OOC: Suddnely continuity dances the time warp and we move ahead a few hours. sorry bout that.

BIC:

The White House, 8 hours later

Director Stoyanovich entered the Oval Office carrying a data disk with him.

"Mr. President, Mr. Vice President," he nodded to President Hammond and Vice President Derek Forge (who was also in attendance), "I have fully compiled all relevant data sent into us from the Cyber Force teams. It was not garnered easily, apparently the viral data was guarded by AI autospawn programs."

Alex placed the disk into a holoprojector, and lines of text began to appear in the center of the President's desk. Occasionally significant text got highlightend and replaced with photos either of dead bodies or Mastermind-relevant evidence.

Alex spoke, "The evidence is damning at best. Every attack scene had some reference to Mastermind. Plus the code used to hack the weather system in Seattle was definetely the same as the one he used to make it snow in Cyber Los Angeles."

VP Forge interjected. "But, it can't possibly be Mastermind back from the grave, after all. Reports and telemetry from the battle at Torishima both prove that Mastermind was deleted there."

Alex stopped him. "Only problem is that the Japanese got the run of the island first before we could investigate anything that was left."

"Are you suggesting, Director, that the Japanese got ahold of some part of Mastermind and are using him?" President Hammond asked.

"It's entirely possible."

"I doubt it," Forge said. "The Japanese lost a lot due to Mastermind, no way they'd want to leave any of his data intact."

"In any case that would mean Mastermind somehow survived. Inform General Tomlinson he needs to get here for briefing," Hammond said. "Also, Director, I need you to start prodding the Japanese for all the tech they recovered from Torishima, if any."

Alex nodded and left.

***

About 30 minutes later General Tomlinson was seated in the War room and being breifed by Alex Stoyanovich on the situation at hand.

"Basically we are not sure yet, though unless the Japanese are really behind it, which both the President and Vice President doubt, it seems Mastermind is back. While I would like to tell you to mobilize your forces, I have a bigger problem. Frankly, it's a problem of trust. So instead I need you to have all Cyber Force Squads begin investigating the Japanese to see if they have any of Mastermind's data on hand. Also, I need you to investigate Cyber Eden."

"Cyber Eden?" Tomlinson was taken aback. "But...they are peaceful."

"Ha! They harbor so many fugitive AIs I wouldn't be surprised if Mastermind is living large there."

Tomlinson still wasn't swayed. "No. I will not go hunting for stuff that might be there when there are people in plain view killing already. Either you give me more to go on or this meeting is over!"

He rose to leave. Alex tried to stop him. "I would advise against you shouting at me, after all, I sign your paychecks."

Tomlinson broke Alex's grip and left.

OOC: to be concluded

The drive to work was un eventful Crow played his classical music loud. He was in a mood for wagner and played. He was stopped at a red light when the drums of siegfried's death and funeral march started palying the menacing as an older AI pulled up next to him she looked over at the young probram and grimaced and mouthed "Damn kids and their music." As his Stereo's bass rocked her car. He decided to turn up the volume and rolled down the window to give her a full blast of the classical music as the tune got to it's climax, shaking his car. the light turned green and he drove on unimpeded to work as the song wrapped up.

He walked into work and clocked in. He started his morning paperwork. Filing several reports and moving several files to the storage facility. He noticed an email from the eyes. He read it and if he had a heart it would be pounding. It was an intelligence report.

U.N. Suspicious of Cyber Eden involvement

Be advised. An increased number of spooks have been detected. Be wary of humans disquising themselves as AI. Hunters are to tone down activities, we do not want to risk causing an international incident by processing a human by mistake. We will not allow the helix codes to dictate our society to us.

ARPA-01

"Well crap." He checked his ammo. and reloaded his gun and holstered it. He loaded his days shift information into his pda. He pocketed the computer. The memo worried him. It was no secret the world destrusted the Edenites. The police force, while the military of Eden, was not like any military or police force. It was sectioned into five branches; The Eyes, The Hunters, The Runners, The Gaurdians, and Shadows. Crow was a hunter, he solved crimes and hunted criminals. The Eyes were an inteligence service, spies, leeks, and informants. Without the Eyes, the Hunters wouldn't be able to deal with crime efficiently. The runners were courirers of information of all kinds and to smuggle in AI slated for deletion, as an underground railroad. Without the Runners the Eyes wouldn't be able to see eficiently. The Gaurdians are the last line of defense and clean up anything the hunters can't handle. Without the Gaurdians, The nation would fall into chaos. The Shadows are believed to be a myth, an elite force of assassins. Yet when a Police program is said to be corrupted bad things happen to them. It is fear of the shadows that keeps the Police honest and above corruption. Without the Shadows, the police would fall into corruption and ineffiency.

Crow walked along the streets, he looked at the memo again in his memory it worried him. He almost walked into a wall before he caught himself and corrected his path.

February 15, 2028, 1300 hours

General Tomlinson had been summoned again to the White House, by orders of President Hammond.

He probably wants to make me change my mind about infiltrating Cyber Eden. Lord knows Director Stoyanovich has been pushing for that since the country was accepted by the UN. Well, maybe I can convince them to see otherwise

***

A man was crouched on the rooftop of a small office building. He was observing Tomlinson's limo and police escort heading towards the White House.

His PDAP rang. "Subject is approaching Pennsylvania Avenue. My men are in position."

A mechanical voice answered. "I w-w-want it d-d-one in front of the White H-H-House. Send the right m-m-message."

"As you wish."

***

Tomlinson's entourage turned onto Penn. Avenue. The air was hanging still and quiet.

As they approached the White House, Tomlinson suddenly noticed there were less Secret Service guards around the area, in fact...they weren't there at all.

He didn't feel safe.

"Driver! Get us the hell out of here! DRIVE!"

It didn't matter what he said, it was too late.

***

An RPG arced off a nearby rooftop and slammed into the midsection of the limo. The blast threw the motorcycles in front forward, spilling their riders onto the ground. The limo itself was ripped in half, the rear detonating along with the gas tank in a secondary explosion.

The rear escorts stopped and tried to figure out where the shot had come from.

Suddenly three motorcycles and a black Mercedes shot down the street, automatic weapon fire spraying from the occupants onto the attack scene. The cops crumpled from the barrage of bullets, and the remains of the limo were shot to pieces.

Later, the bodies of the Secret Service agents on guard would be found under desks in the guard stations.

Nobody managed to catch the mystery attackers, but they left a calling card; their discarded AK-47s and MAC-10s were arrayed in a crude "MM" next to the burning vehicles.

***

President Hammond was as pale as a ghost as he looked at the still smoldering wreckage from the front steps of the White House.

Returning to his office, he found Director Stoyanovich, Vice President Forge, and the joint chiefs waiting for him.

"This is a mess," The president said flatly.

"That is an understatement," Stoyanovich said, "A Brigadier General is dead, and Mastermind is responsible. The press blackout was almost impossible to put up on such short notice, but we managed something."

"Even worse," General Wesson of the Army said, "Is that nobody wants to take up the helm of Cyber Force command. They're all afraid that they'll be wiped out in an ambush like this one."

"So, this means that Cyber Force North America is effectively crippled?" Hammond asked.

"No, we have considered a final option. We need someone in command who has had expereince fighting Mastermind, gets results, and isn't afraid to face down an entire army of fanatics."

Stoyanovich rolled his eyes. "you can't really be considering, 'him'? He's a renegade and a loose cannon."

"It was that attitude that kept him and his team alive and helped them end the greatest threat to the world," General Warner chimed in. "Frankly Stoyanovich, you don't even get a say in this. Like him or not, he's our best hope."

General Wesson turned to President Hammond. "Mr. President, we are going to contact Jason MacKenzie."

OOC: DA DA DA DANNNNHHHH

Azrael walked in front of his ERT in their crisis room.

"Okay, listen up! The White House was recently attacked. Current casualties are unknown, but rest assured the shit just hit the fan. You go home tonight, you sleep well, and you enjoy your time with your family. But come the morning, you get your ass out here. Canada is turning all of CSIS to find out what's causing these, and Joint Task Force 2 was just put on standby status. Tommorrow, every single one of us is going to be on Parliament Hill, in defensive positions. JTF-2 will be there as well. Not even a fly gets near there without our knowing it, okay?"

Azrael stopped and inhaled.

"Someone's trying to open war on big brother. Well, we're here to make sure the rest of the family doesn't get effected. As of now, we are officially on standby status, as are almost all of the Canadian Armed Forces. Get your rest, tommorrow is a big day."

The men filtered out, and Azrael watched them go. They were good people. Much better than himself, personality wise. He sincerely hoped that they no one woud come, because Azrael would be sad to see them die.

In Russia the news arrived late.

Late at night, in any case. Gathered in the conference room was Devin and Shahdee, with Wraith walking in behind two deputies. Wordless was he as he walked around the table, never casting a glance around as the two others sat across from the married couple, while his fingers went quickly to work tapping buttons.

A holographic display appeared, showing what had happened in Washington not long ago, and only then did he finally take a seat. "Something's happening here. Something very high level."

He glanced up and around at the table, one eye patched up with a bandage. Shahdee had a passing memory when she looked up to see that, remembering the fight in Moscow just a few hours ago when stray shrapnel had cut his cheek open, but she had to shake it quick in order to hear him speak.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say it was paranoia, but someone very high up in the world's governments doesn't want us to get close to this." He looked down at a folder in front of him, and lifted it to show the people present. "Now I just got orders here; we're to begin investigating the Japanese for possible espionage regarding Mastermind. Some people think they may have recovered some of his original code, and if so, it could go a long way to explaining what's going on here."

"The Japanese?" Shahdee had to ask.

Wraith nodded. "But I'm waiting final confirmation from the new Cyber Force commander before I start coordinating anything."

"Who?"

Wraith looked more squarely at Devin, who had spoken. "Wolf."

Earlier today...

The room was dark. only a single light fell in the room on a kneeling humanoid AI. his face covered in a mask. He stood before a council in shadows each like wise masked. in the center the mask figure wore a blank face plate with a single etched tear under the left eye.

"Report!" the center figure commanded.

"We have located a terrorist sympasizer in the eyes." Several windows opened showing a shifty looking gaunt humanoid AI, he had the look of analyst. "The subject has refused to submit recovered info about the recent attacks."

The council looked at each other in conference. Then looked at the shadow.

"Eliminate the subject." The center one said.

"As you wish Primus."

The shadow left. Soon so did the five members of the shadow council.

__________________

Crow got the call soon after leaving to make his rounds. He was at the crime scene in moments. only some residue code was left after the pipe had impaled him. The deleted program was gaunt. It's cold eyes stared lifelessly.

Crow looked at the scene and had to assess it an accidental deletion, it all looked so staged, but there was no evident proof. The witnesses saw the vehicles driver swerve to miss a child and hit the tree. They saw the pipes fly through the air and impale the AI. And despite the AI being a police man there is no evidence to support foul play.

"Your assessment Detective Crow?" the beat cop asked.

"This appears to be a tragic accident. We will not arrest the driver at the moment he will be free to go until such time as we change our ruling on this case. I wan't everyones statements taken immediately."

Meanwhile at stately MacKenzie Manor...
 

Northeast Massachusetts

Jason and Kaitlin's house was situated on about 6 acres of land. The house itself was situated on a hill about 300 feet from the street. the rest of the land was mostly forested, and near impossible to land a chopper or phantom transport on.

So that's why they decided to block off the road with one of the Phantoms, landing it right in front of the driveway. Two US Army soldiers, one a Leuitenant and the other a Sergeant, both in dress uniform, began heading up the driveway.

As the two military men headed up the driveway, they became aware of eyes watching them. Not the eyes of humans, but of canines.

Sergeant Bouchard looked around nervously. "Sir, what the hell's with all the wolves?"

Leuitenant Leiter looked around. Sure enough, about 20 wolves of varying ages were staring at them as they walked up the driveway.

"This is probably part of their terrirory. Knowing MacKenzie he probably leaves them alone and they don't bother him either." the officer answered.

The wolves didn't do anything, all they did was just watch the soldiers climb the driveway. Then they went off back into the woods, just as silently as they had come.

Undaunted by that, the two soldiers approached the front door of the 3 story forest green manor house and knocked.

A voice crackled from the speaker. "You may enter"

There was then a noise of the locks disengaging, and Leiter opened the door.

The main hall was ornately constructed, with two staircases connecting at the top to give access to the second floor. At the center of the hall, there was a statue. It was of an anthropomorphic wolf in military fatigues standing on top of what appeared to be a pile of rubble.

Bouchard walked up to the statue and studied it. "What is this, a monument to his hubris?"

Suddenly the eyes of the statue glowed green and the head moved to look right at him. "No, just a clever disguise" the statue said. Then it stepped down until it was level with the stunned Sergeant.

"I am Beowulf. I am guessing you wish to speak to Jason."

Leiter was confused. "You're Beowulf?"

"Yes and no. While I still exist as a free floating being in the Cyber World, Jason had this robot shell constructed for me to inhabit so I could interact IRL."

"But you don't have a fully human appearance."

"No, I have a human shell as well, but I tend to use this one more when i'm just 'around the house'" He waved his hand and began to walk upstairs. "Follow me please."

The two bewildered soldiers simply followed the robot's lead.

***

Jason was at his desk in his study. He had been waiting there ever since he saw the Phantom decloak outside his window.

He thought about the night before. Things had gone well.

Kaitlin had cooked a great Valentine's Day dinner, and then they had exchanged gifts.

About a week before, Kaitlin's car, a Green 1972 Mustang convertible had been damaged when a drunk driver sideswiped it. Jason said he'd get the repair work done, plus "a little extra".

Turns out he had gone to Knight about it, and basically got it reaarmored with dent resistant and bulletproof paneling, all without sacrificing any of the natural beauty of the classic car. That wasn't the actual gift though. The gift had been in the trunk, a katana and a wazakashi that were exact replicas of the ancestral blades of Kaitlin's family. Jason had only seen the swords once when he had visited the Vong family crypt, but he had remembered the exact details and had them constructed by a master weapons smith.

However, he had programmed the Cyber World versions himself, and rigorously tested the program until he was sure it was perfect.

Kaitlin was estatic over the gifts. Smiling broadly, she presented her gift to Jason. She had taken the dog tags they had from their ill-fated mission into China almost 8 years ago, and had them gilded and then pressed together. On one side of the tag was Jason, and Kaitlin was on the other side.

Jason smiled as he remembered his reaction upon recieiving the tags.

"Words cannot express my happiness, so I think this will have to do." He pulled her close to him and gave her a deep passionate kiss.

Kaitlin smiled as they broke the kiss. "I think that expressed it just right..." she said. "Or did it?" she took his hand. "Follow me, darling. It's time for me to express my thanks to you."

The lovemaking had been, as always, spectacular. Normally Jason would have slept right on till morning afterwards, but he was suddenly awakened at about 4 in the morning by the sense that something was amiss. he looked to where Kaitlin normally slept next to him, and realized she wasn't there.

He found her out on the deck, starting off into space.

"Is everything all right?" he asked her.

Kaitlin snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "Oh I'm fine...I just had this odd feeling that's all."

"Kaitlin, you never have 'odd feelings', what is it?"

"I'm not sure...I just had this feeling that something is going to happen. I dont know, maybe it's just me."

Jason put his arms around her. "It's all right Kaitlin, I'm not going anywhere if that's what the feeling is about. You know I'm done fighting, and I'm happy as I could ever be just being here with you."

Then they had both gone back to sleep and nothing more was said about the incident, such as it was.

Now Jason was beginning to think Kaitlin was right. Something was happening, otherwise the US army wouldn't be sending officers to speak with him.

Kaitlin had just entered the study. "Why is the army here?" she asked.

"Because," Jason said somberly, "I believe you were right. Something is going to happen...and they need me."

OOC: me tired, continue later.

OOC: NOTE TO ALL PLAYERS: Please refrain from posting until Wolf finishes up.

Beowulf ushered the two soldiers into the study and shut the door behind them.

"Ah, greetings gentlemen," Jason said not getting up from his seat. "What brings you here?"

"Well," Leiter said "I believe it's obvious we're not here for a social call." The officer took out a letter and slid it across the desk. "Orders from the Oval Office"

Jason took the letter and read it. It was mostly straightforward. Apparently they wanted him to lead Cyber Force again.

"You're joking, right?" Jason asked. "I thought things were going all right with the world for once."

"That's what we thought, until yesterday." Leiter handed Jason a sheaf of papers. He looked them over. "5 major cities were attacked in the Cyber World. Thousands dead and injured. And there's something worse than that. I'm sure you can see it in the pictures."

Jason looked. Sure enough, he found it quickly. Mastermind's standard, be it in blood, bodies, or bullet casings was in every photo. Sometimes haunting messages were scrawled as well. He saw the message found in Seattle and his eyes went wide.

"This...this can't be possible. He's dead." Jason said. "I saw him slashed, shot, and then get blown to nanobytes by us."

"That doesn't change what happened here, nor does it change what happened to General Tomlinson, former commander of Cyber Force, this morning."

He passed one more photo to Jason, it showed the burned out remains of Tomlinson's limo with the guns arrayed in Mastermind's logo next to it.

"Assassination carried out right in front of the White House. Whomever is running this 'Mastermind' op is certainly audacious." He pushed the photos back. "But why do you need me?"

"Well, all the other high ranking officers are worried they'll end up like Tomlinson. Also, you're something of a legend. You and the rest of CF-Alpha achieved the most amazing of victories against the longest of odds."

"Flattery aside," Jason said, "Do you really believe I'm your best hope for getting to the bottom of this?"

"Well, both the Joint Chiefs and the President do, and we're willing to match whatever terms you want, should the terms we provide be insufficient."

Jason steepled his fingers. "I'll...need some time to think about this."

Leiter and Bouchard stood up. "Understood," the Leuitenant said "We'll wait outside."

As the two soldiers left, Jason looked up at Kaitiln. "Well...what do you make of all this?"

"Too be honest, I'm worried. I mean, I know Mastermind is supposed to be gone...but so much destruction in the span of one day..."

"Yeah...I know. It's unsettling. And despite the fact that I left this behind me 3 years ago...I really need to know who's doing this. I need to know if this is Mastermind or just someone pretending to be him. Either way...I need to see that justice is done and this matter is laid to rest permanently."

Kaitlin smiled a bit."I know. I had a feeling you were going to do that. Don't worry, I'm not going to try and dissuade you. But I do want to come with you."

Jason looked like he was going to say something, but Kaitiln stopped him before he could. "I know you're going to say something along the lines of 'it could be too dangerous'.I know that. But I also know that I don't want to spend all my time waiting by the phone waiting for you to call to tell me you're all right. If things are this bad already, I'd hate to see what it'll look like if it escalates. Besides, Mastermind killed my brother and turned him into a monster. If he's back, then I need to make sure my brother's spirit can remain at rest."

Jason looked deep into her eyes and could see she meant it. And he also knew he wasn't going to be able to dissuade her.

"All right," he said smiling. "We'll do this together, just as we always have."

The two of them walked out of the study.

"All right. I'm in, but Kaitlin wants back in as well, and don't try to say you can't do that."

Leiter just cracked a small grin. "Don't worry, we figured something like that might've happened. Anyways, you have a meeting with General Wesson, Director Stoyanovich, the President and Vice President. We'd best get moving."

***

The Phantom was cruising over the skies of the Eastern Seaboard at Mach 3, inbound on the White House.

"So, what's with the wolves on your property?" Sergeant Bouchard asked Jason.

"They aren't exactly wolves," Jason replied. "They're wolf-dogs. Half wolf, Half siberian husky. I've been raising them for a couple years now. They've formed into sort of a pack, much like their ancestors. And yeah, they sorta guard the estate when I'm not there. I don't really view them as pets, sure, I feed them, but aside from that they know how to live on their own."

Bouchard nodded with a slight hint of realization in the gesture. "So, any troubles with the neighbors?"

"Not as much as I would've thought. I think using a broadsword to chop firewood might have scared a few," Jason said with a grin.

"That, or the fact that the firewood came from trees you brought down with your bare hands." Kaitlin added, grinning as well.

Bouchard and Leiter looked somewhere in between shocked and confused.

OOC: Almost done

The plane landed on the helipad on the White house lawn about 30 minutes later. Jason and Kaitlin were lead into the Oval Office. They were both greeted by a 4-star general.

"Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie, I'm General Kevin Wesson, United States Army. You already know President Hammond and Vice President Forge. This is our resident head spook, intelligence director Alex Stoyanovich."

Alex didn't shake hands with Jason, rather he gave him a stiff salute and somewhat of an evil look. Jason shrugged it off though. If Stoyanovich was going to make his job difficult, he'd find a way to work around it.

"Anyway," Wesson continued. "We're on a short amount of time here so I'm going to lay this out quickly. "Jason, you will be taking full command of both Cyber Force teams here in America. Such command carries a slightly higher rank than it used to, as such you are being given a commission and rank of a Major General. Kaitlin, you are being promoted the same number of ranks as your husband to Major."

Jason's eyes went wide at the announcement. Major General at 26? This...my god this is something right out of an anime. Eh, better not look at it that way though, serious business ahead.

"Also," Wesson said. "You are to be tasked with forming up a new strike group collected from soldiers from all of the Cyber Force units across the globe. This group will be your primary teams for intelligence gathering and official action against targets of opportunity. We will supply you with all dossiers and service jackets of current soldiers in the entire Cyber Force."

Jason nodded. "All right. That sounds good to me. Frankly I'm a little surprised at the freedom you're giving me."

"Well, we're in the interest of getting results. As long as you don't cause too much of a P.R. disaster, I think we can let you be and let you do what needs to be done."

Wesson handed Jason and Kaitlin each an envelope containing their new rank pins. "We're getting offices squared away for you at Cyber Force Washington HQ in Fort Dalek. We're also arranging transport for you there. You'll find the dossiers once you arrive, General, as well as all intelligence we've gathered on the attacks thus far."

Jason saluted. "I will submit my team reccomendations as soon as I can, General"

***

Fort Dalek, 2 hours later

Jason was going over all the gathered intel, so as to better decide who would be the best to fit into the strike team. A lot of it was proving Mastermind was most likely behind these attacks, but Jason still wasn't convinced the AI had managed to survive the destruction of his base.

The fool believed in his own immortality, and that led to his destruction. he thought.

Another thing he noticed was that a few of the reports were attempting to place blame on Cyber Eden, something else Jason wasn't willing to accept either.

There was a knock at the door. "Enter," he said.

In stepped a Leuitenant Colonel. "Leuitenant Colonel Vickers, aide to general Wesson, sir." the soldier saluted.

"At ease," Jason said returning the salute. "What brings you here?"

"Well, General Wesson has had some trouble getting in contact with another former Cyber Force member due to her current government work commitment, and was wondering if you would talk to her about coming back. We are sending recruiters anyway, but it would be good if you could help sway her opinion."

Jason felt uneasy. "Who?"

"Jade LaFleur."

Jason's eye twitched, mostly out of anger. Jade had been conscripted into the army rather than face jail time, and now the Army was looking to throw her back in. It wasn't something he was going to go along with.

He stood up. "I will consider it, but now I have to make a small side trip to a friend of mine for intel purposes. You are dismissed, Lt. Colonel."

The lower ranked officer saluted and left. Jason meanwhile got on the phone and called Knight. Knight had let Jason take leave from his job in order to do this stint in command, but he was also going to help Jason get whatever support, supply, and transport necessary. In this case, he had a Phantom on loan to Jason so he could get from work to home relatively fast.

However, in this case he was headed somewhere else.

He boarded the Phantom and took off, headed off towards Montreal. He was going there for two reasons. One, he wanted to talk to Jade about the blame being unfairly shifted to Cyber Eden, and what he could do to help make sure that blame could be proven baseless. Two, he wanted to go there to tell her about the Army's plans to try and drag her back in.

OOC: Thus ends the meta-post for the most part. Now bg and I need to do a collab.