About three days later, Fate deactivated his Kozmos Drive and beheld the planet Narro from his Shadow Jumper's viewport.
A fairly typical planet, many historians liken it to the long-gone planet Earth. Like the now-nonexistent Earth, Narro had plains, forests, a few oceans, mountains, and even a small desert. While not exactly the same, its similarity to Earth encouraged many of the Ancestors (those humans who first colonized much of the Solynus galaxy) to make their homes here. Now, Narro was the closest thing to a suburb the galaxy had, and the planet that houses the most balanced ratio of humans to Fildenen.
Fate brought his ship into the atmosphere and over one of the intersections of the many mountains forming the Mar mountain chain, where the Styx hideout was hidden from prying eyes.
Pressing a button on the ceiling of the Shadow Jumper opened the hangar doors to the hideout, which Fate promptly flew into and landed in. He extended the boarding ramp, then turned off his engine and disembarked. Walking past three other identical Shadow Jumpers, along with a few dozen Raven Bikes, he went through the door in the back left corner, and entered the living room.
He immediately noticed the sound of slight snoring coming from Nik's room. Sitting on one of the couches facing the right wall's TV were Autumn and Ares, watching the news.
"…Found dead in his office. Authorities suspect his hunting rifle somehow slipped from the display rack it was situated on, causing it to discharge. The only fingerprints found on the gun were Nathial's own, and the gun's safety was found to be off. Lightshow weaponry, when asked for a statement, reminded everyone at home to always keep the safety on when a gun is not in use. The fire caused by the weapon incinerated most of Nathial's office, but was…"
Ares looked over at the noise produced by the door. "Oh, hey Fate. Welcome back. Nice job as always."
"Easier than it should've been. Didn't even have cameras in his office. Maya out on a job? Shadow Jumper's gone," Fate said
"Yeah, another hostage rescue mission. I don't know why she does those. Gives us a weird reputation."
"At least it keeps the Shyviate Collective off our backs," Autumn said, still looking at the TV. Autumn was right, of course. Styx got triple the amount of hostage rescue and "negotiation" missions from the military and police than actual assassination jobs, both of which were done almost exclusively by Maya.
Fate figured the Shyv considered them a necessary evil, seeing as they helped thrice as many as they hurt. That, topped with the fact they were trained killers with Prodigal psychic powers, and it became too costly to get rid of them.
"Speaking of which, got a job to off some rebels on Mystar. Collective got word that they're building up for a strike on the Shyviate Offices. Was wondering if you wanted to join me. Ares and Nik already have other jobs they have to go to."
"Ah, that's why Nik's sleeping." Nikolas always slept at least 12 hours before a mission. He had very intense dreams that most other people would consider nightmares, but he found them as an excellent source of ideas for his Prodigy power. "Sure, I'll join. When do we head out?"
"Two days from now. Wanna watch a movie with us? News is getting boring."
"Alright." Fate sat down on the couch, and they started watching a pretty funny movie about snakes on a spaceship. About halfway through, Nikolas walked out of his room and into the hangar, presumably to do that job Autumn mentioned.
Two days later, Autumn and Fate were gearing up in the armory. Ares had left the day before to do his contract, and Nik and Maya were still off on theirs. The duo put on their Styx Armor and grabbed their preferred weapons off the racks and shelves.
Fate took down his custom-painted Dragoon Railgun (holstered on his right hip), his Jenghang H-6 (holstered on his left), and two Breach knives, which he put one of in each boot. Autumn donned her Dragon Claws, and the two both grabbed a couple of Garvon Grenades and Hydra bombs, which they clipped onto their belts.
"How violent can we be?" Fate asked as they were gearing up.
"Collective said they don't care, as long as we wipe them out," Autumn replied. "They do want us to take the highest-ranked person there in for interrogation, though."
"Are we interrogating them here? Or at the Offices?"
"Here, as long as we record it. They want info on any possible hidden rebel cells hidden throughout the galaxy. We can kill him after."
"Only one prisoner? Any reported psychics?"
"None. Starting to think the Shyv couldn't be bothered to send the military. These rebel dumbasses are never too difficult to cull. Why send in military and police and risk a few deaths when you can send some psychics?"
"Hm, fair point."
After they had all their gear ready, they boarded Autumn's Shadow Jumper and reached light speed with the Kozmos Drive. They had about four days before they reached Mystar, so they got comfortable in the lounge area and turned on the tv.
***
"Don't take my organs! PLEASE! No, no NOOOO!"
In a very classy building with chandeliers, generous buffet tables, and sharply dressed servants and people, one particular man was surrounded by a crowd of very worried and confused individuals. This man was on his rear with his hands thrust out in front of him, trembling in fear. "I won't let you take them! You can't them!"
"What is he talking about?" Someone in the crowd whispered. The man's head snapped toward the sound, looking at the speaker with pure, unbridled hate.
"You did this? I'll KILL YOU!" The man stood up and lunged toward the unfortunate man who spoke, before screaming loudly and running backward.
"NO! Stay away! Ba-back up!" He snatched a bottle from the buffet table behind him, hurling it at a seemingly random spot. It missed whatever he intended to throw it at, instead hitting a member of the crowd, cutting her forehead, and causing her to bleed. She exclaimed in pain, putting a hand on the wound.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" the man screamed. He took a step back, then another, before hitting the table behind him. He looked at the table in confusion for a half-second, before his face contorted with a mad grin and wide eyes.
He grabbed a steak knife off the table and proceeded to lunge around some invisible obstacle, moving toward the previous speaker. Unluckily for this crowd member, he was at the front of the crowd, leaving him no room to dodge. The maniacal man with the knife stabbed him once, twice, three times, before the speaker's legs folded out from under him.
The crowd immediately started screaming, rushing towards the doors. The manic man looked toward an empty spot, then his eyes widened. "Why aren't you GONE?" Then, with his eyes steeling in determination, he stabbed himself in the heart.
"See you in… Hell," he groaned, collapsing. Among the crowd rushing for the exit, there was a fairly obvious man with a nice tux, shaggy white hair, and green eyes. He followed the crowd, screaming as loudly as they were. None of them noticed him run to the left and duck into an alley as soon as they exited the building, as all of them were too pumped full of adrenaline and fear.
The man in the alley took a small case out of his pocket, then removed the contact lenses on his eyes, revealing their true pitch-black color. He placed the lenses in the case, shut it, and slipped it back into his pocket. Placing both hands in his pockets, Nikolas strolled out of the other end of the alley, emerging on a packed street and turning left towards the Public Light Platforms.
A short three trips on the platforms later, he emerged from the subway tunnel-like underground area on the other side of the planet and walked towards the nearby private starship parking. After entering his Shadow Jumper, he sent a quick message on his Ex Ear informing the rest of the Hand of Styx that he finished the job, and left the planet for Narro.