[h2][u][b]Silver[/b][/u][/h2] [h3]Byzantium, Core World, UCL Territory Two Weeks Earlier[/h3] “It’s just, Silver? No last name?” The secretary craned her neck, turning her head to be more in line with the sign-in book on the edge of her desk. As if seeing it straight on would make more sense to her. “Is there a problem?” Silver replied, his voice low. The Cyborg hated this whole experience, entering a high security office building through the front doors with people not only weary of his presence but actually having to give them his real name? No, this situation couldn’t be more foreign to him. Looking around Silver eyed off a few employees who had decided to stare before pulling up the collar of his jacket as high as it would go. The secretary fixed her bobbed hair, uncomfortably shifting in her chair as Silver’s gaze returned to her. “No, no, of course not Mr… er um, Silver.” Standing up, she came out from behind the desk making noticeable effort to avoid proper eye contact. “Please follow me.” The young human led Silver across the grand foyer of the building. As they walked he could hear the echoes from the water of the large fountain in the centre of the atrium bouncing off the high ceilings above, attempting to drown out the hushed conversation of those below. Small drones zipped by after workers, as holoprojections gave quite the light show around the fountain. [i]What was this? Having to sign my signature in such a primitive fashion like it was some Frontier backwater world? But then everything else is state of the art tech?[/i] Silver shivered, feeling as if all eyes were falling upon him, even if they weren’t. He hated people being able to see him outside of his armour, he felt so naked and exposed. Although he did his best to hide his cybernetics from plain view, short of wearing a veil, there was only so much he could do. The doors of the elevator opened with a ding. “Ok, so it’s the 65th floor,” the secretary said, leaning in and pressing the button as Silver entered the lift. “The door for the meeting room is literally opposite the elevator, just open it yourself as they’re expecting you.” The Cyborg let the doors close without another word before retreating to the corner, beneath the camera and patiently waited. To his relief, there was no one on the 65th floor, no movement and no one to greet him. Just a door in front of him and a long dimly lit corridor to his left. There was no natural light here and no grandiose looking features or high amount of tech, it was quite a dramatic change from below. Silver reached for the door, still unable to shake the odd sensation of entering a room through the front for an expected meeting. The office itself was small, cramped even, it only held a desk with 3 chairs, two filing cabinets off to one side and a loud ticking clock. There was a small window that had been blacked out, with a single spotlight in the top corner of the room giving it all it’s light. “An interrogation room?” Silver asked the two occupants inside. One, a human, was lent up against the filing cabinet just out of proper view of the room's light. “Something like that,” he said with a small chuckle. The other occupant was a Gealtirocht. Hunched over his part of the table, the eel-like creature gestured towards the empty chair. In front of him sat a plain vanilla folder. “Please sit Mr. Silver,” the Gealtirocht asked politely. Silver followed as instructed, taking the folder up as he did so. “Paper? Are you guys having funding issues?” “Mr. Silver please, just read the contents, it’s the dossier for your first mission with us.” “Yeah eyes down Hanger,” the human barked. [i]Ugh, humans.[/i] Silver rolled his eyes before opening the dossier. [i]Ok, extraction, science team, their data and any valuable tech, great nice easy first job… wait, “you and your team”?[/i] Silver tossed the dossier back on the table. “Team? No no, I don’t do team’s. I work alone, I’ve always worked alone. You give me the details, I carry out the job, that’s how it’s done.” The human stood up, coming out from the shadows with Silver now noticing the man’s immense size. “This isn’t some pampered vacation like the one you’ve been living for the past few decades Hanger. This is the GES, we have a way of doing things here and we are the owners of your contract, and therefore you.” A pang of anger rang out from within Silver’s chest, without thought he could feel the ether begin to fill him, slipping from the physical plane. The Gealtirocht took notice and held up his clawed hand in the direction of his colleague. “Mr Silver, all my friend here means to say is that this is how we operate here in the GES. There aren’t many who run operations completely solo in our organisation and certainly not for their first op.” Silver breathed, letting the anger go and leaning back in his seat. “I’m not babysitting anyone.” “And we’re not expecting you to Mr Silver. We are not amateurs and neither is anyone on your team. They are all experienced professionals whose strengths makeup for each other's weaknesses. But this is the deal and we’ve been told you always adhere to the parameters of any mission, working with this team is within those parameters. That and we aren’t presenting you with a choice here, this is how it is.” Silver ran over it in his mind for a moment, the Gealtirocht was right, there was no real choice here. Even if he killed both of them and somehow escaped, he’d be hunted by the GES, UCL and his former employer for the rest of his life. He sighed, feeling a weight pull him down at the thought. “Ok, so where am I off to?” [h3]Somewhere in the Rainforest Near Kerovnia, Caracosa Present Day[/h3] [i]System analysis…[/i] [i]Host, Silver, offline.[/i] [i]Activating Mobile Response Unit.[/i] The armour of Silver began to beep and whir as a small drone detached from his leg, hovering into the air above his host. [i]Scanning…[/i] The situation was grim, below the thick canopy of the forest, their immediate area was covered in a fine mix of mist and ether-electrical smoke from the crash. That and the thick shrubbery around them impaired the scouts scanning ability. The only thing that could really be seen was the plumes of black smoke billowing out from the crash site. Silver had been thrown a bit of a distance away, possibly being ejected from the craft after it tore open during the initial impact. [i]Scanning for signs of life...[/i] The small drone buzzed as a small laser blanketed the area. It found nothing but small forest dwelling animals for as far as it could sense, there was no one else in the immediate area. Dropping down just above Silver’s chest it began to scan it’s Host. [i]Assessing... CPD Shield, overloaded, recharging, took brunt of initial impact.[/i] It whirred further, moving up and down his body. [i]Damage Report, cybernetics, minimal damage, no repairs required. Organic tissue, small metallic object protruding from Host’s abdomen, right lumbar region. Impact to crucial internal organs, unlikely.[/i] Four small spider shaped legs sprung from the bottom of the drone as it landed above Silver’s left pec. [i]Analysis, attacked by unknown hostiles, likely in immediate danger, administer of minor adrenaline shot authorised.[/i] The drone bent down and a sharp puncture was heard as Silver shot up. “What in the goddamn hell?” His heart pounded, his ears rang and the side of his body burned with a white hot sharpness. “What the hell did you do Jerry?” he groaned as his right hand dropped to his side. The little drone whirred around the cyborg, just out of arm's length, before dropping back into its slot on his leg. [i]You were unresponsive, I was prompted by my protocols to assess the situation and administer a minor shot of adrenaline. I can produce a full report if you wish.[/i] Silver looked down at his leg and rolled his eyes. “No Jerry, just, argh,” Pain shot up from his side as the Cyborg tried to stand. [i]You have a small protruding metallic…[/i] “Yes I know, I know. You’d think when they rebuilt me they would take away my ability to feel pain.” [i]That would be counterproductive to your biological…[/i] Silver clicked his tongue in frustration. “Jerry, just shut up for 5 minutes, that was rhetorical.” The Cyborg took a deep breath in as he gripped the shard. He breathed out heavily before repeating the cycle in quick succession, prepping himself for the pain. Drawing in a final breath in, he gritted his teeth, yanking the object free. A muffled groan of pain seeped through his teeth as he tossed aside the piece of jagged metal. “God dammit.” Silver reached up, massaging his temples with his hand, calming himself down. Getting control of his body and letting his forehead go, he closed his eyes, focusing in on his heart beat. It was still somewhat rapid due to the adrenaline but as he began to tap into his ethereal ability, it quickly came under control. He began to feel himself fade from the physical realm as the pain on his side evaporated. It was an intoxicating feeling, akin to how he felt floating out in the void of space. The temptation to lose yourself in the Ether and the Abzu was always there with the only thing pulling him back to the real world being the intense shadow of the creatures that could be felt worming their way through the void. Thirty seconds was all it took and then bam, he returned, his side completely healed. The hole left in his suit was something his oddly named friend could take care of. “Ok Jerry,” Silver said, standing up, “Do your thing.” The small scout drone crawled across his suit and got to work on repairs while the Cyborg surveyed the area. [i]Ok, assessment time, what the hell happened up there. What do I remember?[/i] Silver thought back, he was sitting towards the end of the ship, far away from any members of his team. Then without warning they were hit. The cockpit was open and the blood of the pilot shot to the back of the plane. Alarms sounded as warnings blared over the intercom. [i]A GES stealth ship hit with no warning? They have the most advanced stealth tech on the market, who could’ve...[/i] Suddenly shouts could be heard in the distance. Was it other survivors? Unlikely, there were too many voices and they weren’t coming from the direction of the crash site. Realisation dawned on Silver. “They’re here to finish the job.” The Cyborg went to take off but hesitated. What about his team? Should he return to the crash site to look for survivors? The answer was quickly forced upon him as his comms lit up. Accepting the ping, a soundwave image appeared in his HUD and a voice crackled through. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" The sound fractured as the voice faded momentarily in and out, trying to pierce the massive amount of interference. "THEY KNEW… THERE IS NO TIME… WE NEED TO LINK UP… CANNOT SEND LOCATION DATA DUE TO INTERF-” A thunderous crack echoed throughout the rainforest, followed by several more. “Oh that does not sound good.” Silver was right as hell began to rain down on the area. The cyborg had never experienced mortar fire before but he knew not to stick around. Activating his cloaking ability he took off through the trees, navigating the thick brush of the forest floor as best he could. Around him the peaceful scenery began to simply evaporate, tree’s splintered into thousands of pieces as it felt as if he was traversing directly through a vicious thunderstorm. The bombing was so intense that the ground shook, forcing Silver to slow down. Crouching close to the earth for balance, he pressed on hoping to clear the firing line. Luckily his ejection from the ship had meant he was on the outskirts of the action anyway and it wasn’t long before he found himself in a small clearing and out of harm's way. Taking a knee, Silver gave himself a minute to gather his thoughts. [i]Ok think, what the hell is going on, who shoots down a plane and then rains down explosives on top of the crash area. It’s complete overkill. Something is very wrong, and that voice? Who was that?[/i] He quickly looked around to make sure he hadn’t wandered into an enemy camp site. [i]Fuck it, I’m alive, the mission still stands. I’ll find the city, get to the scientists and get the hell out of here.[/i] “Jerry,” Silver said out aloud, “Get above the tree tops and guide me towards the city.” Suddenly a feeling of guilt tugged at him from deep inside. “And… er… search the rainforest for signs of live engagement. If what the GES said was true, there might be other survivors out there.” The scouting drone dipped as if nodding in agreement before flying towards a tree and sprouting its legs. Jerry began it's climb towards the sky. All Silver could do now was wait.