[hider=TW][b]Trigger warning - racist asshole[/b] (you get to beat him up later)[/hider]

Northbridge. A city in the bowels of Titan's Fall, perpetually choked by dark fog and the green haze of industry. Today however, something foreign descended screaming from the surface. Blinding lights shifted between red and blue. Cars and armoured carriers roared through the streets. A sea of azure spilled from within. Men and women in ballistic plate over fatigues, their faces shielded by one-way visors. Combat droids with legs of wheels and cannon hands. The words "T.F.P.D." were stamped over their hearts. 

Titan's Fall's finest busted down shop doors. Poured into alleys where vagabonds gather, turned over barrels and mattresses and stripped their dignity to search their possessions. They charged into derelict buildings, chased teenagers with streaked hairs and oversized hoodies who succumbed to their flight instincts. Sometimes, they even blundered into discoveries, their guns pointed at the skins and bones slumped and coughing behind booths, surrounded by a sea of needles with black veins rooted in their arms. 

All of this, all over Northbridge, witnessed by ripples on the walls and ceilings, too still to be noticed by untrained eyes. The ripples slinked away upon a canine gait, the three slits that made up their sight transmitting directly to a blue screen. A dozen blue screens. Several dozen, a myriad, glowing within a pitch black room. A pointed hood stood before it all, the owner's face unseen within the pitch-black folds. 

[color=b8cee5][b]"Once again, the pigs have come to our streets."[/b][/color] A voice came from the hood. A stygian contralto. Stilted in cadence, yet projected with undertones of whispers and hisses. [color=b8cee5][b]"Whenever unrest spreads across Sector 7, we are the first to blame." [/b][/color]

The hooded figure spread her arms - thin and unremarkable beneath white flowing sleeves. [color=b8cee5][b]"An assault on our Fortress carries a success rate of 0.05%."[/b][/color] Her voice seethed. [color=b8cee5][b]"So they've hit our lifeblood. Safehouses. Chem labs. Chrome shops." [/b][/color]

A ripple prowled towards the hooded figure's side. Its four legs became clearer in motion, until its mirror-cloak dissipated, revealing a body of deep blue and gunmetal, of plasteel chassis and synth-fibre legs. Its three slit eyes shimmered scarlet between two backwards-facing antennae. [b]"The scale of this raid is unprecedented, Lady Megahertz,"[/b] the canine droid spoke. The hooded figure caressed the top of the robot's head, and it sat down on its hinds. [b]"The Upper City needs a scapegoat. Urgently." [/b]

Megahertz drew out a long, raspy breath. She turned to face her audience. Four figures stood in a circle. 

[color=e70849][b]"Then we'll go up there and give 'em one!"[/b][/color] A broadly-built woman rammed her right fist into the palm of a scarlet arm. She towered nearly six feet tall, dark of clothes and complexion. She seemed human at first, until the fangs clicked beneath her cheeks, and the serpent-like slits of her eyes dilated with a predator's instinct.

[color=dbdf95][b]"Do you ever think beyond bloodying your hands?"[/b][/color] A man spat in question, clad from head to toe in yellow and grey. His was a youthful voice, lightly southern and a stark contrast to the grim ballistic mask that confined his face. He shook a pointing finger above as he spoke, [color=dbdf95][b]"We give them what they want, and they'll have a wonderful excuse to rally the States and smoke us out!" [/b][/color]

[color=7ac2b5][b]"Let them COME! HEH, give us more MEAT for the SLAUGHTER!”[/b][/color] A behemoth, standing heads and shoulders over the rest, wrought of scale-plated muscles that hosted two distinct heads - one angular, with ears of fins, flashing a fang-filled grin which gleamed with his boast. And a bulbous head, with a fin that ran from the top of his head to his spine. The latter’s smile carried less swagger. [color=7ac2b5][b]“Nye he he, great speech, Megahertz, GREAT speech… but I promised the MISSUS I’d be home to help with the cooking tonight. Can we get our mission and GO?”[/b][/color]

The man in yellow scoffed. [color=dbdf95][b]“You keep talking about this Missus, but I ain’t ever seen a lick of her,”[/b][/color] he teased the behemoth, looking him from head to toe, from the faces distorted and stretched to monstrous visages, to the thick, bloated body overgrown with barnacles. [color=dbdf95][b]“Are we even sure she’s real?” [/b][/color]

[color=7ac2b5][b]“HAH!”[/b][/color] The two heads spat in unison, baring their teeth as they loomed over the much smaller man. [color=7ac2b5][b]“She’s more real than your MEDALS,”[/b][/color] the angular head snarled. [color=7ac2b5][b]“Or your… SEX LIFE! Nyeh heh heh!”[/b][/color] The rounder head added. The former glanced with disapproval.  

The man leaned forward to meet the giant’s challenge. [color=dbdf95][b]“What did you call me?”[/b][/color] He asked, seething. The colour faded from his suit, and sand trickled from micro cracks that formed all over his body. He raised his hand, which had swelled into a gigantic, sand-made fist. [color=dbdf95][b]"I'll show you how I earned my medals, mutie. Anywhere, anytime!"[/b][/color] 

[color=b8cee5][b]"Enough,"[/b][/color] Megahertz commanded, her voice echoed with a hiss that grated like nails on chalkboard. [color=b8cee5][b]"These squabbles are a waste of time. We shall move to reassert control over our city."[/b][/color] 

[b][color=#746733]“Are they right?”[/color] [/b]A question grunted between the puffs of a cigar. Lips twisted at the left by fresh burned tissue sneered beneath a horned mask. A ringed hand gestured for Megahertz’s attention. His left. The right arm was golden and hung idle beneath an empty sleeve. It was the failed reaper sent for Marionette’s soul, Ganta. Standing between his colleagues now, an arm and a face poorer. [b][color=#746733]“Are we the ones to blame? Bunch of Ares white collars blow themselves up. Can’t be us. I didn’t think we had that kind of… influence, up there.”[/color][/b]

Megahertz chuckled - a robotic sound stripped of humour. She turned away from him. [color=b8cee5][b]"That knowledge is above your paygrade. Only Lockdown and I need to know… for now."[/b][/color] He glowered. Left out of the room yet again. She shifted towards the woman in red. [color=b8cee5][b]"Katalina. Head to our workshops in East Harbour. Make sure our slicers, chrome-surgeons, and gunsmiths escape the Pigs unharmed.” [/b][/color][url=https://imgur.com/a/ZZ1a5NE]Katalina[/url] held up her scarlet arm, brandishing its sickle-like fingers and orbs that hummed with a low rumble. [color=e70849][b]“You can count on me, My Lady.[/b][/color]” 

Next, the man in yellow. [color=b8cee5][b]“Sandstorm. Get your men organised and head to the Commerce District. Those shopkeepers paid well for protection… and we JAHANNAM keep our end of every deal.”[/b][/color] [url=https://imgur.com/a/S0DVQaG]Sandstorm[/url] rolled his eyes behind his mask. [color=dbdf95][b]“Right… keep the pigs from burning down everything the chinks and kikes have. Got it.”[/b][/color]

After that, the two-headed behemoth. [color=b8cee5][b]“Rakshas. Go down to the sewers and oversee the transport of our caravan.”[/b][/color] Megahertz held up a finger. [color=b8cee5][b]“Make sure there are no accidents with the contraband this time.” [/b][/color][url=https://imgur.com/a/gwlF3dH]Rakshas’s[/url] bulbous head cackled. [color=7ac2b5][b]“It was ONE time, Megahertz! You’ll never let me live it down.”[/b][/color] His other head growled. [color=7ac2b5][b]“I’ll keep us in line.”[/b][/color]

Finally, Ganta. [color=b8cee5][b]“You. I have a task even you can’t fuck up,”[/b][/color] Megahertz began, summoning more emotion in her voice than before. She leaned close, held out a golden-clawed finger, and poked his chest. [color=b8cee5][b]“I’ve arranged catering with Miss Chang’s tonight. Pick it up. And [i]don’t [/i]forget the plum sauce.”[/b][/color] 

Laughter and snickers jumbled behind him, a choir of mockery that none of the other Enforcers bothered to hide. He just clenched his hands and jaw. The cigar burst between his teeth and coated his tongue in bitter ash.

Megahertz turned her attention back towards the screens. Her metal hound followed suit. [color=b8cee5][b]“You have your missions. You’re dismissed.”[/b][/color] With one word, the Enforcers filed out of Megahertz’s control room. The sounds of a hundred screens were cranked up through the chamber. To the hooded overseer, such cacophony was familiar, even comforting. Especially in the presence of her personal, and most loyal, enforcer. [color=b8cee5][b]“Cazadors,”[/b][/color] she called out to the [url=https://imgur.com/a/qowhIRu]hound[/url], who stood back on all fours. Across the walls and ceilings, ripples formed over seemingly empty air. Ripples that crawled and lit up with sets of triple-slitted eyes. [color=b8cee5][b]“Let’s get to work.”[/b][/color]