"Private Niall Bedford, top student and model recruit, awarded the position of Lieutenant in the twenty second squadron of her Royal Majesty Princess Phidel" the officer proclaimed his voice loud and carrying. The officer saluted Niall, and the young man replied in kind as the applause sounded.
Niall turned and acted as the model recruit, bowing to his peers. Once down, he straightened and turned, walking down the podium stairs on the other side and took up his position in the ranks once more as the names continued to be called. Half an hour later, the list was complete and the recruits threw their hats into the air. Niall refrained from doing so and looked down at the papers he had received. He clenched them briefly in his hands before sucking in a breath and looking up, noting the other recruits starting to break off into their groups, or join their families.
A few of his peer's approached him and shook his hand, but he shrugged most of them off and just stood alone in the center for a few moments, thinking, with many eyes on him. Finally he straightened his shoulders and stalked away from the gathering, his jaw clenched hard. It was considered an honor to be assigned to the forces of one of the royal's and he smiled at that rather tersely. Princess Phidel. The child of the Emperor that had fought on every battlefront of the empire since she came of age. Niall did not count this as a blessing, as it meant he was going to the frontlines.
It did not take long for him to arrive at the barracks, and he entered, heading for his dormitory, intent on getting the hell out of this place. The academy held many good memories for him, and yet there were just as many bad ones too. Entering his dorm, he went to his locker, and opened it, expecting to see his bag that he had already packed. It was not there. He felt his heart leap into his throat even as he heard the door of his dorm open behind him. Niall turned fast and came face to face with another young man.
Lyle Clifford stood before him with an arrogant smile painted on his face, and on either side of him was another recruit, two of the Clifford family servants who had joined the military with their master.
"What’s the matter Niall, not so sharp today are you? Are you upset that everyone is suddenly avoiding you. What happened to your popularity and charm, did it die with that worthless brother of yours perhaps?" the arrogant young man spoke out as he lifted a hand and displayed the letter Niall had stuffed into his bag earlier. Niall's mouth curled into a snarl as he looked at the young noble, who just stood there, straight backed and full of himself, completely confident with his two beefy minions beside him.
"You shut your filthy fucking mouth Lyle, or so help me I will shut it for you. Give that back as well, or I will ram my boot up your fucking noble ass" snarled Niall. He tensed up, his fists clenching hard, nails digging into the palms of his hands. He was furious at this bastard, who had the gall to go through his stuff and then insult Niall. He just stared hatefully at the trio, a vein twitching in his forehead.
"So scary. What could you, a lowly commoner possibly do to me", snapping his fingers Lyle just stood there and gestured for his beefy minions to attack Niall.
Niall didn’t even wait for them to come for him, and just launched forward, a right elbow being launched at the neck of his first attacker. It connected with a dull smack and the big man gurgled some as he just collapsed to the ground. The second man was just surprised, having not expected such an explosion, and Niall took advantage of that by reaching forward and wrapping a hand in his hair. With a cry of protest, the man's head was tugged down even as a knee rose up to meet him in the face, crushing his nose into his skull. Niall let go and pushed the man backwards into Lyle, causing the noble to actually squeal and jump out of the way.
Niall looked at Lyle with a look of utter derision. Growling low, he stepped over the first attacker who was laid out motionless in the doorway quite unconscious. He stared hard at Lyle as he came to a halt practically right in front of the man. The weasel was not a good student, he was hopeless and only owed his position to his name, the powerful Clifford family of the Estonian homeland. He had hated Niall ever since they had joined the academy, for his obvious talent, popularity and commoner’s blood. Niall just sneered at him.
"Not so tough without your goons are you, you pathetic piece of weasel shit" he snarled and without the slightest bit of hesitation, lifted his right knee hard, straight into the nobles balls. The noble let out a gasp and a whimper, sinking straight to the ground without an ounce of dignity. Niall just smirked and reached down, tearing the letter from the nobles grasp. He looked around and saw the second goon leaning against the far wall, his hand cupping his face as blood ran freely, pooling on the floor. At his feet was Niall's bag.
Niall stepped towards the goon, eliciting a whimper and the youth just scowled in pity. He supposed these two meat heads didn't really have any choice but to serve the Clifford's. They were most likely minor vassals of the powerful family. Niall scooped up his bag and slung it on his shoulder, not a wasted movement and started walking off, leaving the noble whimpering on the floor, a goon unconscious and another groaning while holding a broken and crushed nose.
With not even a look over his shoulder, Niall just chuckled to himself rather grimly and walked away to his future.
Chapter 14 Part II
* * *
Breathing heavily, Kasui watched as her breath misted in front of her. She shifted somewhat in her prone position, legs stretching out and the joints of her knees cracking. She let out a low hiss at the discomfort and then quickly hushed herself. Looking down through the grill of the air duct, she watched a guard pass underneath, seemingly unaware of the agent right above his head.
As the guard moved on, Kasui let her body slowly un-tense before shuffling forwards some so that her torso was directly over the grill. She hated jobs like this, crawling around in tight spaces was not exactly what she had imagined when she had signed up to the Special Forces. Regardless of how she felt about it though, crawling through the air ducts had been the only way she had been able to infiltrate the secret facility hidden in the mountains of Curaw.
The cooling system was freezing cold and difficult to move in, and for the last hour, the woman had been about ready to launch herself out of it in fury and impatience. But in what she attested to a strength of will, Kasui had held it together and managed to use the complicated cooling systems to reach an isolated area of the underground building.
She remained motionless for a while, simply straining her hearing, trying to identify if the guard had moved on or chosen to stay in the area. With a few minutes of nothing but silence, she sucked in a breath to compose herself and decided to risk a move. She guided her hands down along the edges of the grill, feeling the grills surface. She managed to get her fingertips around the little hooks on either side of the fixture that kept the grill in place. She shuffled backwards until the grill was below her head, and resting on her elbows, she moved her hands once more to those hooks. She breathed deeply through her nose before exhaling right as she lifted the grill up a bare centimeter. The heavy object quivered in her awkward grip as her muscles strained, and with a grimace, she slid the grate completely out of its fixture and pushed it before her, gently laying it down in the air duct. She looked down now, right through the gaping hole in the air duct where the grill had once been.
Shifting her position once more, Kasui steeled herself and grabbed the edges of the hole. She maneuvered herself into a squatting position and lowered her legs out of the air duct. Dropping down slowly, she let go with one hand and still dangling, she reached inside the duct, and grabbing the grill, pulled it over the hole as best she could. Finally letting go, she dropped from the air duct and landed softly on the smooth floor. Kasui instantly flicked her gaze around her as she crouched low before she retreated backwards, pressing her back into the dark wall, her dark skin almost as one in the gloomy light around her. Pressing her back into the wall even more, she exhaled, and flicked her eyes around her, gathering her bearings even as her composure quickly returned.
Standing
completely still, Kasui began to study her surroundings properly. She stood in an empty corridor, nothing more than a service passage really, the only thing in the area of note was the air duct itself, and a few meters to her left a single cupboard of sorts. She scowled and lifted a hand to her ear, pressing at an earpiece wrapped around her upper ear. She spoke quietly, hoping her low voice would pick up on the device and transmit.
"Silver bird to Cerberus, Silver bird has entered the building at point B, proceeding to E7. Over" she whispered, her voice seemingly so loud in the relative quiet of the corridor. She flitted her gaze around, worried her voice would attract attention. She relaxed some though as a reply came over the radio.
"Copy that Silver bird. Notify Cerberus when location is reached. Maintain radio silence until then. Over" crackled the voice on the other end of the device. She frowned as she just barely understood the words, broken and choppy by what she guessed to be interference. It was not unusual in these sorts of underground facilities.
Sucking in a breath, Kasui began to move, stalking down the corridor, her footsteps silent to the point that even she could not hear them. Before long, she reached a T intersection and she sidled along the right side of the corridor wall. Glancing down the left arm of the T she saw no one, and with a flare of her nostrils, she peeked around the right corner to look down the right arm of the T. Scowling, she saw two guards slouched against a wall quietly chatting without a care in the world. She scowled even more as she pulled back around the corner. She needed to move forward, and those guards were blocking the way she needed to go. Well that was if the blueprints she had of the floor were correct anyway.
Kasui peeked around the corner again and exhaled softly as she saw the guards push off the wall, still chatting as they started to walk down the corridor, their footfalls heavy and loud. As they moved away from her by heading further down the right arm of the T, Kasui took her chance and started after them. Leaving behind the intersection she padded softly after them, the soles of her boots making not a sound. They were made to be silent after all.
Coming into step behind the guards, she stood back from them as she recalled the blueprints she had memorized in the mission briefing. Looking along the left wall for a service door, she found it ten meters in front of the walking and talking guards and once more she scowled, impatient. Kasui waited for the guards to pass the door and then she rushed forward, not a sound escaping her. She reached the door and turned the handle, pushing it open right before slipping inside. She had been expecting it to be locked, so was pleasantly surprised when she found it was not.
Kasui found herself in what she surmised to be a fire escape of some sort, or simply a service stairwell. It was hard to tell. She quickly flicked her eyes about the rooms landing and corners even as she quietly pulled the door closed behind her.
The service room was poorly lit by a flickering light that cast eerie shadows whenever it lit up and seemed to be in rather poor condition. It smelt heavily of mold and stagnant water. There was a set of stairs against the far wall, going both up and down to the levels above and below. Kasui sucked in a breath as she slowly began to move towards the downward stairs but stopped suddenly as she heard a voice below. Without a second thought she vaulted up into a corner of the roof as she drew on a surge of magic. She extended the energy along her forearms and to her fingertips, creating an image of a clawed hand in her mind. Her fingertips dug into the wall and held her there, small holes forming from under her grip.
Not a second later a single guard walked up the stairs conversing with someone on a radio. As the man passed beneath her, Kasui waited patiently, being lit up occasionally by the flickering light. She stayed where she was in the relative gloom as the man started on up the stairs, missing her completely. Kasui waited until he disappeared up the next level and then just dropped to the floor, her magic being released. She padded forward then and disappeared down the stairs as a silent shadow. Descending two flights of stairs with no incident, she once more lifted a hand to her earpiece as she came to the bottom of the stairwell and looked upon the only exit of the room. A single door with a lit up exit sign above it.
"Silver bird to Cerberus. Silver bird has made it to point E7. Now proceeding to enter Snake Den. Over" she whispered on the device. She waited silently for an answer, wondering if the message would even get through from the underground facility. But to her surprise, an answer crackled back over the device, much clearer than previously.
"Copy that Silver bird. Snake Den is the lowest floor known via blueprints. Snake Den is where the mission objectives are believed to be located. Do what you must to complete mission goals. Over".
Cursing inwardly, Kasui approached the door and crouching down, she twisted the doors handle and opened the door a crack. She peered out into the hallway on the other side through the slim crack and caught a glimpse of her surroundings. Along the opposite side of the hallway was a wall of glass extending around a large room in the center. It seemed to be ringed by the corridor with multiple doors exiting into different parts of the facility. She opened the door further, and noticed various pieces of equipment and machinery strewn about the glass room. They were no doubt inventions regularly studied or tinkered with by various scientists. Scowling she felt a burning rage. Those objects were most likely weapons made for the facilities owner.
Remembering the mission brief, Kasui had been told that the facility she was to infiltrate apparently belonged to a Gestonian prince by the name of Bradley, who was a notorious warmonger that was responsible for war crimes in the Kratsch Empire. It had only been recently that the spies of the Samite Union had discovered the building hidden deep in the mountains of Curaw. And as one of the Samite Union's most talented agent's, Kasui had been sent into the facility with three objectives, to obtain all the research data from the computer mainframe, to locate and steal an unknown object labeled as item thirty two rumored to be a prototype for some super weapon, and thirdly, if given the opportunity, to assassinate Prince Bradley who was supposed to be somewhere in the base.
Doubting she would find Bradley, Kasui continued her surveillance of the area, looking for any hint as to where the first two objectives were located. Information was the lifeblood of any operation like this, yet it was sadly lacking. She scowled in anger at the orders she had received regarding the mission. She had been furious at the complete lack of preparation for this raid. She had the overwhelming feeling that her superiors did not want this chance to slip by, as everyone knew Bradley was a wriggly and slippery foe.
Focusing once more, she started looking for anything that may conceal a hidden entrance, as she believed the main lab wasn’t exactly a place to be in plain sight. Kasui opened the crack further to widen her view, and as she did so, a group of scientists erupted from a door only meters to the right of her own door. Hurriedly pulling the door closed, Kasui listened to a conversation as the scientists went past her door, her fluency in a number of languages aiding her understanding.
"I just don't know what the prince wants us to accomplish. It's been five years since he brought in the test subject, and we have had so little progress it shame's me" came a statement from a tired and gravely sounding voice, one that from experience Kasui attributed to an elderly man.
"Well, he is going to keep us here until we do get some results, so we need to come up with something soon" interjected another voice, one that belonged to a middle aged man Kasui guessed.
"Thanks for stating the obvious Bart. Surprised you thought that up by yourself" snickered a new voice, a light feminine voice that Kasui guessed belonged to a young snarky woman.
"Shut up Chelle, at least I carry my weight around here unlike you" came a retort from the middle aged man, the one called Bart.
"I can certainly see that lard ass" the young Chelle insulted the obese man called Bart.
A series of spluttering and indignant sounds erupted from the man called Bart and Kasui couldn’t help but smile at the situation. As the voices moved
passed her, Kasui opened the door once more and peeked out, listening hard for any information.
As the obese man seemed to be getting ready to retort, the elderly man intervened.
"Enough, both of you, I've had enough of your squabbling. You are not children. Stop acting like it. Get your act together. We are already running late so let's just hurry down to the lab" the elderly man ordered, his words curt and to the point. His voice carried a tone of authority and Kasui guessed he was in charge of the group.
Hearing the last few words, Kasui felt her heart rush to her throat and she sucked in a breath, calming herself. This seemed like a golden opportunity for Kasui to find the main lab. So she took a chance, and pushed the door open further, slipping her slim frame out into the corridor even as she drew on her magic. Cloaking herself in magic, a slight shimmer passed over her slight frame before she simply vanished from sight. She became invisible to the naked eye.
As a Samite spy and magi, Kasui possessed a one of a kind ability. As a child she had perfected the art of invisibility so as to avoid the marauding warlords of her homeland. Many scientists in the Samite Union had attempted to explain the ability as it contradicted almost every law of magic, and what seemed as natural as breathing to Kasui baffled everyone else. To become invisible, she used her magic to bend light, yet the rules of magic stated that nature could not be directly manipulated. There were many such cases of unexplainable magical abilities in the S.U, as the nation had once been a nation of colonies ruled by the Talmaran countries, and history stated it had been a place that was used as a testing ground for scientists and their inhumane experiments.
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