Mission Plausible? [Social With Mythal]

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708 Words

Alicia entered the room and was greeted by two gentleman who were ranked very high in the Rune Knights. To Alicia's surprise it was her future brother in law and Corporal Dakvid. "Director... Corporal it's an honor" Alicia would salute to her superiors as she addressed them by their appropriate ranks. Alicia had heard a few things about the famed Reaper Squad, it was special task force composed of elite members hand picked from the ranks of the Ranks of the Rune Knights. The squad was cloaked an enigma but the legends of said squad was often the topic spoken through the mess hall. Whether those stories were just mere gossip, it mattered little to Alicia. She knew that there was a reason why many of the knights whisper about the Reaper Squads skills efficiency. Early on in Alicia 's career as a Rune knight she quickly noted to herself that the squad was not to be trifled with and deserved all of its praise.

After being invited to sit down Alicia graciously took her seat and began to listen to the briefing. Her face remained stoic and professional some may even call her expression borderline emotionless. For a split second a smug yet playful grin formed upon her lips upon hearing her efforts did not go unnoticed "I'm glad to see I've got some fans" she mused as she leaned forward and nodded to Mythal's words. Alicia was aware that she scored very high in her physical and combat exams, but she agreed to Slayers statement. After all, in real life excursions and combat there was far more unpredictable. "Director Ragnos I take no offense sir. To be completely honest I'd be offended if I wasn't tested for this position." Alicia gave a warm chuckle. It was clear Alicia was similar to Serilda, however one could easily tell she wasn't so "by the book" like her older sister. Alicia was a confident young woman who knew how to make jokes but at the same time had the ability to keep it classy.

She listened intently the information that was being presented to her taking mental notes, essentially downloading the missions information into her mind. She memorized the images and began putting the pieces together. She hypothesized that the cult was not going down that easy, her hypothesis was proven to be right when Mythal explained that the organization still had power and remained hidden. The next image that was presented was that of a pale man. Mythal explained who the target was and his importance to the mission. "Pale boy needs to get out of his mothers basement and get some sunlight." Alicia joked about the pale perpetrator. Despite her jokes she had payed attention to every little detail that was shared with her.

Alicia's eyes narrowed and his face became more solemn. "I see..." Alicia noticed the softer look to Mythal, she wasn't exactly surprised but Alicia but she did appreciate the concern. For the first time Alicia addressed Mythal by his first name. "Count me in Mythal... besides... if they wanted to sacrifice you before... whos to say they won't go after your kin.... wouldn't want them to go after my future nieces and nephews." Alicia said half jokingly she smiled sweetly but the warm smile quickly vanished. Her face became more stern and her voice returning to its professional cadence and tone.

"Might I say something Director Ragnos, Corporal Dakvid.... I've recently been to Mount Hakobe for a mission. It was to locate and extract a nobleman's daughter. The mission was a success, however things didn't go exactly as planned the squad suffered many casualties.... gods bless their souls" Alicia paused for a brief second before continuing on to her explanation "During the mission our cover was compromised due to a traitor among the locals. We were able to find a hidden cave system running through out the mountain, upon investigation we realized that the cave system runs all the way down to the base of the mountain.. apparently the cave system doesn't go all the way to the top of the mountain but it gets pretty damn close." Alicia casually snapped her finger, and opening to her dimensional vault appeared. A small lacrima projection device fell into the palm of her hand.

Alicia slid the device across towards her commanding officers. The device slid and halted to a stop, a holographic 3D render of a map of the cave system found in Mount Hakobe. "This map is a 3d render, echolocation and seismic waves were used to accurately map out the cave system." Alicia swiped her finger allowing the map to rotate showing the maze like structure found inside the mountain.

"I have no doubt that you all have a plan. I simply wanted to present what I have discovered, perhaps this could be of aid to us in this mission. You know what they say, knowing is half the battle." Alicia folded her arms and began thinking to herself what supplies and weapons she would need. She felt excited at the same time quite a bit nervous since mount Hakobe was the place where she realized just how dangerous her line of work truly was.

"One final question Director.... on the event we do find our target.... do we bring him and his comrades warm or cold?" Alicia's blue eyes shifted color to a light purple, a split second of blood lust found in the hues of her eyes before shifting back to its naturally crystal blue color.

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Upon being dismissed Alicia saluted to her superiors before preparing for the mission. "I have nothing further to add... I'm look forward to be working with you director... you as well Corporal" Alicia smiled and exited the room. She began thinking of all the necessary equipment she would need for the mission, she had already begun creating a list in her mind. Alicia mused the irony that the crucible of her next mission would be the same mountain that claimed the lives of her comrade, the mountain that truly made Alicia realize the reality of her profession. A tinge of guilt began to creep into the corners of her mind, could she have done more? If she was more careful could she have saved the lives of her allies? These thoughts began to bubble in Alicia's mind, she paused and took a breath. She dismissed the thoughts, she would not allow her own guilt and insecurities dishonor the sacrifices of her comrades. Things were different, she wasn't the same naïve girl before, she had something her past didn't have and that was experience...

Alicia took a turn and stopped at a empty room. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, no one was in the immediate vicinity she entered the room and closed the room behind her. "E.V.A. Requesting immediate extraction..." Alicia murmured to herself as the blue of her eyes shifted to a dark purple glow. A heads-up display appeared visible only to her. A female voice echoed in Alicia's mind in response. "Affirmative... and where would you like to be relocated Ms. Sinclair?" The voice inquired.

"The Edelweiss... prepare the armory while you're at it E.V.A." Alicia replied as she began assembling a loadout using the virtual heads-up display.  

"Affirmative...teleportation commencing in 3... 2... 1..." E.V.A. replied. Upon finishing the countdown, a flash of light surrounded Alicia as she was instantly teleported out of the room vanishing instantly. Alicia's vision warped and the scenery of the empty room changed to that white minimalistic room. The slight smell of burnt ozone lingered in the air as she shook off the sparks of energy off her body. Alicia sighed as she brushed her hair  and made her way to the large reinforced window. She gazed Earthland rotating in space. Alicia was teleported to a secret satellite base equipped with highly advanced technology and magic that made it essentially undetectable from Earthland.

"Ms. Sinclair the armory has been prepared." The voice echoed through out the room. Alicia peeled her eyes away from the beautiful sight. "Thank you E.V.A." Alicia smiled sweetly to her incorporeal virtual assistant. Alicia made her way to the edge of the room, the walls parted revealing it to be a secret door. Alicia proceeded down a white hallway until she stopped in front of another wall. The wall once again slid open to reveal an elevator. Alicia proceeded inside, without even pressing a button the elevator began to move to her desired location. after a few minutes or so the elevator opened revealing another seemingly large empty room.

As soon as Alicia stepped into the empty room, portions of the the walls, floor and celling began to shift.  The hum of machines vibrated in the air the the empty room quickly revealed it's hidden contents. From the floor lockers began to rise, the walls revealed hidden shelves and containers. From the ceiling robotic arms and various other containers revealed itself.  Alicia walked to the center of the room where a large table rose up from he ground to meet her. In a matter of seconds the empty room had transformed to a highly advanced armory. Firearms, explosives, ammunition, and anything one could ever need for war was in the room.

Alicia began to toil and quickly began to put together multiple loadouts. She assembled her rifles and side arms as she constantly referred to past field data. She adjusted her weapons, and their respective ammunition types to suit the terrain they would be fighting in. Although E.V.A constantly maintained all of Alicia's equipment, even though everything in the armory could be accessed by Alicia remotely via instant teleportation to her location, Alicia preferred to personally survey her equipment to ensure everything functioned to her personal tastes. After a few hours of tinkering and testing out multiple loadouts, she took a seat on one of the nearby crates.

"E.V.A. is the Mark II ready?" Alicia mused as one of her customized rifle's on the table vanished and reappeared to her hands. Alicia peered down her scope she then tilted the rifle revealing a canted sight equipped on the rifle. She switched aiming down on the scope and canted sight equipped on to her rifle. "Yes the Mark II has been completed. All changes to the armor has been made to your exact specifications."

"How did it perform in your tests?" Alicia inquired as the rifle vanished from her hand returning to its original place on the table. She got up and walked towards a case, the case automatically opened up revealing a various array of bladed weapons. Alicia picked up a beautifully made combat knife. She tested it's weight and nodded to herself approvingly, the blade vanished and reappeared on the table along side the rest of the custom gear Alicia personal hand picked.

"The Mark II performed very well... all marks should be to your liking... shall I send you the recorded data Ms. Sinclair?" E.V.A responded.

"Yes. I'd apricate that E.V.A." Alicia replied back as her ocular cybernetic implants were flooded with data and numbers. She took a a few moments to assess the data before speaking to E.V.A again.

"E.V.A. I have compiled a list of a few more things I need... I also included a few adjustments for the armor... I'll leave it to you... for now I'll have some dinner... I'm starving... after I'll get some rest... if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask " said Alicia as she walked to the elevator.

"I should be good Ms. Sinclair... have a good dinner and a good nights rest Ms. Sinclair." E.V.A replied.

"Thank you E.V.A." Alicia smiled as she the elevator closed.

The Next Day...

Alicia wore her standard uniform, she didn't have any weapons on her, in fact she was dressed as if she was just going to fill out some paper work for the day. She sat in the empty room where she was told to meet the director and the corporal. Since she was early she had taken the opportunity to grab herself a cup of coffee. She took a sip and stared at the wall, to others it looked like she was simply spacing out but in reality she was reviewing combat data on a HUD that could only be seen by her. Alicia had hid the fact that her eyes were damaged severely during one of her own personal missions. She had her eyes replaced with high tech ocular cybernetics, her new eyes doubled as a highly advanced computing assistant which was connected to the Edelweiss' data frame. The secret orbital base , her cybernetic prosthetics and implants were all kept secret from her comrades. Alicia couldn't help but feel some sort of guilt for having kept so many secrets from her comrades and most importantly her family.

Alicia sighed and pushed her thoughts away and focused on the mission at hand.

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Edelweiss

Alicia smiled pleasantly to her comrades as Mythal mentioned their call signs one by one. Alicia wondered why those were the call signs given to them. She followed the lead of her allies as the they entered the dark void conjured by the shadow slayer. As soon as Alicia stepped through she felt the blistering winds kiss her skin. Her ocular prosthetics displayed the current temperature of her surroundings. The area was thick with foliage which cloaked their sudden arrival. Alicia looked around, her eyes shifted from their natural blue colors to an dimly glowing purple. Alicia lifted her arm, the air near her palm began to static and shift, a sudden flash of energy, the scent after a lightning strike lingered in the air for a brief second as fully modded rifle akin to an AK-12. The sparks of energy spread across her body as black exoskeleton began to form around her body. In a blink of an eye Alicia had donned a highly advanced suit of armor, she allowed the rifle to hang from its sling on her shoulder as she tied her hair up, she then materialized a helmet and equipped it on.

The helmet was smooth and black, whoever had the helmet equipped their face would be completely hidden. The helmet flickered to life as a holographic skull revealed itself in the black glass like portion of the helmet visor. Blue holographic text displayed itself before Alicia:

Reconnaissance Exoskeleton Armor Personalized Equipped Reinforcement

Project: R.E.A.P.E.R online…

Alicia now stood fully geared, the armor had completely obscured her small petite figure. The armor was platted and reinforced, the mechanical muscle fibers underneath the plates made her form bulkier and seemingly more masculine. The eerie holographic skull turned to Mythal as Alicia gave him a nod and followed her commanding officers commands. Through the means of a good throw and bit of magic, Dakvid teleported the squad all the way to town. Before they entered their based of operations, Alicia materialized a few miniature cameras. She tossed them to the ground, the cameras sprouted mechanical legs and began crawling up on the building, each camera attached themselves to multiple angles on the building giving Alicia a perfect 360 degree view of their surroundings. Alicia then followed the rest inside, her rifle at the ready. Alicia’s prosthetic eyes scanned the building, there seemed to be no uninvited guests in their midst.

“I’ll set up upstairs… keep an eye out… I’ll be able to hear what you guys talk about… my helmet should pick it up” Alicia’s voice was scrambled and changed due tot he voice modifier in the helmet. Her voice was cloaked making it deeper making her sound nothing like how she normally sounded. Alicia nodded again, she racked the bolt of her rifle to taker her position as look out and a sniper upstairs.

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Alicia listened carefully to the information presented to her as her helmet picked up the audio. One of her drones positioned itself in the corner of the room to observe the map and the battle plans, the drone sent a live video feed to Alicia's helmet allowing her to understand the plan completely. The drone in the corner of the room replied back in Alicia's voice. "You're in luck, I'm quite good at getting people's attention sir."

Alicia smirked as her eyes shifted to the left of the H.U.D in her helmet. E.V.A had begun to present an array of weapons that were effective in combat and most importantly very loud. Preparations began and the allocated time for the operation quickly arrived. Alicia along with the rest of the reaper squad had gotten into position and prepared for the go signal. Upon receiving confirmation that the operation was a go. Alicia would turn to one of her allies and make a snarky quip to Corporal Dakvid.  

"I certainly hope they like pretty fireworks sir..." Alicia's spoke through her helmet, despite the voice changer filtering her vocals, one could almost see the mischievous grin on the young Sinclair's face from behind her helmet. As soon as she said that plates from the back of Alicia's armor parted, revealing multiple micro missiles primed and ready.

A deep mechanical voice echoed as the armors A.I. spoke only to Alicia in her helmet.

Greetings miss Sinclair, I am your Guidance Response Integrated Machine code name: G.R.I.M.

I will be your virtual assistant in piloting the R.E.A.P.E.R armor.

With that said a volley of micro missiles darted forward darting towards multiple enemy, the missiles detonated a feet away from the targets. Due to the aid of the E.V.A and the built in assisted a.i. Of Alicia’s armor, the explosions did not kill the enemies outright, but instead peppered them with shrapnel tearing chunks of their flesh rendering those caught in the blast incapacitated.

R.E.A.P.E.R. armor whirred to life as boosters ignited and propelled Alicia forward, a familiar light and sparks coalesced in her arms spawning a light machine gun. The weapon was similar to that of a RPK-16, equipped with a longer barrel, a bulky compensator, and a high capacity drum magazine. The helmet scanned the area, automatically connecting to the weapon allowing both Alicia’s excellent marksmanship and the armor to perfectly control the weapons recoil.

Alicia held down the trigger firing from her hip. A shower of empty bullet shells rained from her gun as unleashed a torrent of bullets to the surprised enemies. Just like the rest of Alicia’s toys, the cartridges were custom as well. The bullets were enchanted with a high thermal emitting coating, allowing the bullet to instantly cauterize the wound it would cause. Despite the heavy arsenal, Alicia aimed to incapacitate. Even so, Alicia wasn’t kind enough to leave the enemies only bruised, each bullet fired would painfully pierced skin, shatter the bones, and tear flesh and sinew. All at the same time painfully cauterizing whatever wound she inflicted. She purposely aimed for non lethal shots, avoiding any major arteries and vital organs.

In a matter of two and a half minutes Alicia had already left about twenty cultists screaming in pain now trapped as prisoners of their own broken bodies. Alicia’s turned her head allowing a cultist to come face to face with the visage of the electric blue skull of  her helmet. The cultist cursed and yelled for back up as he raised his arm to cast a spell. The thrusters on Alicia’s armor ignited one more propelling her towards the cultist. With her free arm she grabbed the cultists arm, the armor and its cybernetic muscle fibers tightened, and with a  grip of an industrial vice clamp Alica’s armored hand wrapped around the man's arm. With minimal effort she squeezed instantly crushing the cultist’s forearm. "Resistance is futile...” Alicia growled, her voice morphing to a deep robotic tone. With Alicia’s other arm she pointed her LMG at the screaming cultist, and with two quick shots in succession Alicia blasted the kneecaps off the sorry man, the bullets cauterizing the wound immediately preventing the man from bleeding to death.

Alicia let go of the cultists mangled arms allowing him to buckle at the weight of his own body on his obliterated knees. The man howled in pain as he crumpled into a useless screaming bag of flesh. As an extra precautionary method Alica brought down her armored foot swiftly to crush the cultist's other arm.

Alicia suddenly was violently thrown a few meters back as an explosion detonated at her side. Alica’s armored body tumbled a few more feet, she grit her teeth as she swiftly got up.

Damage minimal, no injuries sustained to the pilot, deploying  countermeasures. The A.I. reported as Alicia returned fire at the incoming surge of hostels rushing towards her. Alicia smiled seeing her explosive entrance had indeed managed to grab the attention of most of the lackeys.


“G.R.I.M deploy the Hellhounds… support the rest of the squad… authorize corporal Dakvid with the command protocol…” Alicia commanded as energy sparked from her armor forming a spherical barrier made out of translucent energy forming multiple hexagonal shapes. Bullets and magic collided with the energy shield, as Alicia reloaded her firearm.

Affirmative Ms. Sinclair deploying Hellhounds.. standby for drone deployment…

After a few seconds the skies echoed with a loud boom as four large metallic pods crashed upon the earth causing a large burst of snow and dirt. From the four pods four quadrupedal drones each standing about half a meter tall, emerged immediately sending out a volley of suppressing fire. Each drone, projecting a forward facing energy shield. One of the drones backed up until it was next to Corporal Dakvid. Its heavy mechanical steps firm and steadfast, a single glowing green lens faced the corporal.

Greetings Corporal Dakvid, Private Sinclair has deployed us to aid you in the operation. We are on standby for your commands.

The mechanical hound spoke through its speaker, its voice inhumane, cold mechanized and un feeling. The other three drones took defensive positions granting the rest of the squad cover and suppressing fire.

Giving the whole squad a good opportunity to safely make their move. While Alicia tanked multiple attacks from the cultists. One could consider this whole scenario a bit much, but if Alicia was to be a distraction she decided she would do it guns blazing. Alicia had been waiting to try out her new toys. While all of this was going on, she only could hope that she and the rest of the squad could neutralize the rest of the enemies in a timely manner so that she and the rest of the squad could come to Mythals aid.

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Hellhounds

Enemy location, ammunition, and data regarding terrain displayed before the Sinclair. Her eyes darted around taking every bit of information displayed on her hud. A storm of arcane blasts and artillery hailed down upon the armored Rune Knights. Her energy shields acted like an umbrella for the ongoing onslaught of the enemy. Alicia's mana was depleting faster than she anticipated, she had to constantly cast multiple shields back to back to defend against her foes. The voice of Corporal Dakvid echoed in Alicia's helmet, she listened intently to the orders of her superior. She promptly responded as she let loose a barrage of lead at the encroaching enemy. "Affirmative, falling back to the second position now." As if on cue Alicia's armor fired a projectile from one of her shoulder mounted launchers, the projectile detonated unleashing a plume of thick heavy smoke that not only masked visibility but any magic and energy signatures. The smoke screen was pretty much useless against powerful mages, but it would be more than sufficient for the grunts they were dealing with.

The k9 drones were also quick to respond to the orders of the Corporal, the drones concentrated their fire pinning the enemies down providing plenty of covering fire for the squad. Alicia and her drones acted as the rear guard, supporting and tanking most of the assault of the grunts. This allowed the squad to fall back safely to the secondary position. Alicia made sure to maintain her aggression, allowing her enemies to reestablish vision as she weaved in and out the smoke. She knew had to make it convincing so she fired a missile which split into a cluster of micro explosives instantly incapacitating a group of enemies with ease. Alicia then allowed the cultists' spells to break her energy shield. A concentrated explosive spell blasted Alicia a few meters back, as the metal of her armor groaned at the sudden force it absorbed. A small trickle of blood leaked from the damaged portion of Alicia's armor. To the enemies, it looked like a prime opportunity to attack the wounded Rune Knight.

This was all according to Alicia's plan, the armor had quickly responded by applying a quick acting bio foam that would seal the wound. Due to the armors thick exoskeleton, the done damage was minimal. Alicia ignored the slight sting from her shoulder, as retaliated with a spray of bullets at the blood thirsty cultist. Smirking to her self as she watched the fools take the bait. Alicia's jumped back with the aid of the thrusters on her armor. This allowed her to fall back while making a convincing retreat. "One of them is wounded, follow them!" Barked one the cultist as the rest roared with fury and began their pursuit.

"Status update: Damage minimal, the cultists took the bait. Ready whenever you are corporal." Alicia reported as she led the thugs straight into the valley. Alicia had done her part well, all was left was to incapacitate the cultists.

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Through a hail of fire, the cultists were gunned down with ease. The plan had gone off with a hitch, the enemy numbers were swiftly culled however a few stragglers remained. The Heads up display beep indicating the location of the run aways. Upon receiving the orders from corporeal Dakvid, Alicia simple followed the command and aimed all weapon systems on the R.E.A.P.E.R armor. In unison her weapons unleashed their payloads, dropping all the run aways exactly at the same time. The sound of despair and pain echoed in the cold frigid air as the enemy combatants lay bleeding in the snow, heavily injured but still alive. The mechanical canines emerged from the tree line, each dragging a cultist. Their mechanical jaws clamped down on the squishy flesh of the foolish enemies that tried to get away. A sickening crunch of bones being crushed and snapping was audible from a few cultist that struggled in futility. The metal hounds dropped the captured enemies before Corporal Dakvid like worn out chew toys before turning their mechanical gaze to their original master.

One of the mechanical beasts came forth and spoke using its robotic voice through its built in speaker.

Ms. Sinclair we will assist the rest of the Reaper Squad here, if you require any back up G.R.I.M will inform us.

Alicia nodded and joined darted off with the corporal to lend aid to Mythal. The young Sinclair doubted that he would need assistance but she wasn't the type to question orders. Through the aid of small micro drones deployed from her armor, 3d mapping, machine learning, and AI assistance they were quickly able to locate their leader. As soon as Alicia rounded the corner with Dakvid, she noticed that the primary target had already been subdued. It was not surprising to to Alicia, after all it was something she had expected. Considering the fact her sister and her fiancee were absolute monsters when it came to power and strength. Compared to the two she was simply a tin soldier marching amongst individuals some would consider gods. This however never upset Alicia, for she knew there would always be someone or something stronger than her. For now she was just glad that she could be of some use to those she cared for in her life. A part of her shuddered at the thought what these evil men would do should Mythal and Serilda ever have biological offsprings. Something didn't sit well with Alicia, she was indeed glad the whole operation seemed to be a success, but she couldn't help but feel that it was almost too easy.

Airing on the side of caution, She set all of her weapons to target the already captured target. She then took additional measures by deploying two micro drones that would provide personal barriers on Mythal and Dakvid. She then ordered G.R.I.M so send out a pulse of mana to scan the area around them for any surprise. Alicia's eyes darted across the stream of data being presented on her H.U.D. as she raised her lmg at the enemy, as if silently warning him not to try to do anything funny. She doubted her precautionary measures would be effective, but every ounce of protection should be taken if possible.

"Sorry... it doesn't hurt to be cautious." Alicia said softly through her scrambled voice as he skull helmet started at the subdued pale man. "And yes sir, the rest of the cultists have been taken care of." Alicia reported as she glanced at the live video feed from the hellhound drones, it seemed that the team had all cuffed and bagged the baddies. "So, what now? Extraction?" Alicia asked as she once again looked over her armors radar to check for any enemies.

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WC: 628 words