…Slowly the conveyer belt lit up, and started moving. And noises of iron and steel clicking with each other sounded from the inside of the belt itself.
Ann could feel it then, an icy coolness blew out from the metalloid box, lowering the temperatures of the room by a few degrees. When suddenly he heard the artificial voice of the machine:
[Would you like a brief overview of the weapon? Please confirm via voice...]
Before she could even comprehend what the machine had just told her, Gerald was already one step ahead, and shouted out with glee:
"Yes!"
[Understood... Compiling data files... Loading info doc... Complete.]
There was a slight pause, before a different voice took over, this time infinitely more human than the one before it:
[the CRYSIS, otherwise known as the:
Compact.
Raid.
Yielding.
System of.
Intelligence gathering.
Satellites.
Is a firearm modelled to be as compact as possible, made from glacial diamonds found on Saturn. Furthermore, it has a built-in hacking system made to infiltrate any and every operating system with a camera, which can be viewed via the EOTech 512 made along side the CRYSIS. It uses .45 ACE rounds in a 31-shot cartridge. The weapon was developed by Chronos J. Williams... Introduction complete, please collect firearm.]
Hearing the voice's prompt, both Gerald and Ann went to collect the crysis.
When they arrived at the conveyer belt east of the control panel, they saw a box, about 50 cm in length and width.
Opening the box, they saw the thing they were waiting for, along with a few additions.
***
At first, both of them were confused, the gun looked nothing like they'd ever seen before. Sure, it had the features of what you called a gun, but it looked so strangely... Un-gun.
First was the shape itself, it looked just like a rectangle with a few parts cut off near the stock, handle and built-in grip. Aesthetics choices? None.
It was fully bare, as if purely meant for the business of killing...
Stranger yet was it's magazines, or lack thereof. All they could find was the place where you would normally load a gun, but instead there was just a slot installed there.
"Is there anything else in the box Gerald?"
"Uh... yeah! The EOTech and... A few small bags filled with... mini mags?"
"What?"
Looking inside the bag, Ann could see what Gerald meant. Inside were just toy sized magazines the size of her pinky finger...
"Wait, wasn't there a small hole where you'd find the magazine normally?"
Gerald suddenly recalled the strange hole under the gun. Ann, who also recalled that strange detail realized what he meant.
"Are you saying?"
"Yeah..."
Seeing his nod of agreement, Ann upturned the gun, before inserting the mini-mag inside.
It fit perfectly, making Ann even more sure of her own conjectures...
-Bztt!-
suddenly, a small blue screen appeared behind the gun's slide, with the number 31 on it's screen.
"Woah! This looks too cool! gimme! I wanna try it,"
"Wait a bit, let's put on the scope first. After all, it's main use is hacking surveillance devices,"
Saying this, Ann slid the EOTech on the slider, and handed it to Gerald. Smiling foolishly, he took it as quick as he could, and started playing around with it. Aiming it here, looking somewhere there, until...
*BOOM BOOM*
The crackling sounds of wood breaking was heard before large booms filled the room. Ann could almost immediately tell it was the gunshots from the soldiers outside the room.
"Gerald, hide! quick!"
"Huh? wait... the EOTech's picking a signal!"
"Hm?"
Gerald looked into the scope, and saw it, scenes of what looked like the hallway he had just crossed a few minutes prior.
There, he could see five figure outside; three men, two women. they all had their guns pointed at the door, continuously shooting at it, until one of the women stopped and started speaking, but due to the camera being relatively worn down from age and non-maintenance, he could hear no sound.
Suddenly, the other 4 got aggressive, and after a few bouts of shouting, they aimed their guns at the woman, who after a few more seconds of shouting, was tied up and left on one side of the hallway.
'Huh, at least that's one less person to worry about,'
As Gerald thought to himself, Ann was decidedly more worried and snuck up on him, snatching the CRYSIS off his hands.
"H-hey!"
-Smack!-
"Shut it!"
After shouting at Gerald, she began to take aim at the door, her hands shaking as they fumbled to pull the trigger.
-Click!-
As she held down the trigger, a small little click was heard from the muzzle, and it felt like time seemed to stop for a few seconds as what happened next completely froze her:
-Dudududududud!-
The screen that previously showed 31... Went 0.
The door that was previously so solid... broke in half.
The four soldiers previously standing, alive and well... lay dead.
***
Seconds pass, yet it felt like hours to everyone. Nobody was able to move, not Gerald, not Ann, nor the tied up soldier.
-Thud!-
Finally, Ann's legs began weakening, before she completely dropped to the ground, her face pale with horror, and Gerald who was previously frozen in shock, woke up and ran towards her in panic.
"Ann!"
"Eurgh..."
Tongue-tied, Gerald could only look at her in worry, knowing full well she was completely fine, just shell-shocked.
In reality, Gerald knew it was a fool's errand trying to take over the world, even with their giant tech advantage. Just the two of them was pure suicide, and if she was already scared from this? They would either need more people... or a weapon capable of destroying earth.
"W-wha? I-I though it was just some upgrades? Nobody told me about this shit!"
The previously silent woman, who only survived due to her being tied up to the side, and was thusly ignored, screamed in indignant wrath.
Looking at her, Gerald couldn't help but feel strange, why was she so angry? Shouldn't she have known? Or was it... Even the world governments didn't know the prowess of our weapons?
To answer his question, we must go back in time, to just after the Axel-Road started fabricating the CRYSIS...
***
Southwest of Paris, Jardin du Chateau de Versailles(Garden of the Palace of Versailles)
An old man, approximately in his late fifties, sat alone feeding the birds. His old, weary eyes showing the wisdom befitting his age.
He wore an old aviation jacket, and a black pair of jeans plus a cane to match. Making him look slightly more older than he actually was.
-shooom...-
Looking up at the strange sound, the old man silently observed a yellow beam of light, It's length reaching the other planets.
'Looks like you can never keep a good thing down... Isn't that right old friend?'
As the old man kept staring at the giant beam of yellow... His eyes started to slightly turn red.
'Tears...'
The old man was surprised at his own tears, as if he had forgot how to cry, and was only reminded now
'I can't believe they're still alive... This time, I'll do things the right way,'
Slowly getting up, the old man had his withered hands on the cane, as if dependent on it to stand. But just as he reached the marble courtyard. Two men appeared to his left and right, silently walking with him.
"...You can leave me, this is something I must fulfill for my own reasons, not the country's,"
Caught off guard by what the old man just said, one of them; a Caucasian man, struggled to rebuke what he had just declared.
"...P-prime minister... No, Sir Jesus. We, as servants of France may not be able to interfere with your business. But we, as the Templars of Faith, have an eternal duty to protect you,"
Stopping, Jesus turned back to look at both of them. Their stalwart nature showing the mettle of a soldier. And seeing their absolute obedience. Jesus, nodded slightly, before sauntering to the gate, His strides short but firm.
Of course, resolutely following him were 2- No, 30 men and woman, all of them wearing grave expressions.
Reaching the gate, Jesus didn't turn around, nor did he stop, simply whispering:
"Sois béni,"
-Thud!-
All 30 of them kneeled, one arm on their knees, and the other on their chests.
"à toi aussi,"
"Heh,"
With that, they stood up again and clicked their heels in respectful salute. Before silently accompanying Jesus...