What have I witnessed just now? Why did Marshal Ingratus mention the sun of all things? He wouldn‘t …no, I know him. He definitely would. I mean I shouldn’t complain. One could not wish for a better distraction than destructive chaos. I … I should warn Trikat.
Narxis readjusted his collar and looked grimly down the corridor he went into hiding in. Nobody was there to witness his beating heart, good. He looked to the side, and his eyes met with the gestures of his robotic partners being his other two sets of arms. Laurel appeared wary as his spidery fingers grasped relentlessly the air. The A.I. was nervous, that's for sure. Hardy, on the other side, merely kept her pneumatic muscles at attention, being as concentrated as ever. His grafted muscle was eager to experience the chaos and madness a rising sun could bring, and he couldn’t blame her thirst for blood.
Hardy was his first partner when he was still a mere levied shadow, the first person his access to soultech bewitched to grow reckless and uncaring of anyone's fate. He made her a cold killer until she had bitten more than she could chew, going down in carnage of flames and blood. Narxis harvested her soul as the clean-up crew arrived and injected her soul pearl into the cybernetics they envisioned before attaching her permanently to his back. She is his cold and merciless side, taking over the bloody tasks and torture in his name, eager to keep his hands free for the delicate parts of any operation.
And Laurel was the main reason he managed to be so successful in his hero times. He was his publicity manager keeping his public image in a positive light no matter what kind of injustice he had to carry out for his divine superiors. The hunt for mad Taken devolved lately into a true witch hunt to take out risk factors to stabilize the situation after the World Peace Conference went south. He had an agreement with Laurel. He will only stay as long in the public eye as he will be around to tidy up his tracks. Two years ago they had their last shared job together as his designated sniper got taken out by a stray blast of concussive arcane force. To honour his friend and keep this partnership alive even after his death Narxis recreated Laurel‘s soul into the A.I. of his supportive weapon arms finishing the six-armed look.
Narxis frowned and caressed both hands of Laurel keeping him calm:
„Stay focused, friend. We have to salvage this scenario. And it is not bad at all. The sun will distract our target enough so that we surely can overpower him. The Ivory Jack will not survive this night! Neither will the other assassination target his Marshal's wishes to get eradicated tonight as well. Also-“, his scaled human-like face falls into a gentle smile, „Also will this mark the end of our infiltration! We can finally leave this depressed place and get back to modernity. I will grant you two a throughout oil bath upon return.~“
At utmost attention, Narxis started to ascend to the ceiling level taking the richly ornamented walls as stepping stones to climb into the shadows out of the prying eyes of possible kobold servants. He couldn’t risk getting spotted blowing his cover before the distraction would arrive. Climbing further up to the bronze transoms, which were holding the ancient silver candelabras illuminating the hallway, he eventually vanished into the blind spots the light sources will never touch. Looking left and right, the assassin made sure that the course was clear to finally update his other mortal partner in this operation with the most recent developments. Taking out a blue and black remote, he pressed a few buttons to reactivate free communication with his partner Trikat.
The comfort of that suit that Trikat is forced to wear to conceal her secrets is undeniable. With me having full control over what abilities her K-Suit denies or allows my small cheetah to use, I never have to be worried that she does something we might regret. Let's see. Opalclaw’s current status. Current mode: Stealth suit. Senses: Allowed, unable to raise voice to trackable levels. Weapons: Stun mode. Mobility; Full mobility levels. Heartbeat; Excited. Hmm … she should have by now tracked down the two councilmen and has now begun the gathering of information. The heartbeat tells me she might have even begun already with the torturing. Well, she will be disappointed … here goes nothing.
Councilman Jaxton was shaking in fear, his arms bound to those of Councilwoman Hera. The two drakes couldn’t believe anything of what just happened to them. Minutes prior Hera and he were having dinner in his private apartment, having a few moments of relaxation from a late-night council meeting to discuss recent developments in the war with Scorzosa. He just returned from the kitchen with a platter full of cold snacks as an aperitif. What happened then took place in such rapid succession. He laid eyes on his beautiful pink-scaled friend and was startled not to find her looking back. She laid face down on the table, a being of black, iron and blue crouching on her back awaiting his arrival, wound up to pounce the moment he got into the intruder's reach. The azure drake still had enough time to firm his grip around the large dish and attempt to open his maw to shout at the malicious being that was looking at him, an azure shining digital smirk on its pitch-black screen face. The being of darkness pounced with blinding speed towards him, rubbery claws lighting up blue as he felt mere moments later countless volts of electricity shocking his body, causing him to instantly black out.
The room was now fully dark, and all he was able to hear was the greedy munching of a hungry maw chewing the very snacks the councilman prepared for his friend. Him getting back consciousness however caused the floor to creak loudly. The unknown being froze and stopped eating, exhaling the pure essence of excitement stored in the air of its lungs. Long-stretched creepy breathing sent a series of ice-cold shivers down his scaly spine, realizing what this could mean. He heard of a mysterious shadow having mugged numerous council members in the past months. Others have reported a shocking sensation and then blackness. When they reawakened, they found themselves bound in a thoroughly searched house with no one to be seen and no fingerprints to be found. The drake swallowed his nervousness. Nobody had reported direct contact with the infiltrator. But he woke up while it still was around. And his dear friend as well … what will the scary adversary do? What atrocities could await them two now? Now that its shadow of mystery was broken? They will die, will they? Thinking and fearing what might happen to them, he nearly missed the suited figure standing up weirdly, paws still at her maw, feasting on his skilled cooking. The shadowed figure‘s upper head was still covered up with a helmet-like construction, keeping its eyes and snout hidden away from his gaze. Static cat ears decorate the head of the silhouette. His haze met with razor-sharp teeth blinking in the dark telling Jaxton that his opponent was not from here. A mammal, a feline of some sort. Female, most likely, based on the silhouette. The figure growled as his eyes met with her face, and the feline immediately closed the helmet, and the pitch-black screen from before closed down, hiding away any personal traits from the suited figure. Three azure dots glow up on the screen, closing up to the centre and merging into a digital maw opposing the captive with a dangerous grin. The mysterious figure‘s distorted, alien voice hissed through the night, barely audible to anybody but them, he noticed. A vibrating tune, one that could never pass through even the thinnest walls. What she said will be kept in this very room, only audible to her victims and her victims alone:
“Welcome back in the land of the waking folks, skilful chef. Tasty pastries, truly delicious.“, the creepy tune tried to loosen up the atmosphere with a compliment, but the drake wouldn’t stop shaking. An interference occurred, which he interpreted as a sigh, „Fine, let me get to the point. I need you two awake, councilmen Jaxton and Hera. Your expertise is required to bring light into the pitch-black darkness around us. Don't be scared.~“
Jaxton tilted his head thinking of ways to carefully reason with the screen-faced intruder, protecting his and Hera‘s survival. But his partner was faster than he and was already talking into the dark, reciting what they could tell her and what not:
“If you try to spy for Scorzosa are we afraid we won‘t tell you anything, invader! Our pride for our country is bigger than any threat or pain you could inflict on us. We will go down with our maws closed and our heads pridefully risen to the sky.-“
The suited figure tilted her head. The azure mouth reshaped into a loading cycle as she seemingly thought about the implication of matter these words should convey. A distorted silenced peal of laughter ripped the silence as the woman stepped closer, rendering Jaxton able to lay eyes on her gracile form, the suit of black leather and blue metal-like latex leaving nothing up for imagination. Muscles forming below the leather showed that she might be able to overpower even him. Him, a drake working out! This girl meant business, and the technology of her suit could only mean one thing Jaxton realized. And then that symbol on her right shoulder. He growls lowly, trying to contain his anger in an attempt to keep himself calm. She was behind the Ivory Jack there could not be another way. Why else would she target exclusively councilmen associated with his profession? It has to be that. He betted everything on the following words, trying to get an edge of some sort:
"You are working for Etherium, am I right? Scorzosa is evil incarnate, but even they have enough pride below the purple skin to not rely on the assistance of our allies. Your interest is Ivory? ... originates from the failed peace plans from Ex-marshal Borsello, am I right? It is known that you blame h-"
"We don't blame him! And we are only allies on paper!", the screen-faced cat hissed, bulls-eye, "We have clear intel that he orchestrated the attempted assassination on our highest! Justitia ordered him to stand trial for his crimes, and I am her shadow to get the intel necessary. To not let this end in yet another pointless war. Like the one ... he began."
The azure drake sighed in confidence, the suited menace appeared to be just as brainwashed as all the other Etherians he had the doubtful pleasure of working with beforehand. No! Even less reflected even. Like a soldier, who is getting fed only the necessary bits and bites of information. To fuel their compassion to serve their country and nothing more. This assassin didn't work alone. She appeared to be too impulsive to work for herself. There must be someone pulling her strings. A shadowy figure, whose mere looming presence he maybe could use to get himself into a better position. Allowing him to distract her just enough until their plan succeeded.
Feeling the chill sensation of Hera's magic, slowly hardening the shackles of submission, he was positive that, if they could buy only a minute more time, the chain would become brittle enough to snap at its weak points. Maybe with a bit of additional help from his heat magic? Then it would be two drakes against one kitten. Ice and Heat against artificial electricity. A fight they can win. Hera was not retaliating, too focused on keeping her magic subtle, her eyes closed so that their enemy wouldn't notice her azure glowing eyes. It was his duty to stall and her implications did give him just enough of an opening to maybe cause this assassin to fall prey to her zealotry, to start defending her stand:
"Well ... considering you have just told us the fact that our alliance is crumbling, I suspect you don't plan for our survival. But at the same time do you care enough to make this a subtle yet pointless act of getting his shininess without the public shedding of blood? Correct me if I am wrong, but you have access to what your higher-ups know about the situation, right? And how dare you call our war with Scorzosa pointless!"
"Do you even know why that war started? What was the situation that caused two nations, said to have been once close allies, to suddenly desire nothing more than to shank the other one's throat? No ... who started to pile up all these pointless deaths to build himself a bloody legacy?", the screen-face appeared now angry, face now mere two angled bars, "I don't care about his reasons to have been involved in the attempted assassination. My boss desires j-"
Suddenly the cat begins to choke: something behind the black screen mask had remotely stopped her ability to speak. And she angrily began to let out an onslaught of muffled curses. Something about trigger words Jaxton was able to make out. So ... 'my boss' was a taboo word? But what was more important was just what his taunting unveiled. The drake thought all that was about Etherium at first, about his people's apparent involvement in the failure of their noble plans, but no? It went deeper. A much deeper cut than he had anticipated. This Silent Shadow was behind the roots of the war? He was conflicted. Does that mean she was only officially trying to bring his shininess to apparent justice, but her boss was after a much different aspect of Master Au'piere's life? His self-conflict is rooted so deeply in his processing and trying to recall the reason for war that he nearly missed the cue. He was slowly realizing just how cloudy and conflicted his memories regarding the event at the beginning of this century were, how his desire to squeeze this bondage-lookalike suit-wearing cat for more details grew. So in thoughts that he nearly missed the sign, Hera finished her preparations, poking his lower back with a claw of hers. It was time for his part of their studied hostage situation manoeuvre, one that would turn the tables!
Pushing aside his conflicted thoughts and focussing on their survival, Jaxton focussed on the still gagged and cursing assassin. His soft yellow eyes brightened up to a glowing orange as he began channelling the blood in his body to carry his fiery spirit down to the frozen shackles. Hera let out a suppressed cry moving her tail away as his fists, which were now holding the strong and frozen chains, quickly heated up the brittle steel to expand rapidly, worsening the cracks even more. Then a quick move of their combined strength and the metal snapped clean in half, causing a blood-freezing sound alarming their enemy that the tides had turned!
