Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[Deadwood Deer]

Sam looked at Brick like a foreign object. "We could have barred the bar shut in an emergency before. Smooth move, dumbass." Shaking her head, she sent a drone into the hole to investigate. The blue light from the drone illuminated a small group of disheveled humans. The drone beeped, and then the screen went black as the sound of a thud rang through the church. The drone came flying out of the church like a homerun ball.

"Hey, we come in peace!", Sam shouted, catching her drone. She'd have to see if anything was broken later. Add that to her to-do list, right up there with scrapping together a vehicle worth a damn.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu perked up, "Wait! There's still people!?" Kotsu smiled a wide smile which showed his fangs but genuine excitement in his eyes. He stared at the the church's stained glass windows. "Ya know somethin'? Maybe you're not an asshole." He said quietly, feeling a warmth wash over his cold body as he was reinvigorated. "Hey! You guys okay in there?!" Kotsu said into the doorway.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin followed the rest of the group. Apon hearing the wall fall over from the giant man in amour, He peered inside and took a step back. "This kind of sight was easier to handle back at the monastery, at least they were all still skeletons" he thought to himself. The sight was truly terrible.

He took a step inside the building and immediately tripped over a corpse. Falling face first into a few more bodies he quickly regained his composer and took to his knees and began to pray in apologies to the ones he disturbed.

 

[EFMingo]

Brick didn't understand these people and their incessant need to hole up in buildings. Barring the door in a building was just a slow death when cover wasn't required. Especially true for something that swarms. This whole thing would be there off rounded up and exterminated slowly. But he wasn't going to let the comment bother him. She was moving forward with the mission and getting us the fuck out. That's all he really cared about. And breaking things has always been fun.

Maybe there were people there, maybe not. Maybe this was a feeding ground. He wasn't ready to take point here, he didn't have any desire to be the savior first in line for the possibility of survivors, like many others. Just more people to watch die when the enemy regrouped. The calm is unnerving, he thought, the darkness and silence worse. It reminded him of solitary.

Brick snapped in a freshly charged power cell to his LMG and racked up. He imagined the second wave to likely trump the first. I should've brought grenades. Incendiary ones. Brick shouldered his machine gun for better control. He aimed between the two on point. If there were people still here, they likely weren't right in the head anymore. Or maybe more bugs. All good reason to be ready.

We should have collapsed these building and burned the whole area.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu started to go through the doorway. "Hey guys, we mean you no harm. We're with the Maniacles, and we're here to save you!" He said cheerily. "Though, I don't have any food to give you, sadly." He walked past the doorway, letting his eyes adjust to the scene before him.

Kinggunlucky

 

[Freikugel]

These bodies had been completely drained. Not a sight of blood, not even splattered on the floor or walls, the pests surely took their sweet time.
Carmille looked disappointed, she expected fresh corpses to absorb their blood, she could sustain herself without problem, there was still a large amount of blood contained within her body, but if she continued weaponizing it without a refill things could get dire. Had she became a few centimeters shorter?
At the scream of survivors she raised an eyebrow in interest, yet it was replaced with a yawn.
Maniacles won't let me devour these ones
She sighed and she walked through the church, the faster the job done, he better, after that she would give herself a banquet. The corporation didn't care much about common folk

She stopped for a second, what was that unnerving feeling within her.

Something's wrong she thought

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria stayed at the rear of the group. This time it wasn't because she couldn't grasp the group's movement, but because she took time to wear her masker. It was a specially designed mouth mask made with poly-poly-synthesis something something that function to dull her smelling ability.

She felt guilty for getting excited over the smell of human blood. As a former addict, a large amount of human blood in a contained area might drive her nuts. Fortunately, at least for her, the pest took their time to drain their victims blood so the room was considerably cleaner than it smell. Good job pest. W-wait, she shouldn't congratulate those monsters.

 

[TheAdept]

The first thing John thought he should have felt was the warmth of hope at the idea that someone might have survived all this, but this didn't happen. While he was deeply saddened by the carnage in the rest of the church, the weight of it was reinforced by feelings of concern after what he had seen outside. Could they get unarmed and unfit survivors out of here?

Morgan walked past him as he was paused in contemplation, looking as stoic and unshaken as ever. She definitely had punishment coming to Carmille, but that could wait until after the mission. For now her main focus was the survivors.

When the door was pried open, no gunshots rang out, which was all the evidence she needed that none of the survivors were armed. There were three instincts a person reacted with when facing imminent danger: fight, flight, or freeze. Standing there throughout the room were five people; three men, one elderly, a woman, a teenage girl and maybe slightly younger teenage boy.

"We are with Maniacles." Morgan made no attempt to comfort them with her tone, she sounded as blunt as ever, but she held out a Maniacles issued id to show them. This was her least favorite part of any mission.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Think it's time to call those trucks?", Samantha asked Morgan, "It'll be easier to move survivors if we can outrun the bugs." She didn't know how long the survivors had been here. It couldn't have been more than a few days, or they'd be hallucinating with dehydration, but the corpses were rotting. Who knew what these people had seen?

"We're here to help," Sam said as she helped the elderly man up. Her drones were searching the church and nearby buildings for other survivors or supplies. Rescue missions were new to Sam. She had always been sent to sabotage, destroy. Not preserve. It felt weird for the cyborg to aid.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu was very happy to see the survivors and put the woman and child on an shoulder each. "You guys are in good hands, now. We're gonna make sure we get you guys to safety." A genuine smile on his face.
Don't make promises you can't keep...
The thought crept up on him before he could even process his own internal war, but decided to shrug it off. "Just like I told these guys, I'll protect you with my life!" He said gleefully.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Morgan watched her team's interaction with the people. She respected Samantha for comforting them. They deserved that much. She couldn't imagine the experience they'd had, watching their loved ones devoured, town overrun. She frowned mentally, although her expression remained stoic. Denton, the idiot, never had the stomach to do what needed to be done. And that's why he'd originally been drawn to her she imagined. Lies, manipulation, and spying only ever went so far. Maniacle agent field agents needed their hammers. And she was Denton's. Had been his since the Campus. The tip of the spear for any of the heavy lifting jobs.

Morgan rested a hand on her pistol. It would have been nice to go home. Not have to...yeah. She wondered what Isabella was doing.

Think it's time to call those trucks?", Samantha asked Morgan, "It'll be easier to move survivors if we can outrun the bugs."

"Right." Morgan patched through to Denton. "Hey, we found the survivors. What are we doing?"

***

Denton leaned back in his chair. He ran a nervous tooth over his bottom lip, closing his eyes. HQ had been very firm about what was to do be done here. It's why he hadn't gone. What got out needed to be controlled. No loose ends. The Pest situation had been under control. There weren't anymore Queens. Keep what was happening here secure. The majority of life, even the dangerous things could be considered games of some kind. Screwing around with the mages who though they were untouchable, laughing in the faces of vampires, trying to outmaneuver a big fat Pest Queen, and learning personal stuff about people.

These things weren't safe by any means, but they were fun. He found pleasure in it. This...this was, eh. Beneath him. Denton hesitated. Not replying to Morgan. The survivors there. He wondered who they were, how hard they had fought. He pushed it away, buried it.

Denton thought about the team. His team. The reactions wouldn't be good. They would be emotional. Angry. Disgusted. Most of them. A few might break. One of the vampires might take part. HQ liked when their people broke. It made it easier to build them back up or dispose of.

Denton put his voice on broadcast for every mercenary to hear, even the ones without earpieces to hear. "My orders were clear. I, heh, I'm sorry. There can't be any survivors."

***

"Yeah...I figured." Morgan drew her gun, swift, expression never changing. She shot the elderly man, then the teenager, and then...

 

[EFMingo]

Brick closed his eyes, knowing this was how it was going to be. He knew he had no where else to go, nothing else to be in his miserable life as a societal burden. This had been done before, and it would again. He stepped forward, near Morgan as she turned and opened fire.

He kept his LMG raised, aimed at the at the woman. Orders were orders, he knew the drill.

Fire.

 

[Exzalia]

Owl watched the innocents fall, she appears unmoved she has to.

"there it is, the war crimes." She says casually recording the whole thing. It was the evidence she needed, and to think it was so simple. But she had to act indifferent, she had to hide the rage she felt at the slaughter of innocents. So she simply leans against the church wall and calmly watches recording everything. and keeping her eyes on Kotu's.

He was going to flip, she knew he was.

"Kotsu." She calls to him. "Easy, easy bud."

Deadwood Deer KotaKotsu

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Bang, Bang! Two shots, the first bursting the old man's skull. His corpse slumped against Sam, gore covering her shoulder and hair. Her head snapped in Morgan's directon. The two drones flitted back and pointed at Morgan. "You better have the god of all explanations, bitch." For once she regretted that she had prosthetics, not augmentations, or she'd probably be ripping Morgan apart piece by piece.

Sam had seen bloodshed before, seen women and children shot in the crossfire, she'd personally detonated a power plant that killed everyone within a hundred miles, but to shoot someone and call it a rescue mission, that you just didn't do. Sam was half robot, and even she knew that.

 

[TheAdept]

There were three responses a human had when confronted with imminent danger: fight, flight, freeze. John was in no danger himself, but still he froze. What the fuck? Was this Maniacles?

"Stop!" He attempted to yell, though did not hear his own voice. Maybe he merely whimpered it, or maybe it was simply the sound of gunfire drowning out his voice.

Either way, it would make no difference, as Morgan, Brick, and perhaps other mercenaries gunned down the survivors who ran back in spite of having nowhere to go.

She turned to Sam.

"Its a mission. You follow orders. Simple." Morgan stated coldly. She expected at least one of the mercenaries to have this reaction. In fact it surprised her only one had so far. Still, it made it harder to remain in control of herself in times like this.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Orders! Bitch, these are innocents! I'm a soldier, an engineer, not an assassin! I build shit, not shoot old men for no reason!" Sam tossed her Maniacles ID into the air. The drones shot it, and melted plastic fell to the ground. "I'm done." Dropping the old man's corpse, she flicked a piece of brain off her shoulder and started walking towards the exit.

 

[Freikugel]

And thus a small carnage ensured. A classic human move, of course Carmille wouldn't miss the chance
"That's humankind after all Filthy undead..." Mumbled the monster behind Kotsu, her hand enlarged like a needle pierced the kid on his shoulders and dragged to her, after that she sank her fangs into the boy's neck.
The younger the tastier... Woah, such a nice refill She thought,

Her eyes delighted as the fragile and questionable truth between comrades broke into pieces, she had seen that story unfold many times.
Now, will your faith be torn apart?

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

When the gunshots happen, Aria sensed something bad happening at the front. The smell was strong, it even easily bypass her masker. Fresh blood.

She's unconsciously drawn towards it. Although she still retain her control, her movement was stiff and shaking. Her eyes also turned blood red. She keeps a distance from the grizzly scene in front of her.

"Morgan... I don't remember there is an order about killing survivors..." When she asked the person in charge about what was happening, her voice wavering. From the outside she might looks like she's holding back herself from anger, but the truth was she's just getting excited from the fresh blood. Maybe she's not that different from those pest monsters.

 

[Spacekitsune]

Ammatsa would look surprised watching them start to be shot as she would frown quietly as she just turned her back from it coldly.
"Dissapointing that you had to kill them... pathetic you jump on it like a lap dog as well without a little bit of emotion." She sighed quietly looking away.
"I get they may be infected but this may be going to far."

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Morgan watched Samantha go, refusing to watch the bloodshed she and Denton had started. The vampire, Camille, wasted no time in partaking in the killing, neither did Brick. Morgan clicked her earpiece. "Samantha is leaving. She's pretty pissed."

***

Denton nodded. He expected it. Samantha's skills were nothing to sneeze - one of most unique in the business., but her psychology wasn't prepared for this, not very attuned, no one's was. He would keep her on the field, though. She could settle up with him later.

***

"Ms. Adams...I understand if you find what happened despicable. Trust me, I feel the same, but we do have a mission to complete. The Queen is still active."

Then I'll build something to kill the queen," Sam snapped back, "I'm a lot of things, coldhearted isn't one of them. I was recruited because I could build and break anything, not to shoot innocent civillians." Sam contemplated how hard her right arm could punch and whether she could redneck engineer brass knuckles to improve that. "Have you ever watched that old anime, Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Denton paused, hummed for a moment, and said, "No, I don't believe so."

Samantha smirked as she popped the lock on a small car. "Look up Shou Tucker, I'll be there in 10." She hotwired the engine and sat down in the car and started driving.

"I don't know what a Shou Tucker is," Denton replied, "but it sounds suspicious. I believe your team could use you to pursue the Queen. I assure you I won't be going anywhere. You can do as you like then. But I believe what anger you hold should be directed at the Queen, think about it. Do you think I'm the only Maniacles agent who's doing this? If the Queen goes free...then what? She'll move to a different town, another agent will hunt her down. The same thing will happen. A town overrun, HQ assuring no one gets out a live. We can stop her here, so nothing like this has to happen again."

Sam groaned, but nodded, not that Denton could see that. "Fine, but anything I build for this I'm taking with me when I leave." Already, she was looking around for anything she could turn into something better.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Watching the people Kotsu had on his shoulders eliminated, one by Carmille. The other one shot in the head. "What... What the fuck...?" Kotsu started to shake violently, his eyes started to twitch and his hands were shaking, his teeth started to grind.
Creek, click, creek, click, creek, click.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!?" Kotsu screamed at the top of his lungs, lashing out his whips, his scream echoing off of the church walls with such intensity to the point the stained glass shattered from the roof of the church. Kotsu lunged with top speed at Brick first, aiming to shove him hard into the wall. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Kotsu's voice was deeper than usual, his eyes piercing red. Twitching, not wanting to strike his allies but beyond comprehension over their actions.

 

[Exzalia]

Owl puts a hand on Kotu's shoulder she felt for him, sympathized with his rage though she could not let on that she did. "Easy there, whats done is done. Save your wrath for the pest queen."

Owl turns to Morgan. "These actions...they were taken because you believe we will most likely fail this mission weren't they Morgan? Yes, if Denton believed we would likely win he would have no reason to kill the witnesses to the Maniacles victory, that would be a waste of good publicity. You killed them because you suspect everyone here will die, and if that happens you don't want anyone revealing that a pest queen is still alive and well. In short this is a suicide mission is my assessment correct?"

 

[Spacekitsune]

Amatsa would listen to them quietly and stretched a bit quietly. She really was trying to ignore the killing of innocents but it was quite hard to she was hiding a tear.
"If this is a suicide mission then we'll have to just make it not one I was never one for fate and bullshit like that. But heh you already lost a member and all that shit... joy"

 

[KotaKotsu]

Morgan flinched at the violence which erupted from Kotsu. He charged for Brick, who was about to respond in a manner which involved likely pumping the vampire full of led. Morgan doubted it would do much. Owl managed to grab his shoulder.

She called Denton.

"Problem," Morgan said.

"Issue?"

"Kotsu."

"Fuck, I should have know. How bad is it?"

"Bad."

"Patch me through to him. Private line."

"Got it."

***


"Kotsu," Denton said, his tone was stern, yet gentle. "Stand down."

Kotsu panting, grunting, ready to lose his mind at a moment's notice, responded back into the ear piece with a growl. "YOU IGNORE ME WHEN I MENTION TAKING MY PAY AND BUYING THESE PEOPLE GRAVES, AND NOW YOU HAVE THE GALL TO TELL ME TO STAND DOWN?!" Kotsu yelled into the earpiece. "EXPLAIN, NOW! YOU HAVE 3 MINUTES."

"I apologize for not responding earlier. The graves will be bought and paid for. I'll see to it. You can keep your money. You've earned it, I'll even double it for your pain and suffering," Denton sighed. "I like you Kotsu. You're a man. A good vampire. Your anger is right. We can talk about it once you're back at base, but you need to stay focused on the task. These people were never going to make it out of here. The infection Kotsu. Morgan could sense it."

Taking deep breaths and calming down slightly, Kotsu still twitching but getting a slower grip on his sanity, his red eyes turning back to a gray color, his whips starting to recede, he responded with a hard presses question. "If they're infected Denton, riddle me why Carmille just sunk her teeth into a fucking little girl?!" Kotsu said it like he was spitting acid. "I hope you got a good explanation for that next!"

Denton talked carefully, "No riddles here. Vampires already have a natural resistance to disease in general, two, Camille is not what you would call normal. Her body, third, she is a vampire Kotsu. So are you. You know how powerful the thirst is. Camille is a loose canon, but she's good at her job. These precautions needed to be taken. What if we waited? They'd have turned and attack? What if we tried to tell them was happening? They would panic, possibly run, try to fight. Do you want people, children, knowing of their deaths beforehand. There was no good way to do this. I'm sorry. Please, stand down. The Queen is still in the town. If she escapes this will happen again.

Creek, click. Creek, click. Creek, click.
Grinding his teeth, and hearing Owl in the background trying to call to him, her warm touch against his cold shoulder reminded him he wasn't alone in this world, but her words weren't processing right now with all the rage swimming in his head.
"I'll kill her. I'll kill her with my bare hands and rip anybody who gets in my way apart. And Denton? Double pay or not, if I find out you're lying to me? I'll go through the ranks, gun for your job, demote you, rip off your arms and legs, and make you scrub latrines with your mouth for the next decade before I decide you've earned enough to get prosthetic limbs." Kotsu said coldly. "Captain or not, I've got an eternity. And I've got a long memory. I'll see you when we get back. Count on it. I'll make sure they get proper graves first and foremost." Kotsu said, his whips receding into his body, his gaze sharp and cold toward everyone in the room, except for Owl. His gaze softened when his eyes came upon her.
Kotsu walked over to her, staring her into her eyes. "I don't know what you said back there, but thanks. It was probably something comforting. I felt your hand on my shoulder."

 

[Kinggunlucky]

"These actions...they were taken because you believe we will most likely fail this mission weren't they Morgan? Yes, if Denton believed we would likely win he would have no reason to kill the witnesses to the Maniacles victory, that would be a waste of good publicity. You killed them because you suspect everyone here will die, and if that happens you don't want anyone revealing that a pest queen is still alive and well. In short this is a suicide mission is my assessment correct?"

Morgan stared at Owl. The bitch had no idea what she was talking about. Okay, point if they all did die then the secret would be safe, but the survivors were never making it out of here no matter if they die or don't. "No, it's not like that. They were taken because it's the way it is. No one else is dying if it can be avoided."

***

Denton had been listening. The best he could anyway. His tongue felt strangely dry after lying to Kotsu so much. He thought, maybe, it's what regret and guilt tasted like. Bitter. Oh well, no time for sentiments. There will be time be introspective later. He replied, broadcasting to the group. "Owl, I wouldn't send so many valuable people on a suicide mission. Maniacles reputation is fine. These people dying were an unfortunate set of circumstances we had to deal with."