Sources have it that the Speed (Schnelligkeit) Corps is going to assassinate the 4th kings’ second in command. Catching wind of this, the Renegades are going to rescue Grant Wilberforce. They have permission from the 4th king to go ahead with the mission even though they're fully aware it could be a trap. But the advantages if they succeed are quite compelling. To make things more complicated, Kato decides to take Nablon on the mission. Malcolm and a few are against it, as a result, the crew seems to not be in sync as they usually are but preparations are made for the mission to begin either way.

News had gotten around to the people of Blank Point City on the execution of the 4th kings’ general, second-in-command and right hand man; Grant Wilberforce. People from all over the city had gathered at the execution ground; once a monument for the 4th King, marked by the half mutilated statue which was once whole. Over the years, history had been tempered with and the people were led to believe that the kings that opposed their overlord were indeed the enemy that tried to upset their peace. On the execution platform the gray body suits stood at the four corners of the platform awaiting the arrival of the criminal. Observing from around the vicinity quite stealthily in disguise as they kept a low profile; Nablon, Kato and Mirika were at a rooftop further away where they could have a clear view of the situation.

Letto and Guan were their inside men, they were the only two at the front lines as Malcolm and his group didn’t show up for the mission but Kato wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

“Guan, Letto, how’s the situation on the ground” Kato inquired via the communication device they got from Emmanuel.

“The people seem to be growing restless… that’s for sure.” “Letto is right, if only they knew the truth behind the group that is protecting them.”

Letto: Boss, why don’t we just reveal the truth instead and get the public on our side? That would make things faster. The platform is set too.

Kato: I share your concerns Letto but as it is now, the civilians are at least safe.

Mirika: And even if we manage to pass on the truth, I don’t think a lot of people would be willing to just roll with it. Imagine having everything you grew up believing in, told to be a lie right in your face.

Kato: Don’t forget it wasn’t any easy for us to accept either.

Mirika: It’s all thanks to the situation at hand at that time made it easy for us to connect the dots, if not, things would have probably turned out differently.

Nablon: There’s a truck approaching the grounds. [Nablon without a binocular could very much ascertain that something was nearing and signaled the team, interrupting their chatter.]

Mirika checks with her binoculars to confirm.

Mirika: You’re right.

Kato: Guan, Letto, be on high alert. The people escorting him aren’t like the ones on the platform. [Kato cautioned Guan and Letto]

Blending in the crowd dressed as average individuals, they could now hardly be identified by their enemies as only certain distinct features could let one identify them. Before the mission, they vibrated the muscles of their faces to change their appearance as they were widely wanted by the whole world for betraying the king. At this point the only thing that made them recognizable even to their own members was the level of their energy and even that had been toned down to minimal level (they had to avoid needless movement as much as possible) to avoid being singled out by the Schnelligkeits that were present. That was how dangerous this mission was, a single miscalculation could lead to a head on bout with the Schnelligkeit corps.

The sound of a truck approached as its rear reached the crowds and many (level 1) Speed Corps members stepped out and stood in two files facing each other. Two high ranking members of the Schnelligkeit Corps stepped out of the truck, they brought along an eerie suffocating aura that made the air tense and as they made their entrance, two people dragged the prisoner along.

The two high rankings members were much different from the soldiers that stood in files, they held high command among the Speed Corps and that could be told be attire they dorned on their breast pocket, and they had 4 golden stars each.

For a truck that contained a single prisoner it size was quite large.

Guan: They’re approaching the platform [he whispered through to the telecom device in his ear]

Kato: Be on high alert.

Letto: You got it boss.

The tense crowd couldn’t help but keep their silence and finally, when he was set on the execution stand, like lions they roared, waving their hand in the air like savages. They screamed words of scorn and cursing: “Show him no mercy.” “This is what you get for defying the God of kings.” “You traitor, you should be glad “He” was graceful to keep around.” “Say your last prayers, traitor.”

Grant Wilberforce had been escorted to the platform; cuffs that glowed with a faint green color could be visibly seen on his wrist. His light blond hair had grown beyond his shoulder to his chest, his beard way past the normal beard growing length if there was any. After all he’d been there for about a hundred years, his attire had holes all over and his face covered by the unchecked growth of hair left for his light blue eyes.

He was brought to the platform for all to see, for he indeed was a man that had been forgotten by time and people.

“Grant Wilberforce, right hand and general to the 4th king, traitor to the God of kings and the people. You’re hereby sentenced to death after being confined for a 100 years and still refusing to admit to your crimes.

Guan: If you’re going to kill the man, at least let him look good before his death. Get him a shave or a change of clothes. [Guan said undertone]

“Admit to your crimes you traitor.” “Don’t you have any shame?” The people continued to ridicule and scorn him even in his last moments.

Suddenly, he began to laugh like a mad man, silencing the crowd. “Admit to my crimes?!”

“Crime? I don’t recall playing a part in such a dishonorable act. But fine, if you consider standing for what I believe in a crime, then so be it. You want to kill me? Finally, I was beginning to get tired waiting for this moment. But know this, if I was to revisit that moment ever again, I’d do what I did with more tenacity, a thousand times over. If I don’t then I wouldn’t have any pride as the 4th kings’ sword.” His vigor almost scary and certainly deafening and surprising and his eyes burning with an unwavering flame of bravery.

Letto: That is not the will of a dying man.

Guan: You can say that again.

For a dying man, indeed that is not what the people expected his last words to be, his words only riled them up more than they were. The crowd cursed more and more. “You filth with no gratitude”, “I hope you die a painful death”, “Kill him.”

“It’s funny how people act when they only know one side of the story, even when you’re the one protecting them from the shadows.” Kato sighed softly. “Erik, send them in.”

Erik: Roger that.

Erik and his handful group were the team the fourth king had sent to survey the area. With the mission at hand, they were working under Kato on the fourth kings’ orders.

And by Kato’s order, Erik signaled his team. Numbering 6, they dispatched to the execution ground at high speeds, three sailed ahead as a gray ray followed them, among the other three remaining, 2 emitted a silver ray trail and their leader Erik was ahead emitting a mauve trail.

They arrived in a blink of an eye but unbeknownst to them, the big truck that brought the prisoner wasn’t just any truck; it was a new development, a trump card in a way for the speed corps to detect any unusual miniscule movement within a particular range. And just as Erik’s team moved out, the truck picked up the unusual movement without a seconds delay, the hood of the truck retracted surfacing artillery, a machine gun hub atop the truck right before the team arrived.

This particular weapon was modified to fire a large quantity of bullets at higher rates within a short moment. It opened fire on the team without any regard to the civilians that were present. Though taking them by surprise, Erik reacted quick enough slicing away the bullets with the short sword he had. The civilians were oblivious of what had just transpired and only felt the brush of the wind that blew their way. Without a moments delay, he sliced the machine gun into various segments, putting a stop to the farce. It all happened so fast the civilians didn’t realize and when they came to, the rebels were among them.

”It’s the Renegades.” the civilians gathered at the execution ground screamed.

The two distinct individuals that brought Grant Wilberforce to the execution platform swooped in to attack Erik and his team but they were intercepted by Guan and Letto. The brush of their clash blowing off their hoods and revealing their identity. They were Erica Sprint and John Inajiffy.

John: Yo Letto, didn’t think you had the balls to show your face here.

Letto: There you go, thinking you’re always right. How about I show you not to underestimate people?

John: Bring it on if you got the ba---

Without letting him finish his sentence, the four star individual was swept away by Letto away from the execution grounds.

Erica: Guan, I expected you to rear your ugly face.

Guan: Always a pleasure seeing you too, Erica. How about we leave the kids and go talk somewhere else, my treat.

Erica: Thought you’d never ask.

Guan and Letto had managed to get the high ranking members of the scene, now all that was left was to secure the prisoner and make themselves scarce.

A dozen of gray bodied individuals came out of the truck and a fight broke out as they attacked Erik’s team like an angry swarm of bees. The civilians now somewhat aware of what was going started to scream and run for their life’s but with the current condition of their surroundings, needless running around would get them hurt or even worse. They hid in areas that they found, some crawled and covered their heads. The battle kept dragging on and the speed corps had it easy, they were attacking regardless of the civilians while the renegades had to be careful not to let the battle brush off unto the civilians.

They were in a pinch but they were holding their ground since majority of their enemies were of the Gray team. Seeing their seemingly imminent defeat another horde of gray bodied individuals came rushing out of the truck and in their hand they had guns. Erik and his team were able, but they were very much outnumbered so much so, that it was unfair.

“Is there no end to these people?!” Erik grunted.

“I never thought we’d have to resort to this. Though it’s not quite perfected yet, Fire!”

He stood behind the border of gray team members and gave his orders. It was En, the leader of the gray team. The gray team members who had taken a gun squadron execution stand fired without delay and in that same moment that the air was being torn apart by these new weapons, Erik reacted quick enough to put up a shield blocking the countless bullets that flew their way at high speeds.

En: *An ability, a force field.* don’t let up, he can’t keep the shield up forever, fire!!

And just as En had predicted, Erik begun to stagger as his force fields range shrunk with each passing moment. Noticing this, En ordered a few of his members to pressure them and just as they were about to make contact, the ground begun to shake as an auto mobile with a drill-like front popped up from the ground stopping the gray team members in their tracks. Malcolm and his two followers came out of the truck and confronted the gray team members that were about to attack. The scales were now more than even and less fire was concentrated on Erik who was shielding both his team mates and the civilians from harm. But that didn’t stop them from shooting.

The weapons were prototypes and eventually of course, the firing rate affected the chamber system and the weapon became overheated. And one by one, the gray team members began checking each of their weapons, baffled as to why the weapon had stopped shooting.

En: That damned scientist!

He walked around into the vehicle and seconds after, as if re-arranging itself, the vehicle retracted the whole of its roof as other parts of it did the same. A large thick rod sprung up from the vehicles center seemingly spinning around as various compartments formed sprouted and assembled on it. A green energy field shot up around it and in time, the vehicle couldn’t be recognized. It had rearranged itself to form the machine they saw in front of them.

Awed, all the people around stared as all fighting seized. Suddenly, when they least expected it, the green energy field spread out in wide range in a form of a pulse and gradually, everyone that was around a particular radius begun to become affected. They all begun to feel like they were losing speed and strength but the same couldn’t be said for the members of the Schnelligkeit corps.

SPEED RANKS

Blue – Massively Hypersonic

Mauve – Hypersonic

Silver – Super Sonic

Grayscale – Sonic (Speed of Sound)

Grayscale – Sonic

The least fast of the story and wear gray, they are the least ranked among the pyramid of speedsters and as such are at the disposal of other high ranking members of the Schneilligkeit Corps and usually known as foot soldiers.