Cyber Wars 2.0 Chapter 1: Just when you thought it was safe to log back on...

[Zephie]

Instead Wraith went with option three.

Understanding, with a little bit of self-control.

"As a matter of fact, it just might be..." Wraith started in a softer, yet serious voice and sitting forward. "I guess you've heard the big news, huh? U.N.'s little secret behind the four terrorism attacks?"

[Darth SS]

"No. I'm not released to disclose any information at this time. What I can tell you is that I don't know anything. Don't call this number again. You want to find something out, you get your little Cyber Force onto it's ass and get work done this time, preferably without killing off better men then yourselves."

Azreal ended the call.

He was mad once again. To cope with this, he grabbed an MP5-10 and ran into the assault course. Maybe he could catch up to his team.

[Zephie]

Wraith's finger hovered over the redial button, but then froze and waited a second.

Slowly he retracted the finger and sat back into his seat, silently contemplating Azrael's answer. He even stroked his beard, scruffy and haggard from three years of Russia's winters, and was quiet for a long time in his chair.

Eventually he rose and left without a word, the monitor still displaying the information from the attacks.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Rhiya Peng was not happy, to say the least.

Why? Well, she was currently crouched low behind rubble, CW bullets dancing around her. Her feathered avatar was caked in undeleted plaster, and she only had a few long blades at hand, and no place to log out. Ravenwing's eagle crest lay flat against her head, and she growled as a bullet chipped off a piece of rubble less than an inch before her beaked face.

She swore the AI troops appeared out of nowhere just as she left the residential first-aid area. The hosing down of bullets wasn't making her happy either, and her avatar had lost a few feathers in the first moments of the attack. She had to think fast. The bullets were intensifying, and that could only mean one thing: the AI troops are getting closer to her hiding spot.

Her clawed fingers gripped the hilts of two long blades. Her feathers ruffled, then smoothed back suddenly. Those twin, golden eagle eyes of the Ravenwing avatar dilated. Rhiya was working herself up for the approaching confrontation.

[Dante]

OOC: Time for my long overdue post...

BIC:

Moscow, Russia

Devin and Shahdee stepped easily off the plane's steps, unlike the jet-lagged people who followed them. Being augmented had its perks. Though the side of SHahdee's head was bandaged, she didn't seem unduly affected.

"Well, that was one heck of a plane ride."

"I'll say."

"Well, it's over now..."

"Yeah..."

As their feet touched the tarmac, Devin couldn't help but relive the memory of the flight.

********

4 hours ago...

It had been a fairly uneventful trip. They ahd originally intended to head out to see that brigadier general, but he had called them again and told them to find Wraith instead. Cursing all the while, Devin had booked them a ticket to Moscow, and here they were, on the plane.

Then a scream had woken them up.

Devin turned, and saw armed men advancing up the aisles. They were uniformly middle-eastern in looks and brutish in stature. Part of him wondered how the hell they had gotten their weapons onto the plane.

The other part of him was making plans to rip their throats out through the navels.

One of them advanced to the head of the aircraft, and kicked the door to the cockpit open. Behind him, his colleague covered business class with his AK-47. The intercom crackled, then suddenly, a voice spoke in heavily accented English.

"Infidel scum! We are the Liberation Front For the Free Ejaculation of Palestine! We will loot your women and rape your camels! Now you will take us to Moscow!"

"...but we ARE going to Moscow..."

"SILENCE!" There was a loud thump and the sound of someone hitting the ground. "You do as we say! Take us to Moscow!"

Devin turned to Shahdee.

"These guys are idiots. "

"They're ARMED idiots, and there are innocents around."

"Split up and get them?"

"You know any other way?"

They nodded to each other. There was a soft sound of seat buckle slidings from their housings.

"On three."

"Two."

"One."

And then Devin was off, followed by Shahdee. It was possible that the gunman covering business class might have seen Shahdee sprint from her seat, though not very likely - she was almost as fast as Devin, and Devin could cover 100 meters in 4 seconds.

What the gunman DID see was Devin sliding up from under him, and then he saw no more, because Devin's uppercut caught him under the jaw and shattered it, knocking him unconscious with the sudden pain. A series of muffled thumps from behind reassured Devin that his wife still retained her ass-kicking skills from when they had first met. Devin bent down to immobilzie the terrorist with the flexicuffs he always carried with him, just as the woman in front of him began to scream. Devin's glare shut her up, but the damage had been done.

"What is happening?" the head hijacker roared over intercom. "What is going on?"

Devin placed an eye to the curtain dividing business and first class, and he saw a scruffy middle-eastern man, just like the others, brandishing a vintage Glock 17 with one hand, while grabbing a stewardess with the other. He noted the name "Simone" as he studied his hand posture and stance for weaknesses. Well, he was a rank amateur, but like SHahdee has said, he had a gun and a hostage.

This would be slightly more difficult.

"Yazid! Abdul! What is your condition?! Report!"

Out of the corner of his eye, the head hijacker caught movement-

-Crap-

-and Devin increased his speed to maximum, trying to get the damn gun out of the man's hand before he could take a shot -

-the hijacker fired, but not in Devin's direction-

-Devin glanced, saw Shahdee on the other side, throwing herself in front of the wild shot which was headed for a young, pregnant woman-

-the bullet hit, spraying blood from ehr head, and she slumped against the seat-

-and Devin was on him like stink on shit, spinning Simone aside, seizing the man's gun hand in his own while simultaneously ejecting his cartridge-

-and then they were locked in a deadly embrace. The hijacker tried to punch Devin, who avoided the clumsy attack, then smashed the crown of his skull into the terrorist's face. As the man reeled back from the assault, Devin head-butted him a few more times, until he was forced against the wall, bleeding from the nose and only partially conscious.

Then, and only then, did Devin take his eyes off the hijacker to look at Shahdee.

She was slumped against the seat of the woman she had just saved, blood pouring from her head.

From where he was, she looked very, very still.

Devin turned back to the hijacker, eyes filled with malice.

"You motherfucker, she was my WIFE and you fucking shot her, you worthless piece of shit!"

Devin stamped on the hijacker's foot and his mouth shot open in a comically gaping "o". Devin's grip on the Glock hardened into steel, and a vicious arm twist later, and he rammed it into the man's mouth, stuffing as much of the stubby barrel into the stinking hole as he could. The terrorist's hand struggled under Devin's machine-tool grip, but the augmentations were too much, and it was all he could do to engage Devin's index finger with his own to prevent him from pulling the trigger of the weapon which they were holding.

"The Bible says, ask and ye shall receive. Well, you were asking for this. Eat hollowpoint, fuckface."

With relentless strength, Devin crushed the man's finger into the trigger.

The lever depressed.

The pin shot home.

And there was a thunderous sound of... nothing.

The terrorist's eyes rolled up in his head, leaving only the whites, and there was a sudden foul smell as he voided himself inside his pants. Devin glared down at the man, then mechanically slipped the flexicuffs from his pocket and tied his arms and legs together, but not before looping a length around the bottom of each of the man's pant legs just in case.

His training stopped. His panic began.

Kicking aside the Glock's ejected magazine, Devin bolted over to Shahdee. There was a rapidly-spreading stain on the seat... and it was coming from her head.

"No..."

He gently lifted her bangs, trying to inspect the wound, but it was dark and it was bleeding profusely. His heart pounding, Devin shook Shahdee gently.

"Dee, wake up..."

No response. Devin shook her again. Behind them, the people in business class began crowding around behind them, until Simone shooed them away. But their presence, an amorphous, black thing which rested on him, remained.

"Come on, Dee, don't do this to me... wake up, please, wake up..."

He knew she was augmented, but a head shot was still a head shot. If it had just grazed her, there wouldn't be a problem, but he couldn't tell, not now, not in this light, not with his hands trembling because they were being soaked with her lifeblood that was running out of her HEAD-

"Damn you God, don't take the one good thing in the world which happened to me away so soon!"

She coughed. Devin's gaze went to her eyes.

"Dee?"

She blinked, then looked up at him. As she moved her head, Devin noticed the spray of blood-soaked urethane which the bullet had thrown up as it burrowed into the seat.

"Yes, dear?"

Then she smiled, and the crushing despair lifted from Devin, to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of relief, and he embraced his wife, who embraced him in turn. Simone smiled and turned to the passengers.

"She's okay! She's okay!"

A wild whoop came from the first class section, to be followed by a rousing cheer and applause from the rest of the aircraft. Even the pilot and co-pilot were clapping, audible over the intercom.

Devin hastily applied a bandage to Shahdee's head as she rested it on a full-size, fluffy pillow they kept for the most valued guests. Around them, the cabin was abuzz with activity as the survivors talked and laughed and interacted. They would probably get over this by the time the plane landed, and forget about it a couple of weeks later... but the fact was, they had been in a nightmare... and here and now, they were alive.

As Devin finished the last knot, Shahdee's head lolled onto his chest. He smiled, and held her close, sleep coming to his eyes as well.

********

"So, where shall we go now?" Shahdee asked.

"To find Wraith, of course." Devin replied.

"But where is he?"

"Beats the hell out of me." Devin shrugged as he walked towards the relative warmth of the airport. "Wait..."

A black Zil limousine pulled up near the aircraft, stopping beside them. THe window wound down.

"You are Devin and Shahdee, no?"

"Sure we are."

"Come in please, Wraith is expecting you."

Devin turned to his wife.

"Guess we won't have to worry about that..."

THey got in, and the car sped off, lights fading into the snowy night.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Crow sat at his desk filing his paper work for the day. The other police Ai moving around in usual ruitines.

The Central processing center of the Eden police force was a massive dome near the Palace the dome extended up for a mile above crows desk. As the first detective Crow got first choice of desks and chose the desk dead center in the dome, While he declined promotion after promotion. his main reason being he didn't want to change desks. Finally the commisioner of police relented and just let the AI keep his desk. It was in his nature to enjoy the random chaos of the office around him, but unlike most of the earlier versions of his program Crow attempted to bring order. Beneath his feet was the greatest achievement of the Eden police force. A conversion to a bit of programming created by his grandfather. The Coyote high security prison. Built on the escher room construct the room was the resting place for any program deemed to dangerous to rehabilitate.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Razma was getting bored now. He and a few others were out here, downloading codes for analysis when he noticed something on his radar. "Hey Grath I think we are about to have company." Razma said to Grath, who was the one working on downloading the codes.

Grath looked up at him, and just as his mouth opened to reply "Well figure out who they are." Gunshots were heard, and Grath was suddenly down.

At the sound of gunshots, Razma took cover near immediately, then set his gun to automatic. He slipped the gun over his head, and fired a few random shots above him. He immediately whipped around onto a knee and took out one of the attackers that was trying to take cover, then he hit the deck when the firing started to pick back up.

This time he anwsered them by switching to his grenade launcher. He stuffed a smoke grenade in and launched it behind him. As smoke started to come over his position, he rolled a bit downways, popped up and aimed. He saw a figure on his radar, and took it down quickly, then went back down for cover.

What really sucked about this situation was that he had no idea what happened to the rest of the guys with him in this area.

[Zephie]

"Talk about a deus ex machina..." Shahdee observed as they got comfortable inside.

Devin just hummed, seeming too busy studying the airport parking lot outside the window. Shahdee studied him for a moment, then looked forward out the front window as they started to pull out, and spoke what was on her mind. "What do you think he wants?"

"We'll find out..." Devin muttered back.

Though he had a pretty good idea.

*****

The limo pulled into KGB headquarters some time later, but of the main things they noticed on the way over was the lack of traffic on the roads, save emergency vehicles and the occassional civilian car. Slowly it came to a stop, and the driver opened the doors for the couple.

Shahdee stepped out first, straightening her skirt a bit, and looked up to see Wraith walking over with a Lieutenant at his side; both dressed in a parka and a fur cap.

He wasn't in earshot until Devin stepped out too, though, and it was Devin who stepped forward. "Devin..." Wraith started, extending his hand.

Devin took it and shook hands with him, while Wraith glanced aside at Shahdee. "Been a long time. Shahdee..."

He glanced at her bandage. "Hit your head?"

[Darth SS]

Azrael thundered into the Cyber World room. He hooked himself up. The UN had given him the call. As such, he was off to one of the locations.

He loaded right next to Razma. Azrael was clad in a leather jacket with plates over it, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and an equipment harness. This harness held his compound bow, his Forty-Nine, and a Ruger Blackhawk.

"Hello," was all Azrael said to Razma before standing, pulling the string back, and placing an arrow into the head of the first target that presented itself. His bionic eye's thermal vision cut through the smoke, making it as clear as day for him. He notched another arrow, and put this one between the eyes of the next target. Kevlar did nothing to stop arrows.

Azrael dropped down next to Razma again.

"From the top, what happened?"

Azrael stood only long enough to punch an arrow through the throat of an enemy once again. Then he dropped back down to await Razma's reply.

[Inbred Chocobo]

"Basically, me and my group were collecting data to analysis. We became under fire, and in my haste to take cover, I got seperated from the rest of the group. I've been keeping them busy ever since." Razma said to his newcomer. He heard shuffling, and looked up from his position to see someone trying to get over it. He pulled out his magnum and blew it back over his cover.

He then opened up his grenade launcher, but this time stuffed a frag grenade in it. "Get down." He said to his new ally as he did a cover fire attack, stood up, and launched the grenade behind the cover of a few of the attackers.