Warning: This exciting story contains violence...
By: Deus Ex
Note: Please keep in mind that from now on Denton will be Draigen. He will rarely be referred to as Denton anymore.
I decided to go down to the A-5 level to spend some of my ACP. I bought an entire wardrobe in black. I also bought these cool hi-tech sunglasses. For the most part, that's all I needed for now, since I already have a good weapon, and armor. I spent about 300ACP. I headed back to my office to make a quick change of clothes. Finished, I was dressed in all black, and added the finishing touch...the sunglasses. I wore pants, a shirt, and a black (trench) coat. Of course, this was all stylish, not sloppy. I had the armor over my shirt, and the gun holster to the left for quick-draw purposes.
I stepped out of my room to go and talk with Manderley, who had called me to his office. As I was, I saw another agent, a lady agent. We were in a main hallway at the time. Apparently there are only 4 floors in HQ. My office was on the 2nd, and so was this woman's. I thought she saw me, as she was walking over to me. I stood frozen; she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. I scoped her as she was walking towards me. She had on all black also. I noticed she was he same woman I saw when I received my name. Now directly in font of me, she didn't speak, there was an awkward moment of silence. Her eyes were this incredible blue-grayish color, and she had this killer look that would just melt a whole through you. I looked at her hair; it was a compatibly sexy mix between black and brown, and traces of red. She was about 5'8-9", with a complimentary body. Suddenly she smiled, and spoke.
"Hi Draigen, how are you today?" she said in a delightful tone.
"F-fine, thank you. Yourself?" I was stricken by her, everything. Then I brought myself back to reality thinking, she wouldn't like me a bit.
"Fine thank you. I'm Jade. Since everything went well with you, I was nano-augmented too. We are the only two agents with it."
"Well that sounds assuring."
She gave a slight chuckle and spoke again. "You headed for Manderley's Office?"
"Yes, are you?" She nodded with a slight 'mm-hmm' and walked adjacent of me to the 2nd floor office. The door opened automatically and Manderley's secretary was behind a desk. She only said hi and signaled us to head in. Joseph looked up.
"Hello there, I've been expecting you two. I called you both here for one reason. You two are to be partners, and I expect some great work from you two." Jade and Draigen looked at each other, smiled, then looked back at Joseph.
"Thank you sir," Jade said first. She was happy with the fact that she was working with Draigen. Although, she was insecure about what he felt.
"Well thanks sir, I'll be working along side the only other agent like me, you should expect no less sir." Draigen liked the idea, but wasn't too thrilled at having a partner. But little did he know, this relationship would grow beyond his thoughts. "Excuse me, sir, may I leave HQ for a while, I would like to take a walk around the city."
"Sure, go ahead," he responded politely. Jade only stood looking at Draigen, trying to already figure him out. Jade and Draigen stepped out of the office.
"Would you like me to go with you?" Jade asked. Denton stopped and looked into her beautiful eyes. He thought, 'well, what am I gonna do out there alone?' Besides, maybe he won't feel as alone as usual.
"Sure, lets go," he said smiling. Jade thanked him, and they both went up to surface. Jock was outside wiping off his precious speedboat the agency gave him. Denton hoped he'd get to have his own transportation, because he didn't want to fully rely on Jock. Jock spotted the two and waved them over.
"Hellooo there, Jade. How are we today sexy?" It was obvious that Jock was more the ladies' man. Jade just looked at him glaringly, which signaled him to stop the nonsense. "Hey, Den--, wait it's Draigen right. What's up man?"
"Take us to the city," Draigen said.
"We're just going to take break," added Jade. Upon their request, Jock started the boat's engines. The two hopped in and were taken across the sea.
----
"Sir, Draigen and Jade just left," a security guard said. He was only reporting the departure.
"Thank you, security. Wait, did you say Jade?" Manderley questioned.
"Yes sir, that's correct," replied the guard. Manderley only smiled. But he became quickly disheartened.
"They have no idea what they're going up against," Joseph said to himself.
----
"Like your dinner?" They had been going out to different places and decided to stop for something to eat. It was 5:00 in the afternoon and Draigen had decided to eat something.
"Yes it's very good," replied Jade cheerfully. "Thanks," she said with a smile. Jade looked over to the side of their table and noticed a Cyndaquil. Draigen hadn't noticed it, and before he did the pokémon quickly swiped one of his meatballs.
"Hey!" Draigen sat there angrily as the Cyndaquil finished, but it was so funny that he couldn't help laughing. Jade stood up and pulled out a pokéball. Draigen looked at her weird, waiting to see what happened.
"Wartortle, go!" She threw the ball and the shell pokémon appeared. Everyone around them got up and formed a circle around the soon to be battle floor. "Watch me Draigen." Cyndaquil had finished eating; it looked up and noted the situation. It fired up it's back, and readied for battle.
"Wartortle, start off with a Watergun!" The turtle nodded its head and spurt out a slim blue river of cold water. Not being fast enough, the Cyndaquil was shoved back and against a wall. Although it was hurt, it decided to keep fighting. At this time Draigen had taken out the Pokédex that Dr. Carter gave him and examined the two battling. Cyndaquil countered with fierce tackle, pushing Wartortle back on his shell. As Wartortle was rising, Cyndaquil immediately fired an ember attack that scorched Wartortle's skin.
"Use a Watergun to cool it down, then use Body slam on him. I'll heal you later if it's still bad." Wartortle proceeded, and then jumped in the air. As he was falling Cyndaquil looked up, only to be squashed by the turtle. Cyndaquil was down, and Jade took out a strange looking pokéball. She threw it, and successfully captured Cyndaquil, who struggled little. The crowd around Jade, and Draigen, began applauding.
"Nice work," exclaimed Draigen. "We should be heading back. Lets go." Jade accompanied him as they walked off.
"Man that was fun!" Jade was proud of herself, and sensed that Draigen was too. As they were walking Draigen highlighted some of the good points in the battle. Suddenly they heard gunfire not far away. They looked at each other. "You heard that, right?" Jade asked.
"Yes, it was uncomfortably close." As they walked into the street, they saw a military helicopter, and many ground men coming their way. They stood in curiosity. "Wha--" a Scyther suddenly appeared not too far ahead of the troops. He landed there in front of Draigen. It looked at Draigen in his eyes, as if he were searching for an answer. "Scyther scyth scyther, scy-scyther!" The pokémon pointed toward the troops, the look on his face was frightened. "Scyther scyth sc----your help! Hide me please!" Draigen looked like he'd seen a ghost. "I escaped from the base and now they're after me. Please help, I know you understand me."
"Tell me heard that..." Draigen stated, frightened himself.
"Heard what? Scyther?" Jade looked at him cautiously. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I think I'm going crazy. I'm understanding what Scyther is telling me...in English."
"No, I really am speaking to you, please, take me to a saf--" The troops had caught up to us. There was massive gunfire coming from them. *Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat*. The helicopter had managed to get three shots nailed into Scyther. One had passed all the way through him. "Uh-uhhh...." Scyther fell to his knees, but Draigen caught him before he fell to the ground. Draigen, worried, picked up the pokémon and held it in his arms. He began running to the docks, which were near their current location.
"We need to save him, he isn't going to last much longer. I'm taking him to HQ's Pokémon Center." Draigen said to his running partner. They reached the dock in time to lose the troops behind them; Jock was waiting there patiently.
"AHH! What the hell is that?!" Jock cried.
"What do you think it is?! DRIVE!!" Jock took off and headed for Liberty Island. They were there in minutes at the dock. Something was terribly wrong though.
"Um, I forgot to tell you...the island's being held under control of NSF troops. Joseph radioed me, he wants you to eliminate the threat and break out an agent being held inside the statue. Heh, um, good luck." Jock looked at him worriedly.
"NSF? Who are they?" Draigen asked hysterically.
"The are the National Secessionist Forces. Leader is Juan Lebedev. SMF and NSF are officially at 'war' right now," answered Jade. She new all of SMF's enemies and what was going on. She had been there for about a month now. "Go, you take care of the threat, Draigen. I'll make sure this Scyther gets to the Pokémon Center. I promise. Go!"
Draigen nodded as he drew his standard issue pistol and cocked it. "Thank you..." Draigen proceeded down the dock and into the battlefield. He headed up some stairs to the lawn. There were two NSF sentries right in front of him. He walked up closer, as their backs were turned to him. He lifted his pistol and fired four shots. They each hit and killed one sentry. The guy next to him looked at his dead friend and turned. He began firing in Draigen's direction. Attempting to dodge the shots, Draigen fired two more bullets. The sentry heard the sharp cracks from the gun. "Show yourself or I'll send my pokémon to sniff you out!" Draigen had ducked behind a stone podium with a plaque on it. He jumped out and fired three times. This downed the sentry permanently, and Draigen proceeded.
Since the immediate threat was gone, Jade took this chance to sneak into HQ without anyone seeing her. Draigen crouched and proceeded. He saw many fallen SMF troops lying around. Poor guys. He walked up to one and took its weapon, an Assault Rifle. He reloaded his pistol, and advanced. From another fallen troop, he took a gas grenade. "I'll just borrow this, thank you." Draigen slipped around the wall to the west and headed for the SMF Compound entrance, where Jade hade entered earlier. He didn't go in though; he spoke to a Tech Sergeant Kaplan, who was guarding the gate.
"You're doing good, keep it up," announced Kaplan.
"Yeah, thanks. I can't speak for command, but I'm gonna clean the place out." Draigen had a determined tone.
"Heh, well you need something? I've got ammo, in clips...need any?"
"Sure, give me two." The Tech Sgt happily gave him two clips. Draigen approached the statue and hugged its wall for a while. He saw an enemy just then, he got as close as possible, not to risk being seen. He readied the Assault Rifle, and fired about 5 rapid shots into the guy's chest. The man fell dead. Draigen had noticed something the man was carrying. He took it and noticed it was a Datacube. Draigen accessed it and received the security code for the statue; the NSF reprogrammed the code for entry. As Draigen crossed in front of the statue entrance, he encountered three sentries and a security bot. He hid behind some bushes and shot them one by one. He fired three shots into the last sentry with the assault rifle; unfortunately, this one was armored. A loud burst of 6 more shots were fired as they sentry was returning fire. *RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!* Draigen jumped out in clear view of the enemy, aimed and fired 5 shots into the foe, bringing him down fiercely. The security bot was spotted, and was wasted before it could make too much trouble.
Draigen walked up to the statue and realized he needed a key for entry. He thought of where he might find it, but had no clue. A voice from behind interrupted his thinking.
"Hey, need this? My name's Harley Filben, an informant. This is the key to the Statue. You're Draigen I presume?"
"Yes, how'd you know?" Draigen took the key. "Thank you."
"Hey, I'm an informant, I know quite a bit, but not everything. You're welcome, and, be careful." Draigen used the keys and entered the Statue.
----
"Oh, I hope Draigen's okay, maybe I should go help." Jade was worried, both for Draigen and Scyther. She successfully got Scyther to the Pokémon Center. Dr. Carter was tending to it at the moment in the ER.
"No, stay here, he can handle it. I know he can," confirmed the doctor. He tended to Scyther right away, performing surgery to remove the two bullets dwelling in it. "He's still unconscious, but faintly alive, I can save him, hopefully." He told Jade to wait in the waiting area as he and his nurses operated on Scyther.
"I hope your okay, Draigen," thought Jade. "Oh, what am I saying, of course he'll be fine, won't he..."
----
Draigen hacked into a security panel using the code he found earlier. He shut off all turrets and cameras the NSF has set up, and even opened all the doors; it took some time though. Entering the main room, there was only one sentry on duty. The sentry's eyes widened as he saw Draigen. "Uh-oh" was all he thought. The sentry reached for his radio and tried to contact his posse. Draigen raised his pistol, and prepared fire. The sentry finally got a hold of someone. "He--" It was too late, for Denton had disabled the radio with a shot and the sentry himself with a 3-round shot. Draigen looked up to the balcony only to see another foe with his back turned. The sentry above heard the shots and turned around, spotted Draigen and began shooting. Draigen fortunately dodged the shots and tried to pick at him from below. After a few shots from Draigen's assault rifle, the man upstairs was caught by two bullets, which coincidently landed in his chest.
Relived he proceeded down the hall, and entered an office. There was nothing much here but a piece of paper with an ATM account number and PIN. Draigen smiled and took the paper. Hey the guy who owned it was dead on the floor... He proceeded to a wooden door. It was open so Draigen walked in quietly. There were three men around an SMF agent who appeared to be Gunther Hermann himself. Draigen took no time in shooting one in the head. The others turned and Draigen shot them each once, one bullet landing straight in one's eye; the other, left a gaping hole in the area between the eyes.
"That was just pure luck," criticized Gunther. He was locked down by some electronic locks. Draigen found the lock switch, and pulled it. Gunther was free, and Draigen had finished his fist objective. "May I borrow your pistol? They stripped me clean of my weapons. I'll take care of any leftovers." Draigen gave Gunther his pistol, knowing that he could still use the assault rifle he took from an SMF trooper. He stopped by the ATM and drained out the poor saps' money supply, a smirk came across his face. Draigen proceeded up the stairs of the statue. On the second floor were two NSF troops battling their pokémon. They stopped to look at him, and ordered their pokémon to attack Draigen. "Oh shit..." were the quiet words of Draigen. He managed to dodge one pokémon's attack, but the other, a fierce skull bash, forced him back a great distance. They both recalled their pokémon as they figured it was time to use their guns. As they drew their guns and fired, Draigen ducked to the side and immediately returned fire. This happened for about two more times before the sentries were finally brought down.
"Whew," was Draigen's sign of relief. He continued up and came to a little room in which another two guards were waiting for him. They were standing next to a toxic gas barrel, which suggested something to Draigen right off. There was almost immediate gunfire. *BANG BANG, B-BANG!!* *RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!* Draigen's shots exploded the barrel and the guards were wiped out easily. The exit was blocked by a gas grenade booby trap. Draigen took his time and practice to disarm it, keep the gas grenade, and proceed. A few more flights up and Draigen encountered two more guards, with there back turned towards him. A couple of bursts from the assault rifle and they were both dead with little resistance. As he continued he finally reached the NSF command post at the top of the statue. The commander immediately surrendered.
"Whoa, hey, I'm sorry man. I surrender. I'll tell you anything I know!" cried the commander.
"Really? Then tell me everything you know." The commander didn't seem like the type to go up against Draigen...he wasn't even armed. The guy was probably relying on his troops to make sure no one got to him. As he yapped on about all he knows Draigen became a little more knowledgeable. A SMF trooper walked in just then.
"Sir, the island has been completely retaken; your mission is over. You did well," said the trooper gladly. "Manderley wants you in his office." He took the commander, and Draigen made his way down to Joseph's 2nd floor office.
----
"You did a great job for your first mission. I'm impressed," exclaimed Joseph. He gave Draigen a cash bonus, and briefed him on the next mission. "That NSF commander you captured revealed the location of the stolen shipment of Ambrosia. Castle Clinton, in Battery Park." This had been the same info the commander had told Draigen earlier. "I want you to go and retrieve it, Jade is welcome to go along with you also. Find agent Anna Navarre, she's mech-augmented, as Hermann. She has been ordered to provide back up with a few other troops under her command. You may leave when you're ready, but notify me before you do, and thanks again for rescuing the lady. How's that Scyther you found?"
"I don't know, sir. I'm on my way down to see it now. Then I'll gear up and leave," answered Draigen.
"You know you're lucky to have found that Scyther. It's a pretty rare occurrence." It sounded like Joseph knew something.
"Would you have any idea why he was being chased by the military?" questioned Draigen.
"Well, I've heard a bit about it, but I'm not certain if it is true, much less anything we need to act on." Joseph sounded a bit uncomfortable.
"Alright well, I'll go check on him. Later sir." Draigen made his way out of Manderley's office, and down to the Pokémon Center.
----
"Hi Draigen," greeted Jade. She had a bright, but at the same time worried look on her face. "Wow, I'm glad your okay. I heard the news, you were great."
"Um, thanks. How are you? Scyther, how's is he doing?"
"I'm fine, though I can't speak for Scyther. Go check."
"Why something wrong?" Draigen came to the front desk, and asked the working nurse where Scyther was.
"It's that room there with Dr. Carter, it just got out of the ER about 10 minutes ago." She pointed to the room and Draigen walked in. As she had said, Dr. Carter was there, tending to it.
"Hey there Draigen, Scyther's fine, it's wounds are healing remarkably fast. The Scyther species developed a tendency to have great healing abilities. But he'll be fine, possibly up an running when you come back from your newly assigned mission." Draigen looked at him in astonishment. Just then Jade walked in, she overheard their talk and noticed Draigen's look.
"I know, news travels fast in the compound. But fortunately, no one's ever to tell about it to anyone else. So Scyther's fine?"
"Yes," answered Draigen. "Jade, the chief said that you were able to come with me if you wanted to. Do you want to come with me? We're going to--"
"Retrieve some stolen Ambrosia?" Jade finished. "Sure, I'll go. I'll meet you up top when I'm ready."
"Well, I'll meet you there too, when I'm ready." Draigen smiled. Jade left to prepare herself. Laying a hand on Scyther and passing it over its chest, Draigen said, "I hope you'll be recovered when I get back. Take care Doctor." Draigen then went up, and got ready for his next mission, gathering ammo, and other items necessary. He stopped in Jaime Reyes place for a check up, Reyes confirmed he was doing great. Draigen stopped in the dayroom, where he found Gunther and Anna discussing security matters.
"Are you ready, Draigen? All my troops are," said Navarre. Draigen nodded and Anna left the room to go up. At this time Jade reached the top and was waiting for Draigen. She couldn't stop thinking about Draigen, and the next mission.
"Here's your pistol, thank you for letting me use it. I advise you though, get a new and better gun than that. You'll need it, trust me." Hermann left and Draigen holstered his weapon, taking into consideration what Hermann had said. There were vending machines in the room, along with an ATM. Draigen smiled and remembered that it would be there, for future purposes.
----
"Manderley, we're leaving. Jade's coming with me," informed Draigen.
"Good luck you two."
Draigen finally met Jade on the surface and they took off on their next mission.
To Be Continued...