menacing tone. "Doing that to a good friend. It's not

my fault if I stabbed the anger management teacher three times in the nuts! Grr!"

This time, the group tried to control the burst of laughter, with moderate success. Kod

picked up whatever seriousness he had left and smiled, looking through the window of the

restaurant.

"Last day before we board. You guys all got in, right?" Everyone nodded. "Man, to think

we somehow made it among the thirty thousand most prized people of this nation. I guess

they like potential."

Fred smirked. "Take in mind they didn't accept anyone over sixty, save for really high and

powerful leaders. I think the only one who is that old is Senator Tyrell. He's the guy

assigned to lead the ship."

"What does he know about space travel?"

"Well, he can spot the sun pretty nice..."

"At least there will people I know in this ship. This is what counts to me." Kod paused...

"I would've felt really alone living seven years in a crowded ship with all friends back

home."

Fred glanced heavenwards. "I don't believe ya, man."

Kod looked at his friend for a long time. His eyes slowly went off to the side, and he

muttered: "Tall Jack won't be there..."

"Him? He's stoned!"

"Yeah... But I liked him."

"Listen, this is all over now. Boot camp was just a bad moment for all of us and we stuck

around with really, really bad people. Now, we're elite. The thing that got us in was

stopping the suicide bombers. Your strategy was flawed, but at least we made it."

Armi and Yowa, knowing the subject was touchy between them, excused themselves to go to the

bathroom.

"I thought I wasn't gonna need anybody." Kod retorted coldly. "I said that thousands of

times. If I needed someone, I would've called for that person right at the beginning."

Fred shook his head. "Your soloism is gonna kill you one day... At least you took note of

your error before it was too late."

"Anyways. Was the leader with them after all?"

"Hmm, nope... I wouldn't worry about it though. Criminals are not accepted on Pioneer II."

Kod thought Fred's statement over. Nah, that was a utopia...

-------------------------------------

His belongings had been unpacked, his papers were all ready, his computer was online, and his apartment was all set up.

Kod leaned back in his chair. He was in the Hunters Guild building, in a nice little office, just for him. He checked his watch and did the countdown in his head...

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, liftoff.

The room was assaulted by a shake, which quickly faded away. His telephone rang. Fred was wondering if everything had gone all right. Glancing the room over, Kod responded with the affirmative.

"By the way," Fred said. "I've got some bad news for you."

"What now?..."

"I checked the registration files, and we have exactly 30,000 people in there. Problem is, I saw a couple of weird-looking people on my way to the building. Methinks we have a few stoaways."

"So what? No big deal, that was expectable."

"You think so? I sent a few hunters on a job, see how many they estimated there were. The current population of Pioneer II is actually more or less 45,000."

"Man!... Can the oxygen machines work for so many people?"

"They could work for a million for all I care; that's not the point. The deal is: we're gonna have shitloads of crime aboard this ship. I bet most of these illegal passengers are nothing more than criminals."

"Well, any black market dealers in the bunch?"

"You could bet on it."

"Then that's fine with me. We'll go for the criminals but for some reason we didn't see any black market people. Get it?"

Fred laughed. "Yeah, thank you Captain Obvious. Watcha getting this time?"

"Power upgrade on my partisan. The big stuff."

"I'll hook you up. Nothing like a communications officer to pass messages back and forth."

"What if you get caught?"

"Can't; I hacked the system to make all those transmissions private. At least I passed my programming class in one shot!!"

"Why do you think I switched to cook? No codes when you cook!"

Fred chuckled. "Lazy ass. Anyways, no job for today. See you tomorrow."

[KodiaX987]

08: The Emperor's Orchestra

"This guy's a speedy."

"Taking a left on 49th Row, looks like a powerful car."

"Is there anyone in the sector?"

"At least three hunter cars; if the police doesn't come by in five minutes, we jump in."

Kod turned the radio off, setting the SUV's atmosphere to dead silence.

He turned to the android on the passenger seat.

"Ready, Hornet?"

"All checked and set, sir."

"Back there?"

"Nighthawk and White Julia ready." Two RAcaseals replied in unison from the back seat.

"Put yourselves in common mode. You will be referred to as Julia until further order."

"Done. Waiting for orders. Is the speeder coming yet?"

"He'll be there in about thirty seconds. Police or not, I'm hopping in."

And he waited. He had a good advantage by ordering two RAcaseals to be put in common mode. Although they became a tad slower to react, the strategic impact was immense. By possessing a strategic asset with two bodies for one commanding mind, it would allow him to better coordinate the chase, leaving some of his work over to the now fusionned Julia.

Something tickled the back of his head. He was wondering who was in command when in common mode... Nighthawk, or White Julia? Or maybe both?

No time to think about it, as the sound of the speeder was beginning to be heard. He turned on the engine, stuck the SUV in four-wheel drive and peeked out of the alley. A few seconds and a controlled slide later, the hot pursuit had begun.

The speeder was a military green roadster, but modified such that he couldn't identify it...

"Hornet, ident car." He ordered.

"Lancyle Unreal, upgraded. I saw no passengers, but seemingly lots of cargo."

"Figures... What's my coefficient?"

"Stock compared, zero point ninety-four. Current compared, zero point seventy seven."

That meant he was slower by maybe as much as twenty-three precent than the potential of the car he chased... Not good.

"Add nitro, then coefficient again."

"One point one zero."

"Good enough. I have nitro to spare. Julia, see if you can identify the contents of the speeder."

One of the RAcaseals (both happened to be identical, which didn't help...) flicked the sunroof switch and poked her head out. Her twin handed a point scanner to her, which she attempted to pass all over the speeding car.

Kod, noticing her difficulty in keeping the target, went for the essential.

"Any dangerous explosives or stuff I should be aware of?"

"No." the twin who was inside replied.

"Good. Julia, arm your rifles and get ready. Hornet, look outside for me. I'll be too busy trying to maintain control to look at the road." That said, he switched his data screen to the stability viewer. "My distance is forty-three meters; good enough. I'm hittin' it!"

He hadn't waited for any ready signals from the three accompanying androids, since he thought they could take care of themselves enough to warn him if anything was wrong.

The lower back of the SUV went up in flames as he hit the nitro. The first explosion was scary, he knew, but did no actual damage to the car.

He hit the back of the speeder at one hundred and fifty miles an hour. The spikes at the front of the bumper dug into the metal, and Kod raised the cage as soon as he heard the bang. His bumper cage wasn't strong enough to lift a whole car, but it would at least give an angle to the spikes and thus keep them in. He now had the speeder in control.

The RAcaseals had their rifles at the ready and saturated the speeder car with photon bullets. The discharge from the blasts provided an expected change in force fields, and adding to it was the runaway driver who attempted to light up his own nitro to get out of the spikes' grip.

The stability viewscreen went red all over the place, but Kod had practiced the move dozens of times. Carefully, he made small wheel and handbrake inputs to keep the SUV in balance...

The speeder's rear bumper ripped off. The car merrily put on the gas and took some more distance, this time with nitro.

"Julia, come back in!" Kod shouted to the two RAcaseals. "Hornet, report on nitro, standard style."

"Ninety-four percent."

He hit it again, and this time kept in on. The SUV weaved between the civilan cars with relative ease, but for Kod it was like trying to lead an elephant through a tight pottery shop. One wrong move and an innocent person would buy the farm. His truck might be the type to laugh at damage and dents, but he wasn't so sure about the pieces of junk that were on the road today.

"Ninety percent."

And as he had found out, pieces of junk included the Unreal he was following.

Hornet flicked the radio back on but kept the volume low. Reports were coming in like a mad river and the hunter frequencies were completely saturated.

"Switch to police frequency, start with channel nine."

"Eighty percent."

The police frequency was just as frantic, but at least he had better reports of the situation. If there was one thing police men were good at, it was doing damage pronostics. And it seemed to be heading zero nine zero relative to ship north. Due east.

"Seventy percent."

The speeder took the offramp, soon to be followed by Kod's SUV. Both vehicles made a tight one-eighty to the next intersection, which took them down four city levels. This part of Pioneer was poorly designed, with several on and offramps all over the place, completed with a load of intersection and tight alleys, just where the speeder was heading.

"Sixty percent."

Kod had to brake at the last minute; his truck was too wide to fit in. The speeder activated underside jets, and merrily went along into the alley two wheels on the ground and two on the wall.

"It's one way." Hornet suddenly declared. "Down two levels and backwards! Now!"

Kod turned the SUV around and hit the nitro again. He took at look at his nitro levels. Down to forty-eight percent.

"Keep going straight and jump the turn; you'll land on top of him according to my calculations."

This was a straightaway, followed by a sharp ninety-degree turn only five hundred meters away, the whole thing protected by a small cement wall.

"Julia! Destroy the wall!!"

Said and done. The androids didn't have the time to completely wipe out the wall but it was weakened enough to allow Kod's SUV to break through with negligible damage.

The fall was brief but scary, as he found out he had only two car widths of unprotected road to work on. One wrong move and falling down he would go, as he was sure the walls there wouldn't keep him from going right through, thanks to government budget.

The spikes landed right into the trunk of the speeder, lifting it up as the SUV secured itself straight and level. The resisting driver responded by furiously lighting his nitros.

"Julia, hit the engine!" Kod ordered.

Nourished photon fire poured on the front of the speeder, and the nitro's flames died in seconds, but not before giving a final burst.

This caught Kod by surprize, and the truck lost all stability. It went into a dangerous fishtail, taking him much too close to the edge of the road. He immediately switched to four-wheel drive again and played around with the gas and brakes to keep him on the road.

"SHIT!!"

The truck stopped, one wheel sitting on nothing. He gave some gentle gas, turned to be in line with the road and slowly made his way to the intersection that would take him to a safer level.

"You don't want to arrest him now?" Hornet queried.

"No. I'd rather carry him back the way he is right now. Besides, from what I see here, both of his doors are stuck! Oh; Julia, switch out of common mode."

He heard a groan coming from one of them...

"You okay, Nighthawk?"

"I hate common mode." She responded.

"But you don't have an emotion chip; how can you hate it?"

"It makes me feel bad. It hurts."

"Hurts? You don't even have sensors aside from your vision cameras!"

"Androids have a soul too, you know. We have feelings deep down inside."

"Must be your programming. And you White Julia? How did it go on your side?"

"Everything went number one, Kod."

"Super!" His hands went over the radio controls and flicked some switches. "Garage, this is Bastard. I got the guy, heading back to the office number fout to deposit."

"Sweet. You should see the police, though." Fred answered. "They're fuming! They say you moved ahead of planned operation time."

"I'm not too fast; it's the police who's too slow! Tell them they'd better quicken the pace next time because they can stick their timing policies right up their you-know-what."

"I'll give them the message. Out!"

---------------------------------------------

"You know you did something wrong here, you know that?" One of the lead hunters scolded.

"I wasn't going to sit on my ass all day, you know." Kod answered with a shrug. "Besides, he was passing right by me; what better way to end a chase than by beginning it as soon as possible."

"Yeah, well because of you, the police force is accusing us of stepping on their turf." A second lead intervened. "It's gonna make the news, I guarantee it!"

"No shit." Kod said while trying to restrain his laughter. "The hunters know how to do their job better than the police force. To me those guys are just a bunch of bureaucrats who prefer to fire a gun than to do paperwork. And even then, that gun, they only take it out in case of 'extreme situations'. Yeah, like someone stealing a tank or whatever the hell they wanna call it."

"May I remind you you are still a first level lead hunter here?" The first lead came back. "That means we have a say in each other's actions, including yours. And from what I know, we've talked about your actions quite often lately."

Kod put down the glass of water he had just drank. "When I see food in front of me, I take it. It doesn't get any simpler than this. If I was a resident yes-man like you guys, I would be somewhere under the floor as far as the hierarchy chart is concerned."

"Would've been better that way." The first lead muttered.

"Say that again?!"

"Nothing!"

Kod's eyes were shooting daggers at the man, and the other leads didn't dare say a word. He closed his eyes, sat down and took a deep breath.

"Okay. So who thinks I'm on the wrong side of the law for doing my job here?"

Seven out of ten people raised the hand, just as Kod was reaching into his pocket.

"I veto that."

He dropped a pin on the table. It was a golden copy of his section identification, put on marble red and black background.

"I've been promoted to section lead, in reward for the job I've accomplished, plus a nifty amount of cash." He put the pin on his office uniform. "See you in a hundred years, convervative suckers!"

The room erupted into wild talks. Even when Kod had closed the door, he could still hear them yelling and arguing.

Playing king of the hill was great, especially when you were the winner. And to top it off, he was having fun too!

Five minutes later, he had reserved at the traditional revolving restaurant with Fred, Yowa, Armi, and two other friends: a female ranger named Noella, and a talented hope named Breez Lokk. He would take the time to celebrate the promotion of this guy too, something Kod had decided upon just after getting his own promotion, a motion that was accepted by the other section leads. Breez was to be pushed up to division sargeant.

"Oh, and window table, please!" Kod concluded. After getting the affirmative, he turned off the cellphone. He had just enough time to go home, hop into the shower, re-dye his hair, and meet his buddies at the restaurant. Following that, he would take it easy for, say, the next two days...

He wanted to know the section leads before doing anything. Oh, and the section superiors as well, the next level of command.

[Kupi]

Breez Lokk? Uh-oh. XD

Good as always!

[Hikosaka]

Great fic so far, KodiaX! Your mix of action and characterization is top notch. I hope to read more soon. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[KodiaX987]

09: The Visible Spectrum

Kod stepped into a luxurious room, obviously more comfortable than what he knew back when he was just a lead hunter. Although windowless, it was adorned with paintings, stylistic furniture, and high quality black leather seats. The top notch.

"Good afternoon Mr. Nainsev!" A slightly old, bearded man declared upon his entry. "Before you sit down, I'd like to inform you of some possibilities you have at this step of your career. You may, if you wish, join the ranks of the army, and enter at the rank of Major, without any need for boot camp training or recurrency training. You may also, if you wish again, run for the political spot of minister of defense. Finally, you may, as originally said, take your place as lead of the Red section, and sit down in whichever chair is free."

"I'll go for the section lead." Kod replied without any deliberation.

"Great! Have a seat. You are in good hands here. I know the lead hunters put up a scene a few minutes ago, but don't worry; we here know better. We appreciate your sense of initiative and overall devotion to the Hunters Guild."

Kod sat down. "I guess there had to be a free spot for me to fit in here?"

"Yes, yes of course. Usually, a promotion is given whenever someone higher is promoted, or when the person holding the spot becomes incapable of holding it anymore."

"So, in my case...?"

"The former section lead experienced a grave injury to both of his legs and part of his lungs. He is alive and lucid, but in no way available to command his section. Therefore, he recommended you to fill up his spot."

"Do I know him?"

"No; he asked for a scan of the hunter profiles and let the techies decide on who would be our best fit."

Kod didn't need to ask anymore questions!

Seeing his silence, the man stood up again. "I'm Mr. Nathan Rosser, and I lead the White section of the hunter guild management. Starting at my left, there's Mr. Young, leader of the Teal section of the rangers; Mrs. Pero, Sky-Blue section of the communications; Mr. Rudder, Blue section of the newman hunters; Mr. Griffith, Purple section of support psychic force users; Mrs. Best, Pink section of the combat psychic force users; you, as leader of the Red section of the hunters; Mrs. Evoescu, Orange section of the android maintenance and management; Mr. Gauthier, Yellow section of the public relations; Mr. Karl, Black section of safety and security; and Mr. Tavares, leader of the Green section of hunter training."

"Good afternoon." Kod said, which was replied by a nod from everyone. "Glad to see you guys don't use the fancy color nicknames..."

Nathan smiled. "You'll mostly be working with Mr. Young and Mrs. Best, since you three manage most of our fighting force here in the Guild. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't be working with the rest of us. As a section lead, the payroll is higher and the schedule tighter, meaning less hunter jobs. But don't worry, that won't affect you much, and anyways you'll stay alive longer this way. The section leads meet every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at eight thirty in the morning. As a section lead, your responsibility will increase. You'll have to take a look at law bills, judge hunter offenses, look for young talents - something you've done already, I think - and many more duties. As long as you stay on schedule, you should have a fine time working with us. We try to make sure our jobs are as easy to do as possible. After all, we're all addicts of the virtual golf game on Arlington Way, whenever the meeting ends earlier than usual." He grinned. "Maybe you'd like to join us?"

Kod raised his eyebrows. "I'm not the best golf player in the world, but I'm ready to give it a shot."

"Great! You happened to be the last subject of our meeting for today, so you have the rest of the day to yourself, my friend. Welcome aboard, Mr. Nainsev!"

"Thank you!"

-----------------------------------------------------

Breez had accepted his promotion with pride and happiness, but this time they didn't go eat at the familiar revolving restaurant as planned, since it had been closed due to contamination in the water supply. So instead, they went to a local bar called The House of God.

It was a very odd place. Most seats and tables were made of cheap material, but had been painted with high quality gold paint. In one corner was a cluster of old sofas and couches. The most striking feature was the myriad of TV sets fixed at the ceiling and the music happily pumping away.

"This place is said to be a black market meeting place." Kod explained. "Hence, you can find all sorts of people here."

Armi chuckled. "I second that. I knew lots of weird people back where I used to live."

Kod raised his eyebrows in response and downed his drink. Fred, Noella and Yowa hadn't been able to come after all, making Breez' promotion a little less spectacular. But there was compensation: the House of God's signature meal: the Dollar. Armi had suggested the place herself.

It had taken the both of them all their arguing power to convince Breez to get one though; he wasn't one for spinach, which was used in the making of the tortilla-like food. Finally, Kod called for the waiter, and as Breez was looking away, handed over a golden pin with some whispered instructions.

Now he had to keep the conversation going with a straight face. Not easy, since both he and Armi were in on the little surprise.

Fortunately, some distraction came in: a black and neon-green female android accompanied by two humans. The android waved in Kod's direction... He waved back, wondering why she was waving at him. He turned to Armi.

"Hey, can androids ever do a mistake on a person, like saying hi to someone they think they know, but really don't?"

"Don't ask me..."

The Dollars arrived.

"Go for the chicken one first, Breez." Kod suggested. "It's really good."

"Which one is chicken?..."

"Yellow flag. The other has a red flag, so that's beef. And the third one is a white flag, so that's pork."

"Okay, got it... Ow, what the..."

Breez spat out an object that had been hidden within his Dollar. It was a silver pin.

"It's a triangle... Division sargeant?!"

"Yep. Congratulations, hunter!" Kod replied.

"Hey!" A voice was heard from the entry. Kod stood up and smiled.

"Noella!" He shouted. "Glad you could make it! Come here, I'll order some more food for you."

"Thanks." She sat down. "I'll go for two chickens and one pork." The waiter heard the order, so Kod didn't have to repeat it over. Noella frowned upon noticing something... "Hey, where are all the naked waiters and waitresses?"

"Never here until nine in the evening." Armi said. "It's six thirty, so, tough luck."

Noella smirked. "Oh well. My husband wouldn't have liked me anyways for that. So, guess I missed the big announcement, huh?"

"Yeah..." Kod replied. "He liked it so much he devoured it." No one laughed. "Okay, that was lame."

Armi giggled. "You're drunk! That makes you do crappy jokes!"

"I only had two drinks."

"That's what I mean!"

This time, the laughter was general.

"So, how's section lead work?" Armi continued.

Kod shrugged. "Nothing much, apparently. A bit more politics, a bit less hunting. Steadier paycheck... Got to meet the other section leads too, be working with two other guys in terms of most hunter guild work... I think I'll also try to do some work with Mr. Karl and Mr. Rosser. They're leaders of the Black and White sections, respectively."

A silence fell... Kod thought he had said something wrong, and probing his last phrase, he concluded that no, everything seemed normal... Wait, actually it was wrong.

"Holy shit..." He muttered. "There isn't a Black section!!"

[Breezblok]

Awesome fanfic Kodi! See, it must be awesome cuz I came all the way out of PSO hibernation to say it! ;p

And lookey! You gave me a surname!

It's...*sniff*...the greatest gift anyone's ever given to me....*sob*

Carry on carry on carry on!!

[KodiaX987]

10: The Mutants Come Out

His searches had yielded nothing. As far as the files were concerned, the Black section had always existed and was as legal as it could be. The problem remained though: no one outside the section leads knew about it. And if that was true, then did the Black section sub-leads know they were working for it?...

To hell with it. Kod closed the file browser window and got up. He'd have to hurry up if he wanted to meet the other leads at the virtual golf club.

----------------------------------

"Hey Kod!" Nathan went. "You're just in time; I teamed you up with Mr. Karl, Mrs. Pero and Mrs. Best."

"Got it."

"Oh; and you'll be sharing clubs with Mr. Karl. You both have a similar stature, so I guess it won't be a problem."

Kod took a look at one of the irons. Rockway brand. Nothing but the best.

Two screens had been booked; they were eight to play. Since Nathan and Mrs. Pero were the two best golfers, they were on separate teams. Best-ball game, ten meseta per hole, double up if tied. Hole in one meant a free beer (good thing Kod wasn't a pro; he preferred Raw-10 Ice anyways.)

"Your choice, Mr. Nainsev!" Nathan suddenly exclaimed. "Royal Algo, St-Hubert Localizer Back Course, or Klein City Country Club?"

"Last one you said." Kod muttered.

"What?"

"The Country Club!"

Nathan punched in the code and both screens came alive, showing a scenery that would've rivaled with Eden. The order of play had been randomly determined, and thankfully Mrs. Pero had been put in first.

In the meantime, Kod had to find out about the Black section. Several methods came to his head, but he decided to just go ahead and play the idiot.

"Say, never heard there was a Black section on Pioneer." He told Mr. Karl.

The other man nodded. "Yeah, everyone tells me this. We're just the guys who monitor the people. Parking lot cameras, security systems, car alarms, gang monitoring, fraud spotters... Secret police, you know..." He grinned. "...But in a nice way!"

"So you basically get all the boring lowlife jobs the government sends over to you."

"Yeah, most of the time, but once in a while we catch a big fish and then the government's really happy to have us here. Reason why we're never heard of is simply the fear factor. If you don't know someone will be looking really closely at your credit records, you'll just be less careful preparing them. And that is a major fraud giveaway. They forget one line and then they're screwed for life!"

Inside his head, Kod was saying a prayer. All his guns had a black market cooldown unit to allow him to fire more quickly. Hell, everyone in the guild had one of these things.

"Your turn." He heard Mrs. Best say. Grabbing Mr. Karl's driver, he walked over to the artifical grass spot and teed off.

Skull drive, hook to the right, just on the edge of the fairway.

"Not too shabby for a piece of rust!" Mr. Karl commented. "Your turn again; you're farthest from the pin.

One other swing and Kod was back in line. Not really far, but at least back in line.

"Yeah, anyways." Mr. Karl continued. "Basically, Black section is just about making sure things run smoothly. I mean, black market groups, they're small potatoes compared to what the government loses from other stuff, so they're low priority guys..."

Good!

"...What we care about is the group of CEOs who make much more than what they claim they do. Since tax payment goes according to income, you see where I'm going here." Kod nodded. "We also work closely with most other sections to ensure that things run smoothly in their own security systems. That's why we have a highly trained and current hacker branch. All those government program bug fixes, that's us. The only reason we are never mentionned is because the Black section, at least most of it, is an overlay group. Theoretically, it doesn't mean anything. Practically, we created the Black section to make things easier to classify. All the jobs we do are public. What's hidden is the way we put our files together. Sounds a bit complicated and redundant, but believe me it saves us a workload. Instead of worrying every damn citizen about security, well they just hand the job over to a pack of people and let them arrange things up. This is where I come into the picture. Black is just... is just... It's just a government term for 'Hey, you, security guy!'"

"Yeah, I get it." Kod nodded again and attempted to hide his boredom. If this was all a conspiracy, then Mr. Karl was the Head Hammerer. It was almost ungodly...

"Your turn!" Mrs. Pero exclaimed.

Here we go again... Kod thought as he lined up for his next swing.

Sandbox. God was really angry today...

Mr. Karl was next. He didn't do much better. Seconds later, both were back at the same spot.

"Oh; funny story." Mr. Karl said. "Black section also has shares in a branch called Independent Department of Governmental Research. It's a privately owned health company, pills and all, and its employees tend to nickname it Department Twisted. Know why?"

"Nope." Major yawn. Correction: Major mental yawn.

"Every president we've had so far was some crooked old man. All his wits, half his body. Right now we've got someone on a wheelchair, balding and with his mouth turned to the side like this. He's ugly as hell but he sure knows how to lead a company."

"I guess so."

"What sucks is that some terrorist groups attribute the name of DT to their own group, just because the name sound cool. Man, I'd kill those bastards if I could find them! Anyways, cherry on the sundae, it's DT who's at the top of the newman research projects."

Ah-ha!! Now we're on to something.

"They conduct the tests?" Kod said.

"No; the Department only lays out the objectives and compiles the results. The testing is done by another branch; they're the ones who scratch their heads to find out how to find the answer to the questions we ask them."

"Dirty."

"Yeah, I know... But I don't have much power over that. Seems most government employees prefer to sacrify a bunch of guinea pigs to make the next ones better. Oh! Your turn, Kod."

...

"...Okay, where was I... Yeah, the newman tests. Can you believe we actually managed to get a few catgirls out of this whole thing? I mean, cartoon characters at home. Some of them even have a tail!"

Kod raised his eyebrows. That Mr. Karl was a freak. That, and the fact that eighteen holes of virtual golf would take three hours (beer not included) meant that he'd fall asleep on the steering wheel of his truck on the way back home. Not good, not good. He was really starting to miss the hunter jobs he used to do. Since his promotion, he only went for one. Everything else was meetings and entertainment. If partyland existed, Nathan Rosser would be its king.

Hmm... Sleep...

"Your turn!" Mrs. Pero exclaimed. "You okay back there? You look like you've had a few shooters before coming here."

"I'm all right." Kod replied. "Just the daily worries and all." He had not realized that Mr. Karl had completely lost him and had been talking for the last two minutes to nobody. Now, he was telling him about an improved sexual organ system that had been implemented on some kind of hybrids and tested a few weeks ago with great success, something Kod really didn't need to know about.

Hole number two. Now he knew why he had never been the golfing type.

---------------------------------

He started up the truck, took out the comm from his pocket and clicked the mike.

"Okay Fred. Did you get all this?"

"You owe me double; that guy was a torture!!!" Came the response. "So, think there was anything wrong with Black after all?"

"I don't believe so. I mean, if he really was some secret evil guy, he sure managed to cover his act up pretty well."

"I thought you would've been worried about that!"

"Too tired to think about him."

"Okay. Pass by the hunters office, I'll show you some pretty pictures to wake you up."

"I was already on my way there." Kod turned around a corner; the guild's building was at the far end of that street. "Almost in front of it, actually."

"Sweet! Talk to you in my office."

Fred has an office now? Talk about a comms officer. More likely a comms boss now!

A few minutes later, he had closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat there." Fred said, pointing to a chair just next to his. He then pushed a button on his voice console. "You can come in now."

The door was opened again, this time by one man and one woman wearing bathrobes. Their slightly pointed ears betrayed a newman heritage.

"I do not know their names, for respect of safety." Fred stated. "What you have here are two newman test subjects who were born inside the labs and kept there for a few years. The man was born seven years ago and carried over into Pioneer. The woman was born the day of the takeoff."

Both looked like twenty year old adults. That wasn't new; it was pretty usual to encounter fully grown newmen who were just six months old.

Fred pointed his pen over to the man. "Please take off your bathrobe. Kod, this here is the result of some test only God knows about."

Below the neck, the man was skinless. His muscles and some of his organs were clearly visible, and the arrangement so well-planned, not a single drop of blood leaked out.

"His outside arteries and veins are extra resistant." Fred described. "He has no pain sensors either, so he could do anything the average man could do. Only his head had skin. Hands and feet, it's gloves. Okay, you now."

The woman's state was much sorrier.

"She is one of the first to be fitted with that new organ system your guy described. I'd almost call that Project Maneater."

"Okay, enough." Kod said, looking away. "So what about those tests?"

Fred sent the two mutants out. "There isn't a test branch; all those monstrosities, it's the Department's fault. Mr. Karl has no excuse."

...

"What now?" Kod said, getting up.

Fred turned his computer off.

"All the section leads are in on it. And I'm sure they'll never fully include you in if you don't accept that."

"So I have to agree with their secret tests?!"

"Kod, the section leads want improvements on mutants. They know the potential of genetics. At least one of the leads is unofficially married to a catgirl."

"And the others?"

"Whatever suits their fancy..."

"...And their fantasy." Kod completed the phrase. "Personally, I wouldn't mind such a thing..."

"...And let hundreds of guinea pigs suffer and die just for your own wants?"

"You're right. I'd rather have sex with someone who loves me."

"That's the Kod I know! That's the one I know ever since I saw you with Yowa."

"You gotta be kidding me."

Fred laughed.

[KodiaX987]

11: High Pressure

"I'm not hungry."

"Me neither."

The two women's jaw dropped. Kod and Fred had never uttered such a statement in their entire lives.

"What happened?" Yowa queried.

"Stuff on our mind." Fred simply answered. "Like, top secret and stuff."

"What happened." Yowa repeated.

Kod took a quick glance around the hunter building's lounge. There wasn't anyone in sight but he still had to take the surveillance cameras into account.

"Let's go outside." He declared.

-------------------------------------

Fred took care of delivering the latest to Armi and Yowa while Kod maneuvered his immense truck among the traffic. The women were spared from the uglier details but that didn't change the fact that their apetite had been cut down also.

Just as they were ready to call it a day, Kod's cellphone rang.

"Hello?"

"Kod, Nathan here. Somebody's after you. Get yourself to a safe place subito presto because this guy's got a fix on your truck's location."

"Why the hell would he want my hide?"

"Beats me; but that doesn't matter. He's out there to kill you, so run for it!"

"Who told you this anyways?!"

"Tell you later; call's wiretapped."

And click, the call was over.

"Step!!" Fred yelled.

Kod didn't know what his teammate meant until he heard the sound of a roaring engine. Taking a look into his mirror, he saw a copy of his own truck about to be used as a battering ram.

He turned the wheel and took a sharp dive onto the offramp. The assailant expected the move, because he followed without even slowing down.

"Who's got a gun?" Kod said.

No one answered.

"A saber then! Something!!"

"Nope." Armi answered.

Kod clenched his teeth and put the pedal to the floor. With a gun, at least one of them would've been able to shoot down the enemy driver but with lack of even something to toss, getting the upper hand when he was being the chased guy was going to be a sport in itself.

His only option left was to go close quarters, but that was assuming the enemy wasn't armed, which was too big a risk to take.

"We're going to the black market sector." Kod declared.

"What?!" Fred and Yowa retorted at the same time. No matter, the truck had already taken another offramp, and its enemy counterpart (painted a shining patchwork green) was following suit.

By getting into the sector with the most nooks and crannies, Kod at least had a chance. Instead of a battle of luck, it would become a driving contest, the one with the best reactions being the winner. That, and the criss-crossing alleys could do for some strategy, even though those streets were absolutely unforgiving for a truck as big as a Castek Hunter.

In the meantime, Armi looked behind and reported on the green truck's possible weaponnry. She could easily see a spiked structuro-bumper just like Kod's, along with two slots on the top, which might just hide a pair of machine guns.

Kod took a sharp right to avoid a black and green sports car speeding on a perpendicular street. He saw a window go down and an android yelling at him before he took another right into a winding street. A quick check into the mirrors revealed the enemy truck to be following, although a little less close because the sports car has been in the way.

Still, that didn't matter much. What counted was that the truck was almost touching his ass and wasn't ready to let go. That alone wasn't good. Had the enemy been following from a bit farther, Kod would've at least had the chance of taking a few sharp turns into small streets and try to come back and around from behind.

The green truck didn't leave him that chance though. Plus, the driver's reflexes seemed to be top notch, eliminating the chance of attempting a false move.

"Wait a sec!" Armi exclaimed. "The third bench is removable, right?"

"Oh no, you won't." Kod ordered.

"Yes I will." In fact, she had already unclipped the bench and motionned for Yowa to come and give her a hand. "Unlock the hatch."

Kod wasn't going to, but Fred reached over and pushed the button himself.

The hatch opened. The seat went flying, and crashed straight into the windshield of the green truck.

Kod had to admit, the strategy had worked. Unfortunately, he had a new opponent: a shining crimson Castek Infantry, an SUV small enough to rule the alleys much better than Kod's luxury machine.

"I'm through." The hunter snarled. "This guy's eating my shit."

Bingo. The enemy driver had expected him to run away. Instead, Kod applied the brakes at the last time and raised his spiked bumper, just in time to catch and de-balance the Infantry without getting too much damage on his own side. With the smaller SUV pinned, he floored the gas, went straight to an onramp, onto a higher level with wider streets, and then proceeded to do a fabulous power side in order to slam the Infantry's driver side into a lamp post.

"Anything left?" Kod asked while glancing around him.

There was nothing, apparently. He had the idea of calling Nathan Rosser again and count the story of how much he had kicked ass, but decided against it. In fact, acting on intuition, he turned his cellphone off.

Fred caught on to the strategy.

"Had we known..." He muttered.

"Yep." Kod leaned on the steering column and sighed. "I'm complicating my life for peanuts."

"Don't worry." Yowa said as she hugged the hunter from behind. "At least the peanuts taste good."

"Yeah..." Kod smirked at the comment and leaned back. "Anyone want beer at my apartment?"

-------------------------------------

The return trip was uneventful. Yowa had been the only one to accept the invitation, as Fred had some work to do, and Armi wasn't thirty either after hearing the story of the two mutants, something very understandable.

Kod only turned on a minimum of lights. Even though it was only suppertime, he felt drained and ready to go to bed this instant. Still, he could last a few more minutes. He went ahead and grabbed two bottles of beer into the fridge, opened them and brought them into two glasses to the living room, where Yowa was sitting.

Both of them felt tired, in fact, as only after a quarter of the beer had been drank, the two were leaning against each other with their eyes almost closed.

"Maybe it's a good thing we're alone." Kod muttered. "Fred and Armi would've felt insulted..."

Yowa giggled. "Know what I like about you? I don't need to be telepath to always know exactly what's on your mind."

"Glad my lack of tact has some productive use. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Both laughed softly.

"I'm too knocked out." Kod declared.

"Same for me... How do you sleep?"

"On my back. You?"

"On my stomach. To heck with the bed, you'll be my mattress for tonight."

Kod smirked. "Sounds like a plan. G'night."

"Sleep tight... And please don't turn in your sleep."

"I don't." Kod replied as he got himself comfortable on the sofa. "Unless you want to take the other sofa and set it up next to this one?"

"Can't move a muscle." Yowa said through a yawn. "I'll trust you."

Kod made a mental note before falling asleep: fetch some data from Nathan Rosser.

[KodiaX987]

12: Bam Bam

"Nathan, we gotta talk."

"Me too, sit down."

Kod had come alone; he had woken up before Yowa and had carefully set her up on the sofa before making his way out. It was still early morning but he and some of the section leads were already at the job.

"Let me fill you in." Nathan Rosser declared. "I called you yesterday about someone wanting your hide, and it's no random event, you know about it. Also, I know you suspect some of the section leads of supporting illegal experiments. When you talked to Mr. Karl during our golf game, you didn't seem really interested in his news."

"Let's face it, he's boring to listen to."

Nathan sighed. "I know that. Believe me, I know that. But be honest with me. Did he strike a nerve by talking about this nevertheless?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes. Take it as your initiation. Every section lead had to step into this sort of test. Either he was impressed, or he didn't care about it. But, you are the first one to have a negative reaction to this, and this is where I come in."

"So you've got a gun under your table?"

Nathan laughed. "No, no. What I mean is that you need to be more tolerant. I'll be honest with you, I don't like the works of Mr. Karl's section, especially the bio research one, but I had to resign to the idea of accepting it. The Black section doesn't necessarily do good things, but it provides precious jobs and helps in stabilizing the newman race, since we know they sometimes have a very short life span for some unexplainable reason."

"Get to the point." Kod interrupted while glancing at his watch.

"What I mean is: the Black section is like holding a wolf by the ears: you don't like it, but you don't dare let go."

"Uh-huh..."

"Quite obvious too, but the attack on you was a scare attempt from the Black sector, more importantly Department Twisted. They only wanted to show that they meant business. And they know that you're willing to go the extra mile to set things straight, so don't be surprised if they decide to swipe their claws at you. They know you can hurt. This is why I'll suggest this: I put you on a so-called elite team. Technically, you are still a section lead, but we'll have someone filling in for you while you're gone. In the meantime, you get back to your hunting job, and you work alongside a specific group of people in some sort of secrecy."

"And what is that supposed to do to me?"

"It'll keep you safe. It's my way of telling the DT folks 'I offered him something and he took it, he won't pose anymore problems'. Once they know you won't reach around and stab them, they'll leave you alone. In the meantime, you keep the same pay. How does it sound so far?"

"...Well, I'm really fed up with paperwork and meetings. So I guess a bit of hunting will do me good. All right. And how long does my super-special mission last?"

"That's undetermined. It will depend on the circumstances."

-----------------------------------------------------

The elite team had been formed and rounded up in one of the meeting rooms of the hunters building. Kod had selected Yowa and Armi of course. Fred recommended the young Breez Lokk and an experienced ranger named Noella. Finally, Nathan Rosser went to get two more hunters: Drekan Avon, and Philip Mateo. Add to this a division of android hunters and rangers, and the elite team was born. As for Fred, he couldn't join in since he wasn't a "real" hunter, but he'd direct communications as normal.

So Kod was the chief of six teammates, plus some androids. And the team was called Avalanche Elite. God knows where the name came from.

"Mr. Rosser's already given us an assignment." The leader declared. "We'll mostly be working providing security to the laboratories of Department Twisted. If something escapes, that's our job, and we've got one right here. The runaway is described as wearing a dark green suit, has sky blue eyes and waist-length pink hair. Mostly recognizable by her use of two Deller Band sabers and her method of walking on the tip of her toes like an animal. In fact, you have a picture here on the overhead."

Everyone nodded.

"I don't think we'll need androids. We'll just all get there, kill the target and come back, simple as that. I don't feel like making a two-hour long briefing. Besides, the floor where she escaped was locked, so she has no way of getting anywhere. Take five minutes to get ready and then we'll go."

-----------------------------------------------------

Kod had selected his trusty partisan and a handgun. Yowa was using a battle rod, Armi and Noella had chosen a pair of machine guns, and Drekan and Philip had been assigned sabers for close combat help. As for Breez, he had a knife in one hand and a small caliber machine gun in the other.

They took the assigned elevator and tested their communications equipment in the meantime.

"By the way," Kod said, "remember that she has an uncanny sense of smell, so she might just pop up as soon as the door opens."

"Got it." Philip replied as he took position near the door.

The three hunters rushed out, pointing their weapons to each side, but there was nothing.

"She isn't at the entrance." Kod said into his comm. "Can your infrareds pick up anything?"

"Nothing." Came the reply.

The seven took a corridor and examined every nook and cranny on the way. It was good to help keep the team alive, but that meant playing cat and mouse with the target if she didn't feel like attacking. Kod wasn't ready to split the team yet, so he just kept on walking. In the meantime, he'd get a good visual representation of the floor and be able to quickly locate and go to key points if the need arises.

Seconds became minutes and although the team could hear some footsteps, they didn't see any sign of the target.

"Control, this is Bastard." Kod said in his comm. "When the hell are you getting your infrareds fixed?"

"We can locate you guys but we can't locate the target." Control replied. "She might just be dead for all we know..."

"I came to this corner once already. I think we should have found her by now. You sure everything has been locked?"

"Every single atom of this floor. What, you think she might have flushed herself down the toilet?"

"You tell me, I don't know how newmans and mutants can behave."

"Just keep going. I'll see what I can do on my side. I'm already doing so anyways. Why don't you split the team? She's only got two Deller Band sabers in her possession as far as I know."

"The sabers I could care less. I just don't want to be caught by surprise."

"And your reputation said you were wild for a hunter. Where's the beastie today?"

"Silence."

"What does--"

Kod cut the volume and motioned for the team to stop walking. The footsteps were closer and a bit faster; the target was jogging. Where, he'll be damned if he knew...

"Split up." He ordered the team. "Keep visual contact with at least one teammate at all times. Yowa, you stay with me."

Yowa wasn't a fighter and thus would need some assistance if she got attacked. Kod pointed directions to each teammate and then walked into his chosen corridor section.

He turned around to see if Breez was still in sight, and waited at a corner of the corridor. The footsteps were definitely closer...

Yowa pointed to a direction in the next intersection. Nodding, Kod ran to the spot on the tip of his toes, spun to face westbound, and came face to face with the target.

She screamed in surprise and turned heels to escape. Kod immediately dashed after her but it was a lost cause. The newman's legs were longer, stronger and more developed. Taking his handgun out, he fired a few shots, but his own movements made then just even easier to dodge, especially considering that the target had a very fine ear.

"Control, how do your screens look?" He said into his comm after turning the volume back up.

"To me, you're chasing the invisible man." Came the reply.

The newman turned around a corner. Kod almost power-slid trying to keep up, but it was no use. Though the next part of the corridor went unbroken for thirty feet, the target had mysteriously vanished.

"Control, are there any secret doors around my location?"

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"I lost my target. She vanished into thin air."

"I can't help you here... I told, you she doesn't give me any signal whatsoever. Want me to rally the team to your spot?"

"Negative, standby."

The hunter thought for a moment. So far, the corridors had all been empty, and the doors were locked. So, the only place he'd find her would be somewhere within the corridors... Unless she just never escaped her spot in the first place. That was something to consider... Or maybe the infrared couldn't pick up all the locations at once...

"Control, any rooms in your blind spot?"

"Only isolated test rooms 1 to 6. This is where she escaped from, so we assume she isn't in there anyways."

"If she isn't on your map, she's right into one of your blind spots. You'll unlock each door in order on my command."

"Roger Wilco."

"Rally the team to the door leading to isolated test room number 1. I'll also save a checkpoint here under the name 'Encounter 1'."

"Got it."

Kod looked up, ready to take a step towards the designated room when he saw the newman just inches away from her. She gave him a grin and made a run for it before the hunter could even raise his hand.

Again, he ran. This time, the girl suddenly took a sharp left, and smashed herself into the wall.

Gone.

"Control, is our target a ghost of sorts?"

"What's the problem?"

"I saw her again, and this time, she passed right through a wall!"

"Holy shit... I don't know what to tell you. Maybe just get to the test room and start looking in there. I am positive you're not looking at the real target here. Maybe it's a hologram, or something."

"Are there holographic projectors anywhere on this floor?"

"...No."

Kod resumed his walk, turned at an intersection, and came face to face with two newman girls this time.

He didn't attempt a swipe or a run. In fact, the two girls hopped into the wall as soon as he looked at them.

"Control, you know your target has a twin sister?"

"It's an illusion, dammit. Don't trust what you see until you get to the test room."

"I'm not taking a single step until you upload the files to my comm. I want to know what I am up against."

"This is classified, I can't give that information to you."

"Figures..."

"Listen, stop wondering about the specs of your target and do your work. DT doesn't want this floor closed all day."

Kod sighed and jogged to the test room, in front of which his teammates were already waiting.

"We've got a really weird target here." He declared. "Yowa, stick with me. Drekan, open the door and stay hidden behind it. Control, unlock door number 1."

A click was heard, and Drekan quickly opened the door. He took a step back while Noella jumped to face the entrance to the test room, machine guns at the ready, but no one was there.

Philip Mateo took the front line with Kod and both entered the test room.

Inside, there were a dozen newman girls smiling at them. And they were all alike.

The army of girls activated their sabers and the two hunters took their combat stance. Noella came from behind, told them to crouch, and swept the area with nourished fire.

The targets were unharmed. They kept on walking towards them.

"They don't look real..." Yowa commented.

"I don't feel like finding out." Kod replied. If it was a real army, he'd get massacred, even if the targets were all using something as lame as a pair of Deller Band sabers. However, Breez did all the thinking for him. The young hunter took a small empty bescher from a shelf, and tossed it at the targets.

The glass passed right through them. They were just illusions.

"Good thinking, Breez!" Kod said with a grin as he walked right through the army of girls. However, the rest of the room was empty...

"The belts have been left attached..." Mateo stated. "And the bed is kind of caved in, as if someone had just slept there."

"So..." Yowa began, but Kod slapped his hand on her mouth. Without a second of hesitation, he swung his partisan right through the bed.

Blood gushed out, and the newman lost her concentration. The target appeared, still on her bed, but she was moving freely. The belts had been ripped away, and placed back to seem like she was still attached there. But the effect of surprise was over.

The newman jumped out of the bed, her right arm bleeding, and activated the real Deller Band sabers. Two energy rays shot out of each handle, and she took an improvised fighting stance.

Kod didn't feel like doing business though. Besides, his partisan had a longer reach. With one swing, he knocked the newman off balance. She countered with a swing of her own using both sabers and almost managed to knock out the hunter's shield by her sheer strength. She was definitely stronger than what she looked like, and that meant the job had to be done even more quickly, else his target would learn his weaknesses during the fight.

He made a useless swing to scare her, jumped back and yelled "Fire!" Armi and Noella went ahead with salvos, forcing the newman into a corner. Kod gradually approached the target, yelled "Quit!" and suddenly stabbed his partisan into the stomach of the dazed newman. With the photon blade well planted within the target's body, he swung it in a wide vertical arc, doing a 180 degree turn to follow the movement, and slam the girl on the floor. Immediately, Mateo and Breed had rushed forth and handcuffed her.

The girl surprised them by becoming invisible again, but the move didn't work, as the handcuffs were clearly visible. She realized this a second too late and tried to make them disappear too, but Mateo had already grabbed her arm. Besides, she was bleeding both from the arm and from the stomach, not counting several hit marks from the fire of the machine guns. Should she try to escape again, the team would just have to follow the blood trail.

"Control, we've got her." Kod said into his comm. "You can't believe the stuff she can do."

"Tell me; unofficially of course..."

"She can become invisible along with whatever she's wearing, and create ghost copies of herself, like holograms. The reason she stayed in the isolated room was because of the infrareds."

"Wow, odd stuff. Well, thanks for the info. I'll go to sleep smarter tonight."

"Yeah, whatever. We're bringing her to the elevator."

"Negative, kill her right away."

Kod's eyebrow went sky high.

"Kill her? Confirm?"

"That is correct."

He looked at his teammates, who all wore a similar expression.

"Another test subject in the trash... Those guys really take them for objects."

"Well, you gotta admit she acted like an animal all along." Drekan told him.

"Yeah, you're right." Kod sighed. "Okay gentlemen. One, two, three, go."

Four blades sliced through the newman's neck and then neatly cut her head apart. Then, the process was repeated twice for her torso, leaving nothing but crude slabs of meat on the ground.

The first elite mission was over. The scientists would take care of cleaning up.

The following day, Kod got a meaty cheque in the mail. His usual pay, and a good bonus for his first successful Avalanche Team mission.

He wondered how long he'd be able to stand that kind of thing. After all, he was supporting a bunch of perverted and corrupted people.

"Cheers!" Yowa said. Two wine glasses lightly touched each other.

Kod would worry about his job later. Right now, his mind was paying attention to Yowa and her purple eyes.

[Stricker]

Is it over, or how many chapters left?

[KodiaX987]

No chapter limit. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif I'll just keep this going for as long as I feel like it.

[KodiaX987]

13: Plugs Out


6 years later

Kod's eyes were bloodshot.

Davion and Philip were both sleeping somewhere in another room. Yowa was on her fifth solitaire. Armi kept glancing at her watch.

After four hours of boredom, the readings went from yellow to black. Mission aborted.

It was two in the morning. Breez and Noella had gone to the Department's facilities to witness a major experiment involving fourteen rapid-growing mutant cells. The instructions were simple: if one of the growths goes out of control, kill it. If the whole experiment goes awry, call for backup. Each growth had lost it, one by one. At the end, the experiment was considered a failure, and would have to be re-done using different measures.

When the two hunters came back to the headquarters, they were yawning to death.

"So, how did it go?" Kod asked half-jokingly.

"Those were the five most horrible hours of my life." Breez declared as he wiped his eyes. "At first things went okay, and then we got called to maybe secure one of them. The whole thing stayed in limbo for, like, fifteen minutes, and then it came back to normal. So we went back to our spots and we got called again two minutes later. False alert again. The third time, I suggested we kill it because it was too unstable. We thought we had gotten rid of an annoyance when another growth went unstable. All this to say: we stood there like morons for all that time, and we'd kill a growth whenever it pissed us off enough."

Armi had turned the computers off in the meantime and had woken up her teammates in the other room.

Kod sighed. "I hate it. Too much pressure to go home and get a rest, but not enough to give us some fun potential. Do they plan on starting another experiment like that?"

"Probably; I asked one of the biologists there. He told me the most likely result will be that they'll do it over again, but with slower growth cells and thus less danger. He's ninety percent certain that we won't have to sit through another one like that."

"Better be." He turned to Yowa. "Start the car, I'll be there in a minute." Then, after he made sure the room was empty: "What did the cells look like?"

Breez thought for a moment. "Didn't look really human. More like a snake of sorts. The most mature ones were developing exoskeletons by the time we decided to get rid of them."

So there wasn't much to get out of that mission. Noting stuff about the Department was hard for Kod, since his memory wasn't the best in the world, and jotting those notes down somewhere was too risky. He was relieved there were no humanoids involved this time, but the experiment itself left him perplexed.

"Why the hell would they want mutant snakes?..."

"They might have been normal mutants. You know how a fetus looks like when it's real young."

"Yeah... Or maybe they were trying out a form of natural amputee?"

Breez shook his head. "I don't think the section leads are as sick as this; at least I'm not."

"Oh no?" Kod replied with a grin. "How'd you like your mutant?"

The hunter (who had jumped to first level lead by now) laughed. "To be honest with you, I wouldn't mind getting Armi. I'm speaking facts here: she looks hot."

Kod tapped on his teammate's shoulder to get him moving for the exit. "Up to you to find out." He said as he turned the lights off and closed the door. "And I'll be honest with you as well: you're one of the few people in whom I have full trust. That evidence we've collected through the jobs will give me some stuff to argue about. All I need now is a scandal and the corruption is cooked."

"Who do you have in sight?"

"I know Mr. Karl and Mr. Gauthier work together a lot. The majority of those guys have something to do with the Department, but those two guys are what keeps the whole deal alive. If I take out those two guys, the others will bitch, but they won't do anything. They know some of their practices were illegal and will prefer to keep their public image instead of trying to strike me down."

"How could them countering you destroy their public image?!"

"If they defend Mr. Karl and Mr. Gauthier, it will sound as if they are defending what the Department had been doing. And I won't leave them the chance, because I'll first make sure that I have enough stuff on my side to insure my victory. If they try to hop into the argument, they'll all shoot themselves in the foot."

"Uh-huh... But then, we need that scandal, right?"

"Yep, that's the problem. I expect some things to surface when we hit Ragol. Because we'll have two different hunter bodies joining together, there will be a bit of reform. And if that isn't enough, the rest of the Pioneer project will follow in, and blow away whatever dust that's left. Point is: we gotta wait until we get a lucky find. It will either be a big Department screw-up, or it will be a few vigilante hunters, who'll just need a little bit of push-up to start doing damage on Karl's turf."

Breez stopped his superior before reaching the front door. "What if this neither happens?"

Kod sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Breez. I still have many years of life ahead of me. One day or another, something will happen; you can't fool some of the people all the time."

Breez crossed his arms and tried to think up of a reply, but found no one. Muttering a quick good night, he pushed the front door and went out.

--------------------------------------------

"Well, thank you!" Kod exclaimed after opening the package. Everyone gathered up behind him to look.


To Avalanche Elite, in recognition for their work and to celebrate their 6th anniversary:

Kod "Bastard" Naïnsev, Team Lead
Armi "Shark" Prosis, Assistant Lead
Yowa "Purple" Kaidach
Breez "Prodigy" Lokk
Noella "Christmas" Lephon
Philip "Sharp" Mateo
Davion "Screwdriver" Rivers
Frederik "Fred" Baker, Assigned Communications Manager

It was signed by Mr. Karl (who actually had this annoying habit of actually putting down Mr. Karl as his name) and some other Department high guys Kod had only met once or twice. The plaque was also adorned with a snowcapped A, Avalanche's logo, and a hexagon with a circle inside, the Department's logo.

"Finally, we're getting a bit of thanks!" Davion commented.

"Yep." Kod said after putting the plaque back inside the envelope. "Next plaque in twelve years." Generalized laugh. "Okay! Let's see what's on the news today. It's Sunday, the Department's offices are for the most part closed, and I feel like taking it easy."

He moved the mouse and navigated to his personal account page, which displayed a prioritized list of the available jobs. Finding nothing interesting, he logged out and leaned back on his chair: the go signal for "Take out your cards, we're playing a game!"

Davion opened a drawer, threw a pack on the table, but the phone rang before he got the chance to shuffle.

"Hello? One moment." He handed the phone over to Kod.

"Yeah? Oh, hey. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Right. And how did that happen?! You dunno! And you're a security and safety leader! Okay, okay, stop chewing me out for Chrissake, I'm on it! Yeah, bye. Grab your stuff, merry teammates, we're the lucky winners and our prize is: a merry mission involving a merry heist with merry..."

"Shut up." Armi interrupted as she reached for her shield unit. "No one's merry."

"Duh. Oh, and we need an android squad. You guys go outside, I'll go give them the instructions. Watch your pads for the orders."

There was a generalized okay and Kod opened a side door to an elevator. One floor down and he was in the android garage, which housed part-time non-independent android hunters.

He flicked the light switch and pressed the green signal button to wake up the squad.

"Two double-columns!" The leader yelled. The androids complied, and Kod moved to stand between them.

"Good morning. Your mission is to track down a thief, presumably a black market member, and bring back an armored cell, Model A-1 J-10. There might be more than one, so gather any cells of that model which might contain something. Now, eight androids at my left, from here to here, you will put yourselves in common mode and be referred to as Ranger. Eight at my right, from here to there, common mode and referred to as Alpha. The eight remaining, common mode and referred to as Gamma. You will exit the facilities and head due south. Expect further clearance in three minutes. Go."

The large doors opened and the squad walked out. Kod then pressed the button to close the door and took the elevator back to the team's personal room. One minute later, he was in communication with the rest of the team and the three android squads.

"Bastard, this is Prodigy, request frequency change for 129.4 with follow."

"Prodigy, frequency change approved." Kod replied. Then, after switching: "I'm listening."

"Kod, can I have control of one of the android squads, please? I'd like to try my hand at some advanced leadership."

"Control approved for Gamma, in ladder mode. I have the right to override any given order. Please switch back to mission frequency 120.2."

The main screen came alive in the meantime and took the positions of the hunters and androids. Each teammate was in green and listed by name. Gamma androids were shown in blue, Alpha in yellow, and Ranger in dark green.

"Fred, you listening?" Kod spoke into his microphone.

"This is Fred, listenin'."

"You have local relay control over the hunter team. I will take charge of Alpha and Ranger. You should have your mission data by now."

"I got it."

"Good. Maintain listening watch on 120.9, this will be my frequency."

"120.9, roger."

Kod turned the buttons of his radio controller and watched the map screen. The androids were about to reach their three-minute point. The strategy behind all those radio commands was that Kod would be able to concentrate on the androids and leave the job of directing the hunters - who really could take care of themselves - to Fred. The problem lied with Breez; Kod rarely had to share frequencies with another assigned leader.

"Alpha, this is Bastard. I will give you the target coordinates. You will surround the target two miles out from six to twelve o' clock starting from the north; cover streets at your discretion. Report any suspicious activities."

"Alpha roger."

"Ranger, surround the target three miles out on the entire clock at your discretion."

"Ranger roger."

"Gamma, this is Prodigy. Surround target two miles out from twelve to six o' clock at your discretion with priority to Alpha."

"Gamma roger."

Breez had caught on to the strategy. Now, all Kod had to do was wait and see if the thief would show up on the streets. This was a tricky job since the elevated streets of Pioneer II often criss-crossed each other at odd altitudes but the androids usually did a good job covering all the nooks and crannies. As for the hunters, they would simply dive in towards the target and start an active search in an effort to push the thief out of his spot, or at least find out where he ran to.

The map screen showed all the androids in place, but there weren't any signs of any suspicious person, nor any sign of the stolen unit. But, the thief couldn't run far... Kod had made sure that all the elevators and local teleporters had been locked and turned off. So, the only way the thief could make it out was through a building, or through the streets, and no matter which way he went, someone would spot him.

"Purple, this is Bastard. I want you to stick with Shark; you are a support unit!"

"Roger."

Yowa really had the knack for soloing it out, just like Kod used to do six years ago. He didn't have the opportunity anymore since he was mostly a field commander now, but he wouldn't have said no to a little hunting job once in a while... But five hundred meseta when you have a few hundred thousand... It really wasn't worth it.

He saw the map report the hunters going in various directions, looking for any traces, but no radio signal came. The thief was really, really well hidden...

-----------------------------------------

"Freeze!"

The black and neon-green android turned around and faced the ranger. She was an unusually tall RAcaseal unit, armed with what seemed to be an illegally upgraded photon chainsaw, but that wasn't what Noella was going for.

"You are in possession of a stolen item. Hand it over now."

The android looked at her saw...

"I mean the cell! Hand it over!!"

She then saw the cell attached to her waist, and looked back at Noella with a sneer.

"Why d'you want that for? It's empty!!"

"I said: hand it over."

The android turned around.

"Too pricey, I'm not letting that cell go!"

Noella immediately gave chase to the android, not believing her story about it being empty. Unfortunately, her sprinting power was no match against the one she chased, who was an impressive 7'4" in height.

The android took a sharp right and jumped four feet down into a tight alley. Her next obstacle was a stairway with a central handrail, and that would really slow her, since her human counterpart would just have to slide down the handrail. The droid was at a disadvantage, as she was equipped with anti-skid feet.

Seeing a rippled metal plate, she hopped on the handrail, kicked the plate off and used it as a sled to ride down the stairway, which took a sharp 180-degree turn to end up on a low and tight alley...

...And Noella, who had landed a second before from a side alley and had her guns at the ready.

The android rolled right under the salvo, got up and managed to tackle the ranger on her pass. Noella swung her hand and managed to snatch the cell on her way to the wall, but her move was noticed by the android. Too late though. The woman hit the wall, but she at least had the cell in her possession.

The android turned around and attempted an approach but was met with heavy machine gun fire and decided to back out and run for it instead. Sighing in relief, Noella hit the comm button.

"Bastard, this is Christmas. I might have the cell."

"What color are its contents?"

"Clear... Ah, shit! It's empty!"

"Christmas, this is Prodigy. Change for 119.3, I have a message for you."

Noella's eyebrow went up. That was unusual coming from Breez...

"Okay Breez, what do you want?"

"Keep the cell, it might be it anyways."

"I don't get you. It's totally empty."

"Watch the label on it. Can you see anything?"

"I can see some red letters shaping DT but that's about it."

"Good enough. Keep this cell with you. It's part of the ones that got stolen."

"I see. Did anyone find the one with the cell with the stuff we're looking for?"

"Not so far. We are looking for a yellow-colored compound, with about the thickness of dirty engine oil. Did you check your pad?"

"Yes I did; you're giving me old news. Anyways. I lost my own thief though..."

"Doesn't matter. This isn't the one we're looking for."

"Got it."

---------------------------------------------

"We've got it! Alpha, someone coming your way, stand at the ready!"

"Alpha roger."

"Hunters, this is Bastard. Do you have the readings?"

"This is Sharp. I'm closest and I've got it in sight, but I don't have a gun."

Kod sighed. Tough luck...

"Ranger, tighten to two point one miles out and stand at the ready."

"Ranger roger."

"Gamma, this is Prodigy. Join up with Alpha."

"Add-on to order: move target coordinates to midpoint between central Gamma and Alpha columns. The distance between you and the midpoint must not be less than zero point two-five miles."

"Gamma roger to order and add-on."

Breez had made a mistake there: the androids had to leave a little moving space to the thief. If they moved in too soon, the objective might just find a quick sneak out of the trap and then the whole operation would have to be restarted. By making sure the teams were in place before tightening the grip even more, Kod was leaving very little chance of escape to the thief.

"Purple and Shark, join up with Ranger team at nine o'clock and standby until further order."

He got no response but he saw the dots on the map move accordingly. The thief's signal was flashing in and out, sign that Philip had a tough time keeping up.

"Sharp, you still have him in sight?"

"Affirmative, but he's gaining ground and I'm losing breath!"

"Do you know what it is though?"

"It's not an android, I saw that. But I couldn't tell whether it was a human or a newman. Looks male in build though."

"Got it. Stop running and let Alpha do the rest of the job."

----------------------------------------

"Freeze!"

The man looked back and saw Philip Mateo slowly walk over in his direction. In front of him was a HUcast-type android, and on both sides, he was being aimed at by two RAcast types. Another look to the front made him aware of a RAcaseal unit running to the rescue.

He made a quick assessment of his possibilities. His best bet was to turn around, but seeing Philip's huge sword wasn't a really good sign. As for the androids, they'd most likely snipe him before he even took a step forward.

Slowly, he put his hands behind his head, knelt down, and then put his face against the ground.

----------------------------------------

"Reason for the heist, please?"

"I'm against genetic researches. The newmans should be left alone."

"Do you have any relations with any newman people."

"...I'm married to one."

"I see."

Kod didn't have to ask many questions. The man was a radical, pure and simple.

"Why did you steal this particular unit, by the way?"

"Why should you know?"

"It might save your life."

"...It's a potentially dangerous compound, so I've learned... I thought it would hurt the organization's public image."

"That's sweet..."

Kod opened the door and muttered something to Breez. After getting his answer, he walked over to the prisoner.

"Where do you live?"

"Down below. I was supposed to work as a hunter but they fired me and I had to turn over to the black market to survive."

"Are you a clandestine passenger?"

No answer, of course. Those guys could be fired off into space if they were found guilty of that crime. But the man's look told enough.

"All right." The hunter said after a bit of thinking. "In one hour, you will find enough cash in your bank account to buy the services of a good lawyer. In the meantime, you will stay in jail."

----------------------------------------

"Breez, where's the cell?"

"Here!"

"Thanks. I'll bring it over to the Department's offices and then we go to the restaurant on Prisma Street. How does that sound?"

"Good enough!" Yowa and Armi said at the same time.

"Okay. Uh, Philip, please call Fred on my behalf; he's invited as well. See you later!"

Armi and Yowa had finished taking off their gear and had followed him outside, where the two would ride in Yowa's hatchback. Without a word, Breez reached for the cell Noella had found and put it in his personal locker.

"So what are you going to do with that?" The woman asked him.

"Something constructive."

"Right. Got any more info?"

"Oh, just took a sample of the stuff we found for examination purposes. Unofficial curiosity." Breez replied with a wink.

"Cool. But if you release the Ebola with that stuff, I'm killing you over low barbecue fire!"

"Yeah, whatever... Philip! You ready?! You've been on the bowl for a year, dammit!"

The other hunter had come out of the bathroom at this very instant. Glancing heavenwards, he picked up his car keys and went out, followed by Breez, Noella and Davion.

[KodiaX987]

ERRATUM: Drekan was mistakenly called Davion on Chapter 13. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif


14: Hey Ricky...

Breez's mind was elsewhere when the car stopped. It took the policeman's presence to wake him up.

"Dammit Noella; what's that ticket for now?!"

The woman just sighed and got back to waiting for the cop to finish his report. Following with a sigh of his own, Breez leaned back. Hopefully, Kod and Yowa would be late as well... In the meantime, he began doing some small talk with Davion and Philip. He didn't particularly like those two guys, who had a tendency to stay away from the group and were always reluctant to go eating out like the rest of the gang... Especially Davion. This guy preferred to drink Screwdrivers at the local bar - hence his callsign - and play a few games of pool. It was fun and cheap, Breez had to agree, but not as good as enjoying a nice meal at the Prisma Restaurant, so popular the street was re-named after it.

It had been twenty minutes already, and he had gotten nowhere with the two passengers. As for Noella, the unscheduled stop had made her completely untalkative. Or maybe it's PMS, he thought with a smirk.

----------------------------------------

"Mr. Nainsev?"

Oh shit...

"Step this way please."

Kod followed Karl into the dark office and sat down among a group of executives he wouldn't like to stick around with for too long. Aside from Karl and himself, there were two other people. The one to his right was a man seemingly in his thirties, with a mass of swept-back white hair and wearing a black and crimson business suit. His eyes were scanning a document, and he flipped a page about every three seconds or so. His face was marked with concern, something that wouldn't go in Kod's favor.

The man facing him had an even less inviting appearance. His extra-tall and skeletial build was enhanced even more by his simple black shirt and pants. He seemed impatient, balancing himself back and forth on the leaning chair, just slightly. His eyes were hidden behind an opaque pair of small, round sunglasses - as if the lightning in the office wasn't bad enough. Kod couldn't guess the man's age... His face seemed like a mix of young and old features - or maybe no features at all. He was bald, and had no facial hair whatsoever.

"By the way, sorry for the lights." Karl explained. "Technician will be coming a bit later. Uhh... It's going to seem blunt to you but we've got some bad news to deliver. It's not about you, but I think you should be aware of this happening. This gentleman over there will explain."

The one with the white hair smiled. "I'm Ash."

They shook hands. "Pleasure." Kod muttered without much conviction. Ash put the document back in order and put it at rest on the table.

"I know you're just passing by to drop off the items that have been stolen from us, but there's been some developments during the events of the mission."

Kod clenched his teeth. He wanted to get out of there now.

"The sample you brought back was weighted." Ash continued. "We found out a bit of the liquid had vanished since it was stolen, and we know the composite in there is absolutely not volatile. We thus checked with the police department but their spot search of the thief revealed nothing. Therefore, we can only conclude that someone other than the thief has taken a bit of the substance."

"Make your move. I don't have all year."

Ash's expression darkened in frustration. He took a second to calm himself down and gave Kod the straight dope:

"Mr. Lokk has been arrested for espionage. He is suspected of having stolen part of the substance, of having worked in cooperation with the thief, of being in non-authorized possession of a toxic and dangerous material, and of being in possession of top-secret documents. If found guilty, this could earn him up to fifty years in jail."

"Sounds like your old suspense movie plot." Kod commented a bit too quickly. Ash shrugged.

"Maybe, but it's the real world here, and those kinds of things can happen. I'd like to note that if Lokk is found guilty, he will not be replaced, as Avalance Elite is coming to its end anyways. As you know, your contract ends when we reach Ragol. You'll have other matters to take care of then, which will require you to get back to your real position of Section Lead. However, I want you to know that you are responsible in part for Mr. Lokk and may be fined if he is found guilty, for up to five hundred thousand meseta. It was your duty to keep him in check, just like your other team members."

"I know..."

"I will therefore pass this document around under your eyes. You must state that you have reviewed the document, are aware of the implications of the accusations of Mr. Lokk, and certify that we have witnessed your signature being written."

Ash gave the sheets to the sunglasses guy, who gave it a quick and grave look, nodded, and handed it over to Karl. Karl gave the first page a quick check as well and gave it to Kod, along with a pen.

What am I doing, he thought as he signed the first line of the document. The papers went to Ash and Karl again, who signed their witnessing certifications, and then back to Kod, who signed a second time to certify Ash's and Karl's presence. He then passed it on to Ash, who passed it on to the sunglasses guy, who took out a pen of his own and marked his initials at the bottom-right corner.

When this was all over, Sunglasses crossed his arms and stared at Ash. The man turned to Kod.

"Well, have a good evening."

Kod muttered a little "Hmm-hmm." and slowly got up. The three men stared at him as he walked out of the office.

He was feeling nervous on his way out, so he snatched a cigarette from an empty desk and proceeded to burn it down as quickly as possible. He wasn't hungry anymore. The evening at the restaurant on Prisma Street was a total flop already.

----------------------------------------

Midnight and he was still awake.

"Kod, you still not sleeping?"

"How did you notice?"

"You've been turning around a lot..." Yowa turned on the small bed lamp and put her head on his shoulder. "Something bothering you?"

Kod sighed and took a brief look heavenwards. "Nothing you don't know already. I guess this time it's bothering me more than usually."

She kissed his shoulder. "Breez will be all right. I'm sure."

"I hope..."

A moment of silence. Outside, the sound of a passing car was occasional. Pioneer II was asleep for the most part. The only places still open at this hour were the hunter shops and the bars. Come to think of it, there was nothing interesting outside. He'd just stay in bed and keep on waiting.

"You've become more distant lately." Yowa said in a half-whisper. "Seems all that's on your mind is your work."

"I can't help it! I'm on big jobs here. It's a tight situation, I'm working under pressure."

"Yes but..." She looked off to the side for a moment, uncertain of her words. "It's getting you everywhere. Even my kisses don't do much now. Isn't there anything more I could do to help you out?"

His only response was a pensive "Hmm." She waited, but nothing else came. He had no answer. He was stuck, just like the rest of the team. If Breez couldn't take care of himself now, he was cooked.

Yowa slowly slid off to the side and stared at the spinning fan hanging from the ceiling. Kod had gone back to lying on his side in another attempt to get to sleep.

"Kod... Why doesn't our love get more attention than this?"

"Attention?"

"Yes... I mean, whenever we talk to each other, we talk about the team, and the jobs, and the missions, and the badges, and the awards, and the way things are going with the Department. Half of the time, regardless of the wine or the nice dinner we've set up, we talk and act to each other like Kod and Yowa the hunters, not the lovers."

"Are we supposed to blame ourselves?" Kod had turned around. His face was slightly twisted in disbelief.

"Partly. I too think about the job a lot. You know what's special about you? When you get drunk, you don't start thinking about parties, or girls or cars or sex. You just think of your job and you talk about it with a more and more staggering voice... And I do the same in front of you. Remember the time we argued about the console's operating system after taking eleven shooters each?"

"You took shooters?"

"Actually..." She giggled. "I don't think I remember that well. All I know is that by the end of the evening, we were hammered. And we came home and both slept on the couch because getting to the bed was too hard. I was sick all night!"

Kod laughed. "I agree, we should have deserved more chapters to what's going on between us."

"Listen, if people drink to forget their problems and it doesn't work on us, then maybe we need to look for something else?"

"Like what?" Kod almost added "Marijuana" but swallowed the word back at the last second. No time for jokes here.

"Like... Us." Yowa reached over with her left hand and flicked off the lamp. "If we don't feel any more passion than this, then that means our job is still taking too much of our thinking space."

"What do you suggest?"

"Well... Here, look at my eyes. Can you see them?"

"Enough, yeah."

"Think of my eyes as a giant purple field, and you wander around in it. The earth is warm, the grass is soft, and in there, you forget about all your problems. And on my side, I think of your eyes as a big blue field. The plants are tall, fresh and healthy. The air blows around, a gentle wind caresses my body. And then I see you on the other side, into my own eyes. From there, I reach to you..."

Unconsciously, she moved her arms to hug him, and he replied with the same movement. Yowa's soft voice slowly turned into a distant hum, and then into silence, only broken by the sound of her regular breath. She had fallen asleep reciting her story. Kod, natural leader that he was, had gotten there before her.

[KodiaX987]

15: No Smoke Without Fire

"Good morning sir. There's a message for you."

Kod took the sealed dot matrix paper and undid the side strips to read the text. The rest of the team walked ahead except for Yowa, who attempted to look over his shoulder.

"It's the police department." Kod explained. "They released Breez and he should be reporting here within half an hour."

"What made those guys change their minds?!"

"Beats me..."

They entered the Avalanche room and turned the computers on. Kod's screen came alive with a little calendar notice: today was the day Pioneer II was supposed to reach the boundary of Ragol and make contact with the planet's base. It was supposed to happen at two in the afternoon, AKA, the most boring hour ever. Those spaceship guys really don't know what "Primetime" means...

Honestly, Kod wasn't too sad looking at the end of the team. The job was over and the group would just gather back at the main floor and resume normal operations if they ever felt like it. With the amount of cash Kod had in his bank account anyways, he was more than ready to instead go ahead and have some fun with the other section leads and see how they've managed in seven years of waiting for the ship to arrive at its destination.

Statistics: 2060 Department missions initiated, 15 aborted, 2045 successful, two losses - both androids, and 3569 test subjects killed or destroyed, with 3262 of them being actual living and recognizable organisms, and 1200 of them being fully grown Newman females.

What a frikkin' disaster...

"Hey Yowa... I've done the count. Can you believe we killed 3569 defective thingies coming from the Department?"

"Why am I not surprised..."

"Who cares about the subjects; can you believe the amount of sexy chicks we had to send back to their maker?! Dammit, they could've been mine!..." Drekan exclaimed. No one said anything at this. "...Okay, bad joke. Sorry guys."

Kod sighed. "Listen, 'Screwdriver', make yourself useful go get me a 7-Up."

*Bunk!*

"Weird, my locker isn't opening." Noella said.

"Let me see."

Both Philip and Drekan went to check, tried the key in every possible direction, but the door wouldn't move.

"My intuition tells me it's not Noella's key." Armi declared with her back turned to the others.

"...She's right! How the hell did you know?"

"Feminine intuition. What, you lost yours?"

"Not funny!" The ranger girl took the keychain and read the name. "It's Breez' key."

"Hey guys!"

Speaking of the devil...

"Oh, before I forget." Breez fumbled through his pockets and took out a small key. "Sorry Noella, I took your key by accident when we left for the restaurant last night." The woman reached to take her key when Breez suddenly turned to Kod. "By the way, I gotta speak privately with the boss. Can you guys please leave us for a few?"

All eyes turned to the leader...

"Get out, that's an order..." Kod muttered as he took his feet off the table. "Okay Breez, you have some explaining to do."

"Before anything, I'm innocent."

"Bullshit. Next statement."

"Well, they released me because they hadn't found anything to accuse me of. It was just a bunch of air and nothing else."

Kod smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Division Sergeant Lokk, you have just been accused of espionnage again. What in the fucking hell were you doing with Noella's locker key?! SPEAK!!"

As expected, Breez was mute. Kod glanced at his watch. "I have all day..."

Still no answer.

"All right." Kod sat straight up. "You were on your way to the Prisma Restaurant when Noella's car got pulled over by the police, is that true?"

"Yes..."

"And as far as the police report is concerned, Noella was not speeding, nor was she doing an illegal or reckless maneuver, nor was she driving with a defective system or light. Right?"

"Yes."

"So if they weren't here for Noella, for who did they come for, huh?"

"...Me."

"ALL RIGHT!!! We're getting somewhere, finally!! So I come back to my first question now. What were you doing with HER key instead of YOURS?"

"I... I just took the wrong key..."

"BULLSHIT!!! I can have you fired and disgraced for lying to a superior, so speak the fuckin' truth!!! Here, you know what; hand over that key."

He stomped over to the locker cabinet, opened Noella's locker and immediately pulled out a clear tube and brandished it an inch away from the young hunter's face.

"What's that?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "It's a clock?!"

"...No."

"It's a telephone?!"

"...No."

"What is it then?! Huh? Tell me, come on!"

"...It's... An armored cell."

"Say, there's still some liquid inside... Do you realize I am getting all the shit while you screw around trying to play detective? That sort of thing could get me shot, because I am responsible for you guys, and this armored cell here is the proof to my superiors that I can't manage and drill my team like I am supposed to. Have you ever played King of the Hill before?"

"...No."

"Well, I'll tell you about King of the Hill, all right? You're a dozen kids and your goal is to get to the top of a pile of snow or rocks and when you're there, you push and wrestle everybody else down. The kid who's there for the longest is the winner. Now here's some news for you: business, the army, the hunters, everything, e-ve-ry-thing goes according to those rules. Get to the top, and bites everyone below you. The guys I work for will be delighted to push me down the ladder, and believe me, I will have no problem kicking your ass out of my team, revoking your license, and forcing you to look for a new job. And as far as I know, you don't have a degree, you don't have any other work experience and you got fired off your only job! You have no other competence because you gave yourself body and mind over to the Hunters Guild. So you're on the streets and you need money to eat! Waddya gonna do? Cry until your mother comes and takes you by the hand? Or are you gonna stand up and say 'Shit, I need to take my responsibilities and make sure my behavior doesn't hurt everyone else around me'?"

"...The second answer..."

"Well you'd better fuckin' apply it, because my patience has limits, and with you, the line is thin. You're in my team, so you're going to give me the respect of doing your job by the book without any sneaky sidelines or under the table stuff. I'm your boss, I'm the one who gives you the money. Think about that next time you decide to fool everybody around you. So are you going to remember that or are you gonna forget after two weeks and then I'll get another surprise like that shit I've got in my hands?"

"I'll remember it."

"Dismissed. Go wipe your tears in the washroom and report back in one hour."

He screamed for everyone else to get back in while the door was open.

"I need to clear a few things up with you guys because as I recall, you all will still be under my lead after the team dissolves. Things to correct: Philip, you're gonna have to tone down on your impulses. I know you like your job but you got your ass saved too many times lately because you leap before you look. Yowa, you're a support unit, I don't know how many times I need to ram that into your head! You gotta always, always, always stick next to Armi. And Armi, if Yowa wanders off, then Jesus Christ, don't be afraid to call her back! Drekan, first off, if you ever work with me again, you're going to arrive on time. Next up, you're gonna start to train yourself with gun handling because you're the one who cost me two androids without the enemy even lifting a finger as I recall. As for you Noella, communicate! Sometimes I see you wander off somewhere and I don't know what the hell's going on, so tell me what's happening in your head for me to understand why exactly you do the things that you do. Dismissed. Go get a coffee and report back in one hour."

With the room now empty, he took the time to examine the armored cell. It was one of the cells they had been looking for the other day, and quite obviously Breez had taken a bit of it from the main cell. Enough to get an analysis but also enough for the Department folks to notice.

He grabbed his phone and dialed the communications floor.

"Fred. It's Kod. Give me the general stats of Lokk's mailbox."

"Uhh... Hold on here... Okay, there you go. He's got four messages."

"What are the subject lines?"

"One's about an invitation to a concert, two concerning the renewal of his license, and one about a sample analysis."

"Open the last one and blind-forward it to me."

"This'll be marked in his account that the message was forwarded. Sure you wanna do this, Kod?"

"That's affirmative."

"Done. You've got mail."

"Thank you."

He hung up and clicked on the envelope icon that had just popped on his screen.


Mr. Lokk, the sample was analyzed upon your request and was found to contain the following components...

The list was a bit too complicated for Kod, so he dialed the information switchboard.

"Yeah, I need someone who knows about chemical components and genetics. Yes, please forward me to his extension number. Thank you."

He was greeted this time by the sound of an old man.

"Mr. Klein?" Kod queried.

"Yes, speaking."

"My name is Kod Naïnsev, from the Avalance Elite team, Independent Department of Governmental Research. I was wondering if you had any knowledge of the effects of a substance I happened to find in one of the lockers and I want to know if it has any infectious content whatsoever."

"Please tell me the components."

Kod listed them, each time answered by a pensive "Hmm-hmm" only to hear:

"Nothing wrong with that, Mr. Naïnsev. According to my knowledge, it's a perfectly safe substance, at least from the ingredients you have listed to me."

"What is its use then?"

"Well, from the ingredients, I am ninety percent sure it's a DNA shaker. Basically, it allows easy manipulation of genetics on live subjects, but I know this sort of substance causes severe pain and brain damage. Do you happen to have the proportions of the substance, or its color?"

"No props, sorry. But the stuff is yellow, with the thickness of dirty engine oil."

"Hmmm... Then from my opinion, this could be very strong stuff. Easy and durable mutations, but hardly controllable. Why, you planning on using it?"

"No, just surprised that part of it got lost on the way back. Anyways, thank you for your help."

"No problem."

"Oh, and for the record, you have never spoken to me."

And he hung up.

[KodiaX987]

16: The Whole New World

For once in a lifetime, the Department hadn't called them up for a mission... So Kod called them instead.

"Hey Karl!" He playfully announced into the telephone. "I don't get to speak with Control one last time?"

"Kod!! Hey, good morning, my friend! No; the Department is closed today since everyone's going to be watching the screens of the arrival. So if my workers are going to screw up their experiments because they're not paying attention, I'll have 'em do them another day. So consider your day off. I already faxed a paper to the Guild relieving you of your duty and dissolving Avalanche Elite. Your work was instrumental during those years; we made a lot of progress with the added security."

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"Well, with the arrival on Ragol, it won't be hard to find a place that's easy to guard in case something wrong happens. Something like an island in the middle of a big lake, with a rising bridge of sorts to isolate the labs if something ever happens."

"Hmm, sounds like a good plan."

"Yes it does; anyways, I've got some work to do. Talk to you later, Mr. Nainsev!"

"Bye!"

He hung up in front of everyone's looks.

"Wow!" Noella exclaimed. "What did you two eat to be so friendly to each other?"

Kod grinned. "The dude's off my back, at last. FRED!! Come in here, fat-ass!"

Fred laughed and closed the door behind him. Everyone gathered around him, seeing the communications officer with a little gift in his hands, but Fred hid the parcel behind his back, whistling innocently as he walked slowly over to Kod's commander desk.

"Thought you guys might want some." Fred placed the gift on the table and took the cover away. It was a huge bottle of champagne. "You guys give me the glasses, and I give you the cham-pa-guen!"

Kod turned to a teammate at random (yeah right.) "Drekan! You go fetch 'em!... Hey, it rhymes!" His only comment was from Drekan, who muttered "Asshole..." as he picked up some plastic cups from the water dispenser.

Noella: "So, what's the subject of our toast?"

Kod: "How about the end of Avalanche?"

Philip: "I second that!"

Armi: "Idiot! No, I toast to the end of needless newman killings."

Fred waved his hands down. "All right, all right, calm down children! You're scaring the old man, God dammit!! (This just made Kod split himself laughing) I know! Let's celebrate the anniversary of you meeting Yowa. So, when the hell are you doin' her - OW! Hey, toast before you start kicking my ass!"

Kod grabbed his cup and raised it. "That's Fred all right! To all of us, to everything we've done, and to everything we're gonna do! How's that?"

Yowa: "AMEN!!"

The following drink-fest was quick and filled with bursts of laughter, corny jokes, old memories, and relief. Laughter at the corny jokes, corny jokes to generate laughter, old memories of, say, Drekan when he did himself a traditional Screwdriver with a dirty screwdriver, or when Fred choked on a potato chip in the middle of a mission, or when Yowa got showered by a mutant's abundant bodily fluids, or - best one ever - when Kod tripped while carrying a steaming pot of soup, sending everything across Armi's chest who immediately grabbed her breasts by reflex and jumped and screamed like a maniac for two full minutes (now THAT was funny!!)

And the relief, it was the relief of stopping the operations of Avalanche Elite. For Kod, it was the relief of finally going back to the Section Leads board and resuming the fun. For Yowa, it was the beginning of a small vacation. For Philip, it was time to settle down and store away the saved cash bonuses. For Fred, it was time to eat out at some expensive restaurant and have a beer. For everyone, it was a relief from the constant stress of working on-call. A relief from working for a rather unusual employer. A relief from blood, gore, and deformities. It was back to the regular jobs, the law, the low passes and the fancy shots. It was time to explore Ragol... Well, in just thirty minutes actually.

The bottle was empty after only five minutes. Everyone was happy, happy like kids at Christmas. Kod, most comfortable, picked a little snooze on his commander's chair, despite all the noise around him. It was the best day. Ever.

"Wake up, Kod! Pee-Two's comin' in!"

"Huh, what!!"

Kod opened his eyes to see the main screen illuminated by a display of hyperspace, with a small ETA at the bottom-right corner; twenty seconds left. They all sat down and stared, as the ETA went down to ten, and nine, and then eight, and seven, six, five... four... three... two...

One...

Zero...

A runic circle of sorts suddenly appeared into view, and the ship went through its center, arriving into space. In front was Planet Ragol.

"Is the sound on?"

"No..."

"Where's the control?! Someone turn it up!!"

"....... a....... But...... Planet... Size with... An excellent atmosphere, prefect conditions for human life. Now Christian, do you have anything from the bridge?"

"Yes Paul! The men are hard at work on the bridge, busy preparing the programs that will be used to make contact with Central Dome. I assume you have a view of the planet on your own screen?"

"Yes we do. Please go ahead."

"Thank you! Now, if you'll take a look at the peninsula that's slightly on the right, you will have a general idea of Central Dome's location. In just a few seconds, there should be a red flash coming out of the planet and a green one coming towards it; that'll be the visual display of our communication attempt. Now, I warn you right here, it might take a few attempts to establish contact. We're still quite far out and thus reception is still very low."

"Thank you Christian. Now, if we'll put the view back on full screen - there you go, and here's the first green beam coming out, red beam coming in, there's a first-level contact, now we need to wait for what's called the 'network handshake', or the communication process between the programs... No, first attempt failed, the red beam retracts. Oh, what's that? Christian, can you see this?"

"Indeed! It can't get any more obvious! I don't know what's happening but it sure doesn't look good. It could've been an EMP shockwave but it's much too big; look, the clouds are moving away! This explosion is immense, several miles in radius!!"

"Could one of the bridge officers tell us about what's going on, Christian?"

"I don't expect anyone to; they're all busy down here, you can hear the screams and the orders I believe. I think we'll have to wait - oh, hold on a second. I just heard that Central Dome was intact. In fact, everything is still standing but we are not getting any attempt signals from Central Dome anymore."

"Thank you Christian. Keep us posted about this. We'll be right back, folks. Don't go away."

"What's all that bullshit?!" Fred screamed. "And I thought our troubles were over!"

The door suddenly opened.

"Guys! Urgent fax has just come in!" A hunter announced. Several people were running along the corridor. "Tyrell requests the presence of everyone on the list."

"Like who?!"

"You should receive the data by network mail."

Kod opened his mail client and clicked on the new message...


From: Principal Tyrell To: All Concerned Hunters

An emergency has been declared concerning Planet Ragol. All the hunters on this list are ordered to report at the Principal's Office immediately: Ricky Damon Karl, Ash Kerman, Ash Tyrell, Bernie Rubens, Akaya Hitomi, Magenta Morgan, Breez Lokk, Drekan Rivers, Pascal Dell, Monique Sarven, Cube, Glider, Natasha St-Peters, and Dennis Rockway.

"Breez! Drekan! You guys are on the list." Kod announced. "Report to me after the meeting."


----------------------------------------

The news had come back quickly: Everyone on Ragol was dead, most of the circuitry was offline, the worker droids had all gone haywire, and the networks were completely out. That was the result of the ship's scan. For everything else, hunters were to aid the army in inspecting Central Dome for damage.

Some hunters had been called up to receive missions from Tyrell himself. Drekan was to explore the forest around Central Dome to find any signs of Tyrell's daughter Rico, while Breez was ordered to choose a task force and get into Central Dome as recon for the rest of the hunters.

"What about Karl?" Kod asked.

As for Mr. Karl, he was only there to oversee the operation and take witness of the different jobs being given out. He would be in charge of collecting any evidence regarding the explosion, for analytic purposes. Any odd find should be reported to him or someone related to him. Numbers had been given out. Once the two main jobs were accomplished, the rest of the hunters would follow in, but should always grant priority to the military forces, which will be called force majeure.

Drekan would be taking Philip and two of his friends to look for Rico. As for Breez, he had chosen Kod, Yowa and Noella to get into Central Dome. Two hunters, one ranger and one force would do wonders for the task.

It was Day 1 of the Ragol Emergency. When Kod asked about the departure time, Breez simply took his gear and went out the door.

Everyone followed him outside. Unfortunately for them, stress was back with a vengeance.