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

[Darth SS]

Azrael stayed down, and waited for the bang. It went, and a few body parts went with it. Azrael risked a peak over their cover. Then he pulled a very specific arrow from his quiver. A bomb arrow.

Green Arrow, where would I be without you?

Az stood, sighted, and put it in the throat of the first soldier he could.

"Get down."

Azrael's own explosion created the same effect.

"Cut them at the source. GO!"

He stood and started sprinting towards the source.

[MC43]

Monk looked over at his wife, sleeping, still, beautiful. Monk kissed her gently on the forehead, then got himself out of bed. After putting on some pants, he walked downstairs to see M4 busy doing nothing, except swoon whatever newest product was on the T.V. He moved to the kitchen where he started breakfast for the two of them.

Jade rolled over and felt...nothing. Usually Monk was there for her to snuggle with, but apparently he had woken up. After groaning in protest at the prospect of waking up, she finally rolled out of bed. After getting dressed and slightly more presentable she lazily walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Good morning."

"Oh!" Monk looked at her, despite the sizzling bacon in front of him. "I didn't expect you up. Normally you do your best to stay in bed for as long as possible until I have to come up and drag you out of bed. Sometimes... literally..." A sly smlie came across his face.

"The thought crossed my mind," she said as she stifled a yawn. "But I have some business to take care of."

"Oh?" Monk turned his attention to the hot grease that was bubbling by his bare stomach. "What would that be?"

"Uh...just some loose ends to tie up from Friday." Jade lied through her teeth. She hated to do it, but the alternative was to tell Monk about the attacks, which she wanted to avoid.

"Loose ends? What do you mean? Ah!" Monk got a bit of grease on his stomach. After brushing it off, and running over it with cold water, he returned to flip it all over.

"I...had a meeting with Crow and just need a follow up," she said while pouring some juice for the both of them. This was true, but she failed to mention that the follow up was to see if Crow had found anything out about the attacks.

"Crow?" Monk drained the bacon fat. "What could be so important?"

"Just some new laws that Raven wants put into effect as soon as he can. Trust me, I don't want to go into the office on a weekend, but he insisted." Another lie. Jade was hating herself at the moment...

"Hm... Odd." Monk shrugged. "Pancakes or waffles today?"

"Neither, I'll make you an omlette."

"Ah..." Monk said, hesitantly. "It wouldn't be too much for me to make you something, honest."

"No, I insist. You cook enough for me as it is." Jade got the eggs out of the fridge and hesitated for a second. She wanted to tell him, but his reaction would be to go bounding off to all corners of the globe to find MM, and she didn't want that. Not now, not when they were so happy.

Monk slowly sat down, keeping a close eye on Jade. "A... a... All right. If you insist. I suppose there is no harm in you making breakfast for a change..."

"What? Don't believe I know how to cook?"

"Wha!? No... it's not that. I just don't want you to... get dirty before your meeting." Jade's back turned just as M4 came with his water gun at the ready. Monk caught him and motioned for him to put it away. "No... not now!" He whispered under his breath.

"No, it's perdectly fine..." Jade trailed off. She couldn't take it anymore, the lying made her feel terrible.

"A... All right." Monk stood up and went to the door, "What was the M4? A product you have to show me?" The dorid gave him an odd look. "All right... but just for a sec... I'm about to eat." He quickly left, M4 following him.

Jade ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath. She never lied to Monk, not once in their 3 years of marriage did she ever lie. She muttered under her breath, "but how do I tell him?"

The was a series of beeps from behind the door, then silence for a minute. After that time, Monk came back in. "Silly droid. He must have everything he sees on that home shopping network thing..." He chuckled.

Jade smiled slightly and put a plate of eggs in front of Monk. She then went to the fridge and got out the ketchup for her. After sitting down and staring for a minute, she finally looked up. "Monk, this will sound silly, but you want to stay with me always right?"

Monk looked at the eggs in front of him, prodding them with a fork. "Of course, why do you ask?" His eyes still glued to the food in front of him. He didn't know it was possible to ruin eggs...

Jade took a sip of juice. "And, if you wanted to go somewhere, maybe for a long time, and I didn't, would you go?"

"S... Sure..." Monk stabbed his plate. "Where is this going?"

"Well..." Jade took another breath. "The meeting I had with Crow and I need to have again was about some information we had gotten about some attacks..."

"I... see." Monk started to think to himself. Attacks? Could that have been what I was feeling yesterday? Could it have been true... could... no...

"Yea, these attacks happened all over the world. Some pretty weird stuff went on, like raining blood in Seattle..."

Monk stayed silent, staring off into space.

"And...well...in each of the attack areas a message was written...about Mastermind being back." Jade cringed for a minute, waiting for the imminent exposion.

"NO!" Monk's attention snapped back into focus.

Jade opened one eye. "Yea...but it's not confirmed that he's back. It could be someone posing as him."

"N... No. That... isn't possible." Monk sat up straighter, beading sweat.

[i] This isn't going well...[\i] "Monk, calm down. We both saw him die, exploding into a mass of code. He can't be back."

The sweat started to form now, "I... I know. That's crazy talk. Stop with the fibbing, huh?" He needed to switch the subject to something else, forcing a piece of egg in his mouth, nearly gagging on his own tounge.

"It could be anyone posing as him, there's no way he could be back. I...just don't want you running out there looking for the culprit."

"I.... there..." He didn't know what was worse now, the fact that he already knew MM was alive, or the awful substance that was posing for food that was in his mouth. "I'm not going anywhere..." He sputtered, chunks of egg going everywhere. "There is nothing to fight..."

Monk was having a breakdown, partly from the news, and partly from the fact that Jade's eggs were crap. She knew it too, but this wasn't the time to discuss her lack of culinary skills. She rose from her seat, knelt down by Monk and embraced him. It was the only thing she thought of doing that could calm him down. "Calm down, it'll be ok. Just breathe."

Monk took this chance to silently spit out the eggs into the sink silently, breathing in and out rapidly. "I know... It's just... nothing... no worring about it. It's not like this is news to me..."

Monks eyes shot open. It was a good thing that Jade missed that minor slip of the tounge. "Y... Y... Yeah..." Monk somehow muttered through gasps and sweat.

Jade rubbed Monk's back as her brow furrowed. "Wait a second, this wasn't news to you?"

NO! "Wha...? Wha? What do you mean news to me? Of course this is news. This is... Uh..." Sweat started dropping on Jade's arms.

What the hell is going on? "Monk, where did you hear this from?"

"Hear what from?"

He's dancing around it. You are not good at fibbing... "The attacks, where did you hear it from before I told you?"

"Attacks?" Monk stood up, removing Jade's arms from around him. "I heard nothing!" Monk turned his head to the side. "Wai... I think I hear something about M4 saying something about me going to the bathroom... I mean... I think I heard the bathroom needs M4 to be used... I mean... I gotta go!!" And he ran to the kitchen door.

"What the..." Jade got up and sprinted after him, "come back here!" It was a short trip and she caught the door just as Monk opened it. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm not telling you anything! I mean... I not not telling you anything!"

"You're a terrible liar. I know you're not telling me something."

"I know I'm a terrible liar. But... uh... If I told you... you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"...I'm..." Monk dropped his head, "I'm not allowed to tell you."

"What? Under whose jurisdiction?"

"A... A trusted ally..."

Jade was getting impatient, very impatient. "And who might this ally be?"

"I... can't say..."

Jade's eye twitched. "This is ridiculous! I told you about the attacks so that I wouldn't have to lie to you. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd want to go yourself and find out if Mastermind is alive, and I don't want to lose you. After all of this you still lie to me? Just forget it already." Jade threw her hands up in defeat and stormed out of the kitchen, flopping onto the couch.

Monk nearly lost his hand as Jade stormed out the door, the droid nearly losing his life as he drove in, water gun at the ready. The two made eye contact, the droid asking him something. "Yes... She's mad, and no... it's not your fault." Monk sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Please clean up the kitchen and... don't come out until I call you. It isn't because I don't want you there... I'm just... afraid for your safety." M4 bleeped in affermation and went to his duties.

[MC43]

OOC: And to finish...

Jade sat fuming on the couch, staring at nothing in particular, but ready to attack anything that bothered her.

Monk slowly opened the door to the kitchen, very much fearing for his life. Honesty was a big thing for the two of them, and he didn't expect this to happen. He slowly made his way, carefully, making sure to not make a noise, incase that's what was going to set off this trap. "J... Jade?"

Jade didn't even bother to look at him."What...?"

Monk took a breath. "Jade... I know..." He didn't know what to say. He knew he should tell her the truth, but he also remembered the promise that he made to Myth. He wasn't to be spoken of until he gave the order. There had to be a reason. "I'm... sorry that I can't tell you... it's just... I made a promise..."

Jade opened her mouth and was ready to say something, but thought differently. She just gritted her teeth and said, "It's...fine..."

Monk lowered his head. There was going to be a tension if something wasn't said. "I'm... sorry. You will be told, just... when I'm allowed to say."

Jade took a deep breath again. She was angry, but her better judgement was telling her that he probably had a reason for not being able to tell her. Stupid better judgement. "Ok."

"Jade... It's not like I don't want to tell you... I just... can't. I fear there may be dire consequences if I was to say what was on my mind..."

Jade took another hit of oxygen, slightly calming down. "I understand."

Monk inhaled himself, mainly in relief. "All right... However... I am surprised... about one thing..."

"What's that?" Jade said, turning to Monk for the first time in the conversation.

"He told me you weren't going to disclose this information..." It sounded as if he was talking to himself, yet still audible enough that she was included.

Jade looked confused. "Uh...well I didn't want to. I don't want to lose you now that we've finally had some time together."

His soft brown eyes met hers, "Jade... honey..." He took her hands in his. "You were not going to lose me. Me getting upset is one thing, but you were not going to lose me. What would make you think that?"

"I thought that you'd go off to find him or whoever is impersonating him. I've come so close to losing you before, I just don't want it to happen."

"Jade..." He smiled weakly, "That's foolish. I would never do such a thing. Do you think I would throw my life away after I met you? Do you think that I don't know the pain I put you through when I didn't think of the outcomes to my actions, and who recieved the worst of it. Jade, I would never do that to you, not again..."

Jade looked him in the eyes, her green orbs boring into his. "Promise?"

Monk's eyes only fought back, "Of course..."

Jade flopped back onto the couch and took one more deep cleansing breath. "At least I know you're not lying about that."

"Well... you know how great of a liar I am..." He smiled.

She smiled back, the anger gone from her face. "I'm sorry I blew uplike that."

"Do not worry. It is ok." Monk brought a hand up against her cheek, caressing it slightly, gazing into her green orbs, relishing in their beauty. "It is ok... for I love you..."

"I love you too, with all my being." Jade's face inched closer to Monk's as her eyes closed, blocking out the intrusive light.

Monk moved slowly as well, his eyes slowly closing themselves, until their lips matched, pressing together lightly, yet passionatly, telling each other just how much their love was, without words.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Razma quickly followed his ally, throwing his rifle onto his back and grabbing his shotgun as he got up. He slung himself over the cover and kept pretty close. If someone got in their way, well they got their face blown off. Which happened more than once actually.

Razma didn't come out right and say it, but running head-on into danger seemed a bit stupid and a good way to die.

[Darth SS]

Azrael broke right, assuming Razma had the good sense to go left. Azrael also found cover. The source of the recent soldier intrusions? A green handbag. It had LV as a logo, looked to be made of brown crocodile skin, and had nothing overtly wrong. Except it was pulsing green, and soldiers were spawning from it.

Azrael snapped his bow into it's folded up position and said, "Shotgun!" opening his hands to receive. Razma tossed it to Az, who leaned around the corner, then snapped back. His head had almost been flown off for his trouble. Azrael threw the shotgun back to Razma.

"Fuck! GRENADE!" Azrael tore a smoke grenade off his harness and tossed it behind the wall, obscuring the loading soldiers with thick black smoke. In reponse, Azrael turned on his thermal vision, courtesy of his bionic eye.

"Cover me!"

Razma nodded, and blind-fired around the corner with his shotgun. There was an audible "oomph" of the shots connecting, and Azrael dived through the smoke. Bullets skittered after him, and one soldier was far enough ahead to stand between Az and cover. However, Azrael's snap punched him in the nose, driving the cartlidge into his brain. Then he was through, and in cover.

The Blackhawk was in his hand before he though about it, and he dropped all six bullets into the six soldiers that were freshly loaded. More were loading.

"CLEAR!"

He tossed a frag grenade around the corner, and dropped into cover.

BANG!

The world shook for a moment. Then Azrael came up, bow drawn. There was a bloody sticky mess, and the handbag was ripped to shreds. No more soldiers were loading.

"It looks like the handbag was an anchor, or possibly a target. It let them know where to load. Might have been used to anchor the blood storm."

Azrael put the arrow back in his quiver.

"Nice job soldier. Get a new team over here to analyze this."

[Inbred Chocobo]

Razma was amazed by the man. He handled things with such skill, it was just amazing. But the attack was over, and the anchor destroyed. He radioed in another team for analysis, saying they would be a minute, then cut off the comm before they started asking questions. "Sir." Razma started to say "I never got your name."

[Darth SS]

"Just call me Azrael. I work for the UN."

Azrael started walking away, and called out, "Also, remember to always cut your enemies off at the source. If not, then they just keep coming."

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Ravenwing was crouched behind some new debris, AI soldiers littered around her. Gunfire was heavy in the air as she curled up tightly. An AI man holding an uzi stepped past her hiding spot, still spraying bullets.

The avatar was onto him like a shot, claws tearing viciously, ripping the gun from his hands and nearly taking the top of his head off with a slash from her right paw, claws unsheathed. The AI crumpled in a bloody heap. The gunfire intensified as Peng crept back into her hiding spot, a throwing knife appearing in her hands.

With careful precision, she lifted the tip of the blade over her protecting debris. Her sharp, eagle-eyes focused on the reflection on the stainless steel. She squared her aim, shifted her grip on her dagger, and flung it backwards with deadly accuracy.

"This is private Peng from the Sydney CW division. I'm coming under heavy fire in Hong Kong. There's enemy AI everywhere. Requesting backup immediately!" she shouted into her intercomm.

[secretskull]

Lyon had been all over the world for his studies, and had left behind a group of aquaintences that were scattered across the world. He called one of them, a Londoner by the name of David. "Hello David, this is Lyon." Lyon said, trying to sound business like. "Yes?" Replied David awkwardly, Lyon had never called him for anything serious, only conversation. "What can you tell me about the... incident?" He asked carefully. "Oh that." David said growing quiet. “Why do you need to know?” He asked. “I can’t tell you right now. He said. “Fine.” David sighed. “Somehow all the sewers exploded at once... He turned to a loud crashing behind him, and saw the manhole explode into several pieces, impaling all nearby people. This was followed by a huge gush of sewer water which flowed quickly down the street, crushing anybody who came into it's path. David ran as quickly as he could, sewer after sewer exploding behind him. Finally everything grew quiet, the water crashed on a wall at the end of the street. The wall tipped back slightly but didn't fall. All the bodies that the water had collected on its journey were pressed against the wall, and they formed the letters MM . "Thanks David, I need to go now." Said Lyon weakly, hanging up the phone. "Mastermind..."

[Squishy Cheeks]

Morning broke in Crow's apartment he pressed a button on the computer near his bed. The stereo clicked as the sound of drums could be heard. Then the rest of the music came on

Crow dropped to the floor and started doing pushups.

"Tonto! Jump on it! Jump on it!" The stereo blared.

Crow tucked his legs in and rolled to the next room then did a single hand stand and did push ups on the one arm.

"Kemosabi! Jump on it! Jump on it!"

he switched arms and did the vertical pushups on it.

"Custer! jump on it! jump on it!?"

He pushed up and landed on his feet and began to stretch his legs.

"Apache! Jump on it! Jump on it!" After stretching out he began to breakdance around his apartment. His moves were so graceful, like a bird in flight. He wormed his way to the front door then vaulted into a split on the wall and coat rack, dangling upside down he opened his door and picked up his newspaper. He shut the door. He spun and flipped to the kitchen setting the paper on the table. The song wrapped up and he calmly walked to his fridge. He put his head on the door for a second. He opened the door. inside was a toasted bagel with cream cheese, still steaming. and a cold glass of orange juice next to a cup of hot coffee. he went to his small table with his food and closed the "fridge". He ate his breakfast and read the paper.

He read an article about artificial body rentals in the flipside. the thought intrigued him. He always wanted to see the real world.