Present Time.
Amanai and I walked into a café. We placed our orders and sat at the table furthest from the rest.
I glanced at Amanai as I took my seat. As I gazed at her, I still couldn't believe that she was truly dead. I took a deep breath before speaking,
"So, what's the next step?"
Amanai was so engrossed in her surroundings that she didn't even notice me speak. I asked again.
"Amanai?"
"Oh, Mari...sorry what were you saying?", she said with a subtle smile.
I narrowed my gaze before heaving a sigh, "I asked what we're to do next."
"Oh...that, well it's simple.", she paused when the waitress arrived with our order. She dropped a cup of coffee latte at Amanai's front while she placed a cup of cappuccino coffee at mine.
At the sight of this, Amanai's eyes lit up. The soft and gentle gestures she made when she picked up the cup further complementing the rays of light given out by tiny floating orbs. Her somewhat pale skin glowed as she took a sip of the beverage, her motions giving her an angelic vibe to anyone unaware of her true nature.
Am I being poetic...
I irked at the thought and focused on the matter at hand. I opened my mouth to speak but Amanai beat me to it.
"The next phase of our plan is simple...", she paused as she took another sip of her latte before continuing, "We infiltrate DedSect."
I facepalmed inwardly, Simple my ass...
"How?", I urged slightly annoyed.
"I've already calculated the most efficient route. We strike from Atlanta.", she said with a glint in her eyes.
Atlanta...? Does she mean the South-West Region?
Cybrmille is divided into four regions. These four regions are divided into quadrants similarly to that of a compass. They are Kars, Statista, Atlanta and Naphtiel. Kars is in the First Quadrant, Statista in the second and Atlanta and Naphtiel being in the third and fourth. These regions are extremely large and possess distinct characteristics such as Kars having diesel punk-style aesthetics, Naphtiel being more attuned with Steampunk styles, Statista being more futuristic themed and Atlanta being bio-punk.
Of course, we are situated in Statista. I have only gone to Atlanta on a few occasions but have never bothered about the scenery.
Amanai pulled out a tablet and tapped the screen causing a hologram of DedSect's Headquarters to be projected upwards.
Amanai began to explain, "As you know DedSect is a heavily fortified floating fortress in the middle of all these districts. It has antimateriel turrets situated on every corner of the wall, ready to decimate any foreign object that gets too close. The walls surrounding it, is made out of Dagonite alloy and to top that, there's no visible entrance. The only way to get in is through teleportation."
"So... how do we get in from Atlanta?", I asked confused.
Amanai smiled before picking up her latte, and gulping down the rest. She glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow, "Your cappuccino's gonna get cold. You haven't drunk out of it."
At the sudden realization, I hastily picked it up with both of my hands and took a sip. Letting the mix of milk and caffeine rest in my mouth, I let out a slight moan. The taste of the liquid giving me a pleasurable feeling as it dispelled my wanting thirst.
Amanai who had been staring at me, let out a giggle, "It's nice right."
"Yeah...", I said, slightly in a daze, this is why I love cappuccino...mmm-Wait! Weren't we talking about something important.
I put the half-drunk cup back on my table and turned back to Amanai, "Continue."
"Ah yes!", she said as she expanded the hologram, emphasizing on the Southern Region.
"You see here, this building...is the perfect spot for sniping.", she said as she pointed at the tallest structure in Atlanta.
Sniping?
"What do you mean by sniping?", I asked inquisitively.
"Am gonna shoot a hole through the wall.", she said with a dark expression.
"Wha...?!"
"It's the only way."
"How?"
"With Lambda."
"Lambda...?", Mari let out these words, slightly confused until she finally realized what she meant.
"Ah!", at her realization Amanai smiled.
Lambda was Amanai's Father's Ballista.
-+-
As Amanai and Mari left the café, heading to the Rith Household.
Somewhere in Kars, three shady figures were atop the Gantz, a clocktower powered by diesel and the largest structure in Kars. The trio were observing the hustle and bustle of the city. The three of them had distinct appearances, one of them was slim and slender wielded two gauntlets and a knife in hand. He tossed it up and down according to the rhythm of a diesel powered mech which transported cargo across the streets.
Another was tall and extremely muscular; he had a strange and extremely dangerous aura around him. His aura was so strong that simply being next to him would cause the average human to have a hallucination of their head being loped off.
The last figure seemed fairly built, he had headphones over his head and a large suitcase plastered to his back. He sat in a meditation pose listening to what was being fed to him by his headset.
The slender figure asked with an amused look, "Are you listening to 'nothing' again?"
"Yes....the sound of 'nothing' is calming.", the one with the headset responded, seemingly unperturbed.
"Sigh...weirdo~.", the slender one said with a sigh as he continued to toss the knife.
The large figure glanced at him with a strange look, between someone who listens to silence in a noisy area and someone who is accurately matching the flow of a robot with a knife toss...I don't know who to consider weird.
He shrugged, dismissing the thought.
The rays of non-existent light faintly illuminated the scenery. The black theme of the city accompanied with its seemingly bizarre nature made the fairly-built figure utter in silent melancholy, "Small world, huh..."
The large figure asked, "When is this payload showing up?"
"Dunno.", the slender one replied nonchalantly.
The larger figure rolled his eyes and peered back at the bustling city before glancing up at the 'sky' seeing nothing but an expanse of darkness.
Cybrmille was a dome city and its dome was made out of transparent Dagonite alloy. Another brilliant invention by Alex Dae.
He saw the blackhole they were revolving around and the stars scattered across the universe. He sighed.
"Stars really don't-", before he could finish, he was cut off by the slender figure.
"There it is!"
In an instant, all three of them bolted from their position. The large figure moved with black platforms; the slender figure was attracting himself towards objects while the last one...jumped off the tower before using a grappling hook to latch onto other buildings.
They chased after a black hover truck, which had the label of DedSect on it.
"Hehehe, we hit the jackpot!", the slender one said as he landed atop a moving mech. He touched the machine which wielded two legs like that of a chimera, and a torso without a neck, arms and head. [Just check up a dieselpunk merch on Google]
The mech's seemingly neutral headlights turned red, signifying it's change from a cargo transporting vehicle to a combat bot. Turrets sprouted from its sides, taking aim at the vehicle before them before pumping it with lead. Darkness filled the top of the robot as the slender figure manipulated its movements, shooting violently at the hover truck but yet, it remained undeterred.
"Tsk.", the slender figure hissed as he abandoned the mech. It crashed to the ground forcing the people around into a state of panic.
The large figure made his way towards the hover truck, using his black platforms, aiming to deal damage by using his Ballista but he halted as soon as he reached it. An impenetrable barrier deterred him from getting closer, he raised his fist and slammed it into the honeycomb patterned barricade. Black mass accumulated at his fist as it sent waves through the barricade yet the barricade didn't let up, instead it repelled him with his own force sending him tumbling backwards.
"Shit. Longitude you're up.", he said as he crashed into a nearby snack stall. He saw a parfait and picked it up, taking a bite as well, "Good stuff.", he gestured to the owner of the stall who was shaking in his boots.
Longitude, the codename assigned to the fairly-built figure who was situated on a building in front of the incoming truck. The tinted window glass deterred anyone from seeing its driver.
Longitude pulled out a rifle from the suitcase on his back. He casually took out a tripod stand and rudimentary scope, attaching them to the rifle before taking a sniping stance at the top of the building.
"Phase...Two...Open. Cerberus.", he chanted casually as he took aim at the truck. His pupils emitting boredom as he put his finger on the trigger.
Two seconds after he finished chanting, a rush of energy flowed from him into the rifle transforming it into a true sniper rifle. A red fluorescent energy accumulated at the muzzle of the gun as he took a deep breath and uttered,
"Fire."
BOOM!