● Graviton
Exact Location: The Star Lord's Villa.
Dahila walked into the garden. She stopped and looked around until she caught sight of the Star Lord's consort, Aurora sitting on a bench with a cat in her arm. She walked up to the lady and bowed her head a little.
"You summoned me, ma'am."
"I did. Dahlia, correct?"
"Yes, it is."
The dark-eyed woman caresses the back of the cat. "Tell me, Dahila… are you a cat or a dog person?" She questioned.
Dahlia moved her hands behind her back. "Neither."
Aurora raised her head to look at the beige-haired lady. "Neither?" She repeated. "You are the first person I've seen who isn't part of any group… care to share why?"
She hesitated for a second before speaking. "In my younger years, I lived in the outskirts of Graviton, a village not too far from the mountains that separate Graviton and Hydrospace… every day by sunset, we got attacked by mountain cats and dogs, hence why I don't like either."
"I see. It must have been hard having to fight off those creatures..."
"I didn't fight," she chipped. "I wasn't allowed to fight because of how dangerous it was… all I could do was watch from afar as it hunted my people."
"I'm sorry." Aurora set the cat down and leaned back on the bench she was sitting on. "But that's besides the reason I called you," she began. "Things are going on in the villa, things I believe you may have noticed."
The dark-eyed woman stood up and walked to a lily flower amongst the other flowers in the garden. "The Star-Lord has been unable to attend any meetings or events due to a sudden illness that suddenly affected him," she started. "I heard you figured out that Atlas has been mimicking his physical appearance to attend events."
She plucked out one of the petals and moved it to her nose, sniffing it through the clothes that covered her face. "We fear the enemy is also getting wind of our actions and might use it against us, which is why we need as much protection as we can get." The dark-eyed lady veered around to face Dahila.
"I'm not trying to assume power, but with Zephyr out on an urgent task with the Heavenly Protectors, someone needed to take charge before the enemy finds out… that is all I'm doing."
"What must I do?"
Aurora smiled under her covering and inched closer, not moving her eyes away from the Grey Lander's. "I heard you have full control of the Imperial Protectors, even though I can use Atlas to get them on my side, I also want you by my side, Dahila."
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● Still Graviton
Exact Location: JERICHO
Liam's eyes immediately blended with the lighting inside the building. It was dark, but he could see as though it was only evening, perhaps one of the perks of being a Sweeper.
He looked around the place, taking in his surroundings and noticing even the smallest object in the room. His eyes moved from the empty reception table to the glass door which had a meeting room on the other side.
"You must either be full of yourself, or stupid to walk into this place alone, and unarmed," a voice echoed through the room.
Liam's peripheral vision caught a swift movement behind him, but the teal green-eyed man made no action in response to the movement. "I didn't come here to fight, we don't want that, and I'm sure you people don't either."
"What makes you think we don't want to fight?"
The light brown-haired man stayed quiet as he pondered a reply to the question. "It'll be too much of a waste of time and energy," he stated. "All you have to do is state what you guys want and we'll do our best to see it through."
"You are a Sweeper, huh?" The voice disappeared then immediately followed by a low thud as the speaker appeared a few steps away from Liam.
The former got a reaction from the latter whose eyes opened widely, immediately recognising the outfit the speaker had on.
The suit was similar to the Bio-suit the Sweepers normally wear but with a few tweaks in some places. The individual's suits were much tighter with only two tubes that connected the ant head-like mask to a cylinder behind their back. He held a silver sickle-like weapon in both hands that was connected with a thin rope to his belt.
"You… you are with the Rogue Sweepers..."
"WE ARE NOT SWEEPERS!" The man aimed his weapon at Liam who quickly put his hands up.
"Who are you then?"
Meanwhile, Nyx and Daniel sat on a chair in the former's office with one of the -not- rogue sweepers standing by the window with his eyes peeled out at the Sweepers and local security forces that were packed outside.
"You sure brought a lot of friends for a simple, harmless meeting," the man said with a broad voice that appeared as such because of the mask he had on.
"Harmless? You call this harmless?" Nyx scoffed. "You forced your way into my building with armed men, tied us down, and demanded the passcode to all the firewalls of this industry's data, and you call this harmless?"
The man veered around, now facing the duo. "This is only a precaution because I can't trust you anymore," he revealed, causing Daniel to raise his brow at Nyx.
The man continued. "You gave me your word: we make a disaster of the Full-dive operation and put down a few Sweepers while you transfer a few million chips and avoid any experiments on the creatures."
Nyx moved her head down and sighed. Now that the -not- Rogue sweeper had revealed her secret plan, she couldn't raise her head to look at the head of the Sweepers Organization.
"But what did you do?" The man continued. "You refused to transfer the agreed-upon amount, and also carried out experiments on the creatures."
The man moved from his position to behind Nyx's table and flipped through some folders. "You betrayed my trust…" he stopped and raised his head to look at the pink-haired lady. "Or this was just the shell to your much bigger plan, am I right?"
Daniel who had been quiet the whole time moved his eyes from the masked man to the owner of JERICHO.
Back on the ground floor, the masked man groaned furiously as the grip on his blade tightened. He lost control and zipped forward, lunging his weapon forward but a third person grabbed his hand and pushed him back. "Enough, Dixon… we didn't come here to hurt anyone, control yourself."
The man named Dixon unhanded himself from his restrainer and took some steps backward. The latter turned to Liam. "You are not wearing your mask or carrying your weapon."
"I have no intention of fighting. I believe we could solve the issue by simply talking."
"Hmm," the man hummed. "I never thought I'd hear those words from a Sweeper, especially after what happened during your Full-Dive Operation."
Liam furrowed. "You know about the Operation?" He queried. "You must be someone close to the organization or perhaps you have an inside man."
The man chuckled before clicking a button on the side of his neck that made his helmet retract into his suit. The man had grey hair and a full beard that was also grey, his blue eyes not looking away from Liam's teal green.
"I'm no one but the servant of the one above all." His words caused Liam to furrow even harder.
"Why have you taken this building captive? What is it you want?"
The man held his hand behind his back and took a step forward. "What do I want?" He took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of the Esnan Victos?"
"The rival sect of the Believers?"
"Rival sect huh?" The man stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "All we want is to rid this planet of those abomination…"
Liam's eyes moved to a corner of the room and caught sight of Owen and some other Sweepers entering the scene through a vent armed with assault rifles. Owen quickly stood up and aimed his gun at the blue-eyed man.
"We sought to make a clear path for the arrival of the…" the teal green-eyed man swiftly pushed the man out of the way just in time to avoid Owen's shot.
"SWEEPERS! It was a trap!" Dixon yelled before launching himself at the Sweepers. More of the rogue sweepers appeared out of the shadows and charged at Owen and his crew.
The man Liam pushed out of the way dragged himself to his feet while staring dagger at the teal green-eyed man.
"I had no idea."
His helmet covered his face before he pulled out his weapon.
....