Chapter 1 - Mission (Prologue)

Chapter 01 – Mission (Prologue)

4:00 AM in the entertainment district in Gossport City. The bright and colorful neon lights illuminated the night as the moon began to hide behind the clouds in the sky. Some of the patrons of the night were still enjoying their excursion at the bars and clubs, playing a game of pool while shooting the breeze, indulging in hard liquor and beer, or dancing the night away. Other patrons were beginning to leave the district for the night, saying goodbye to their friends, leaving home with someone they had just met, or returning home alone. And then there were the few patrons who were passed out on the clean streets, either sleeping off their day or passed out from drinking too much. No matter whose face a person were to take a look at, they all appeared happy. Not a concern about danger in mind.

A lone man walked the streets of the entertainment district. His attire consisted of a black robed parka with a hood over his head, obscuring his face. The design of this attire simply consisted of two light blue neon lines which began from the left and right of the hood and extended toward the back of the parka and connected to the left and right sleeves. On the upper left shoulder sleeve of the parka was a symbol of the Crux constellation.

The lone man walked past the numerous crowded buildings on a narrow street, heading further in the district. After some time, he stopped in front of a tall building, attached to other tall buildings, with a pink neon lights that read “The Pink Lemonade Bar.” Nobody was hanging around this building nor the general area. A small red signal on the man’s left earlobe flashed repeatedly, and a female robot voice spoke.

“Scanning…
Operative 01 Sirius.
Authorization granted. You may now enter.”

The man entered the establishment, which gave off a brief flicker in the doorway. Contrary to what was seen from outside the bar, the inside had seen better days. Broken tables and chairs. Half of the bottles have been busted to pieces behind the bar counter, a few serving glasses were shattered. From what can be seen of the kitchen from the doorway were a few broken dishes on the floor. Ahead of the doorway were a set of stairs that lead upward. However, there weren’t any proper lighting in that area.

“Good work in setting up the holo-front in time,” the man spoke with a perpetual, emotionless voice. From the left and right of his position were two statues of the city’s mascot animal of a quokka. Upon voice recognition, the two statues unveiled their disguise: two AI sentry drones armed with a silent laser turret. “What’s the situation?”

The AI sentry drone on the left relayed its assessment to the man named Sirius. “From our complete analysis of the establishment, a distortion appeared 30 minutes ago. The bar had already concluded its business for the night. No patrons are injured. There are no people on the premises and no people upstairs.”

The AI sentry drone on the right immediately began to relay further information. “Five minutes after the appearance of the distortion, we detected several presence of UROs, Unidentified Radiant Objects. Two UROs were seen on this floor, in which we initiated combat. The two UROs escaped our sight from our position. Our readings detect they are still present within this building.”

“Any reading on the location of the distortion?”

“Our readings detect the distortion is on the roof of the building,” the left sentry drone confirmed.

“Understood.” The man brought forth a blade-less scythe from under his robed parka. At the end of the long snaith was a lapis blue sapphire stone. “Continue to guard the front entrance. Any Crux operative are authorized to enter.”

“Roger.” The two sentry drones simultaneously spoke.

Sirius first proceeded to check the kitchen. The bright light was still on. After a quick yet thorough observation, he determined that the immediate area was safe. “An URO wouldn’t be seen in bright light.” He noticed that an air vent in a corner of the room was broken open. “Seems they have escaped to somewhere upstairs. This should be fun.” Sirius exited the kitchen and proceeded to climb the stairs.

Complete darkness awaited him on the second floor. Sirius pulled his V-Comm visor down to his eyes and booted the device.

“Welcome to V-Comm. Authorized user Operative 01 Sirius, identified.”

An electronic male voice spoke from the device. A V-Comm is a visual and voice communicator authorized by the organization Crux. The device allows the user to see within the cover of darkness and detect heat radiation. Though the device is durable and runs on electricity, it is not water-resistant. As per the Crux Organization protocol, V-Comms must be charged after every mission in order to maintain the safety of its users and operatives, as well as to be thoroughly prepared for any mission.

Nothing was detected on the second floor, so Sirius proceeded to the next floors. The third floor was safe was well. Onward to the fourth floor. It was on this floor that faint radiation was detected, as indicated by the colors of red and orange on the user screen of the V-Comm. Sirius walked down the hallway and towards the source of the radiation presence. Slowly, with his blade-less scythe gripped to the ready, he opened the door to the room. Sirius welcomed himself inside, cautiously scanning the area for a precise reading. After wandering around the room, he stood in the exactly in the middle. After a moment’s wait, two small monsters of the dark abruptly rushed towards his legs in one leap, snarling loudly in bloodlust. The tip towards the floor of the blade-less scythe suddenly generated a blade of blinding light, and Sirius beheaded the monsters in one fell swoop. The monsters, defeated, gave a small implosion, their energy particles promptly dispersing into nothingness into the air. The scythe was his Quasar.

“Two goblin type UROs, eliminated,” Sirius reported into his V-Comm. Suddenly, the ceiling above him collapsed. Two more URO creatures, troll types, were charging him snarling viciously and a hand reaching towards him, fingernails sharpened to kill. “Shoot! Two more?” Sirius leapt backwards to avoid the simultaneous attack, unable to attack in time. No less than a second he initiated the action, the area of the floor he was standing on suddenly collapsed and a gryphon type URO sprang forth, its beak and claws already posed to finish off its prey.

The two trolls landed onto the floor and sprang towards Sirius, who hadn’t completed his leap backwards. Their fingernails honed in on the defenseless operative at such incredible speed. Closer. Closer. Inches away. A single upward slash from the scythe disarmed the two goblins, who were now roaring in pain. Sirius landed onto the floor and took a strong, single dash forward towards his vulnerable targets, raising his scythe ready to deliver the ending strike. The gryphon swooped to defend its allies, its talons blocked the strike and propelled the operative into the air and towards the walls behind him.

Sirius extended his legs towards the wall, catching himself and propelled himself towards his targets upon impact. The gryphon, in bewilderment, flew upward to avoid the next attack. Upon doing so, the trolls were ready to attack. Not giving them another moment’s chance, Sirius swung his scythe to end them. One troll dodged, but the other wasn’t so fortunate. The brilliant blade impacting the midsection of its body, cutting through until there was nothing left to cut. Before the troll could begin its inevitable implosion, Sirius immediately switched his Quasar into his left hand, bringing down the blade onto the troll who dodged. To an ordinary bystander, the action happened in a blink of an eye. Though, any of this is hardly anything but ordinary.

The trolls simultaneously imploded and disintegrated into the air.

“One target remaining.”

The gryphon flew upwards where the trolls were previously hiding, crashing through the floors of above. Its destination was the roof of the building. Sirius immediately gave chase. He was just as fast and agile as the gryphon. Noticing that the operative was gaining speed, the gryphon created more debris in an effort to slow him down. It was futile. The brilliant light in shape of a blade destroyed each debris in every swing, its handler increasing speed towards its prey.

The gryphon crashed through the other side of the building, finally making its way to the rooftop. The vibrant neon lights from the crowd of nearby buildings shone brightly under the cloudy night sky. No sooner than it arrived outside, the gryphon suddenly imploded. Sirius leapt through the smoke and landed onto the roof, the distortion before him. In one diagonal swing of his scythe, the distortion warbled and imploded inward into itself, becoming no more.

“Operative 01 Sirius reporting. Mission complete. No injuries sustained. All targets eliminated.”