"What is the plan master?" asked Kara curiously. She found it difficult to believe that he would seriously suggest that they saunter over to a trouble zone and ask what was happening.

John gazed up at her for a moment then a thought occurred to him. "Kara. You have some sort of visual adaptive armor system right?"

She nodded. "Yes. It takes a bit of energy, but I can blend in with my background to a small degree."

The man considered then nodded. "I can help with that. It's easier for me to enhance existing abilities in someone than it is to add new ones. I'll improve your camouflaging system for a short time so that it blends in better with the background as you move. It won't be true invisibility, but its dark and that might help if you move as stealthily a possible in all that armor."

"Wait, your brilliant idea is to send her in to take a look?" asked Mindi incredulously.

John agreed with her. "Yes. She has a high-end armor system, great accuracy with her weapons even in the dark, and I trust her to get the job done."

Kara tried to fight down the smile beginning to form, but she found that she could not. Her master's sincere respect for her abilities filled her with a warm and overly pleasant sensation. He also made several good points.

The three discussed the plan a bit more then John hopped back into the truck. It wasn't until he was two miles away from the center that he realized the crucial flaw in his plan. His only physical protection of any real note was about to walk off into the night. Once Kara left, he would be alone with two Demi-Humans who possessed both a moderate combat capacity and a lot of anger toward him.

Roughly a mile from the center John pulled off the road altogether, and parked in a somewhat hidden location. He worked with Kara for a brief few moments using his trained magical skills to enhance her own natural ones. Once he'd done what he could to augment her camouflage system, they tested their radio communication equipment. When everything was ready, he sent her off toward the center with strict instructions not to engage unless she was forced to do so. Her duty was to report to him and return. Anything else could prove to be a costly, perhaps lethal, mistake.

She ran off toward the center at a full sprint in her civilian guise. Around the half-mile point she would armor up and slip off onto a side road that was displayed on his maps. This road would lead to a short path that ran to the center. While the threat might be aware of that route it was more likely that whatever was happening would not include numerous spies along the road she now took.

He turned to Tera and Mindi gazing at them lightly for a brief moment. "This is your first chance to prove yourselves worth the effort to keep around. You will provide an over watch of the road from these trees."

Mindi snorted at him and began to say something she might regret, but Tera answered with a sulky sounding, "Fine."

The man nodded to her and then to her far more reluctant harem sister before explaining where he wanted them to take up positions. He would remain with the truck and monitor the radio while awaiting Kara's situation report. He wasn't certain how professional his decisions were, but it seemed like a reasonable plan.

John didn't trust the girls to actually watch his back, but the locaters built into their collars told him where they were. If anything it at least kept them away from him for a time, and provided a modicum of safety in the absence of Kara.

As he checked over his radio equipment, the aforementioned Steel Valkyrie trotted along at an incredible pace. The ability to move at a rapid speed was one of many perks which existed among the Demi-Humans with enhanced abilities. While Kara could not run much faster than top human athletes at her current level, her strength, durability, and endurance were such that she could maintain those levels of capacity for long periods of time compared to the average human. This all translated to the ability to run a mile in roughly two minutes flat at a dead sprint. It did not take long for her to arrive at her turn off and armor up.

As soon as the armor formed around her the magical enhancements her master made kicked in and amplified her natural ability to blend in with her surroundings. She moved from easily spotted power armored weapon platform to a moving transparent image that only the most observant individuals would notice.

She walked steadily along the dirt side road and kept her senses trained on the world around her. The occasional sound of gunfire increased dramatically as she moved closer. It was obvious that the sounds were emanating from inside the center, but they rang out strangely and in surprisingly high numbers.

Kara considered the fact that the building might be dampening a lot of the sound, but the number of rounds that were being fired told her something else. There were obviously still defenders inside of the building, and the place would be a total war zone.

Her trained senses noted a disturbance off to her left a brief second. She stopped dead in her tracks, and became completely still. Her lack of movement allowed her magically enhanced active camouflage system render her virtually invisible to even a dedicated observer. Precious seconds passed before she heard voices whispering.

"I saw something moving!" whispered a feminine voice vehemently.

Kara's enhanced hearing picked up the words easily despite the poor attempt at maintaining silence. Whispering was often worse than talking softly. While it might not be as loud as a general low-voiced conversation, the change in tone made it more detectable. Unlike Kara in stealth mode, a whisper did not just fade into the background of ambient noises.

Another voice replied, "I don't see anything. Shut up. We're almost done here."

It took Kara a moment to locate the owners of those voices in the dark, but soon she zeroed in on their location. She observed them carefully and took note of their general lack of skill at hiding their presence. When she passed through quickly they were unseen, but now that she actively looked for them things were different. A careful observer would easily spot them even in the dark.

She could not identify their breed or potential combat power like her master's equipment, but she did have a general idea of what they might be. One of them possessed a roughly feline cast to her features. The other looked like some sort of fighting type due to her copious amount of muscles. They could be almost any type of Demi-Human, but she knew they must be part of the trouble inside the outpost.

Her master asked her to observe and report only. However, if she moved she would give her position away. If she sat still then she could not finish her mission.

There was only one option. She was less than a dozen feet from them, and another twenty yards from the connecting path to the center. Her gunshots would be heard for miles around. However, she did have another weapon at her disposal. She simply needed to await her moment of opportunity.

The two Demi-Humans began arguing again after roughly a minute passed. Not long after their argument began, they turned away from Kara and became completely animated in their angry discussion.

Kara, sensing her time had come, skittered forward as quietly as possible. She stopped only a few feet from them due to sudden renewed interest in her location.

"I... does that tree look bigger?" asked the feline Demi-Human. Her gaze currently centered straight in front of her hidden position. In her view there was a strange effect in the air that made it look a bit like a fishbowl filled with water. It was subtle, but everything seemed slightly distorted.

"Yes! I told you I saw something. It's weird isn't it?" asked the possible fighting type.

When the feline type turned to agree with her she was horrified at the sudden appearance of a glowing blade of energy inside the eye socket of her long time compatriot. She opened her mouth to scream in shocked terror, but the glowing blade swept toward her with ruthless efficiency. It readily separated her head from her shoulders. The entire confrontation took less than two seconds but horrified expression on the dead girl's face would remain etched permanently into her flesh. A snapshot of frozen terror. The mute testimony granted at the end of a life ill-lived.

Kara disengaged her plasma sword and radioed back to her master. He might be angry at her, but she could not leave these Demi-Humans alive and make contact as well. Her skills did not include methods for subduing the enemy in a silence manner. Her skill-set left only overwhelming lethal force as her option in the scenario. As she made contact, she hoped that her master would not be displeased.

Quietly she reported back to John about the recent actions, and her suspicion that the center was actively under attack by an unknown force. His voice came over her communicator in a soft tone. "Good job. Anything else to report?"

She glanced down at the rapidly cooling corpses. Kara narrowed her eyes before she reported back, "Mission objective was almost compromised by hidden sentries. I was forced to eliminate the obstacle."

He did not answer for what seemed like hours, but finally he replied, "Understood. Is the mission objective compromised? Can you continue safely?"

"No, master. The mission is not compromised at present. I can continue," said Kara in a dutiful tone.

John replied back, "Continue on. I need a full situation report to send in to the authorities. If I send it before then we might be compromised."

"Understood," she said.

The radio chatter ended and Kara moved out. She needed to get as close to the center as she could without being spotted. Her master did not think her enhancement would last more than half an hour at most, but so far she made excellent time. There was little doubt in her mind that she would complete the objective as she moved forward at a steady trot.