CHAPTER FOUR: PARLAY.
Missy Rahn raced to Kassingers quarters.
"Sir! We have a huge problem!" She said as she barged in.
A man sat in a chair facing away from Missy. "I Know all about the Ikeldes Assassinations." Kassinger said as he spun around.
"Sir, we need to make a statement. We need to clear the air." Missy begged, her eyes purposely straying from Kassinger's face.
"You can look, Missy. By now you should know I am not insecure about my scarring. I have lived with it for years." Kassinger eased.
"Sorry, sir. I'm still figuring out the ropes." Missy said Nervously .
"Don't worry about it. Tell me what happened in Utopia. " Kassinger said, leaning in and folding his fingers together.
"Exactly like you said. I don't get what is so special about her. She is still a nobody." Missy said defensively.
"Think about it Rahn. She got there first. Figured out how to get down there. It took you an entire team to do it. And she got the Map. Knew where to look. All by herself. Does this sound like a nobody to you?" Kassinger Said.
"You're Right, Sir. What are the orders." Missy asked
"The Parlay is happening in Yerma. It's a neutral Zone, so they should feel safe. Nice and Cozy. What I Need you to do is watch my Six. Make sure that they don't try anything." Kassinger ordered.
"Of Course, Sir. I got your back." Missy assured.
"This is a really important meeting for us. If The Postier Alliance works with me, then we may just be able to topple The U.C.A." Kassinger Said.
"There is no way Postier would work with you. Postier was a Diehard Mittleken." Missy addressed.
"He will if we give him something he can't refuse." Kassinger said.
"what's that?" Missy asked in curiosity.
"Resources. We would also benefit from it. Their ranks and loyalty is dwindling. People are starving. If we can coax them into working with us, then maybe we can finally end this godforsaken war."
"A Man seeking peace. With everything I heard about you sir, This is a shock." Missy laughed.
"Just a man with a means." Kassinger said as he stood up from his chair and approached the window. A bustling city waited outside the window. "It's awfully tiring. Decades of calculations to make the best move to expand our range. Innocent people don't deserve to be Crossfire. There are other ways of spreading our influence. For centuries I have led this brigade against what I thought a lesser society, but they have endured. It makes me question. Is it worth it to finally give our opposition a chance?" Kassinger announced.
"If it gets you what you want, then yes." Missy assured.
Kassinger stood silent for a moment as he gazed out the window. "Thank you, Miss Rahn. That will be all."
Missy nodded and turned around to head out the door.
"Don't think I don't know about the Lanchey Incident. I have some very trusted people that brought you to me, and they gave me a full report. What you did to my men in that outfit was horrendous, and it will take a lifetime for you to pay that back. You belong to me now." Kassinger said.
Missy stopped in her tracks and froze. "Yes sir" she muttered just before exiting the Room.
Yerma, Neutral Terrian, 1300.
The noise of the Helicopter blades rung out in the air as Missy and Kassinger watched out the doors. Dunes of sand flew by as the helicopter sped pass.
The helicopter quickly dipped in elevation but did not lose momentum. "You know what to do." Kassinger said.
Missy simply jumped out the helicopter and immediately pulled her shoot. She came to a rough landing but rolled away
nonetheless. She looked in the sky as the Helicopter approached it's Landing. The revving of vehicles could be heard in the distance as both parties prepped for the Parlay.
Missy stood up and brushed the sand off her shoulder. She grabbed her hear and headed to the agreed vantage point. She dragged her bag behind her through the sand. She laid on the sand and positioned the scope of her rifle to her eye.
In the distance, Missy could see Kassinger exiting the Helicopter and approaching the meeting point. She scanned around and saw A group of people approaching from the other side of the building.
Missy then grabbed an attachment and connected it to her Rifle.
"Now, when I am speaking to Kassinger, I need you to be silent" a man's voice could be heard through the devices speaker. Missy shifted her sights on who the man was talking to. It was the girl from the Compound. "Yeah, yeah, leave it to the adults. I got it, Dad." The girl's voice said.
"Sir, The girl from the compounded is in the party." Missy said through her coms.
"Interesting. Keep an eye out for any threatening activity. Until then, silent Coms." Kassinger ordered.
Missy could see the two groups approach each other. A moment passes as each side takes the other in.
"Hello" Kassinger's Voice could be heard through the speaker. "There is a lot of turmoil between our nations. Blood has been shed on both sides. Today, I wish for us to put our differences aside and come to an understanding." Kassinger spoke.
"You sent three of your sycophants to attack us on our home territory, and now one of our most beloved leaders is being prepped for a funeral. In what world do you think we can come to an agreement?" The Man retorted.
"Those men were a rogue outfit influenced by outdated ideologies that I am still in the process of weeding out. I sincerely apologize for their actions, and I assume justice was served. Moving forward I would like to make a deal, a trade if you will" Kassinger said.
"I'm listening." The man said.
"Good. I have reports informing me of a shortage of resources within your ranks. Civilians vying. over the last slice of bread. We, however, have plenty to go around. If you hand over the Contents that you found in Utopia, and pledge allegiance to Kassinger Empire, I would be more than happy to keep a steady and hefty supply for your people. There would be no need for conflict going forth. You would be considered one of us." Kassinger said.
A moment passed as Postier's Alliance considered the offer.
"You can't be considering this. He cannot get hands on the map." The other man said. Postier's men consisted of 5 people.
"Richard, He is right. Our people are suffering. What he offers, we can't turn it down." Postier said.
"Then you are a fool. I can't even fath-" The girl began.
"Watch your tone Emily. There are things you just don't get yet." Postier demanded.
"If I take this deal, I would like to make a demand." Hansel said.
"And that is?" Kassinger demanded.
"Pull your forces out of Utopia. Give the U.C.A. a similar chance that you are giving us." Hansel demanded in return.
Missy Scanned through Postier's soldiers to get a better look at their company, and noticed someone familiar.
2 years Ago, Lanchey, Kassinger Empire Terrain.
Missy Rahn found herself in the middle of a gunfight. She was huddled against a corner. On the opposite side a man was taking cover as well. Gunshots poked holes in the wall as it slowly began to shred the wall to pieces. Blood sprayed out of the body that laid in the middle of them as bullets ripped through.
"I fucking told you this was a botch job!" the man said.
"Yeah, don't rub it in. We still got the cash! We will get out of this! I've killed plenty of people, some random corpo robbery isn't going to take me down! Watch my back Garetiaz!" Missy yelled over the gunfire. She pulled a grenade out of her pocket and tossed it down the hallway.
The Grenade exploded and Missy rolled away from her corner. The positioned herself and fired her gun on the remaining soldiers. A secondary shot followed from behind Missy and it sent a responding gunmen to the floor, dead.
The two continued the crawl down the hallway. Armed forced flooded the halls, as The ESO Project took their security very seriously.
"Are you sure we can do this?" Garetiaz said concerned.
Missy then jumped off the wall and stabbed a soldier in neck and then flipped his body on the floor and used it as a meat shield.
"We got this Hern! Just push!" Missy called out and pushed the body forward. She lifted her gun over the corpse's shoulder and opened fire. Bodies were beginning to fill the hallway.
Missy found herself where 4 separate Hallways meet. She could see men coming from the adjacent hallways thst were new to her view.
Garetiaz followed behind her but then fell to the ground. "Fuck!" he yelped out in pain.
Missy looked down to see blood gushing out of his leg. Another bullet followed into his chest.
Furious, Missy opened fire rapidly, bodies dropping as she closes in on her prey.
"How dare you! I'm going to kill you all!" Missy screamed.
Unfortunately for Missy, she was out gunned. Bullets ripped through her calf and she was brought to her knees, but she kept firing. Hoping that her bullets would take down as many men as possible.
Her gun clicked repeatedly.
Missy Scoffed and threw her gun at a soldier to distract him long enough to pull out her knife. She jumped up and grappled him, sliding her knife into his neck, immediately laying his body on her to protect her from incoming gunfire.
Unfortunately it was not enough as a bullet ripped through the body and through her collar bone.
Missy fell to the floor screaming in agony, the knife hitting the floor as her arm was rendered useless.
Missy looked around to see men closing in on her. This would be the last image she would see of the halls of the ESO Complex.
Yerma, Nuetral Terrian, Present Day.
Sand dusted in the wind, over Missy's head. She is centering herself after receiving a life-changing shock; that her child-hood friend and comrade was still Alive.
"I can not possibly do that." Kassinger Stated. "The infrastructure that Utopia holds, offers my empire massive reach, as it will with The U.C.A. I have met with Grant and he refuses to back down."
"Because of actions that your little lapdog has been carrying out for you the past few months. You are the one that has been ordering hits on leading officials in the U.C.A. over the last year. Let's not forget that." Hansel Interjected. "Speaking of which, where is she?"
"I'm looking right at her" Emily Announced.
Missy Shifted her focus onto the girl in Postier's Group, who was looking directly at her. "What in the fuck?" Missy spits out.
From just out her view a orb appears. Missy sat confused until the thing energized a released a beam of energy.
Missy jumped out of the way, her rifle falls like the deadweight it is.
Missy checks her surroundings and notices that she is surrounded by what seemed to be a hundred orbs. She pulled her sidearm out her ankle Holster. And began firing.
The spheres exploded as bullets collided with them. The spheres began firing upon Missy.
Missy was hit by one of the energy beams, she patted the bursting flames out of her attire. She threw throwing knifes which destroyed a couple spheres. Missy them felt a cold sensation in her foot.
She looked down to see that her foot was frozen in place. She broke free from the sand and waddled to avoid being struck again, but to no avail. Her wrist was struck, which foamed up in front it her eyes.
Missy frantically swung her fists as a last resort, knowing that she was defeated. The foam began to spread all over her body as she toppled over, staring into the sky, useless.
Missy then felt thuds as The Spheres planted themselves into the foam, she them began to levitate in the air.
Missy angrily gazed and grunted into the sky, unsure of what is about to happen next. She screamed into the sky, hoping for her team to hear her, before coming to a muffled silence as the foam slowly covered her face.
One Week Ago, Sydney, Kassinger Empire.
Kassinger walked in to his office to find Missy Rahn sitting on his sofa, waiting patiently.
"I see you got back safely." He said, shocked to see Missy back so quickly.
"Yeah, U.C.A. has some pretty weak security if you ask me." She said before taking another bite out of the apple she was holding. "they should really tighten things up. I was able to take out 3 of my targets in one go. Just as planned." She bragged spitting out chunks of apple as she spoke.
"To think that just five years ago, you were doing petty jobs for petty people. Now, youre helping me topple a world power." Kassinger bragged. He then walked over to his chair and sat down. He picked up a cigar, and lit it. "Which leads me to our next objective."
Missy leaned in to listen closer.
"3 weeks ago there was an incident in Ebeom. Apparently A team of Postier's held a raid which led to a nuclear reactor exploding, killing the whole city. Unfortunately for us, the blame was put on us. Reports say that what they were after, was critical information leading to an centuries old myth. Fortunately for us, I know where it will lead them, as I have seen these documents firsthand." Kassinger said as he present spreadsheets detailing The Financial District in Utopia.
"Sir, this area, it's riddled in warfare." Missy stated the obvious
"I know. All thanks to Postier. We were so close to taking Utopia, then The Ebeom incident happened, and the U.C.A. launched a full scale attack to push us out of Utopia." Kassinger ranted. He took a breathe as he centered himself. "I believe that Postier planned to use the battle as a cover to carryout their plans."
"What is it that you need me to do?" Missy asked.
"20 years ago, Dante Mittleken was murdered. His wife and child soon followed a couple years later. This never sat right with me. It is my belief that Dante's child is a part of Postier's secret task team. A team dedicated with special training. Propped up to be the next leaders of their Alliance. What I need you to do, is intersect them at the vault. Do not kill her. I want you to test her. You are my most valuable asset. I have out you against my best men. You handled them with ease. If this she holds her own against you in anyway, then it will confirm a seeping fear. When this is done, come back to me with the verdict. If what I fear is true, we will then commission a Parlay, so that I can get a closer look for myself." Kassinger Explained.
"It will be done." Missy assured.