Jason decided discretion was the better part of valor. "Fine. I don't know, but that's because I am just as curious as you are to why you're here. But I'm sure there are reasons. And frankly, we need all the help we can get, so I'm glad you're here."

Jax wisely saluted, and left the office. He got out into the haul to see Azrael carring various bags from Wal-Mart to his room.

Apparently, Azrael bought extra soft toilet paper.

Moscow - 10 hours earlier

The beat up old car pulled into another warehouse district -- this one on the southwestern part of the city. Here it pulled into what looked like a truck loading area and stopped, coming neatly to rest and unloading its passengers.

The three that stepped out looked as shady as the warehouse did -- dressed in thick, nondescript coats and clothing, and appearing to have an agenda or two on their minds. Which they did.

Speaking in Russian to each other, a handful of men were busily going about moving boxes and organizing a few things, when one of them spotted the three people and tapped his boss' shoulder, then pointed to them and nodded his head back. The boss stopped what he was doing and squinted, though it didn't take long for him to recognize the man walking out front.

Telling the underling something, he then went over and addressed that man casually. "Hallo, my friend, long time no see."

"Good day to you, too," Wraith started, looking about the warehouse. "Busy day?"

The boss took a drag from his cigarette and motioned with his arms to the room. "I am a businessman, I am always busy."

"Well, then a businessman like you might know something about a man named Sergei."

The boss took a long, long drag from his cigarette then, wondering what Wraith was about to get at here. "Perhaps."

Wraith walked past him and gave him a look, and started inspecting the warehouse, though casually. The boss looked at Shahdee and Devin for a second -- who held their places and tried to look unimposing -- and then followed Wraith as he spoke. "Then perhaps you can tell me about just what kind of man he was."

"Was?"

"He's dead now," Wraith answered.

"Hm." The boss took another puff from his cig, now almost gone, and exhaled slowly. "He was surrounded by dangerous men. Frankly I am surprised he was alive this long."

"What kinds of dangerous men?" Wraith asked in Russian.

The boss stopped walking as Wraith did also, and studied his face. Then with a nod behind him, he asked, "Can your friends be trusted?"

Wraith nodded. "I would have left them in the car if I did not think so."

The boss finished his cigarette while he thought about that, then snuffed it out with his boot when he was done. "Sergei was involved with some very dangerous men, the kind men like us choose to keep at arms' length."

"Any of them have ties with Mastermind? Or with any splinter cells of his?"

Devin's head perked at the sound of Mastermind's name -- the one word he caught out of the rest.

"Most of the mafia had ties with Mastermind," the boss replied. "He was one of their biggest supporters and suppliers. And they him. Why do you ask?"

Wraith looked around the warehouse and shrugged, then took out a cigarette of his own and lit it. "It would explain a few recent events."

The boss watched Wraith start smoking, and nodded his head back. "I would be careful. It sounds to me you may be getting involved in something you don't want to be involved in."

Wraith nodded, blowing out the smoke. "I know. Believe me, I don't, but I have to."

The boss chuckled a bit, sarcastically, and asked him, "Risk is part of the job, hm?"

"That's what they say..." Wraith said, trailing off as he took a drag. Suddenly he snapped out of his thoughts then, and motioned to the man. "Anyway, what was Sergei's specialty? Information?"

"You could say that," the boss answered. He noted a few of his minions giving him uneasy looks, and decided that they should hurry up. "The things he knew undoubtedly got him killed. He had connections, contacts, resources... if you wanted to do anything or move anything, he was the man you would eventually talk to. A lot of men used him as a go-between."

The boss watched as Wraith took another drag in thought, and asked, "Does this have anything to do with the terrorist attack yesterday?"

Wraith nodded, not even bothering to ask how the man knew. "He had a hand in it. When the people he worked for found out we'd tracked him, they probably had him killed."

Wraith stopped watching the workmen working then, and gestured to the boss with his smoking hand. "You be careful too, it's not a wise idea to talk to me very much at the moment."

"Oh, thanks for the warning," the boss sarcastically replied, referring to the irony of that statement.

Wraith smirked and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, nothing's happening to you today."

He started walking past him towards the exit, but as he looked up his step slowed down. Another man was entering behind Shahdee and Devin, and from the way they hadn't turned around yet, rather quietly. But when they noticed the look on his face and his nod, they spun around and jumped to readiness, almost pulling their weapons but stopping short.

Perhaps because his appearance was a little surprising to them. He was dressed in Oriental attire, from the kimono all the way up to the ornate -- but modernized armor on his shoulders and biceps. Spikes were everywhere off of them, and the layered plating of his arm-mounted armors added an intimidation factor. But most telling as he drew near, were the tattoos on his face, especially the one on his forehead that was the mark of the First Order. A glance down at his waist revealed two swords strapped to his figure, both angled but low -- the blades at hip level, not shoulder level. Devin especially could already tell he had a unique fighting style.

They began to draw their weapons for real, but Wraith put up his hand and stepped between them. "No, wait..."

The man walked further towards them, but as he drew near he seemed to ignore them, until finally he passed right by Wraith's right side without so much as acknowledging his presence. Devin and Shahdee spun around with Wraith, and by then even Wraith was ready to fight -- because he was clearly about to, just because they were there.

The boss looked nervous, too. He shifted position several times and motioned to some of his workers, telling them something in Russian that even Wraith had trouble hearing. The new First Order man walked up to the boss then and began talking low, so low that even Shahdee's augmented hearing had difficulty making anything out.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Wraith muttered to Devin.

Devin shook his head, and so did Shahdee as she whispered, "No... he's being really quiet."

***

I'm not even gonna proofread this, so if I mess up... you know what I meant to say.
 

"I must say, Ivan, the people you've chosen to consort with don't meet with my approval..."

The boss nodded very nervously. "I know, I know... but, you see, they came to me--"

"Has the delivery been sent?" the man asked, changing the subject.

The boss again nodded nervously. He knew very well what was about to go down. "Yes, yes it has..."

"And my transport has been arranged?"

The boss again nodded. First Order then muttered in addition, "Tell me where to meet it then, and I'll be on my way."

"The-the northern depot, as we discussed," Boss replied.

"Thank you for services..." First Order said as he turned around. But after only a few steps he paused, and began to turn around. The boss' workers ducked behind cover then, and began arming weapons. "Oh, before I forget..."

The First Order man began arming the device on his right forearm as he turned to face the boss, but Wraith pulled a pistol in short time and fired it at him.

"NO!"

The First Order man leaned to the side with great speed and a blur, confirming that he was augmented. He paused for a second as a quiet stalemate settled, punctuated only by the sounds of a dozen guns cocking and aiming at him. A few lasers even broke the air and danced about his chest and head.

Slowly he looked over his shoulder towards Wraith, while the boss wisely backed out of the way and scurried for shelter. "You're meddling in affairs you shouldn't be, Major. But it can't be helped..."

He faced about and began drawing his swords, eyes burning holes in Wraith. "You're in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

Wraith's eyes twitched as he turned. Something about him -- his demeanor, his smug confidence, something -- was giving him the distinct impression that this was one hombre he really didn't want to mess with. He didn't see it, but Devin also had this impression, and was really quite shaken though he couldn't figure out why -- and while Shahdee didn't recognize him, she knew the moment he walked in the room that he was dangerous.

Then the boss ordered his men to fire.

First Order became a whirlwind of metal then as he spun in tight circles, deflecting the bullets handily with his swords. A few bullets even ricocheted back to the workers, hitting skulls and chests and downing half of them in an instant.

Wraith and Devin were next to jump into the action, guns blazing. They split off to the sides as the man spun about, flaying his swords around in neat, fast arcs. The bullets ricocheted back at them, but they were already diving behind cover, while Shahdee leapt into the air did a nifty little flip, then slung a pair of knives at him from her coat. The man deflected both with ease, but that had the effect of setting up Wraith and Devin's next moves.

That meant that Devin removed a submachine gun and had at him, while Wraith complicated matters by leaping forwards and hurling a set of knives in a blanket motion. The man went to deflect the bullets and knives, but soon the remaining Russians' gunfire added to that was too much for him. He took several hits in the back and forearms, the rest of the bullets deflecting off his armor.

He looked stunned for a moment, which gave Wraith the opportunity to charge with another load of knives, but the man recovered faster than Wraith would have liked and knocked him aside with a swift roundhouse. Devin watched as his old friend was tossed aside like a doll by that kick, and looked on as the man seemed unphased. Shahdee saw it too as his wounds began healing right before their eyes, and she also saw as her husband charged forward with his gun leveled.

"No, Devin, wait!" she started, going after him.

Devin gritted his teeth and fired away relentlessly, regretting inwardly the decision not to take a sword along, and kept moving as the man busied himself with deflecting bullets. And it worked.

For the first two seconds, anyway. As bullets started whizzing by Devin's head and the Russians had to stop to reload, he knew he had to change strategies, and he did so by unloading the last of the clip and tossing the gun at the man while breaking into an all-out nano-assisted charge.

First Order had to block the gun and knock it aside before he could engage Devin, which is why Devin landed a solid punch on his face. But that was all he would get, as the man spun with the hit and swept Devin off his feet, then planted his foot into Devin's chest in mid-air, throwing him off to the side of the room as effortlessly as he had Wraith.

He completed his roundhouse then, watching Devin's body fly away, but snapped his attention forward as Shahdee came at him with a flying kick. He blocked that quickly, then paused as she came to land on her feet and throw a couple punches at him. He blocked those, too, and eventually locked her arms and brought them down between their chests, drawing her nearer. "You, too, are in the wrong place -- Exalted One."

He then shoved her away and landed a very fast roundhouse kick to her chest -- that threw her away, also, and ended with his blurred form coming to rest as it started. He watched her land and roll into a stack of crates while his hearing picked up the sound of guns cocking, and the next thing the rest of the Russians knew, their bullets were flying back at them again as the other half were dropped like the first -- with ease.

After that skirmish, only First Order was left standing. The boss was hiding behind a crate near the back, along with a few wounded, but at that point he didn't care. A wry sneer crossed his face as he saw the result of his work, and he satisfactorily put his swords away, and walked out the way he came. He crossed Shahdee on his way out, and saw her beginning to stir, but he just ignored her. Now wasn't the time, really... they could wait until the stage was set.

***

"Major? Major?"

"...Wraith?"

Wraith's eyes opened slowly to see Devin kneeling over him. "Oh God, the angels here are butched."

"Very funny," Devin snorted, helping Wraith sit up.

"Shahdee, you recognize that son of a bitch?" Wraith asked her, getting back up with a groan.

She shook her head, and looked about the warehouse at the Russians recollecting themselves. "No. I've never seen him before, but I think he's a clone."

"Really? What makes you think so?" Wraith asked as he cradled his sore chest.

Shahdee was cradling her own chest, too... not because anything hurt really, but because the memory of ribs cracking kinda stays with you for a bit. "Just do. He kinda has that look of 'genetically engineered'."

"Yeah..." Devin muttered, going over to his wife and wrapping his arms around her.

Half a meter away, Wraith stepped forward a bit and looked around the warehouse, remembering that short little fight that just went down. For a while he just stared, looking out at the Russians collecting themselves, but finally he told them, "Guys... I think our lives just got a lot more complicated."

Jason shook his head in mild frustration after Jax left.

I've been at this job less than 24 hours and already I'm getting way too many questions i don't know the answers to. Furthermore, i still have to deal with this damn breifing. At least i don't have to leave the office to attend it.

Jacking into the White House's "War Room" server, he soon found himself on a VR spacestation in geosynchonous orbit over Washington DC.

Nice...guessing this was the Air Force's idea he mused.

As he took a seat, the other generals and President Hammond blinked into existence.

"Nice of you to be on time, General MacKenzie," General Wesson said. "I, the other Joint Cheifs, and the President, have a little side project we need your for."

"Interesting...what is it?" Jason asked.

President Hammond spoke "We need you to help us with a plan of attack against Cyber Eden."

Jason was taken aback. "What? Why in hell would you want to do that?"

A bunch of photos suddenly appeared in front of him in the form of pop-up windows.

"This is why;" the president continued. "As you can see, they are slowly building up their defenses and possibly offenses as well. Furthermore, those are some pretty big cannons they're building."

Jason thought for a second as he moved the windows aside with his hand. "That aside, they were recently the subject of terrorist attacks, of course they'd be on edge. Furthermore, I know Archon Raven. He was an ally of mine, and more importantly, he saved my life at Torishima. I have no reason to suspect he's builidng anything more than defensive weaponry."

Admiral Gloval of the US Navy interjected. "But, isn't it true that Raven is a clone of Coyote? An AI deemed unstable and insane, in addition to being Mastermind's AI brother?"

Jason didn't blink, he knew all this. "Coyote wasn't insane, he just had a knack for disliking authority, especially when they abused his rights of freedom...even if they weren't recognized at the time."

Gloval wasn't going to back down. "Cyber Eden has also been reported to house fugitive AIs, what if one of them is Mastermind in a new form?"

fortunately General Wesson decided to defuse the rising tension. "Look, General MacKenzie, we're not planning to invade unless they fire the first shot. If what you say is true, then it would only happen if this newly reborn Mastermind took control of Cyber Eden. We're just keeping our bases covered."

Jason sighed. "All right, but I want all of you to give me your word that that's what you plan to do with any advisement i give you."

All of the joint cheifs and the president did so. Jason was going to begin giving info when General Wesson stopped him.

"This will have to wait for another time, something has come up which requires our immediate attention...specifically that of Cyber Force."

He waved his arm and a holographic map of South America appeared, zooming in on the cratered and charred remnants of Argentina.

"This is Argentina, obviously. Right now it's still a far cry from the country it once was following the effects of Mastermind's Javelin bombardment. Currently plant life is being reintroduced and it's being made habitable again. To help with this, a series of high speed trains have been built to deliver nanomachines capable of recultivating the land and cleaning up air quality. However, there's a problem."

He waved his hand again, and the map changed to a 3D image of a burning train. "This train was targeted by terrorists. First they hacked the navigation systems, bringing it to a halt at a precise point. Then they made an attempt to overrun the troops guarding it. The battle was feirce, and in the end the guarding UN troops blew up the train rather than let the terrorists get their objective."

"Objective?" Jason asked.

"We believe that the attackers wanted to steal the environmental nanites and convert them to biological weapons. According to the people that developed them...they did say it was entirely possible to use them to deliver toxins to the soil and the air."

Jason did his best not to roll his eyes.

"Your mission is to get a team to guard the train, find the location of the attackers, and eliminate all of them."

Jason nodded. "I guess I should leave ASAP?"

Wesson nodded back. "Indeed. Good luck."

Jason saluted and logged out.

OOC: To be mission'd.

There was a loud series of clicks as the specially modified shell was loaded into the firing chamber. The "wings" locked into place on the catapult section of the shell. The actual payload wasa metalic egg shaped device. The massive railcannon motor sprang to life with a groan as the massive rails pointed sky ward. The rails crackled with electricity and vibrated slightly as bolts of azure energy streaked between them. The firing pin released sending the shell sky ward. the catapult turning to slag from the heat generated by the current. The shot left the rails, leaving behind the vaproizing catapult it climbed rapidly into the upper atmosphere, leaving the bonds of gravity behind. it journied forth into orbit before the egg shaped shell hatched as the explosive screws seperated. The new Satelite bloomed like a flower. extending solar collectors and forming focusing dishes. Soon it was joined by more breatheren in Orbit above the South Pacific.

_______________-

"Our stations are now in orbit above." Crow said. "Attempting to break interdiction."

The doors opened to the chamber as a new Ai was escorted into the room.

"While not who I was expecting, I'm glad your family was able to send a represenetive."

ooc:mc43 that's your cue.

OOC: (o 0) My cue?

M4 rolled himself into the room, bleeping a response, "My Master... friend... " He was having a little trouble with the adjustment, "...sent me, as well as his apologies that he himself couldn't make it. I hope that I can be of useful assistance.

(( Behold the McDroid... ))

~Southern Atlantic Ocean~

Present time

Nearby to Antartica, another drama was beginning to unfold. But with all the serenity surrounding the peacefully rolling waters of the Atlantic, one wouldn't think so... at least... until they spotted the black dot streaking through the sky.

It moved forward with blazing speed, knifing through the air at hypersonic velocity, but the object slowed as it neared Cyber Eden's platform, and began to descend. The sleek black jet then switched to a magnetic antigrav engine system -- highly experimental, mind you -- and lowered itself as quietly as a mouse onto the surface of the water. There its flat, smoothened lower body allowed it to float on the water instead of sinking. A Russian success in amphibious, hypersonic aircraft. Certainly the Americans would love to get their hands on this little piece of technology.

Inside the pilots dimmed the outside riding lights and lowered power output, meanwhile pushing the sensor jamming and masking equipment to full. Although uncloaked, that equipment would prove useful in hiding an otherwise visible ship.

"Status secure," the lead pilot declared.

"Sensor masking at maximum. Situation green."

The First Order man from Moscow looked over the backs of their heads, then at the floating platform, pleased with their work so far. "Prepare the uplink."

The lead pilot started to make the connection, but a series of warnings halted him. "I can't."

First Order looked down at him slowly. "What?"

"I'm being locked out."

"They've raised several firewalls... no unauthorized outside access is being allowed," the copilot added.

"Then circumvent them," First Order told them, with slow and measured words.

"I am, sir."

"And again, don't call me sir." First Order looked back out at the platform, as if having deep thoughts about what was inside. "It doesn't suit me."

"We are detecting a magnetic annomally." One of the labcoated ai's said.

"I'll handle this." Crow said. He walked over to the consule center. "Track it, if it approaches any closer I want an all freqency hail sent to it. Are you seeing it on radar or infrared?

"No sir. We're attempting to get visual confirmation with a predator remote droid."

"Keep me advised."

___________
A sleek black form in the shape of a robotic bird flew out of an open hanger. The bird flew at high speeds toward the magnetic annomaly
_____________

How are Jade and Monk, I hope the current situation isn't to hard on them.

"Bogey approaching."

First Order stepped over to the pilot. "Identify it."

The pilot pressed buttons and checked readings, but it was the tech officer to both of their lefts that identified it. "It's a hunter probe, Eden design."

"They haven't identified us," the copilot added. "If they had, all that new weaponry would be firing at us right now."

First Order looked out through the cockpit windshield at the platform's weaponry. He had a point -- it hadn't all been added there recently just for show. Thinking for only a second, he then turned and headed for the back, out of the way. "Send them a hail -- express our apologies and request permission to uplink with their servers. Tell them we ask only to speak with one of the fugitives. Say it's a personal visit or something."

"But--"

"In the meantime--" First Order said, stopping to face back. "Keep working on those access codes."

The pilot paused for a moment, then nodded and did as told.