[01] swat!

[Kill Town]

SWAT!

4-person Cooperative

Summary: Players are teleported to the parking lot of a massive complex, which has been taken over by terrorists. The characters, dressed in police uniforms with bulletproof vests and armed with .40 caliber Beretta Model handguns, are to infiltrate the massive complex by either charging through the front door or entering a service tunnel from the back of the building. From there, the players should concentrate on three objectives: defeating the terrorist leader who has holed himself up on the top floor, securing the hostages in a separate wing, and disarming the bomb placed somewhere at the base of the building.

Hint: I’d suggest splitting up assignments amongst yourselves. Once you have done this, be sure to inform me who is performing which task.

Opportunity: Yes

Restrictions: None

Participants: Ashe, Tamsin, Kazuya, Cain

[Tamsin]

Tension was in the evening air as blue lights of various sizes flashed everywhere. A large modern business complex was completely surrounded by a police perimeter reinforced with automatic gun turrets, making escape impossible. Blocked off from sight by a van and a steel wall, an infiltration force was gathered around a car trunk where the blueprint of the building was placed. Preparing to bravely enter the compound and save the day, the elite four man force consisted of....a samurai woman, an android and two teenage girls.

Although the black tactical uniforms on them were perfectly tailored to their size, this still failed to make the mostly teenage group look intimidating at all. Cain was the only one who could reasonably pass off as a member of the police force, his attire complete with a mask that covered everything but his eyes. Having just arrived from the carnival, all four of them looked around in bewilderment as to what was going on.

"Wh-What is this?!" Ashe wondered aloud, a question that was on all of their minds. The girl felt an item strapped to her side. Pulling it out, it turned out to be a black pistol....which, besides a small transmitter strapped to the sides of their necks, seemed to be all the equipment they were carrying. That was preety pathetic, especially for a special task force. But even the inclusion of sidearms did not help them much as each of them inspected their own questionably, completely oblivious as to how to handle a firearm.

Much to their suprise, the transmitters began to emit a crackling sound before a clear voice adressed them...the same voice that spoke to them earlier: "Well, well, this is an interesting....[i]situation. You are members of an anti-terrorist task force. SWAT, GSG9, OMON...whatever suits you fancy. Inside the complex is a terrorist group who is holding people hostage. Naturally, your job is to go in, save the hostages and defeat the terrorists. Oh, by the way, there might be a bomb involved as well...[/i]"

Most of them were speechless, not even able to wrap their heads around how they would be able to accomplish such a delicate task. Only Kazuya could not contain her disgust over what the Gamer considered entertainment: "You sick fu-"

"No point in throwing insults my way," she was interrupted. "Your only way out of this is to amuse me by going in and completing the mission. Of course, if either you or the hostages die, it is game over. And do not idle for too long or the terrorists will shoot the hostages. And believe me, they will shoot them. Good luck.... With that, the walkie-talkie device went silent, only empowered by the muteness of the four contestants. As much as they were frightened or hated to admit it, they knew they had no choice but to play along. The Gamer was already feeling entertained by this, grinning widely at the akwardness of their situation.

Trying to clear the confusion that existed in her head, Tamsin scanned the blueprint in front of them. On the large white paper full of black lines and measurements, she noticed something that piqued her interest.....a prolonged space at the back of the compound:"Look! This looks like a service tunnel. We could use that to sneak in."

Cain calmly responded to this discovery, his brown eyes looking at the maid: "It would be a good idea to gain entrance that way. Even if they expect us to do so, it is better then risk a direct confrontation."

After calming down a bit, the half-demon joined into the conversation: "Then I guess we will go that way. By the way, anyone know anything about bombs?"

The inquiry caused the conversation to end in an akward silence once again. A few moments later, the silver-haired servant responded: "Well....I can recognise a bomb.....although I do not know how to disarm it." In spite of their extensive training, even Servus servants were not experts on explosives.

The adult women sighed: "I guess that will have to do. Once we get in, you can go for the bomb while the other two save the hostages."

"Then....what will you be doing?" Ashe wondered, noticing that the adult woman did not mention herself.

"I.....will go find the terrorists and....keep them off of you. It's better that we split up and keep a low profile." Kazuya sighed, obviously not liking the idea of having to sneak somewhere....again. "Well, we better get going."

Although the other three nodded, they still could not believe that they were actually going through with this.

[Kazuya]

It was still so surreal, being here. Wherever ‘here’ was. Moments earlier, she was wandering around some sort of carnival in the middle of nowhere, the next, she was in some tight clothing that clung to her curves like a second skin. Gone were the white tee and boxers, replaced by a black outfit of some material she didn’t recognize. All four of them were fitted with strange heavy vests and what appeared to be a firearm.

It was about now she was kicking herself for never having learned how to use those things, but old habits die hard; she was a traditionalist, preferring bare handed combat, perhaps a katana or two, or a kendo stick over modern weapons. She found them unreliable and alien. A warrior was only as good as the weapon they carried, raised from a very early age to learn their weapon, to use it as if it were an extension of themselves. Any idiot can grab a gun and fire it, but very few can use it as if it were another limb, just like she could with her sword or stick. That’s what separated her from the rest, and it’s served her well over the years, as she was still alive to attest to the truth of that theory.

The unlikely troupe began the solemn procession around the complex and into what could only have been the back entrance, or ‘service tunnel’, as the map had depicted with huge bold font. There, the Halfling stopped them with an outstretched hand. “It would be foolish to simply go in without scouting around first, to see the dangers before encountering them. Stay here, I have a way where I can do this undetected, it’ll save all our asses in the long run.”

Without another word, Kazuya faded from sight, the surprised gasps from her company only fueling her as she advanced into the dark tunnel and towards the stark yellow light ahead. She hadn’t mastered the whole fazing through walls thing, yet, so she was left with no choice but to open the large metal door. It creaked open, obliterating any veil of safety she had of stealth. Her teeth noshed together as she slipped in as quickly as she could, and let the door swing closed behind her. So far, so good. No guards, no boogiemen.

Just inside the door were two pathways, splitting to either side of the door, and a blank wall. At the end of the west hall was a faint glow of late afternoon sunlight, or what could have been just some really bright artificial light. From this distance, she couldn’t tell the difference. The east end was dark, but it was an ambient dark to where you could still make out forms and shadows. The darkness could hide threats easier than its opposite wing, so that was the side she decided to venture down.

Keeping to the far left of the hallway, Kazuya treaded lightly through the darkness. There were no sounds, nothing to indicate she was not alone. For all she knew, this entire floor could have been empty; her and her party could have come in with drums and trumpets and not set off any alarms whatsoever. What kind of fool would leave such a place wide open like this?

“Tch,” she huffed, coming to the end of the hall, where it had opened up into a massive reception area. It was devoid of life, but not devoid of furniture. Large windows took up a wall, letting in some soft light from a light outside of the building. It spilled across the room, revealing it’s contents. In one corner was a large table with holes situated at the corners and on either of the sides, multicolored balls were racked in the center, and two wooden poles laid lazily on one side.

Her lithe incorporeal form floated towards that table, taking the two sticks in her hands and measuring their weight. They were heavy enough to serve a purpose that the gun could not; a grin spread across her face. As the saying went, they could take the girl out of the ghetto, but they couldn’t take the ghetto out of the girl. She fastened them to her back, slipping them beneath the bulky, obtrusive vest, where they assimilated with the rest of her form, and resumed her search.

After completely scrounging the reception area, she found another door, one that lead to a stairwell that went to what she assumed were other floors, and down to a basement area. She checked the stairwell, and found it empty. All in all, it seemed like a safe area to bring her group, as the longer they were out there, the risk of them getting caught, injured or killed increased. “All they’re going to do is get in the way, anyways;” she muttered to herself.

Kazuya retraced her steps back to the back service door; once again, cringing when the door squeaked all to hell as she opened it enough to slip through.

[Tamsin]

After the metal doors screeched open once again, it was no longer as suprising when the Halfling showed up out of her camouflage. Yet, the trio could still not contain their gasps when Kazuya abruptly reappeared before them as if out of thin air. The adult woman, however, was completely unfazed by their reaction and quickly proceeded to report her sightings: "It's clear. The idiots are not guarding the back. Let's go."

As she took point, the rest of the black figures quickly followed her to the service entrance. The yellow light above the entrance caused them to throw long shadows as they, one by one, made their way into the complex proper. Ashe was the last one to enter and closed the door behind her. However, since the pink-haired teenager did so in a very quick manner, the high-pitched noise that this motion caused seriously aggravated their eardrums and caused them to gnash their teeth. The half-demon looked at the girl angrily, the teenager merely responding with an apologetic smile.

The group quickly moved on. Kazuya lead them down the same hallway she went earlier, the twilight allowing them to barely make out the various crates steel closets that filled the side of it. Although careful to cause as little noise as possible, since there was no point in drawing unnecessary attention, they still proceeded quickly. They almost reached the door at the end when they caught voices coming from the other side. Panic took hold of them as they quickly scrambled to hide.

"Where the hell did those idiots leave those cue sticks?" a voice resonated as the door opened, throwing light into the hall. A figure, covered in green wear and carrying an assault rifle, stepped inside. The person did not see the "intruders", who were all hiding behind the nearest objects they could find. As the unknown man scanned the corners in search of the sports implements, the hidden group did not even dare to breath. The suspense overcoming them was unnerving....if the guard went any deeper, he would discover them. The Halfling, who was hidding behind a particularly large box, carefully took out one of the cue sticks. Holding it firmly in her hands, she prepared herself to clobber the terrorist if he dared to venture to deep.

"James, come on! Boss says we gotta go back to the west wing and look out for the hostages!" a voice sounded from the other room, causing the figure to stop in it`s tracks.

"Awwww, come ON! I just wanted a play a round of pool...." he complained as he made his way back from where he came from. Forcefully, he shut the door closed behind him and darkness enveloped the hallway once again. However, none of the infiltrators dared to move from their spot for at least another minute, listening intently if they were still around. But there was nothing and they were able to once again breathe easily.

"Let's not celebrate yet. We just barely started," cautioned the android as he moved with the rest of them towards the door. Kazuya pressed her ear against the door, trying to make sure noone was on the other side. Then, she carefully opened them and all four of them slipped inside.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a room for rest and relaxation, a pool table situated in one of the corners. After seeing the coast was clear, the half-demon pulled out the other stick she was carrying and turned to her temporary companions, speaking in a hushed tone: "Alright, there is a door ahead which leads to a stairwell. We can split up from there. You heard that the hostages are in the west wing and the bomb is probably somewhere in the basement so it can blow up everything."

"Em...why did you even bother taking those?" inquired Ashe, motioning to the sticks in her hands.

A grin appeared on the woman's face: "Firearms are not my style." These words, however, suddenly caused something in Tamsin`s head to click, remembering the brief bomb course she underwent back at Servus. Moving towards the shelves next to the table, she quickly found what she was looking for and returned to her comrades.....a piece of blue billiard chalk in her hand. Perplexed, the dark-haired female asked: "Why in the world do you need that?"

"Em.....it might be useful, depending on what kind of bomb we are dealing with," came the reply from the adolescent, uncertainty all over her visage.

Kazuya sighed and she moved on to lead them onwards: "I just hope you know what you are doing."

"Honestly, I haven't got the faintest," Suzaku replied as they entered the door leading into the stairwell. Immediatelly, the girl carefully proceeded downstairs, seperating herself from the other three. Although she could imagine what was their reactions, she was not there to see the horror that her reply caused on the faces of her companions.

[Ashe]

Of all the dreams that Ashe had experienced throughout her life, this one was a bit more realistic than most - almost too realistic. The thing that kept scratching at the back of her mind, however, was that she wasn't entirely sure why she'd dream of running around in a game such as this. It was always something that she'd tried to play with some of her friends or old boyfriends in the past, never really doing all that well. She remembered the needle that Kristanna had placed into her arm, moments before she'd fallen into the rabbit hole, but as far as the reason, it was anyone's guess. Her best guess regarding the situation was that she was being run through some kind of genetic test, which didn't suit her well, but she was clearly too much in LaLa Land to be able to do much about it.

Which brought her to her current situation.

Of all the people to dream up, the samurai drag queen and the demon serving maid were among the strangest. She supposed that it was a throwback to her former kidnapping experiences and the trauma of the needle that pushed her here, but if so, where exactly did she get the inspiration for the guy at her side?

"So, I don't think I've gotten your name," she prodded at the man as Kazuya disappeared on her task of playing distraction.

"Cain," the man answered briefly. "I was pretty sure I'd mentioned it once or twice," he grinned.

"Oh," was her answer, looking down as they stepped quietly through the halls.

"No harm done," he comforted, holding up one hand for a moment to lean around an intersection to search for guards. After a sec, he gestured for her to follow him. "Now where do you think they'd be?" he thought out loud.

"Who?"

He looked back at her grinned. "The hostages that we are supposed to rescue," he clarified.

"Oh," she repeated, looking around, unsure of herself. "I was never really good with hostages. I always ended up shooting them when I tried to interact with them to get them to follow me," she explained, holding her gun out and looking it over. "I'm not even sure which pistol this is. I don't think it's the Deagle, but I've always had to keep my graphics turned down a bit."

He stared at her for a moment before responding. "I don't really follow, but let's hope that you don't cap our hostages."

"Yeah, if I took a guess as to where they were, I'd throw a hunch at them being somewhere near the middle of the building, near the direct center. I don't think we are all that far from them, but I'm not really sure either," she admitted.

"Seems like quite a vague guess, doesn't it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, well, a hunch is the best I've got, and it's always served me well in the past."

"Guess that's what we'll have to go with," he sighed. "My guess is as good as yours."

They walked in silence for a bit, trying to keep the echo of their footsteps down to avoid any suspicious onlookers. "I'd better check on the others," Ashe whispered after a moment. Receiving a nod from her companion, she reached up to the mic and held down a button. "Kazuya, do you read me?"

Silence.

"Kazuya, I need to know which way the terrorists are heading. Are they going banana? I repeat, are the T's going banana?"

Silence.

Obviously, Kazuya was either busy, had her radio off for stealth, or just didn't know how to work the damn thing. That left only one of them. "Tamsin? Do you read me?"

Hesitantly, a voice came over the speaker, whispering quietly through the ear piece. "Yes?"

Ashe exhaled, glad to hear some form of team communication. "How's that bomb looking?" she asked, hoping for the best.

"Its... uh, small, black, roughly square in shape... Lots of wires."

"I mean what's the time on the clock?"

"What clock?"

"The clock on the bomb," she answered the servant.

"No, I mean there's no clock on this thing."

"Then how do you know it's the bomb?" Ashe pressed. "Are you certain? Is there some kind of ticking noise? There's always a clock on these things!"

A sharp screech suddenly ripped through her headset, causing her to cry out in pain before Cain spun back around, clasping a gloved hand over her mouth with one hand while ripping her ear piece off with his other. "What in blazes was that noise?" he cursed as he shut his eyes and tried to deal with the piercing sound as it faded, opening them once more to find Ashe's eyes slightly tearing up. "Are you ok?" he asked, removing his hand and passing her the radio back.

She rubbed the side of her ear a moment and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Sorry..." she answered, apologizing for her reaction.

"Yeah, what do you think happened?" he asked, pulling open a door and ushering her inside just moments before a pair of guards came around the corner, passing the door merely seconds after it closed.

Letting their eyes adjust to the darkness, they realized that they'd come to another stairway within the building. "Down, I think," Ashe suggested, before continuing. "If I took my guess, I'd say she got AWPed. Which means that we are probably going to have to go disarm the bomb ourselves," she grumbled.

"What's getting AWPed?" he wondered, reaching the bottom of the next floor and slowly peeking outside the next door.

"It's a total noob canon. Requires no skill whatsoever to rack up a kill count with," she attempted, getting a strange look from him after a moment.

"You're interesting," he finally responded, not really giving away if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She held up her hands, her voice rising a bit to defend her claim. "Dude, any 'tard with an AWP can top a K/D ratio. You just point and click and 'oh look at me, I'm so pro, watch me pwn!'"

"Alright, here's a better question," he decided, changing subjects. "What do we do if Tamsin got herself killed trying to disable that bomb?"

"Run like heck?" Ashe offered. "Unless you can handle it. I'm too shaky at that sorta' thing. Every time I'd try to disable the bomb, I'd try to keep from getting AWPed at the same time. Which meant that while the timer is running down for me to disable it, I'd look too far up to see if someone was coming, which would break my disarm timer and make me start over. Then, the freakin' moment I look back down and start the timer back up, trying not to look away, someone shows up, knifes me, and teabags me while my team tells me off. I much prefer dealing with hosties."

"Third time's a charm," he spoke up, not really listening to her. "Let me know what you think of this idea. "

"What idea?" she asked him as she watched him stop at a door, calmly pressing his ear to it. "And I think the hosties are in there," she added, watching him smile.

"THIS IDEA," he declared, kicking the door open and running in.

She froze, her feet refusing to move as the inside of the room completely erupted in gunfire. She completely intended to help out in the situation, but after a moment everything went silent. Peering around the corner, she saw Cain standing in the middle of the room with five dead terrorists in various positions and a group of terrified civilians hiding under a desk with tape around their wrists.

"That was a terrible idea!" she informed him, her mouth wide in surprise of his suicidal move.

He spread his arms out a bit, his smoking gun still in his hand. A small grin crossed his rough shaven face and he shrugged, wincing slightly. "Yeah, well..."

[Ashe]

It was then that she noticed the way he seemed to be favoring his left arm. "Oh my god," she cried out, rushing forward and grabbing his arm, hearing his sharp hiss from the suddenly clutch. "How bad is it?" she asked, jerking it from side to side to look it over to see where the blood might be.

Cain managed to thwart her attempts and regain control of his arm for a moment, taking a moment to give it a sharp tug to return the joints to their proper sockets before presenting it to her. "I'm good, don't worry about me," he attempted, turning towards the hostages, but she looked again. "No, seriously, I don't have any injuries."

"But there are bullet holes," she pointed out.

"And no injuries," he countered, showing her the holes in his uniform.

"I guess that makes sense," she sighed, remembering that this was simply a dream of a video game and nothing more. He was probably sitting on about 20HP at the moment and not saying anything about it, but she'd have no way of knowing. At least if she got shot, the worst that would happen is that her health would get low but she wouldn't be carrying a physical bullet.

Cain scratched turned towards the cowering civilians, feeling that now was not the time to properly explain his regenerative abilities to someone who appeared to be so out of touch with reality. "Anyone know the way out of this place?" he asked as Ashe rushed forward to begin removing the tape from their arms and mouths one by one.

"ARrrouch!"

"Oops," Ashe apologized, wincing with the man she'd just untapped. "My bad." She glanced up at Cain for a moment as he reloaded the clip of his gun, keeping an eye on the door for any response team. "I told you I was bad at interacting with the hosties," she reminded him.

"Hey, you haven't shot any of them, so let's consider this a good outcome," he informed her jovially.

One of the hostages leapt to his feet the moment he was untapped and made a run for the door. "We're all gonna die!" he screamed, nearly making it through the door before Cain's foot casually slammed the door shut just before him, the room echoing with a thud as the man bounced off.

"Maybe you should have, though," the android followed up to his last comment to Ashe before looking down at the captured group. "Ok, listen up. We're here to get you all out of here. Alive, preferably. Running down the halls screaming like you've gone mad isn't going to help accomplish that. So let's get some kind of game plan together that doesn't involve suicide."

"Now you want the non-suicidal plan?" Ashe questioned with one brow raised. "You mean we can't kick our way through, guns 'ablazing?"

"Shut up," he retorted, his big grin still plastered on his face for the group.

The loud hostage immediately leapt to his feet, shaking fiercely as he looked through the glass door. "No, really man, we're all gonna die!" he cried out, looking around for some kind of exit that wasn't guarded by Cain.

"Shut the hell up, Will," another hostage growled at him, rubbing the sore spot on his wrists. Addressing their rescuers, the man introduced himself. "Ignore him. He means well, he just cracks under pressure. You should have seen him the day his wife informed him she was pregnant," he grinned.

"Same exact reaction?" Cain suggested.

The man grinned. "Oh yeah," he laughed before turning serious a moment. "Anyway, the name is Jones, or at least that's what most people call me."

"Nickname?" the android inquired.

"Yeah, because I'm always needing a cigarette," he confirmed, looking up for a moment at the man before him and then to the girl behind him. "Speaking of, would one of you happen to have one? My nerves are shot from this ordeal," he explained.

"Ugh, no," Ashe rejected as Cain spoke up in unison.

"Kidding me? I was gonna ask you guys the same thing," he asked, returning his eyes to the window of the door a moment longer. "I guess we're both in the same boat, pal."

Jones sighed, turning to the rest of the group. "Alright, well, we're all ready to follow you out," he announced, motioning for them to come forward. "What are your names, by the way?"

Cain jabbed a finger at himself. "If we're going by nicknames, 'grasshopper' will work nicely. Otherwise, I'm Cain. She's Ashe," he assisted, pointing in her direction. The pink haired girl waved at the crowd in introduction before walking towards the door.

"Well, I hate to interrupt the tea party, but I think they are going to be showing up soon, so let's roll," she reminded the party of eight. "Just a hunch, though."

"How would you know if they are coming," Will asked grumpily.

"I'd go with her hunch if I were you guys," the raven haired team member supported. "It's the only thing we had to go on to find you guys and it seems to have done the trick." He pulled the door open while speaking, lowering his voice quickly to compensate. "Come on," he motioned, leading the way.

[Cain]

"Ashe, you take point beside me," the cyborg murmured, his voice low. The footfalls of the hostages rang out behind them.

"Sure," she whispered back, "Point."

They started into the hallway warily, Cain looking this way and that, Ashe using her eyes and mind to poke and prod the air around them for unwanted company. The coast, as it was, seemed clear. They traveled that way toward the service entrance that was to be a service exit, closing on the goal they needed to accomplish in this game.

"I don't mean to be a noob or anything, but shouldn't one of us take up the rear?" Ashe whispered again. Cain smiled a toothy grin, his mouth, eyes, and hair the only thing visible in a mask of black, and nodded. Despite the previous inquiry about cigarettes, his teeth were strangely pristine. The detached teen figured perhaps he meant her to take the back but before she could respond his image faded. She whirled to find him at the back, nearly stopping the rescued hostage train with a misstep. Cain grinned at her again and motioned with two fingers for her to lead the way, then set about scanning the area behind them and listening for footfalls.

It was very strange if nothing else, being here, the cyborg thought, then caught himself indulging in distraction and raised his vigilance. He wanted to wonder about the Gamer figure that started their game. He even wanted to rub his imaginary, injured arm, but situation didn't allow.

The rag-tag group plodded down the hall as silently as twelve people wearing regular shoes (and the game contestants -- boots) could allow. Cain's second sense of changes coming was sadly dormant, leaving the act of guarding the hostages to his physical senses. His ears were pricked, if ears could do that. His eyes were ablaze with acuity.

Ashe took them left down a familiar hallway. As the last of the group rounded the corner the cyborg followed, hearing conversation some forty paces behind them. It was, he thought, a game. . . So no one could really get hurt. Right? he pleaded with his imagination.

"So I said, all I want to do is play a rounda' pool. Still can't believe those sticks just disappeared."

"Hey, the hostage room is a little quiet. Why don' we check on Jimmy Smooth?"

The cyborg's image hung in the air, stationary at the back of the line for a moment, and then he was visible beside Ashe again. She almost yelped before feeling one tactical-gloved finger pressed lightly against her lips. "Trouble in Bangkok," Cain said, "Unless we want to lead a funeral procession we've got to speed this shindig up. Momma bird is about to find out the nest is empty."

"O-" she started, wincing at the noise of her voice, "kay," she finished quietly. She started up a faster pace, leading the crew a little louder and a little faster. "Why do I always get stuck with the gung-ho gamers in these games?" she murmured as Cain's image disappeared once more. She knew he was back there somewhere, peering around corners and pretending to be Solid Snake or whoever the heck else his mind fancied.

**

The cyborg broke from the group a moment to back up to the doorway of the hallway they'd entered. He closed his eyes and the air, all around his arms and in his palms got colder. The moisture in the air clung to him in gassy tendrils, then a brick-and-mortar wall of ice was pouring from his palms into existence in the doorway.

"SONOFAMARMASET!" The cyborg heard, almost laughed at the Gamer's design, and the entrance was sealed. He jumped back toward the group in little bursts of after-image, fighting his ficticious body for energy. Cain felt drained, apparently losing mana everytime he flickered in and out of view. As if to reinforce this thought a H.U.D. appeared in the upper right hand corner of his view displaying a severely lacking red and blue bar. The red bar sat at twenty H.P. which he assumed meant hit points or how many hits he could handle before game-over, and the mana bar slowly rose, from two to three, and three to four. "Ugh," he muttered, unable to after-image. He set about pounding tile with his feet.

He turned a corner to find it void of Ashe and the hostages, his ears finding nothing of the kind either. "Dang," he murmured, and remembered the walkie-talkie. He cursed the walkie-talkie Ashe had snapped off her ear and probed the building with his telepathy, hoping with all he could muster that it didn't take mana to do so.

Cain's hope did little good in telepathy not using mana, but by some construct of the Gamer or himself, his mana refilled suddenly as a strange green aura surrounded him. "Wha?"

"Less questions, more gaming," his headset blared.

The cyborg threw his hands up, two fore-fingers on each temple. An image of the building from the outside appeared in his mind, thought welling up in a river. He tried to focus on Ashe. She had brilliant, pink hair, was thin, lithe even he added. Green eyes. . . The girl's thoughts rushed into his mind suddenly.

Where is that stupid android?

"Third floor," he thought at her. "What floor Ashe?"

Second, came her thought, warily. And then a scream tore through the cyborg's consciousness, making his brain shudder. It was clearly Ashe. The cyborg set off at a run, back-tracking for a flight of stairs he'd passed. He noticed the green aura still surrounding him and his mana bar refilling at a rapid rate, below the H.U.D. a badge that read CR, and burst off the tiles in a fury of flight energy, after-images trailing him. He assumed it meant Cain Regeneration. The mana bar continued to jettison back to the top. He neared the stairs and started down them as pistol reports shattered what seemed like glass. They had come through his wall. The cyborg took the stairs in leaping bounds.

[Kazuya]

The stairwell was quiet and dark, save for the occasional footsteps of a guard or two as they patrolled right past her stealthed form pressed against a wall. She waited in breathless silence as they entered what she counted as a third floor entrance. There was one more floor left, and she was willing to bet anything that their target would be holed up there.

"Kazuya, do you read me?" The little black box crackled at her hip. Her eyes widened in alarm as she scrambled to silence it. Unfamiliar with such devices, she pressed everything she could to get it to shut off, but again, the voice echoed loudly off the narrow stairway. "Kazuya, I need to know which way the terrorists are heading. Are they going banana? I repeat, are the T's going banana?"

Even if she knew how to work the device, she wouldn’t have known how to answer that. Bananas? T’s? What the hell was she rambling about? Definitely a female, which of the two it was was anybody’s guess. With an exasperated snort, Kazuya decided that the noise box would do more harm than good to her mission, and chucked it over the railing. A few seconds later, she heard the tink tink! of it clacking on the floor below. Thankfully, the female didn’t dare message her again, much to her relief.

Although she was technically supposed to hold off and distract whatever heads she came across up here and wait for the rest of the team to arrive, Kazuya didn’t quite think it was necessary, as the three young adults would only serve as either distractions, or be easily killed in the process. She possessed centuries of expertise in the art of combat and death, and staying out of the fucking way when needed. What she required was a team of three more of herself. That would be game over, the end. Everyone goes home and she takes the trophy. Unfortunately, shit didn’t work out that way. Never did. Instead, the gods decided to stick her with three miscreant children and a fucked up teenager who deemed himself as the “Gamer”. He wanted a show, well, she as going to give it to him.

Wasting no more time, Kazuya climbed the last three flights of steps until she reached the last door, which lead to floor number four. A thin sliver of a window crawled up the side above the handle, affording her a brief view into what lay on the other side. All appearances suggested it was clear, but now that she was so close to the promised land, she couldn’t afford to take liberties. She twisted the doorknob slowly, waiting until it was fully inside the mechanism before painstakingly opening it, an inch at a time until there was just enough space for her to squeeze through. After she successfully made her way through, she closed the door in a similar manner, and resumed her state of invisibility.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Gabriel rolled over on the soft mattress, awareness coming in short spurts as a coolness buffeted his face before he pulled the blanket up to stop it. It was then he realized how very out of place it was, and he bolted upright.

“Kazuya.”

He scrambled from his room quicker than he’d done in years, throwing his door open with a loud crash. His dark ebony eyes shouldered with fury as he spied not only her door wide open, but the bitch didn’t even have the grace to close the front entrance after she brazenly escaped. As if she threw his display of trust in his face like an unwanted gift. His hands clenched at his sides as he grabbed his gun and threw on a shirt, then immediately set to work rousing some of his most skilled trackers and warriors. He’ll find her, and he’ll bring her back, and this time, he won’t show mercy.

No, this time, no quarter will be given.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

She felt something cold against her face as she rounded past a sharp corner of empty offices and into a large cleared area, which looked to her like some sort of reception area, each side of the area as covered with windows, with offices in the center. Strange, a place for people to wait on a fourth floor? What was the point of the first three then? Such mundane thought was shoved quickly away as she spied a long, rectangular shape of light spilling from one of the office doors, and very soon after that discovery, voices. Loud, obnoxiously jovial voices. Why the hell it missed her attention before, she had not a clue. If she could miss that…then what else has she overlooked?

“So,” the voice paused for a moment, laughter bubbling over into her speech, “Dave goes up to one of the dudes and asks him about this watch he had on, and just outta nowhere, man, BAM!” the masculine voice, definitely a guy, practically shouted the sound effect, and she pictured in her mind some faceless figure uppercutting the air. “Motherfucker just up and decks this guy, blood everywhere, lost a couple teeth, for sure.”

More laughter, and the sound of cans being crushed and tossed against a wall followed. From all the noise, she guessed four, maybe five targets, but she wasn’t sure. She could always go take a peek in her current form, but for some reason, she felt uneasy. She felt confident in her ability, trusted it to almost a fault, but for some inexplicable reason, she felt eyes upon her, like someone was seeing straight through her guise.

Her eyes darted around as she did a quick scope of the area, but save for the men in the small office, she found nothing. Nothing at all to be wary of. It was all in her head. She heaved a sigh she didn’t know she was holding and started towards the occupied office. The cold, heavy steel came down across her shoulder blades like a truck, jarring not only her mind, but shaking her out of her stealth. All noise had stopped, and suddenly, Kazuya no longer had to wonder just how many men were in that little office.

[Cain]

As it turned out, Ashe and the group of rescued hostages weren't all that far away. The young woman's scream peeled through the air like a siren. The cyborg rounded a corner at a sprint, skidding, to find Ashe in front of a group of panic stricken hostages. The lines of code shuffled back and forth anxiously as they all realized the only person who could protect them was seriously freaking out.

"Calm down!" Cain yelled, as calmly and sincerely as he could.

"You expect me to calm down you freak? You were just inside my head! I could feel it!" Her hands were balled into fists, cupping her ears and pressing so tightly against her head that her arms were shaking. Her gun lay dropped on the tile.

Cain felt strange adrenaline, not fear precisely, but something honed by the practice he'd done as a martial artist. He was across the floor in three leaping strides and beside her, one finger pressed to his own lips. "Shh, shh, shh. Please. Please?" He said, as softly as possible. She sobbed, and the cyborg kept his distance. "Listen, we're going to lose if any of these people or us get shot too many times, and there are going to be a whole lot of people here real fast if you keep screaming. And I don't know what they do the losers around here, but I bet it's not exactly comfortable. All I did was telepathy."

"It was so weird," she said suddenly, and swallowed. "It was like I was thinking, and then it was like your thought or thought voice. . . was asking me the questions my brain usually asked, and then I answered."

"I know, I know. It's weird. I promise I'll explain everything or leave you alone after this, but I'm pretty sure we're going to need you on your gun soon. There are atleast two people behind me," the cyborg said, drawing his holstered weapon and thumbing back the hammer.

"Okay," Ashe murmured, then again, more surely, "Okay. Just don't do it again," She picked up the weapon she'd dropped and clumsily cocked her weapon the way she'd seen it done on Counter-Strike, sliding back the upper half to lock a bullet in the chamber and the hammer back. She looked at the weapon in her hand for a moment. "Four of them coming from behind you," she corrected him. Ashe's H.U.D. appeared to her then, and in the upper left a round radar showing incoming blips of green. "They're weak enemies," she muttered, and laughed meekly. "Inc," she said, raised her weapon. She began firing down one side of the hallway, her body between the incoming mobs and the hostages.

"More of them coming!" Ashe yelled, firing a fifth round into a dreamscape of videogame. She hadn't missed yet, and all so fast none of the opposition had fired a shot. By the way she sounded when she yelled Cain thought she was enjoying the game for a second.

The cyborg ran to the stairwell and phased out, reappearing a few paces away, a bullet passing through his after-image to send complex tile flying. "I thought you said easy!" he yelled over the fire, drawing his own weapon and firing three rounds in a flurry at the target. A window shattered behind the target, and a string of green code twisted upward into nothing. Three figures rounded a set of stairs to where the last had passed from, one with an assault rifle.

The cyborg sent more code spiralling out of existence.

"You have limited ammo my little gamers," Gamer said over their headsets, so loud the speakers crackled out of order.

It was then the cyborg noticed dropped pistols from the strings of code that had departed. "Did you hear it too?" he yelled, and after-imaged to acquire two dropped pistols. Ruger, they read. He after-imaged back down, and zipped down the hallway. He re-realized a green aura still surrounding him.

"I heard it," Ashe said, and reloaded her weapon. Though it may not've seemed like it to her, it was too fast to see. All that from adrenaline? the cyborg wondered. "Nice buff," she said, and his green aura faded. "Oh well, it was a nice buff."

"Let's move down the hall. We've only got one floor to go," the cyborg said. Everyone began running after that, Ashe and Cain up front. "Keep your instincts on our tail," he said.

She nodded, a trail of dried tears glistening on her cheeks. "Three, but they're two floors up. They must've stretched out their team over the whole complex," she said, and almost laughed. "Three coming up in front."

The cyborg after-imaged forward, vaguely aware of his mana dropping in the upper right of his vision. A bullet whipped through his hair and into the wall behind him. He fired twice from the Rugers, once from each, his Beretta holstered. The accuracy was tuned a little different but the shots still sent code soaring from the steps before him. A third, black clad figure appeared from below, pointing a gun at Cain. Too soon, the cyborg thought, and heard a shot.

By the time he realized the shot had been fired from too close, code was cork screwing it's way up from the black clad form before him. He turned to find Ashe smiling, almost serenely. The cyborg smiled back. "Shall we carry on?" he asked, a single moment of stillness now back in motion. "Don't just stand there like a noob, lead the way," Ashe said, and wiped her eyes.

"Right," Cain said, and started down the stairs.

The group of rescued hostages sent thunderous footfalls below them to Cain as they followed he and Ashe down the stairs to the first floor. They were in the home stretch now. Whether the coded hostages were capable of understanding that or not was up for question. They at least seemed to be joyous when the service entrance appeared before the stolidly moving group. The sun outside was bright, whether false or not, and whether the strings of code were joyous, Cain and Ashe were. It had been one hell of a game, anyway.

The group strode out into the sunlight and beyond, to the vast parking lot.

[Kazuya]

Dark black eyes drifted quietly from each face to the next. Four males, two females, all very much bigger than she, each armed with weaponry that could certainly be a game breaker for all of them. Was she crazy thinking she could distract them while her teammates handled the rest? Maybe just a little. She wasn’t the most stable cookie in the box.

As she crawled back to her feet, the heavy vest constricted her heavy respirations. She hated this vest, and very much doubted it would do anything to stop them from just shooting a bullet through her unprotected head. Slowly, she lifted her arms over her head, removed the pool queues she’d grabbed earlier, and holding them in one hand, the other worked at the zipper of the Kevlar prison that she’d been wrapped up in.

“Don’t give me that look,” Kazuya chided as the heavy hunk of whatever it was clunked to the floor. “It’s a useless device, and it’ll only get in the way.”

One of the females, the one who conked her moments earlier, snorted disdainfully. “You’re far too outnumbered to do anything, there, Jackie Chun.” Her comrades snickered. Kazuya had no idea who the hell that even was. “Besides, what’sa couple sticks gonna do against ten military grade assault weapons?”

“Well, baka, you’re about to find out,” Kazuya cracked a smirk as she faded from sight, reappearing seconds later behind the offensive woman, the heavy end of the queue locking tightly around her neck. Jerking her backwards, Kazuya took her away from her group, eyeing each of them as she spoke: “Tonight,” her voice deepened, and a heavy red glow veiled over her eyes. Suddenly, a warm aura of power circled around her, and she could feel her hostage’s nervousness permeate through her skin. “I am Death.” And with that, the pool stick lit up, Kazuya’s energy infusing into it until it literally burned with her power. She jerked the stick backwards, severing the woman’s neck, her head dropping like a melon onto the ground with a thick, wet thud!.

And just like that, the line was drawn in the dead woman’s blood. Guns came out, and things suddenly got serious. No more jovial talks, no more showboating. It was time for death, and the demon inside of her couldn’t have been happier. She kicked the body aside like an afterthought, taking up her sticks in either hand, and made a slow approach of her targets. They held up a fierce front, but somewhere deep within each of their faces, she saw fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. It was almost delicious as it seeped through her skin, feeding the spirit within her. Kazuya was drunk already from their trepidation, a lazy smile tipping the corners of her unadorned lips.

Gunfire broke out, and Kaz disappeared once again. Her sticks found their targets one by one, dropping the terrorists like flies to a flame. One, she’d managed to skewer through the solar plexus, where she proceeded to shove his wriggling form towards one of the glass walls. Her free hand came up, shooting a quick burst of black ki towards the barrier, shattering it immediately. She cackled with glee as with a forceful thrust, the man slid off her stick and out of the hole she’d just made, lost to the darkness outside.

It was a few moments before she heard the satisfying thud of his body hitting the pavement. Two down, three to go.

[Tamsin]

"Maleficus!" came a cry of desperation, the eight robots encroaching upon the pair at a speed unbefitting their metalic structure. Sooner then she expected, the girl found herself trapped among the cold steel arms of their ambushers. Tried as she might, her kicks brought no results as her opponents seemed completely unabated by her resistance. Although she heard the sound of fighting in the background, she was unable to see Nova. She wanted to free herself, she wanted to help him....but it was to no avail. Suddenly, she felt metal penetrating her flesh as a syringe was inserted into her arm. Her eyes narrowed as the drug entered her bloodstream and quickly took effect.

All too quickly, the world around her began to fade and the last thing she heard before completely falling into darkness was the namek calling her name: "TAMSIIIIIIIN!!!!!......"

----------

The last events that she could recall prior to awakening in Kill Town haunted Suzaku as she progressed down to the basement, the stairs slightly clanging with each step of her boots. Due to the hostage situation, things progressed in quick succession and the girl had to worry of what was going on there and then. But as she descended towards her destination all by herself, the reality of the mess she had found herself in was finally able to sink in.

As she progressed among the pipe-adorned grey walls of the lowest floor, her thoughts and concerns revolved, unsuprisingly, around her master Maleficus Nova. Due to the robots drugging her into unconsciousness, she was unable to recall what occured of the mercenary. The fact that the namek was nowhere to be found when they appeared near the business complex also made it clear he was not involved with the current "game" either....which just made the maid even more apprehensive as to what happened to him.

Was he alright? Was he in Kill Town as well? And if so, where? All these questions buzzed inside the adolescent`s head due to her profound concern. However, trying to collect her thoughts, she pledged to look for him. But before she could do so, she needed to get out of her present situation. And as if on cue to remind her of this fact, a strong light appeared down one of the halls she turned to. As careful as it was humanely possible, she cautiosly approached the entrance.

Once her eyes were able to adjust to the lighting, she dared to take a peek around the corner. The room in front of her was fairly plain, very few items occupying it's otherwise large empty space. Since a single light stand was the only source of illumination, much of the room was still wrapped in shadows. However, one part was clearly visible. Sitting behind a table with his feet on and his chair slightly leaned towards the back was one of the terrorist guards, intently reading some sort of magazine while whistling a tune to himself. Located right next to the table was a large cylindric container with a small black box at it's base.....the bomb she had been looking for

Realising she would not be able to further examine, let alone try to disarm, the explosive device before she dealt with the guard, Tamsin pulled out the Beretta she was carrying. Although she had no idea of how to properly use a gun, that did not mean she was unable to use it as a weapon. Quietly emptying the magazine from the pistol using the release, she pocketed the ammunition container and grabbed the firearm by the barrel with both hands. Suzaku then proceeded deeper into the room, silently creeping up on the guard in green garments. Since he was so absorbed with keeping himself entertained, he was completely oblivious to the adolescent creeping up on him. The maid raised the pistol for the strike...

"Kazuya, do you read me?" the walkie-talkie suddenly blared out, almost giving the teenager a heart attack. The guard was no less suprised, dropping the publication and leaning further back to see the source. However, in doing so, the chair finally fell on it's back, taking it's occupant with it. Before the terrorist could get back onto his feet, Suzaku brought the butt end of the pistol down on his head. While she could not muster enough force to crack his skull, he nevertheless ended up being knocked out cold.

"Kazuya, I need to know which way the terrorists are heading. Are they going banana? I repeat, are the T's going banana?" the transmitter continued to convey as Tamsin stood over her victim. Not even trying to understand the mess of unknown expressions that was being thrown over the communication device, her heart pounded heavily in her chest. That was close...too close.

"Tamsin? Do you read me?" Ashe`s voice sounded once again. Suzaku detached the walkie-talkie from her outfit. Since she was not familiar with using these, she fiddled with the controls a bit before she managed to respond weakly and in a hushed tone:

"Yes?"

"How's that bomb looking?" the female on the other side of the line inquired. This prompted the maid to finally inspect the object she was looking for. Now able to look at it closer, she was definitely able to determine that it was a bomb. Sadly for her, however, that was preety much the extent of her knowledge regarding bombs. Since a master's life took priority above all else, it was assumed that a servant would first and foremost lead his or her master to safety upon recognition of an explosive device and leave the dismantling of it to someone more capable. So while Servus maids were proficient in a lot of things, they certainly did not qualify as explosive experts.

Trying to find the right words, Suzaku described the object in front of her: "It's... uh, small, black, roughly square in shape... Lots of wires."

"I mean what's the time on the clock?" the voice asked further. It was this comment that made the servant notice something peculiar. While there was a beeping red light located next to a keypad, indicating that the bomb was active, there was no counter to speak of.

"What clock?"

"The clock on the bomb," came the very expected reply.

"No, I mean there's no clock on this thing."

"Then how do you know it's the bomb? Are you certain? Is there some kind of ticking noise? There's always a clock on these things!" Ashe pressed on with her questions. But before the silver-haired girl could reply, a set of footsteps sounded right next to her. Startled, she accidentally dropped the transmitter on the floor, causing a high-pitched screeching noise in the process. Grabbing the pistol as it should normally be held, she clumsily aimed the weapon from the direction the sound came. The sidearm was empty....but of course, only Suzaku knew this.

Standing in the veil of darkness of the nearby corner was a figure. Although the person`s face was concealed, the teenager was able to make out a long coat and a hat. Their arms raised in order to indicate that they had no hostile intentions, the stranger slowly crouched and pushed an object into the light....an envelope. Then they proceeded to back away in a similar fashion. Keeping the Beretta aimed towards the mysterious person, the girl slowly stepped towards the paper object. Crouching, she stretched her arm to pick it up. Taking a glance at it, the front of the envelope was completely empty. It was at this brief moment of diverted attention that she cought the sound of running and Suzaku alarmingly looked where the person was. However, the cloaked figure was gone, his footsteps quickly dying in the distance.

Placing the sidearm on the table, the maid opened the envelope. It contained a letter:

"To whom it may concern,

I'd kind of like to see this building go down in flames, anyway, so here's the deal: you see the keypad on the bomb? I'll give you the code to reset the timer so that it will explode after you players leave...except for one. I will make it so that one of your comrades cannot teleport back to Kill Town, but in compensation, I will make it so that you receive 750 zeni upon completing my game.

Do what you will,
Gamer."

Turning the paper around, there was indeed a code scribbled on the other side....6713. The maid felt disgusted....it was obvious that Gamer counted on the greed of man to try and make his little game even more amusing for himself. Considering he was able to create such an enormous simulation, it was very likely that such an amount was merely change for him and that he would enjoy it much more if he used it to try and coerce someone into betraying his fellow man. But the girl was in no mood to play to his tune. Even if they did so half-heartedly, her three temporary comrades entrusted her with their lives and she had no intention of breaking their trust. The fact that the Gamer abducted her and took her away from her master gave her even less reasons to accept his offer.

Noticing a knife strapped to the belt of the unconscious guard, Suzaku quickly took it and got to work. Pulling out the billiar chalk she had taken earlier, she began to chip away small pieces from the material with the knife. Once she had a satisfying amount, she picked it up and started grinding it until it turned into fine powder. Closing her eyes, she blew a small amount of it onto the keypad. Ripping some of the clothing from the terrorist, she wiped the excess powder. Prominently marked by the blue chalk, five of the of the digits were marked by fingerprints.....6,7,1,3 and 0. Taking a deep breath, the maid inputted the numbers 6,7,1....and 0. The flashing red light disappeared completely, indicating that the bomb was deactivated. There was only one thing left to do.

Grabbing the pistol she had by the barrel again, she began to whale away at the keypad. Pieces of plastic flew away with each hit from the butt end of the weapon. After several strikes, the input device was no longer usable. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, the adolescent was now satisfied. Placing the magazine back into the sidearm and holstering the weapon, the girl ran back to the staircase in order to reach the higher levels....she needed to help the others.

[Kill Town]

After Abandoned 4 Killed…

“Hey, Lance,” Gamer glanced back at the other teenager. “Have you ever played any of the Counterstrike games?”

Lance blinked. “I, uh…”

Keith frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Uh, nothing, I…” the boy shook his head. “I’m just surprised that you got the name right.”

“Screw you,” Keith practically hissed. “So have you or not?”

Immediately after the question left his lips, Gamer stopped paying attention. It didn’t really matter if Lance had played the games or not, because he himself had played that type of game, and he loved every minute of it. It wasn’t necessary the anti-terrorism shooters that he liked, even, but he figured that the theme would have been the easiest to implement, and sure enough, it looked as though he was right. He had concerns about the players’ overall understanding of such a concept, but luckily, at least Ashe had played her fair share of video games. And that made Keith’s job that much easier.

“…and then BAM!” Lance clapped his hands together, garnering back Keith’s attention. “Headshot! It was awesome, don’t you think?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, whatever,” Keith waved him off. “Something’s happening.”

Lance rolled his eyes, mumbling softly. “Insensitive bastard…”


Tamsin shook her head in disgust. Why would Gamer even ask her to do such a thing? Nobody in the game was as maniacal as he was, and to even think that anyone would stoop to that low a level was downright insulting. Deep down, she knew that making such judgments about the man was ultimately futile, but it did help take her mind away from the actual bomb that she had just disarmed—everything seemed to work out for the best, but there was a nagging feeling somewhere in the back of her mind that Gamer had rigged the bomb to explode anyway. All she could do at that point was run to Kazuya in hopes that she could aid her objective.

Tamsin, do you read me? Ashe’s voice sounded on her radio as the maid dashed down the hallway to meet the mouth of a stairway.

She reached towards her walky-talky and held it up to her mouth. “I would hope so, I spoke to you not five minutes ago.”

Funny. I just wanted to tell you that everything’s green on our side. The hostages are safe. I repeat, the hostages are…

“Safe. Got it,” she responded. “Good work. The bomb’s been taken care of, as well. I am about to go help Kazuya, though. It’s on my way.”

Understood. Ashe out.

As the woman ran up the stairs upon shutting her radio, blood-curdling screams echoed through the stairwell. Apparently the battle had already been well under way, and from the pitches of the shouts, it seemed as though the fight was going well for Kaz. When the maid made it to the top, she immediately had to duck out of the way of a flying body, apparently on the business end of a solid punch from the female warrior.

“Do, uh…” Tamsin looked around as she stood up fully once more. “Do you need any…help?”

“No,” Kazuya looked around, counting the unconscious or dead bodies. “Looks like I got it.”

“Pretty anticlimactic,” Baller sighed.

“Yeahhh.”

1st: Ashe – 40 monies
2nd: Tamsin – 30 monies
3rd: Kazuya – 20 monies
4th: Cain – 10 monies