Seventeen hours ago.
7th September, Year 300. The night Ellis Jonathan transmigrated to Aegis as Sean Storme.
On the other side of the slums.
"You sure we shouldn't drop just this?" A young man spoke into the recon mic hanging to his face, his sight trained on a warehouse, through a binocular.
There was a beat of silence in the integral network, before another voice replied.
"True boss, this gig fishy as hell."
"You think so too kid?" The middle aged man who had just spoken, turned to his companion, a boy, barely fifteen years old.
"Well, I don't really know." The boy replied, few strands of his brown hair, peeking from his black hoodie.
"It does feels a little too suspicious, but..." He smirked, "You'll protect me right? Well, that's if things really go south."
"Cheeky brat." A female voice came from the receiver, following a chuckle. "How do you expect the old fool to protect you, if even he fails to protect himself?"
"Marianne! Who the fuck you calling old fool?!" The man immediately retorted, feeling livid.
"Old dog, you'd meet your ancestors faster than they left, if you keep reacting to this vixen." The first guy from earlier, a younger man who seemed to be in his mid twenties, with auburn hair, taunted, feeling bad for old Hanzo, and ironically, still feeling glee at his expense.
"Say Miguel," Marianne's voice, came through again.
"Since you recognize the prowess of this big sister, if you get more successful shots than I do, I'll let you into my room, how about it? Provided we survive of course." She purred, her words completely crass, not minding they had a child listening in on them.
However, from the way Thorne's face showed no reaction to her words, it was hard to tell if he was immune, or if he had gotten so used to such behaviors, that it hardly tickled anymore.
Miguel gulped at her words, his throat suddenly going dry, and unsavory images of the vixen, flashing through his mind.
Marianne smirked at his silence, feeling satisfied at having both men at her fingertips.
"Tch." Old Hanzo clicked his tongue. "Green horn," he spat, causing Miguel's face to flush from embarrassment.
A little distance away from the warehouse, a car blended in the shadows of an alley, facing the warehouse directly.
[23:37:58]
The black haired man in the car, glanced at the time displayed by Aegis Protocol in his retina, feeling it trickle like water droplets, and causing him to feel antsy.
Just like his men said, this mission was a little too fishy, but the pay was too mind boggling to pass up on.
Jasper knew better than to be too greedy. Greed was often the downfall of many, not to talk more of those in their line of work.
His metallic fist clenched tightly against the steering wheels as he considered abandoning the operation. It was already more than an hour since the meeting time, still the target was yet to show up.
The more they remained in the area, the higher risk there was to them getting discovered. At that point, not only would the operation be dead, they might lose their lives as well.
The only problem was that, he was desperate. He needed that money desperately. His fists clenched even more tight.
"Guys, we've got incoming." A serious voice cut through the chaos of the channel, and instantly, all of the playfulness vanished.
A shared, live video immediately began playing in their retina via Aegis Protocol.
A black, rickety vehicle pulled up steadily towards the warehouse. And despite its half dead appearance, gave off no noise, and surprisingly no smoke.
Their expressions immediately went dark, and even Thorne did not seem to be pleased with the happening, considering his face wore a frown too.
"Shit! It can't be him right?" Miguel cursed from over the comm.
"Nick, how much closer can your drones get without alerting its radar? It better not be that bastard." Jasper spat, his eyes filled with bloodlust that wasn't detected from his tone.
"It's as we fear boss," Nick replied almost immediately, "the junk is insulated."
"So it really is him huh? Then I guess the old relic would be crossing over today." Marianne's voice resounded.
Although still sultry enough to make caveman howl, it carried a biting edge, that made a shiver course through all their spines, Thorne too, not exempted.
"Thorne, are your jammers in place?" Jasper questioned.
"Yeah." Thorne replied, perfunctorily.
Hanzo grinned, patting Thorne at the back. "Having you in the crew is really a blessing. Though one day you still gotta tell this ol'man how you can make police equipments."
Thorne only smirked in response to the man's words, however, the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes.
The rickety vehicle pulled to a halt in front of the warehouse, and after some human voices came from within, the gates rolled up, allowing the vehicle to pass.
Nick's drones followed from discreet places, showing them the inside of the warehouse, and highlighting targets in infrared.
The old car stopped, and an old man, one with hairs too grey to still be alive, yet standing tall and strong like a prime athlete, stepped out, his suit finely pressed.
Another man walked out from the darkness... most probably the recipient, flanked by bodyguards in frightening expressions and armed to the teeth.
"You're late." he said simply, though the frown on his face, gave away the fact that he was far from happy.
"The package is at the trunk," the old man replied, as the trunk of his car raised up. "My apologies for the delay," he continued, easily brushing off the aggression, not in the least bit intimidate.
The recipient clicked his teeth and annoyance, and gave the signal to retrieve the package with a shake of his head.
"This really is top secrecy though. If it even came down to using him to get me to work, I'm really curious to know what's inside," the old man probed.
"It's none of your business." The recipient replied coldly.
"Fair enough," the old man chuckled.
"Urrhhh, sir?" A slightly nervous voice came from behind, as a guard stepped forward.
"We've been jammed."
His head blew open the next second.
********
If you're confused about this, don't be. Everything would open up and make sense in a few chapters. So sit tightly on the edge of your seats, coz this ride boutta get wild.
Again, pay up your taxes damnit! This Emperor now, is a little displeased.