OLD CONTENT WARNING

Everything below is the unedited, un-rewritten story line of Archon. Treat it as an alternate dimension for now - one where certain side plots, relationships, and personality types are vastly different from what you've read up till now. Thank you for your patience. The rewrite is covering chapters 8-12 in the future.

Adrian felt like he was going to be sick. Like a whirlpool, fear and fury mixed together in a surging current at the pit of his stomach. Silently closing the door to Nova’s apartment, he slowly made his way down the stairs. God, if I hadn’t been able to make it in time after Raide told me...The cool, wet night air washed over him in its accustomed blue waves producing a calming effect on his raging mind. Security lights dotted the edge of the apartment complex’s parking lot and he realized he was unconsciously studying the shadows for lurking entities.

He had just arrived back in town when Raide alerted him to the irregularities surrounding Nova. His A.I. had been keeping a constant watch on her for the past two months, mainly to be sure that there weren’t any indications of her sharing their secret. She had been quiet, unnervingly so, yet she hadn’t even once begun to type up a message that would have revealed them. When Raide saw her moving into a dangerous part of town, he reallocated some of his secondary processing power to tap into the area’s gas station cameras and surveillance equipment of any business within the vicinity. When the group interacted with her, he ran facial scans and brought back their criminal history, then notifying Adrian to divert from the airport and head her way.

It was close. Too close...it could even be described as pure happenstance that he was in town. He hated that with a passion. It reminded him how out of control he was. Ever since the creation of Raide, Adrian had grown used to the comfort of having an edge over others in the sheer amount of information that he controlled. All of his plans were laid out to perfection, or as close to that as information allowed, but that was the kicker as well. He couldn’t, no, THEY couldn’t afford to forget about the millions of random variables at play in the world. He couldn’t help but chide himself over and over for committing such an oversight.Yet, Adrian wasn’t the most disturbed by the situation that Nova was in when he arrived.

Primarily, he felt confused. Why did Nova being in that situation make him feel so sick? He felt as if he was forgetting something. He tried going back over his memories of other female friends throughout his years, but he couldn’t describe the emotion that he knew he had to have experience in. Hell, it seems like it dropped out of his vocabulary entirely. It was on the tip of his tongue, but seemed to elude his thoughts for some reason. The more exasperated he became, the stronger the feeling that whatever it was he was missing could be described as “fundamental.” Recognizing the futility of brooding on this subject, Adrian flipped over to the emotion he could understand - anger. While feeling himself settle a little after he assured himself of her safety once again, he spoke to Raide, “Have you found any connections on those bastards? You heard what he said right as we got there.”

“A few. I’ve successfully traced back up the hierarchy. They come from an organization called “Envy” with a total membership of 150, 25 of those in leadership positions. They’re involved in the underground slave trade and-”

“Doesn’t matter, they won’t exist after a few hours. Sweep the city for signs of the leadership. I need to know where they are.” Adrian harshly spat out his words, cutting off Raide. Getting into his car, Adrian took a glance at his rearview mirror, eyeing the black case positioned in the back before pulling away from the curb. I’m going to enjoy giving the new equipment a test run. Thinking of something else, he added, “Drop the surveillance protocol on Nova to your 5th priority slot. She’ll be out till morning after a night like this.”

“Roger that. First 10 leaders have also been located in the most likely locations, canvassing will take approximately 1 more hour with the new allocation of processing power. Sir, should we bring in the others? It may be a good opportunity for experience.”

After a moment, Adrian said, “That’s not a bad idea. After their training these past two months, they could be of use...okay, send a mission brief to them with a summary of tonight’s events. If they want to be involved, tell them to be at the training basement in 1 hour. Add an incentive of whoever gets the most kills gets to have Big Ben.”

“And...done. Ah, that’s fast. Rich is asking if you’ll be participating in the competition part.”

Adrian smiled devilishly while watching the headlights pass by. “Of course. I’m not going to hand over the gun willingly.” In the corner of his eye, he saw a visual display of the five team members’ profile pictures show up in a line on the display screen of his center console. One by one, check marks flashed into existence in the corner of each display.

“I’m reading a full acceptance of the mission opportunity, sir.”

A malicious grin shadowed Adrian’s face. “Time to gear up then.”

***

The body was curvy in all the right ways. A vivacious brownish gold radiated from the slender physique, sweat quietly formed and beaded downward pulled by the perpetual force of gravity. Whoever gazed at it would know that no secrets would be shared after their parting, so a sense of complacent happiness pervaded all in attendance to such a sight. Victor stopped studying his beer and picked up the glass, throwing back the last dregs of the cold pint before turning to the sexy bartender and nodding to her for a refill. A thin film of smoke permeated the air, creating a haze that played with the eyes and tickled the nose. A large flat screen above the dimly lit row of liquor showed the highlights of some baseball games. Victor knew that this next beer would need to be his last so he could get back and get enough rest to be at work tomorrow. He wasn’t getting paid, but it was no longer about the money.

Back when Bearcat first met with him, he was assured that his financial situation would be handled. Victor had wondered if his friend was merely pulling his leg, but true to his word he received notice that all of his $150,000.00 student loan debt had been paid off and a $10,000.00 living expense advance wired to his account for the two months leading up to the facility’s completion. If it was Rich, he would measure by alcohol and weed consumption, but Vic was a bit more practical. He had two little sisters in college down the road at the University of Georgia. Always keeping their needs in mind, he decided to keep half and throw the other 5K to them. According to Bearcat, a series of suites would be built alongside the facility so that team members could live on site for free. Victor was heavily considering this to cut down on extraneous expenses, not to mention the fact that he loved to be in the middle of the action.

The more he thought about it, the more he could feel the weight of all that debt being lifted off of his metaphorical shoulders. It felt amazing. Here he was, enjoying the night at a bar with a few friends, money no longer an object of worry. Despite the fog nicotine laced fog that strained the eyes, the air felt cleaner and more refreshing than it had a few months ago. I owe Bearcat a lot now, but I’d much rather be in debt to him than some unknown loan-tank assholes. Thinking back to what Adrian had said at the end of the meeting two months ago, Victor couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, drawing a few looks from his friends. Cancer, huh...I gotta give it to him, he’s ambitious alright.

Really though, Victor felt himself drawn to Bearcat’s plans because he knew that he would be involved in something groundbreaking for once in his life. Cure cancer? Hell, with an advanced A.I. in his pocket, it’s more than possible. Factor in the serum he mentioned...if it did half of what Bearcat said it did for him, then the possibility went way up in the form of decades of research. Sure, he’d pulled a bastard move by stealing the unfinished version from Biolink, but...well, whatever. What matters is that it’s in their hands now. No corporation trying to glean a heavy profit from its manufacturing. The prospect of everything was incredibly invigorating.

Turning to the newly acquainted Maddie on his left, he smiled and started to ask a question about her job, but was cut short by a vibration coming from his pocket. Apologizing to her, he took it out and brought up the notification. A few seconds passed and his eyes started to bulge as Maddie asked if everything was alright.

New Group Quest!

Earlier this evening, an attempt at abduction and rape was made on Nova Svensson in a back alley. Fortunately, Mr. Pierce was about to make it to the scene before anything transpired.

All three assailants were eliminated. After some research, it was determined to be a random event and found that the criminals were connected to an underground sex slave trade organization named 'Envy'.

Per the orders of Mr. Pierce, an invitation has been cordially extended to you in hopes that you will join him in a midnight practice of skills and slaughter.

Mission difficulty: C

Time limit: Dawn

Envy leaders eliminated [0/25] - shared

Envy lackeys eliminated [0/125] - optional, shared

Rewards:

Experience

King’s Armor Set

$15,000.00

Bonus!

Highest # of kills reward: "Big Ben"

Should you choose to accept, please indicate so and proceed to the training basement within the next minutes.AcceptDecline

Knocking his chair over, Victor exclaimed, startling those around him and drawing eyes all over the bar. “What. the. actual. FUCK, BEARCAT!?” Looking to his left and right quickly, he sat back down and apologized to Maddie once again before returning his eyes to the screen in hand. Seriously, what the fuck is this? Truthfully, he knew exactly what it was before asking, but could only think the words in his head as he gazed as the weird notification.

Victor was a hardcore gamer in his free time leading up Adrian reappearing in his life. Well-versed in a multitude of video games, he quickly dragged his eyes over the text and tried to forcefully merge his virtual knowledge with the implications of the text on the screen. Nova...? That was the chick from two months ago...what was she doing still in the picture? Ah hell Bearcat...what a macabre way of asking for help on avenging your crush.

While the format and text was very lighthearted and game-like, the content gave Victor obvious pause. Killing in the real world is just… He wasn’t sure if he could cross the same line Bearcat had. He knew that his friend’s heart was in the right place, but when it came to his own hand being the one to take the life, he felt a tug on his heart strings and a whisper reprimanding him for even considering it. It was unconscionable by normal standards. Yet, he also remembered how he felt when Adrian shared his dream of cleaning up corrupt elements in the world. Admiration. Pride. Comradery.

Feeling the hesitation still, he wondered at his own intentions. Was he just living vicariously through his friend’s efforts - willing to take part in the good part while turning a blind eye to the darker necessity? Was he deluding himself that he was just as committed as everyone else in being a part of this group? Questions swirled with his mind as a bead of sweat formed on his temple and traced his angular cheekbone down. A minute passed by before he finally made up his mind. Shit, I can’t leave a bro to do this by himself. If something similar happened to a girl I was into, I’d be out for blood as well and I know he’d be there. Fuck.

Slowly, his finger hovered over the accept button and then swiftly descended. Dropping a few bills on the counter, Victor ignored the protesting remarks from his other friends and simply said he had to go because an emergency came up before striding out into the drizzling darkness.

***

Shaking off the droplets still clinging to his rain jacket, Victor entered one of the places with which he was now intimately familiar - the basement gym. It was the lowest floor of a low rent office complex on a backstreet away from the commercial areas. Bearcat had said Raide found it when the parameters had been input...or something like that. He followed most of what his friend said, but when it came to his A.I., he didn’t even bother trying to understand. He figured his training took higher mental precedence if anything.

Pushing open the door to the renovated gym area, he felt the cool air flow against his face and was greeted by the sight of Bearcat in a type of full body armor that was black for the most part and had a crimson undertone to it. As he recalled, his friend had gone through a phase of reading a bunch of Danish and Viking historical fictions. One time, over a game of beer pong, he had told Victor about the fact that the warriors of the era referred to their armor sets as “war glory.” Seeing Bearcat standing here now with his armored body standing at ease with his arms across his chest, he could definitely see why that was the case.

After scrutinizing him a bit further, he could tell that the crimson probably came from some sort of body suit underneath the overlaid armor that peeked out from the non vital areas. This was further evidenced by the tight neck piece that came up out his armor all the way to his jugular. A helmet of some sort sat off to the side, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen. It looked like a three-way cross between a futuristic space helmet, a v-shaped center faceplate of opaque glass, and a crown. Okay, that is definitely weird, but totally badass.

Finally tearing his eyes aware from the superhuman in front of him, he just now noticed that three others were already there. Rich, Peter, and Heather all nodded to him as he made his way to stand in a line that faced Adrian. Everyone seemed to have formed behind a similar row of black cases. There were five in all to match the number of the team members besides Bearcat. A voice came from in front of him and only now did Victor see the startling reality of Bearcat’s eyes - they were crimson like the body suit under his armor. He had only ever seen the electrified blue. Within these new blooded ones, Victor felt a clashing dichotomy of dullness and sharpness like there was something missing while other aspects were being enhanced. Hmm, doesn’t seem anyone else is mentioning it. I’ll ask him about it later.

“Good to see you here Vic.”

“Likewise, ‘Cat. Gotta say though, your invite was a little weird.”

Confusion passed over Bearcat’s face before realization struck. “You can’t be serious...what did Raide send you?” Seriously, are these fools so intimidated that they didn’t say anything?

The four standing together looked at each other and then started smirking before busting out into laughter, ruining the once serious atmosphere. Victor stepped over his case and handed him the cellphone with the notification pulled up. The tension in Adrian’s jaw slackened as he slowly started to shake his head with an expression of disbelief. Blinking, he handed the phone back and spoke out into the air,”God help you Raide if we ever build you a body. Swear I’m going to stick you in a robotic chicken as punishment.”

“What? That’s a...perfectly reasonable invitation I sent to them sir.” Raide began to simulate a cough in a speaker that resounded from the phone. This statement only served to reignite the laughter from the gathered friends. Who would have thought that the personality the A.I. liked the best was one of a troll. We are one weird as fuck group. Suddenly, sound rang out from the door as Sergio bustled into the room, apologizing for cutting it so close. There were only three minutes until the deadline for getting there.

Bearcat’s eyes swept over the group and started speaking. “I want to thank you all for participating in this. While there was incentive to be here, it doesn’t negate the fact that the job is...personal for me. You didn’t have to come, so once again thank you.” He strode over and sat on his own black case before continuing.

“In front of you, you’ll find tailored armor that matches mine in functionality. These are yours to keep. The suits are thermo-regulated, shock resistant, heat resistant, bulletproof up to a .50 cal, and knife-proof. They boast a 3-dimensional sensor array tie-in that is located on your helmet for Raide to assist you. Speaking of the helmets, they have an integrated heads up display so that Raide can keep track of your ammo usage and so forth. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the processing power to help much this go around other than that, so you’ll need to rely on your training and wits to stay in the clear. Go ahead and take them out.”

Each of the five swiftly opened their cases and were awed at the suits and helmets in front of them. They found that each of them had a specific color suit to go under the raven black armor. Adrian was crimson, Heather - sky blue, Victor - metallic grey, Rich - forest green, Peter - dark purple, and Sergio - dark orange. The colors didn’t stand out too much as the external armor covered up 98% of the underlying suit.

Bearcat started talking again as everyone began to remove the case’s contents. “While these are vastly superior to anything the police wear, you need to understand that you are not impervious to damage now. You’re still susceptible to the kinetic force being transferred into your body. If you jump out in front of of three guys with automatic weapons, I doubt you’ll be able to move for a week after all the bruising you’ll receive. The armor is not even either, by the way. You obviously noticed the cracks that show the body suit underneath, right? As you can imagine, these should be protected. They’re most vulnerable to well-aimed knife attacks. I had to leave some give to allow for flexibility in movement.

As for armaments, you’ll be receiving a silenced AR-15 tactical with six clips, a Colt 1911 with three clips, and your very own plasma dagger that Raide and I perfected last week. You may resupply after each building in transit to the next.” A few murmurs passed between Sergio and Peter. Adrian knowingly smiled. “It cuts through a human body like butter so for God’s sake, be careful with it. Imagine being the one to accidently to cut off their own nuts...yes, I’m looking at you Pete, ya damn clutz.” A snicker could be heard over the phone’s speaker. There’s gotta be a story there. Have to remember to ask later...

“Alright then, the specific details will be given in route by Raide. Speaking of which, be serious with them this time okay?”

“...If I must.” Did he really just sound disappointed?

“The van ready?”

“It is indeed.”

Bearcat turned spoke to the group again. “Alright then, you can go and get chan-”

A rustling came from Victor’s left and he turned only to be shocked to see Heather stripping right there. Soon all that were left on her was a sports bra that somehow accentuated her perky B cup breasts and a pair of compression shorts. She shot a look around at the stunned males and shrugged her shoulders. “What, time’s short, right?” A few seconds later, she slowly slid into the tight body suit and zipped it up. The sight was enough to drive them mad so one by one the guys all started averting their attention to get dressed themselves. Has she always been like that?

Victor could see Peter over in the corner trying to subtly flaunt his bare muscular chest whenever Heather looked near his way. Chuckling, Victor thought to himself, not happening bud. He felt sorry for him, but he’d seen how Heather only looked at Bearcat. Knowing Bearcat’s tendencies though, it might be better for her to go after Rich or one of the other guys. Adrian had shared with Victor one time that he rarely saw a girl the same way after they broke up.

Soon all were dressed and inspecting their weapons in the manner that Bearcat had trained them and filed out to the non descript black van by the entrance. Twenty seconds later and they were on their way, taillights blurring into the darkness.

***

“Comms check.”

Adrian’s voice rang out into his visor and soon saw tiny colored dots flash on his HUD every time one radioed back.

“Heather here.”

“Sergio, check.”

“This is Peter - check.”

“Can you add a handle of whiskey to the quest reward?”

“V here, check.”

Rolling his eyes, Adrian said, “all comms are good. Raide, give them the rundown.”

“As you all may have guessed, they aren’t all congregated at one location. In order to handle them effectively, you will split into three teams of two. Pairs are as follows: team 1 is Adrian and Heather, team 2 is Rich and Peter, followed by team 3 - Victor and Sergio. Each team will be dropped off at one location to sweep the building. I will be dedicating the majority of my processing power to filter communication in and out of each area we hit. There are 10 separate buildings we need to hit. This is a normal operating time of day for them, so this will allow us to account for an approximate 85% of the Envy organization.

It is imperative that you go slowly. Before you pull the trigger, make sure you can get a good look at their faces. My second task is to match their facial features against my database to ensure they are in fact related, so watch your HUD for a green checkmark. If it lights up, spray away. Or knife away. Whatever you’re into. We now have 5 hours and 29 minutes until dawn. Each team will be responsible for three locations. The final 10th building, which is their sort of HQ, will be a joint assault of all three teams. Team 3, ETA to your drop is 5 minutes. Questions?”

Peter’s light came on as he asked, “So was that thing about Big Ben real? You’re going to give away that monster hand cannon?”

Big Ben was a prototype handgun that Adrian built for the hell of it. It was, in all manners of the word, massive. Boasting a .50 caliber barrel design inspired by the desert eagle, he’d even gone so far as to attach a single 30mm grenade launcher on the bottom of the barrel. It was heavy, so much so that only Adrian could easily wield the thing. All of them knew though that as soon as they were upgraded, they’d be able to handle it with ease as well.

Chuckling, Adrian replied, “I don’t know about giving, but I did think that it would make a good reward. I’m not sure it’s very...practical. So I may not make another one.”

“I can’t even fire the damn thing it’s so large. You boys are more than welcome to it,” Heather said flippantly.

Pete cracked up at that, “You hear that guys? It’s too large for her.”

Rich snorted at him, “What are you, 12?”

Adrian could feel the immense eye rolling come from under Heather’s opaque visor. “Fuck you, Pete,” she said.

“Anytime,” he replied cheekily.

“That’s enough of that,” rang out Adrian’s annoyed voice over the comm channel. “Team 3 ready?” The van came to a stop. “Go.” Driving around in a van to do this blows. Can’t wait to get the A1-SX built.

The pair quickly left the van and rushed into the building that seemed to have have a paradoxical black glow. Pulling away, the van made one more stop twenty minutes later, dropping off Rich and Peter this time. Another 15 minutes passed before Adrian and Heather found themselves at the building they were going to be clearing. In the corner of his HUD vision, he saw some counters continually going up for the other two teams. Damn impressive guys. Looks like Vic is in the lead. Parking the van, both quietly exited and made their way in the front door, ignoring the few cameras positioned near the entrance. Raide will already be in those. I shouldn’t distract him by asking for confirmation.

Speaking to Heather on their own team channel, Adrian pointed towards a small string of offices down a hall, “We’ll take the right first.” The two rolled on the balls of their feet as they swiftly crept to the first room that had a light shining of its open door frame. Small dust particles could be seen floating in a vortex of the light. Adrian darted his head in and out, capturing a snapshot of the room’s contents. Three faces. A split second later, Raide’s judgment came back with a glaring green checkmark indicating they were Envy members.

Glancing at Heather, he noticed a slight shake of the hand resting on top of her dagger hilt. Whispering softly, he said, “You okay?” In his ears he only got back purposely steady breathing, showing just how scared she was. Sighing, he turned towards her and backed away from the door frame while placing a hand on her shoulder, continuing to whisper. “Hey, you’re okay...Look, I understand the hesitation. But remember, these people are involved in a slave trade. A sex slave trade. What if it was your sister Mimi to be the one who got stolen from your family? That’s that what these people are doing to a multitude of families. We’ve got to stop it here and send a message.”

Listening in on her breathing over the comms, he heard her stop breathing once he mentioned Mimi and quickly forced a large breath before nodding, “You’re right. I’m good now.”

Nodding back at her, he turned back to the doorframe. Sounds of a football game could be heard on the right wall inside the room. “Two on the couch to the left, one at the table 3 meters in. Take the table guy. Daggers only.” Receiving a ‘roger’, he counted down on his fingers from 3 and rushed into the room in a blur. Clearing a small coffee table, he leapt at the first guy, feeling his humming blade bite into the man’s throat. A nauseating, gurgling hiss came from the neck as Adrian’s plasma dagger was already in the midst of slashing the second man’s throat. An overwhelming look of fear and confusion settled on each of their faces as they bled out weakly and then died. Two seconds had passed since he entered the room.

Turning to the man at the table, Adrian saw Heather throw a normal speed slash at her target’s throat as well, but was blocked by a panicked arm shield. Normally, the blade would have maybe bit deeply and she would have had to retract and keep trying to find a way through his guard, but this was a plasma dagger.

The proffered arm severed 6 cm above the wrist where the blade contacted and the man’s hand went flying, a look of bewilderment and pain beginning to course through his face. In that moment of confusion, Heather drew her dagger back slightly and plunged it straight through his throat not only severing the vocal chords, which was the goal, but all also easily piercing the spinal cord resulting in an instant death. Withdrawing her dagger, Adrian heard the hum of the blade die down and she wiped the blood on the man’s clothes.

Regarding his friend, Adrian felt a slight conflicted smile creep across his face underneath the darkened visor. Good for you, Heather. Though, at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. Is it inevitably all for my sake she now has blood on her hands? It’s true that their friend group was abnormal in what they thought was acceptable, but the reality was that the lines still existed where they’d always been. Talking about it versus actually taking another’s life...it was for this that Adrian was worried about his friends. No, his team.

Signaling to Heather, they both stalked out of of the room. Moving from shadow to shadow, the pair made their way through all the rooms of the hall, netting another 9 kills - 3 for Adrian and 6 for Heather. She seemed to be calming down and accepting what was happening, so he had decided to allow her to take on the majority of opponents to get some good experience. ‘If she isn’t challenged, she won’t grow’ was his reasoning, but he also couldn’t help but watch her tiny, black and light blue petite figure weave a maelstrom of death. Who knew that a sight could be so entrancing?

***

A splash of blood arced across the wall as Peter made a heavy upper slash across a man’s chest. Gore had already found its way to his chest armor from his numerous previous victims, cutting a gruesome figure of carnage and its dealer. Everytime he saw another sizzling spray rip its way from someone’s body courtesy of his plasma blade, a bolt of electricity would shoot through him causing him to shiver in ill-concealed glee.

The stench of burnt flesh and blood filled his nostrils, making him feel weirdly nostalgic though this was the first time he’d ever killed before. God, this is what I’ve been missing! Using his techniques learned from Adrian, Peter sliced his way through a group of 4 while he could hear Rich doing the same on the other side of the hall, though it seemed he was having a bit harder of a time. With these ridiculous sets of armor that Bearcat gave them, he wasn’t too worried however.

Every so often, one or two would manage to pull a glock, but Peter religiously ignored them, instead dashing with excitement to their side. The reaction was always the same. They’d pull the gun in a hurried effort to deal some damage to the monster before them and then Peter would watch as despair filled their eyes as the few that manage to hit him were deflected and seemingly brushed off.

One by one, he carved through them. It was... tantalizing. Warmth seemed to snake its way into his soul and nest there, releasing bursts of adrenaline every time another cut was made. Since their stealth had been blown earlier, he could tell that Rich opted to shoulder his AR-15 and squeezed off his rounds via precise semi-automatic firing. Small bursts of light and light compression of air were the only indication that lives were being taken from across the hall. Regrettably allowing the 4th man to die, Peter stopped and peered at the rankings displayed on the HUD.

RankingContenderKills1Victor122Peter103Heather74Adrian55Rich46Sergio3

Suddenly, while viewing the listing, Adrian’s number started skyrocketing quickly overtaking Peter and Victor’s top scores. He was already sore that Bearcat had stolen Heather for his pairing, so this was just too much. Eyes growing large, Peter exclaimed, “What the fuck!” before sprinting away down the hall trying to find his next prey.

***

“Mother. Fucking. Jackpot,” said Adrian darkly.

Having looped around to the outside of the neighboring warehouse, he and Heather peered through some grimy windows, witnessing a distressing scene. Several cages containing scantily clad girls were being loaded into a shipping truck container probably bound for some port. He heard a sharp intake of air from Heather when she first saw them and he could hear the faint mumbling of curses that flowed from her lips. This obviously had to be one of their shipping centers. Raide had theorized to him earlier about how the buildings were split up based on the data, this only confirmed the fact.

Sweeping his HUD over the environment, a box danced between faces signifying Raide running his check. Just as expected, all the 15 worker types were with Envy. Two more that were lazily standing off to the side smoking came back as part of the leadership hierarchy. Crouching back down and pressing his back against the wall, he turned to Heather and said calmly, “This group is mine.”

Heather’s head whipped to his direction. “What the fuck does that mean? I saw Raide’s tally - there’s 17 of ‘em, Bearcat.”

Shaking his head, Adrian said, “I know, but it’s about time you see what those with an upgrade are capable of. Watch the perimeter and engage if they look to interrupt.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he moved like a shadow up a pipe on the wall, before carefully opening a high window and curling his body inside. Advertisement Support "Archon" PayPal Patreon Previous

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Chapter RSS About the author 2 Fictions 3 Posts 1 Threads Bearcat Follow Author Monday, November 16, 2015 12:01:39 AM Sunday, September 4, 2016 8:46:19 AM Atlanta, GA, US Magnificent Bastard

Bio: Perpetually curious madlad with too many ideas to accomplish in one lifetime.

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