[b]AXEL Labs, Florida, USA[/b]

At the AXEL labs, excitement was brewing. Another of Dr. Shao's inventions was going to be test-flown today. In the middle of a spacious concrete clearing in the middle of the complex, a grey robot with a peculiar missile-like device strapped to its back hung limp, suspended by mini-stands. A megaphone roared in the early morning.
"All right! Clear the launching area!"
Blue-shirted men removed the mini-stands, and adjusted the robot's kinetic settings to stand straight. All personnel stayed at least fifty meters away from the exoskeleton, as safety protocol dictated. One man started recording on a camcorder.
"Commencing launch in T - 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.. LIFT-OFF!"
With a sudden and deafening boom, the robot at the center of the clearing exploded into several different pieces.

[b]UNKRCI HQ, Geneva, Switzerland[/b]

Mark Shao resisted the urge to cry as he witnessed it all on his double-screen Dell computer in the White Gloves' IT lab. He switched windows and angrily typed into a Skype screen: "what was that?!! what do u call that??"
A bing came up as the recipient responded. "sorry boss. these nasa auxiliary boosters r more than 10 yrs old. delivery from the labs at NY ain't cheap."
"well, speed it up. Minus that unit, we only have 14 units, only 8 of which r serviceable. 4 now until NY delivery gets there focus on the underwater units."
"K boss."

[i]"All personnel, please report to the briefing room. We have a situation developing in East Africa."[/i]

Finally. Some action. Mark quickly shrugged on his brand-new Swiss Army backpack and slipped through the mob of uniformed men moving in the general direction of the briefing room. He noted the appearance of a slightly intoxicated an somewhat motley crew taking up most of the space in the hallway, moving away from the briefing room in the direction of the deployment bay. Probably the mercenaries. Silver Talon, from what he heard.