Mercenary Dawn: Steel Phoenixes

[YsFanatic]

Prologue​

It was time. For the last two weeks you were in recovery from your procedures, during which you were only allowed to do light exercise and read various materials for information helpful for a mercenary, such as military technology and Walker operation. The only exception to that routine was filling your application to become a mercenary through the Agency. Despite your time here before and after the surgery, you had no idea where the facility was located and the lack of windows didn't help. Combine that with the limited amount of activities available and it would only be natural for most people to start getting antsy from boredom. Thankfully today was different as a nurse dressed in white scrubs leads you through a maze of hallways to a drab and boring conference room. Inside you were to meet the other participants in this experiment and learn from the doctor who had monitored your recovery, a Roger Moss, about the first simulator battle you were to go through. While most of the scientists and medical staff you had met here had kept their distance from you, this one actually seemed to care about how you were doing.

As each participant in the experiment entered the room, Roger would look up from his silver laptop at the head of the table and give a cheerful nod, the smile bringing life to his worn face. When the last person had arrived and taken a seat, the doctor rises from his chair and walks over to the display that was behind where he had been sitting. "Glad you all are looking well this morning. Before we get started I just want to let you know that your Agency applications have been sent out and it should all be taken care of by the time we are done here today. Now, does anyone want to introduce themselves to the others before we move on to the primary reason for this meeting?"

 

[Kaihaku]

Outfitted in a dark gray flight suit, a woman with short cropped brunette hair silently takes a seat at the conference room table and stares blankly forward with dead eyes. Her face is an unhealthy pale, traced with a few faint scarlines. A sidearm, toolkit, and several pouches are secured on her belt.

She sets a pilot helmet with a reflective black visor on the table to one side and her gloved fingers begin to assemble what looks like a miniaturized drone with mechanical precision. Her blue eyes, framed with dark circles, never look down at her handiwork or even around the room. She just stares unseeingly ahead, her posture stiff and upright, as her hands work.

 

[Juju]

Even before her entrance, the sound of Tanu's voice echoed in the halls.

"-and then it totally blew up in my face! HA! Can you believe it~? A T100-3B rea... oh hey! Is this the room? Looks like a gan... erm, business meeting!" Tanu stuck her head through the door, cotton-candy hair falling to the side. It was the same color of the vintage jacket she wore, though contrasted the bodysuit beneath. She pushed up her shades, glancing at her would-be team. "Haha, look at all those blank faces. It must be it!"

Leaving behind a rather relieved nurse, Tanu went straight to making herself at home. She plopped into one of the chairs and propped her knee-high boots onto the table, reclining back. She folded her hands behind her head and chewed her bubblegum. "Phew, these chairs sure are nice!"

Glancing to the quiet brunette beside her, she popped her bubblegum and peered over her shoulder, "Oho, would you look at that! A drone, eh? Such pristine parts! Look fresh off the assembly line! Makes things a little too easy, if you ask me, but I guess that's the norm round here. Neat!"

As the good doctor talked she swiveled in her chair like a kid. In the middle of his speech she blew a large balloon of bubblegum and let it pop loudly, perhaps to the annoyance of others, but seemed to have listened. When introductions were suggested she gave a casual salute, "Name's Tanu Chalet, nice to meet you all! Bubblegum?"

She fished out an opened packet from one of her bags and held it out towards the others.

 

[Kaihaku]

As the newcomer comments from over her shoulder, the quiet brunette turns to look at her with dead eyes. Her mouth starts to open as if to speak but a tremor runs down the left side of her face ending the motion in a twitch. This happens two more times before she silently turns back to the drone and resumes her labor.

 

[AldurSFC]

"Murphy. Akir Murphy. I'm here because I lost a bet, the bet I guess you could say." The bearded man responds, shifting in his chair, brushing his hair back out of his eyes, looking between the two for a moment, appraising them before starting back at their host.

 

[Juju]

"Yikes..." Tanu clicked her tongue at the strange woman, "Not one for small talk...uh... are you ok there hun?"

She scrached the back of her head awkwardly and tapped the table, trying to get Dr. Moss' attention, "Yo Doc, is this some side effect? Because I don't remember the nurses telling me about that. I didn't sign up to be a twitchy stick in the mud! Oh, no offense, love."

Tanu flashed a wink at the woman beside her, though doubted it would matter nor be noticed. It was more of a habit than anything.

 

[YsFanatic]

The doctor glances over at the two women before shaking his head once. "Each of your augmentations was tailored to your biology and situation, so any side effects are likely to be unique to each of you. However, those who are here because of previous medical issues are more likely to encounter problems due to the extra stain their bodies were already under." He pauses for a moment, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair as he tried to decide how much he should say. "So far everything has been going well, your data suggest that the procedures had the intended results."

Thankfully they had fixed the issue with the patients' brains becoming unstable and literally falling apart. That was something that would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.

 

[EccentricFantasy]

Evans was less than ammused with this entire situation. He was not one for being cooped up in a room. He liked to be out and about. Getting information and making friends owas what he did and that was a bit hard to do being locled down. That being said, there were benefits to being locked away. He had time to construct this image of who he was now. The idea of having a clean slate was fascinating.

Listening to the others do their introduction, he paid very close attention. One would not guess what he was doing. His eyes were drifting into a corner in the ceiling, moving about as though he were calculating some grand equation. His emerald eyes focused upon something no one else would see.

There came a point when he knew everyone would be waiting for him to introduce himself. His life before was gone. His current one shrouded in secrecy. That being said, he did not once consider that maybe these pwople were trustworthy. People had to earn trust and his was not very easy to earn. So, he simply sat there. Fading into the background noise as his eyes followed something only he had the pleasure of noticing "You can just call me Evans."

 

[Omega Entity]

A petite woman enters the room, her svelte figure clothed in a dark, form-fitting long-sleeved shirt and a comfortable-looking pair of jeans. Slightly-slanted celadon-green eyes peer out of a lightly-tanned face framed by blue-black bangs, looking over those that arrived ahead of her. The rest of her long, black-to-cobalt ombre hair is pulled back into a french braid. She tucks part of her bangs behind an ear with a left hand covered with a black glove as she takes a seat, looking to the others with a warm smile. "Oh good, I'm not too late for introductions. I'm Sara Kamigawa."

 

[Kaihaku]

Securing a cover over the final set of transistors, the taciturn woman abruptly sets down the drone she had been assembling and picks up her pilot helmet. The observant note a set of LEDs on the drone blinking for a few seconds before going dark. She slides the helmet stiffly over her head and as it snaps into place an immediate shift comes over her. Her posture relaxes as she leans back in the chair and, her face now hidden by the helmet’s reflective black visor, looks around the room comfortably.

"I registered with the Agency as Ricarda Faust." A thick and grainy artificial voice sounds from the woman’s throat, "You can use my call sign, Null. As an identifier it’s more legitimate than my…" She scoffs, "...name."

 

[Juju]

"Wait, so you're telling me I could have ended up like Twitchy here? Whoa whoa, I knew I should have read the fine print, but that form bundle was like 40 pages long!" Tanu ran her fingers through her hair, catching them on her shades.

"Ah well, what matters is that I'm not! What's fun in life if not a little risk of crippling injuries and mental scarring!" She added brightly, flipping down her shades even though they were indoors. A shit-eating grin spread across her face, faltered only by bubbles of bright pink gum. She twirled slowly in her chair, waiting for each of the introductions. She was kinda sad nobody wanted any gum, so she put the packet back into her bag and tried not to hold it against them.

"Ok, so Murphy, Evans, Sara and Twitchy! Got it! Nice to meet you all and stuff. Anyways, so Doc when do we get to the good stuff. You know, like explosions, government tech and whatever else you guys do here besides test on humans."

 

[EccentricFantasy]

Evans kept his eyes on the corner. His brain flushed through the information he had gained in these interactions. Names, personalities and even speech patterns. He had a habit of doing this. Just to make sure he had a good sense of the people he was dealing with. Another thing he took note of was the fact that, per the contract they signed, these people were his teammates. Mercenaries to be specific. Luckily his connections from his past would still be viable. That was his expertise after all.

After a moment he had decided to have a moment of exploratory investigation. Stand up, he moved towards the excitable Tanu girl. Stepping close his tall and rather bulky demeanour was much larger by comparison. He stood close, only inches from her as he looked directly in her eyes. Saying and doing nothing as looked at her. His eyes only moving to look at another section of her eyes.

In his mind he thought about how to gauge her personality. Not what she willingly shows, but a genuine reaction. It took him a moment to finally decide on a course of action.

Taking a step back and folding his arms across his chest, still not letting his eyes drift from hers, he spoke "You have rather captivating eyes." He said nothing else. Merely returning to his seat and looking at the corner again, but making sure to take in whatever reaction any of them had to his aactions.

 

[Kaihaku]

"The nurses were complaining about someone harassing them but I never would have suspected Evans." Null comments, the grainy artificial voice obscuring any emotion behind the words. The pilot shrugs, glancing at the others with the black reflective visor masking her expression.

 

[Juju]

Tanu was spinning in her chair, waiting for the doctor to answer her question, when she noticed one of her teammates stand up. From her spinning vision she recognized them as Evans. She didn't pay any mind to this, until the man was standing directly in front of her, forcing her to stop spinning. Well, she could still spin but she might hit his legs with her knees.

The pink haired woman looked up at the man looming above her and flashed a smile. She raised a brow and tilted her head to the side. If this was some intimidation tactic, she seemed completely unfazed by such passive-aggressive behavior, as if she had seen it a hundred times. Honestly she had, with bigger and meaner looking men than this uppity-lookin boi. She held her shades up, leaning an arm casually against the table, "Need something, love?"

Nothing but silence. "Seriously, why is everyone here such a killsport!"

She was very much tempted to boop the man's nose just to see what he would do, but before she could do that he suddenly complemented her eyes. It made her grin from ear to ear in clear amusement.

"Oho! Why thank you, Evans. I admire your chivalry! Most men who complement me aren't talking about the eyes!" She gave a wink and laughed merrily, something she wondered if her teammates were capable of. It got even better when Twitchy spoke up. Tanu gasped dramatically and placed a hand over her chest in fake insult. "Is that so! Oh no! Am I to become yet another victim! What ever shall I do!?"

 

[AldurSFC]

"Decent poker face that is, but I'd call it cheating if we can't see your face Null. And uh, Tanu? I'd not call a man particularly chivalrous just because he comments on your eyes instead of your body, the intent is typically the same, I'd hedge my bets." Akir responds as he watches the exchanges, toying with a half smoked cigar, that remains as yet unlit, drumming his hand on the table, an odd ring adorning it, two hands holding a crowned heart. He glances at null briefly and then back at the two before his eyes rest on Sarah for a moment. "So we got friendly, we got hyper, we got Cold, we got Mr. Flirt and we got me, I suppose you could put me down as Cold as well, maybe not that cold though. Well, she's going to love this..."

 

[Kaihaku]

"You'll appreciate my 'cheating' sooner than later." Null reassures the mercenary in the same neutral robotic voice, tapping the drone on the table with a gloved finger, "That doesn't mean you'll like it. Especially if you cross our little endeavor.

 

[AldurSFC]

"Oh don't worry. I'm 'All In' on this endeavor." Akir responds with a dark grin. "So you like to stack the deck huh? Interesting, be careful though...sooner or later the house always wins."

 

[Kaihaku]

"That's cute, kid, but I'm not here to take on the system and win big. That was...burnt out of me...a long time ago." Null answers in the same monotone, leaning back in the chair leisurely and turning to look at Murphy. The visor reflects back a distorted image of the other mercenary, "I'm not a winner. I make other people lose, for fun and profit."

 

[AldurSFC]

"You're a real card, Null." Akir replies dryly, amused at being called kid. "Well if you have fun and profit, I'd say that's a win usually..."

 

[Kaihaku]

"...wouldn't it be nice if that was all it took." Null responds quietly but as emotionlessly as ever as she turns away from the other mercenary, folding her gloved hands behind her helmet and reclining further in the chair. She keeps the angle straight enough that she can stare directly at the Doctor, who finds himself eerily reflected in her visor.

 

[TheUnknownMarine]

"If she's a card, it sounds like she'd be the card explaining all the rules that you're supposed to take out of the deck beforehand," an attractive lady in an armored piloting suit says in a lightly accented voice as she languidly enters. She grins and winks at Null. "Of course, given how often some of us forget the rules, maybe having such a card this time won't be so bad, eh? Sorry dears, I had a prior engagement that went a little long." The woman laughs as she tosses her long crimson ponytail over her shoulder and takes a seat next to Akir. "You know how it is! Irene is my name. It meant 'Peace' a long time ago, but it's been ages since any of us have had that!" She turns to the self professed gambler. "Ah, tell me what I missed, love!"

 

[Kaihaku]

"...just some chewing gum and how thirsty Evans gets after two weeks." Null answers the newly arrived mercenary, not bothering to look her way but still staring at the Doctor, "Let's leave love and peace out it."

 

[TheUnknownMarine]

"If he's thirsty, he should be on the hunt for a tall glass of water, shouldn't he?" Irene asks as she looks around the room. She suddenly snickers, thinking of a private joke. "Besides, we can't leave love and peace out of it, the whole world is made of it!"

 

[YsFanatic]

For the most part the doctor silently watches the conversation, periodically smiling a bit at the various interactions. When there was a long enough break in the conversation he jumped in to respond to Tanu's question. "There's still two more coming. Well, I know the one is getting a last second test so I don't know when exactly they will show up."

At one point his expression shifts slightly when Null speaks, a subtle change that would be hard to pick out.

 

[Omega Entity]

Sara watches and listens to the others, taking careful note of tone and body language of those in the group. She nods to Irene in greeting, offering that same warm smile she gave everyone else, though there's the faintest tilt of her head as she catches the doctor's nearly-imperceptible change of expression, her gaze flicking briefly to Null and then back before turning her attention back to the others. She remains quiet for the time being, simply observing.