[Rated M, 16+] Contractors: Acknowledgment Zer0 | Co-hosted by Lvl 19 Hollow

[Dad]

Chicago, Illinois

3:00 p.m.

Julian West Financial Associates

 

If you’re reading this, your first assignment is already underway.  A VIP target has been captured by a small time group of mercenaries, known only as “Crocodiles”.  The target is being held in downtown Chicago, somewhere in the Julian West Financial building.  This financing firm is a front for the Crocs many activities, including a moderately sized drug ring and weapons shipping operation.  

 

The building is twenty-one floors tall, and sits directly across from an active construction site.  The rooftop has helipad access, in addition to a large open ventilation system that reaches from the roof to the lobby.  There are two elevators, one on either the east or west sides of the building.  There is also one staircase, running down the south side of the building.  There are a minimum of two armed guards on each floor, excluding the lobby, where there are five.  They patrol in five minute details, crossing paths at every two and a half minute intervals.  On the first floor--despite heavy foot traffic--the front door is wide open.  Blending in with the bankers on the bottom level wouldn’t be hard, if you didn’t want to go in through the roof.

 

And of course, you could approach this mission without stealth.  The construction site across the street has two bulldozers.  Knocking never hurt.  The foreman is a pushover, but you’d have to practically kill him to get the keys.

 

Your mission:  extract the VIP target, and deliver them to the drop point on the outskirts of Chicago.  Eliminate any threats between you and the target, with extreme prejudice.  You are to consider all opposition an imminent threat.   

 

The enemy is heavily armed, and moderately dangerous.  You should expect lots of resistance, even after finding your target.  The target’s value is extremely high, so expect other Contractors‘ presence.

 

The target is being held in the basement of the Julian West Financial building, but the only way down is through a freight elevator, which requires dual key card access and is guarded by four armed guards at all times.  The two key cards are divided among security personnel.  One key card is on the lobby floor, with one of the guards at the elevator door.  The second is on the twentieth floor, with one of the two guards on that floor.  Each card emits a tiny electronic signature, so that security can keep track of them.  This also makes your job a lot easier, providing you have the equipment or abilities to sense something like that.  The ventilation shaft doesn’t extend to the basement, so you will come out on the ground floor to reach your destination.

 

Good luck.

 

---

 

This heavily encrypted file was uploaded to their phones, their emails, and even their private networks, aggressively invading their files and forcing itself to display as a file with top priority.  Those who had been signed with Concealed Mass were now being thrown into a live game of cat and mouse, as their new orders were given.  They were separate from each other, unaware of one another’s presences.

 

Having prepared their entrances--whether disguising themselves within the lobby’s patrons, sneaking into the construction site, or scaling onto the rooftop--the Contractors had been in place and prepared to move in for several hours, waiting for the prime opportunity to strike.

 

Unbeknownst to each of them, five additional parties were waiting to seize the same objective, and were prepared to kill for it.

 

[spoiler=Notes]

 

Guards can be killed.  Civilians can be killed.  Guards can be saved.  Civilians can be saved.  Someone besides the guards might have information.  Maybe the guards will cooperate if you put enough fear into them.  Maybe they'll turn hostile right away.  There are a number of routes to take on your first mission, but you should try to consider all of them.  

 

In addition, anyone can start in one of three locations:  the rooftop, the construction site, or as a disguised banker/civilian in the lobby.  Remember, you do not know any of these others who are after the VIP target.  You only know they are contractors and that they can kill you.  

 

You only need the cards to get into the basement.  You do not need them to go up and down the top 21 floors (lobby to rooftop and in between).  

 

Guards will shoot to kill if they see you with a weapon.  If you are not perceived as a threat, guards may approach, but will not be immediately hostile.

 

No one has clearance to walk up to the freight elevator guards.  If you are within 50 fifty feet, they will extend a hand warning you not to approach any further.  Verbal confirmation will follow this, as a second warning.  At three warnings, they will draw their weapons.  These weapons include semi-automatic rifles, and handguns.  They are wearing suits (black) with standard Agent Smith ear pieces.  The guards will attempt to stop you from approaching them, hostile or not.

 

The lobby floor is 780 square feet.

[Hälō]

Julian West Financial Associates Lobby

 

“Surprisingly efficient for a band of lowly mercs, aren’t we?”  A man in his early twenties mumbled silently to himself as he watched the the lone guardsmen pass by his four peers that were guarding the freight elevator. Glancing down at his watch to confirm that the other man's patrol of the lobby had taken exactly five minutes and thirty five seconds, Griever silently brought himself up from the couch he had been sitting on, before nodding in greeting to a group well dress women that strolled into the lobby. "3:00 p.m." He droned in his head whilst casually stepping to the side to allow for another large group of people to pass by him. "I guess it's show time..."

 

As expected, a large wave of bankers began flooding into the building. Having enjoyed their lunch break, the workers of the firm were for the most part completely oblivious of Julian West Financial Associate's true purpose. Though maybe that was for the better? Griever was sure that if any of these people knew what was about to go down this afternoon, they'ed have stayed home in a heart beat. A small part of him actually felt a tinge of guilt. The mission briefing had made a point to inform him of the possible presence of other Contractors; which would only mean one thing. Blood. There was going to be a lot of blood spilled today... 

 

Shifting his lifeless gaze amongst the sea of faces that rolled across the lobby, John couldn't help but try to pick out any potential Contractors, despite the fact that he knew it would probably be futile. If there were any Contractors here, they'ed be just like him; blending into the crowd, or lurking amongst the building's shadows like true demons. No matter what they looked like, a Contractor was a trained killer. One of the most dangerous living entities on the planet, with the ability to walk amongst the sheep without so much as a second glance. A true apex predator.

 

Though he didn't have time to marvel at the fact he was now considered one of these monsters. Time was of the essence and even the boogyman had to put food on the table. Seamlessly sliding into the crowd, Griever glided amongst the civilians as if he were a phantom; nodding to anyone who eye'd him as if he belonged and smiling at any business woman that caught his fancy. Within moments he had reached the far end of the lobby, and after checking his watch to confirm that he had another two minutes before the guard was scheduled to pass, the assassin brought his hand up towards the bright red mechanism that hung on the wall directly ahead of him. Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching, the dark haired man swiftly pulled down the mechanism, causing the entire lobby to suddenly be filled with an array alarms signifying that there had been a fire detected in the area.

 

Gliding away from the triggered fire alarm, Griever used the sudden confusion to slip into the stairway and began making his way up towards the higher levels. "I'll start with the card on the 20th floor, then clear out the herd on my way down."     

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Five...possibly six in the lobby. And from the looks of it...quite a few on the next few floors, especially the 20th.

 

Aero lowered his sniper rifle, Angel, pulling his gaze away from the scope. This construction zone gave him the perfect angle to see the floors and the building layout, well, from the side anyway. The mission he was given was to capture the target and bring him to the outskirts of Chicago, plus eliminate any threats that would come his way. However...

 

Memo said that the keys were on both the lobby and the 20th floor. However, getting from the lobby to the 20th floor or vice versa will be a difficult feat...especially if people go into a pan-....sheet...

 

As Aero listed this possibility in his head, he noticed that the fire alarm was suddenly triggered. This was going to complicate things even more...but at the same time, perhaps this would give him the edge he needed. With the floor plan from this view gotten, he proceeded to zipline across to the building in question, landing on the roof with ease. Aero quickly made haste, sliding into the ventilation shaft. He was going straight into the 20th floor first...then he would use the ventilation system to slide down to the lobby.

 

Alright, the alarm was obviously pulled off by someone wanting a distraction. Heh, guess the competition is finally beginning their move. Guess this means I got to step it up more. Aero thought, before moving slightly in the direction of the 20th floor, keeping silent through the vents. He wasn't sure where any of the other assassins would be coming from...but he knew one thing: he need to hurry before this objective gets away.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"Yeah I'm just waiting for father to finish his business and I'll be on my way. I just thought I'd talk to someone while I waited. It's kind of awkward here with all these businessmen" Mute tilted her head, tugging nervously at the hem of her skirt. The guard she was speaking to wasn't one she needed. Those were at the freight elevator. She had already tried that route and found they wouldn't let her anywhere near. She'd have to find another way of attack. So she figured maybe she'd get some ideas by chatting with this young guard. Thus far he has proven less than useful, however. She had a sudden urge to stab him in the gut, mute him, and walk away. Leaving everyone else to deal with the mess. But that would be stupid, everyone would see her.

 

That's when the alarm sounded. "Oh dear." She said, concerned. "What's that all about?" She asked, though she knew exactly what it was. Another Contractor must have tripped the alarm to get access somewhere. It was too good of timing to be just an accident. This was quite unfortunate, unless...maybe this Contractor could be "The One"? A heat rose in her chest at the thought, but she had to keep herself from showing the giddiness.

 

If she wanted to meet him, and find out if there was any spark, she'd need that card. Presumably he was after them too, so logically if she held onto one of them, then he'd have to come to her. Flawless logic!

She turned her attention back to the guard. He seemed to be concerned for her well being, how sweet! But he wasn't "The One" in fact...he could very well want to hurt "The One"! Well, she couldn't have that.

 

Everyone else seemed to be in their own world, focused on the possible fire, and running around in a daze. She smiled up at the guard, who, confused, smiled back. Her hand, still near the bottom of her skirt, slipped under it, and grabbed the pistol she kept hiding in a holster around her thigh. She activated her ability and muted the area just around the two. She barely pulled the gun out before firing a shot into the guard's gut.

He tried to call out an alarm, discovered he couldn't, and the moment of confusion was all Mute needed to aim the gun higher and blow his brains out.

She holstered the gun and, after the body dropped, released the silence and ran into the crowd, almost unable to keep herself from giggling.

[Mr. Hyde]

"Ahhh...if only everyday could feel this nice."  A lush breeze passed over his body, as he looked at the afternoon sky.  The sun was ablaze, and the sky was clear.  It was the perfect day for a contract.  He sat on top of the roof of the bank building, breathing all the fresh air in.  Of course, all he could smell was the aroma of purified gases within this gas mask that he wore.  He had just finished up reading the encrypted file as well, so it was time to get to work.  

 

"My best bet is the ventilation shafts.  I won't be seen in this comically noticeable outfit of mine."  It would also be easier to acquire one of the key cards located on the 20th floor.  However, it looked like he wasn't alone in those thoughts.  The sound of a zip-line was heard and he made sure to take cover.  Whoever this was...they were surely here for the same thing he was after.  However, unlike him, this novice had no clue he was here.  

 

"Assassins...they don't make 'em like they used to."  The supposed contractor made his way towards the ventilation system, and Pandemic followed behind him, making sure not to make a sound.  

 

When the fire alarms triggered, Pandemic jumped up and made a large rumble in the shafts.  It was probably just a diversion set up by another contractor, but Pandemic couldn't help but think if the alarm rang true.  Before the other contractor could take notice, Pandemic lifted his mask slightly up, revealing a mouth that leaked noxious gas.  

 

"Ahhh...now....sleep."  The toxins fell to the bottom of the shaft, it was heavier than air.  It was much more lethal however.  Whoever was in the vicinity, or near the vents would surely get a whiff.  

[Ren✧]

"There's just one thing I can't account for. Contractors." Having multiple skilled parties after the same target meant that there were multiple agendas at work. They could compromise her mission for the sake of theirs and that could ultimately mean failure for them both. What made it worse was that for something so unpredictable there was no way to be prepared for them.

 

Looking down at her equipment that she had acquired for this particular contract, Eliza thought herself well prepared. She may not be able to account for the actions of other Contractors but she could for just about everything else. Attached to her belt was a small device keyed in on the electronic frequency of the key cards she would need to locate in order to use the freight elevator. The device itself wasn't particular special, a product of old radios and a smart phone, but learning the frequency she would need was a bit more difficult. Fortunately all she had to was convince the Julian West Financial Associates' security company that she work for JWFA and it didn't hurt that their CFO had published a video on the business' website which Eliza had easily mimicked over the phone. 

 

Along with the device she had brought with her a small taser, to stun the VIP target, and a child's rubber ball(along with her regular weapons, which were hidden discretely beneath a business suit disguise). 

 

"Ma'am we are landing." The pilot of the helicopter announced. She was going in as a high ranking associate from a neighboring firm. This would put her on the 21st floor and well within reach of the first keycard. 

 

Stepping out of the helicopter she was immediately met with a stubby little man, not a guard, but clearly someone official. "The fire alarm has been sounded on the first floor, I'm sorry but whatever appointment you have has to wait. You and your pilot can't be here while there is danger."

 

Eliza knew the work of a Contractor when she saw it. A fire today would be much too coincidental. "There's no fire you stupid man." Refusing to waste time on him Eliza slammed her elbow into his nose and then followed by kneeing him in jaw. He dropped like a log. She turned back towards her pilot who was staring dumbfounded and terrified. He had just been someone whom she'd hired. The thought of killing him crossed her mind, just to ensure the safety of her mission, but figured it was unnecessary plus if she could get him to stay put it would do well to have an escape route on the roof.

 

"Stay here or she might not be so lucky as him." Eliza said, mimicking the voice of a woman she had heard the pilot talking to on the phone before take off whilst gesturing towards the unconscious man before her. Figuring her threat would keep the pilot rooted until she may have need for him again, she threw open the roof access door and was immediately met by a guard. 

 

She checked to see if the device on her belt had lit up now that she was in range of one of the prospective targets. It hadn't. He was expendable. 

 

"Can I help you with something?" The guard said, his hand resting on his gun. Eliza looked like she belonged after all. Despite her suspicious appearance and the alarm blaring, the guard didn't have a reason to shoot just yet. 

 

"Yes you can," Eliza began, "I need to get down to the lobby and out of here!" She shouted over the alarm. "Can you point me to the nearest elevator?" The guard paused and raised an eyebrow, obviously still a little skeptical of this one-armed businesswoman that had appeared from the roof, but finally he relented. Turning he began to point down the hallway to the elevator, it was the last thing he would ever do. 

 

Producing a gun from her jacket, Eliza fired a round into the back of the guard's head and his eyes immediately went dark. Already things had gone a bit askew, but Eliza thought maybe she could bring them back on track. These Contractors would just have to stop interfering. 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

As Aero made his way through the ventilation shaft, he heard a slight rumble at the top of the ventilation shafts. He assumed it was a bird or something along those lines causing it...he couldn't be bothered by it at the moment. Regardless...he had a mission to accomplish. Now...how many are here... he thought, as he closed his eyes, only to reopen them and see a few people's heat signatures. They appeared to Aero as green...so they were on alert, but calm.

 

Hmm...two guards...and I can only assume that one of them has the key card. Not a whole lot of room for escape for this though...

 

Aero exhaled quietly, before he noticed something coming down from the ventilation shaft. A purple haze seemed to be seeping from where he had entered. This didn't bode well for him, so he quickly scrambled through the vents, before coming towards a dead end. However...this was bad for him. The vent stopped a few feet away from the two guards...so he would be right in front of the guards. Tch...not good. Aero thought, rummaging through his equipment, pulling out his revolver pistol, Tombstone, and quickly loading it with ammunition.

 

Taking a quick breath, Aero kicked open the vent, before dropping down in front of the two guards. The fact that he was brandishing a weapon, obviously is what made the guards react to drawing their weapons. Aero exhaled slightly...one on his right...one on his left.

 

With a quick movement, Aero rolled forward, immediately sending the first bullet into the first guard's hand. He moved and shot a second time, hitting the other guard's kneecap. Both guards fell down almost without a problem.

 

Aero watched the guards fall, before holstering Tombstone for the moment. The issue with the haze still was imminent...but... Aero moved and grabbed hold of a huge clay vase near the wall. Taking it, he quickly chucked it at the window, watching it shatter. Now the haze would have somewhere to go...and with all his targets incapacitated...the interrogations could finally begin.

 

"Alright..." Aero said, removing Tombstone from its holster, as he walked towards the guard he shot in the kneecap. He knelt down towards him, holding his revolver at the guard's chest. "Your gonna tell me what I want to know. If you don't...I'll put a bullet in you and your coworker." he said in a cold manner. "Now...tell me where the key card is."

[Hälō]

Julian West Financial Associates 20th Floor

 

"Now...tell me where the key card is."

 

"P-Please, just hold on kid!" The guard with the revolver pressed against his chest pleaded for his life whilst his partner frantically tried to stop the bleeding from the gapping wound in his hand. "Don't... don't tell him anything, Chris. You know we cant afford to lose these jobs." The man with the hole in his hand groaned through his pained expression as he glared up at Aero. 

 

"Yea? Well I think we need our lives a little more than this crappy gig...." The other guard shook his head in defeat before pointing a shaky finger towards his colleague. "The card's in his breast pocket."

 

As Aero's interrogation ran it's course, the large team of high level office workers and clerical assistants, who had been peacefully crunching numbers only moments before were now huddled in a large group at the far end of the hallway. Paralyzed with fear, the civilians did their best not to draw attention to themselves as they watched the spectacle unfold.

 

Utterly shocked that Chris had sold him out so quickly, the other guard swiftly brought himself to his feet. In a flurry of movement, the man grabbed a nearby chair with his good hand and hurled it towards his tormentor before bolting towards the staircase at the back end of the hallway, causing the crowd of workers to part to either side to allow the bleeding man to pass in his frenzied attempt to escape. Though he wouldn't make it very far...

 

Just as the wounded guard reached the door to the staircase and swung it wide open, the sound of gunfire filled the air once more, followed almost immediately by the light thud of the man's lifeless corps as it fell to the ground. Emerging from the stairwell with his pistol still drawn, Griever very casually brought his trusted weapon up towards the unknown Contractor and the the guard he had been interrogating. "Hey," Having been listening in on the entire confrontation by using his Latent Potential to weaken the wall of the stairwell, John didn't need to bother asking any questions. Without hesitation, he fired off three shots through the crowd of civilians; one of which aimed for the back of the remaining guard's head whilst the other two were intended for his fellow Contractor. 

[Alaina]

Wandering around, Echo had managed to blend into the large crowd of bankers and businessmen going about their daily lives and routine. Being a part of the flow, not doing particularly anything noteworthy, just being there. Were he observed for an extended period of time, the only thing anyone would be able to see odd about the boy, aside from his utter lack of destination in his wanderings, was every few minutes he seemed to lay a hand on a nearby wall, only to the go back into the flow of the crowd. This may have drawn suspicion in of itself, however, within the hustle bustle of such a gathering of people, it was not to odd to have someone simply break off for a brief period of time. 

 

The truth of the matter, though, was that Echo had been periodically sending a pulse throughout the building every few minutes or so. Each time he did, he would figure out the locations of each of the people on the floor, and over the extended period of time he had been doing this for, learn to recognize which shapes and movement patterns belonged to the guards. Of course, he had only really bothered to do this for the first and twentieth floor of the building, as trying to commit to memory not only all the occupants of said buildings but also those who surrounded it was both a daunting task and somewhat of an information overload. He continued to do this to see when one of the guards would eventually leave their position or intended route, or if there was one that went down his own route overly cautious. In the former case, it'd be the optimal situation to find them and pick them off. In the latter case, it would most likely lead him to the card key's holder. 

 

However, things didn't entirely go as planned, as panic started to ensue. An alarm had been pulled, sending most of the people into a bit of a nervous rush, though this only managed to make the crowd even easier to blend into. Both this and the noise of the alarm were rather convenient for his situation, and he could only think that it was oddly coincidental that today of all days an alarm would go off. Oh well. Sometimes, things just worked out in a certain way. As made his way to a wall, to understand the location of the guards in this scenario, there was something odd. First and foremost, people seemed to appear onto the twentieth floor, as if coming from side entrances, and there was one presence that was even on the roof. Even more curiously, one of the bodies of the guards seemed to be missing from the floor he was currently on. The man could've just been standing still, but given the situation, it was fairly unlikely. 

 

Walking over to look at the guards with his own eyes, Echo eventually managed to locate the body of one, somewhat headless, guard. Ah, that probably explained it. The other contractors were probably already here, going to hunt for the cards themselves. One must have already been on this floor and killed the man, though where they were and what they did afterwards was still a mystery to him. Nonetheless, it created an opportunity for Echo to use. It wouldn't be long before the others had noticed the body, and they would most likely do one of three things. Become overly cautious and keep away from it, freeze in place, or walk towards the body to examine it. Ideally, the third case would happen, though the second wouldn't be all too awful either. And so should they, Echo simply awaited amidst the confusion, and now apparent horror from some others who noticed the body for the guards to come within firing range and sight of the boy. He was prepared to take down all but one, leaving the last injured for interrogation. But killing all four would only make his job more tedious, not impossible. 

[Dad]

Julian West Financial Associates

Basement Level, 3:07 p.m.

 

The alarm sounded suddenly, signaling the local fire department, in addition to putting security into alert status.  He raised an eyebrow, standing up straight from the long, cold steel table, and tugging on the collar of his suit just a bit.  The man across from him sat silently, handcuffed to an equally cold steel chair, staring blankly at the over dressed thug.  Without any change in his expression, he could tell what was going on by looking at Julian's expression.  Julian balled a fist, punching the table and denting it rather easily.  The grey, pinstriped suit and lavender colored dress shirt suggested he was well off.  But the many rings across his right hand suggested his tastes were tacky.  Four square cut jewels were now smashed against steel, making his fat fingers swell.  Julian took a deep breath, as he stared into his victim's eyes.  "For your sake," he said, breathing heavily.  His deep voice would ordinarily strike intimidation into men, and lust into women.  But not for this captive.  "That better be a real fire."

 

Julian turned his back to his guest, opening a one way glass framed door, and slamming it shut behind him.  Through the steel door, he could just barely make out what Julian was saying.  He watched the lengthy dreadlocks on Julian's head sway left and right rapidly, as he turned to bark orders to the numerous men on the nearly empty basement floor.  "Secure the elevator.  And send two squads up to every fuckin' floor.  I want eyes.  And if you see any freaks, shoot to kill.  I want safeties off."

 

A heavily armored male concealed behind black riot gear rapidly stood up straight, saluting Julian, before mouthing off, "Sir!" and scurrying towards the far south end of the basement, taking nine men wearing identical tactical gear with him.  Assigning two groups of five, they entered the elevator past the concrete columns, and disappeared to up into the building.  

 

Beside Julian, a younger black male in a plain white t-shirt and jean shorts and tennis shoes approached.  "We got a problem," he said casually.

 

Julian turned his large head slightly, waiting on this man's reply.  

 

"They got a body upstairs.  We un' know when it happened, but he got one ta the dome, one ta the gut.  And they got shots on radio."

 

Julian sighed, his fist tightening as he listened to the goon's words.  "Get your boys, get strapped up.  I don't know when, but sooner or later, the bastards are gonna make it down here.  And I want everybody."

 

The young goon turned to walk away, but stopped as he heard the last of Julian's words.  

 

"Wait.  Errybody?"

 

Julian turned to look at the goon, drawing a large silver pistol from his pocket.  "Don't make me ask you again, Jeremy.  Everybody."

 

"Aight, aight!  Damn."  The goon disappeared into the shadows past a palette of weapons crates, off to fulfill his orders.  Julian marched forwards, still commanding his men.

 

"I want a team at the elevator ready for when this goes down.  I knew he was important.  I knew the risks.  I'm not givin' him up easy.  I want two more teams on our guest.  The rest of you, double time.  If it ain't one of ours, it dies.  If it crosses onto this God damn floor, I'll kill you myself.  And get those idiots off my lines!  We can go back to cooks after this sheet is sorted out!  Shut it down!"  Julian watched his soldiers scramble, wiping sweat from his large brown forehead.

 

Some of them crossed a very clearly marked, double wide yellow line on the cement floor, passing large plastic flaps that seemed to separate the floor horizontally.  He could hear the sound of panic, as his men waved their guns around to move his 'workers' out of their stations.  The others took to their posts immediately, as Julian turned around to stare at his guest through the one way glass and steel box that separated them.  He thought carefully about his next move, but in the back of his mind he was pondering something else.  "Who the funk is this dude?"

 

And his guest--his facial expression still unchanged--sat patiently, calmly.  He gently brushed his fingers slowly against one another, twiddling his thumbs.  

 

---

 

The four freight elevator guards were put on high alert.  The four of them looked to each other as the alarm sounded, two of them breaking off to move to the lobby.  Some forty seconds later, the corpse of a fallen guard was discovered, prompting one of the guards to place a finger to his ear.  What he said was unintelligible over the sound of the alarm, and the sudden panic of the people, but he returned to his station with his partner not moments later.  Remaining lobby guards went to the entrance of the building, in order to escort civilians and employees outside safely.  And exactly two minutes after this guard returned to his post at the freight elevator, it dinged behind him, signaling all four of the freight elevator guards to stand aside.

 

Ten men dressed in riot gear emerged from the elevator, splitting off into teams of five, going down either side of the halls to the two elevators.  They were carrying large M4A1 assault rifles, with scopes, their safety mechanisms having been turned off since they got off of the elevator.  As the elevators arrived, one man from either team stayed behind, blocking entrance to the elevators from the lobby.  The now teams of four were sent up to each individual floor, one by one, prepared to open fire at any suspicious individuals immediately.

 

[spoiler=Notes]

 

Of the ten men Julian sent up into the main building, only eight in total will be climbing up the elevators.  Two others will remain in the lobby, blocking off either elevator entrance.  Currently, the firing squad (as they will now be referred to) are on the second floor, searching the area.

 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"The card's in his breast pocket."

 

"See, cooperation." Aero said, moving away from the guard, Chris, he was over, only to see the other guard make a run for it. Well, not before making a last ditch effort and throwing a chair his way. Aero gracefully moved out of the way of the thrown chair, preparing to take another shot at him...but was instead presented with a different outcome.

 

Upon reaching the door to the staircase, Aero watched as it swung open and gunfire was heard. Further inspection showed that the guard with the key card fell over...colder than ice. He remained calm as he watched another Contractor walking in, this one being Griever.

 

"Hey."

 

That was all this Contractor said, before holding up his pistol and firing off three rounds. The first one, thankfully was heading towards the guard Chris...it was a headshot and a clean one too. However, he was of no use to Aero now. He had the information he needed...and now just needed to... He then noticed the two other rounds heading in his direction. Waste of bullets... Aero thought, as he quickly dodged to his left, having both bullets completely miss him.

 

Aero rolled a bit until he hit some good cover behind a wall and filing cabinet. He exhaled slightly, deciding to want to speak to this competition of his. "Waiting for someone else to get the information you needed. An interesting tactic to use." he said, moving slightly. Aero knew he should keep moving, just to keep himself mobile so this Contractor wouldn't hit him. "An interesting tactic...but one cowards use."

[Hälō]

"Waiting for someone else to get the information you needed. An interesting tactic to use." The other Contractor called from behind cover, prompting John to swiftly shift Margret over to where he now knew the other man was hiding. Pulling the trigger once, he watched as the 45 caliber round punched a hole clean through thin office wall, only to kiss his teeth in annoyance upon realizing that his target had moved yet again.

 

"An interesting tactic...but one cowards use." The boy's voice chimed again. So his opposition was a chatter box, eh? "You ever been in a fight with another Contractor before, kid?" Griever called down the hallway over the chaos of the civilians scrambling for cover. As he spoke, he slowly began to lower his body down towards the corps of the security guard to secure the card for the elevator whilst keeping his pistol trained on the wall his fellow assassin was using as cover. "There's usually a lot less talking..." John continued whilst sliding his hand into the deadman's breast pocket.

 

"There we ar- f***." Griever began to mumble to himself as his fingers brushed the smooth surface of the keycard, though he was forced to swiftly yank his hand from the corps before he could grab it, after catching a glimpse of the enemy contractor as they rolled over the left side of the hallway, firing what sounded a like a pretty large side arm as he did so. Reacting quickly, Griever skillfully pivoted to the right avoid the first of the bullets before rolling backwards and diving through the door of the stairway. Though unfortunately it seemed that the kid was a hell of a marksmen...

 

Sitting with his back against the wall of the staircase, Griever examined the fresh bullet hole that had appeared in his coat. "Right above the heart..." John thought to himself as he rolled his shoulder to assess the damages. Ignoring the soreness left from the impact of the enemy round through the kevlar of his suit, John brought himself to his feet with a slight grunt before dusting himself off. "Not bad, kid. You may be worth killing after all." He said in a low tone whilst placing his hand on the door's handle. Using his ability to weaken the door and it's frame, the dark haired man proceeded to push forward with all of his strength, ripping the staircase's door clean off it's hinges as he reentered the hallway with a crash.

 

Instantly reinforcing the door with his power, John brought his makeshift shield up to protect himself as he began sprinting forward at frightening speed. As he advanced, Griever raised his pistol up the side of his homemade riot shield, firing off a shot to serve as cover fire whilst he attempted to close the distance between him and his prey.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Mute had managed to slip away during the confusion, before the guards began to organize things. She hide inside the bathroom, gently humming a song for a while, waiting for as long as she thought it’d take to clear the room.
She splashed some water in her face and gave herself a couple slaps, bringing a red flushed look to her face. After which she headed out into the lobby, clearly confused and in a panic.
The guards noticed her first and raised their weapons. Before they spoke she broke out into tears and began to blabber at them. “I was in the bathroom when the alarm happened I didn’t know what to do is there a fire why are you still here then what’s going on someone PLEASE help me!”
The guards looked at each other, had a small argument, then the one on the left shrugged and leaned back slightly, glancing around the lobby, eyes searching for foul play.
The one on the right approached Mute, not lowering his weapon. She shivered as she looked at the gun and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the sight of a weapon.
“Come on, move.” The guard said, ushering her towards the door.
“This is very sweet of you sir. You really didn’t need to do this and I bet you weren’t supposed to anyw-” As Mute spoke she turned to look at the guard, then over his shoulder. Her jaw dropped and she let out a sudden scream of fear.
The guard whipped around to see what the problem was. During which time Mute turned off the sound and drew her pistol, aiming for the back of the man’s neck and firing off three silent shots.
“What they hell is going on over there, you trying something with...what they funk?”
The remaining guard had realized something was wrong when his fellow guard suddenly halted and jerked from the impact of the bullets.

Mute managed to snag the gun from the man’s dead hands before he started to fall.
She followed him down, using his falling body as a cover while she leveled the M4A1 at the living enemy. He started to fire, but just a moment before him Mute herself opened fire, emptying a silent clip into the man. Bullets tore into various body parts, riddling him with holes until he dropped.
She looked at the gun now in her hands, debating if it was worth losing her surprise factor for the superior fire power.
Just then a man stumbled out of the men’s bathroom, in a state of panic. She smiled widely as she saw this. How delightfully ironic, someone actually WAS in the bathroom. She giggled, eerily silent, as she leveled her gun on the civilian and shot him in the head. Still giggling, Mute decided to check through the dead guard’s equipment to see if there was anything else worth using, while listening hard to all noise outside of her small bubble of silence. She wouldn’t want “The One” sneaking up on her or, worse, away from her right?

[Alaina]

Echo had been moving along with the rest of the herd when things started to get a bit more dicey. The guards had already started to become more cautious, and the addition of the two new guards guarding the civilian elevators only seemed to further complicate the situation. If things started to break out into a full on shoot out, the two new guards would most likely be the biggest threats to deal with. So the obvious course of action was to deal with them before they could even get the chance to react. But it wasn't as though he could just ignore the fact that the six other guards on the floor existed. Then again, if the first dead body was anything to go by, there was already another contractor amidst these civilians, and they'd want the guards dead as much as Echo did. With that in mind, he began to think of a way to deal with the heavily armed guards. 

 

Reaching into his back pocket, Echo pulled out a stun grenade and primed it. Nonchalantly tossing it into the crowd, he then reached back into the jacket he was wearing, pulling out a pistol that was within it. None of the rest of the crowd seemed to notice as they were busy paying attention to leaving the building at the time. Then the grenade went off, disorienting a large majority of civilians, and catching the attention of everyone else nearby. While they were distracted, all the guards seemed to ready their weapons, and while they were cautious, for two of them it would already be too late. Echo fired off the shots from his pistol at the more heavily armed guards, dropping them immediately, and causing the crowd to go into an even more panicked frenzy then they already were in. 

 

Some of the civilians knew where it came from, and that just made them the first to run as far away from the boy as possible, only to slam into the rest of the chaos that was this mob. Echo simply walked back into the mob, holstering his gun, and getting shoved by some random person who wanted to get out of the building as fast as possible. Each time he was shoved, he would use it as a means to fall to the ground and land on his palms. Each time this happened, two things would occur. The first was his tremor sense being used to figure out the actions of the guards and other civilians, (and figure out that two more guards had recently been killed.) The second, was to send the noise of gunshots resounding through the crowd twenty feet in any sort of direction from himself. This would cause to make panic only larger, and the situation to grow more out of control for the guards. Echo would then pick himself up, only to get shoved by another person and have the whole process repeat itself. 

[Mr. Hyde]

Pandemic remained in the ventilation shaft, biding his time until the noise and dust cleared.  However, he knew he was in pursuit of one contractor, but seemingly a new one arrived on the scene.  Listening in on their exchange, Pandemic had all the information he needed to know...now he would need to get rid of the dead weight in possession of the key cards.  

 

"Good grief...I might be a coward...but cowards live to fight another day."  

 

A volley of gunshots could be heard coming from the hallway below him, and he sighed.  These two would take too long to kill each other...bantering and using lame excuses for quips.

 

It was time for the plague to enter the scene.

 

He dropped down from the vent and into the fray, a round globe like object in his hand.  Swiftly, before he could be seen, he plucked a pin from the globe and threw it into the farther part of the hallway.  

 

"Geez...way to bring guns to a gas fight.  Kekekeke!"  A large burst of toxic gas enveloped the air.  He waited for the right moment to strike the contractors...when they would succumb to the gas.  

[Ren✧]

The second guard was as easy to eliminate as the first. Using the toy ball she had brought along as a decoy after the halls had cleared, following the resounding sound of her gunshot, and mimicking the voice of a terrified little boy, the guard had rounded the corner right into the barrel of Eliza's gun. It was child's play. Quite literally. These mercenaries were honestly nothing more than an inconvenience, the true problem was the other Contractor and from the sounds of things, they were busy just a floor below her. 

 

"Ready or not, here I come." She said, hoping that she wasn't too late to claim the keycard. Taking to the stairs, she vaulted over the railing and was on the 20th floor in seconds. She was quite sure why she hesitated in throwing open the door, but she was glad she had. Peaking through the small window that the staircase window provided she watched as a purple haze began to envelope the floor. Eliza lurched back, actually running into a poor, panicked man that was trying to flee down the stairs from all the commotion. 

 

"sheet." Eliza muttered to herself. She thought she was prepared for just about everything. Of course she knew that Contractors were a wild card that not even she could anticipate, but already there were so many obstacles and she had yet to even see a key car-.

 

Through the haze she made out two men firing off rounds at each other. Their movements were defined and carrying all the trademarks of a trained killer. Logic told her that these two wouldn't be fighting it out like this if one of them didn't have the card. Still she wouldn't be able to get through the gas. She would have to bring them to her. 

 

Bringing the door open just wide enough so that her voice could be heard on the 20th floor Eliza masked her voice, choosing to mimic the panicked man she had bumped into just moments before. "Gas leak! Gas leak! It's coming from the elevator, go to the stairs!" Hoping that her ruse would functionally cut off the Contractors' route of escape, Eliza moved so that she couldn't be seen from the small window and readied her gun for anyone that came bursting through the door. 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"You ever been in a fight with another Contractor before, kid? There's usually a lot less talking..."

 

Kid? Now that was demeaning... Nevertheless, Aero knew what would have this Contractor's attention: the key card in the dead guard's pocket. He could faintly hear the footsteps of the Contractor moving towards the dead body he stood near. Silently, Aero counted from ten to one...then...

 

"There we ar- f***."

 

Aero rolled out from cover and shot off a few rounds towards this Contractor. Apparently he did a good enough job to where he prevented him from even taking the card. The bullet assault pushed this Contractor back towards the stairwell, but he knew that he pegged the guy. Right above the heart... he smirked, releasing the empty shells from his revolver and reloading. This time...he threw some of the GOOD stuff: his incendiary ammunition. Alright...a nice shot of this will make some good work. Aero thought, spinning the revolver chamber quickly, before readying it. And it was a good thing he did so...

 

Peeking from his cover, he watched this Contractor now moving towards his location with a makeshift shield...the stairwell door. Aero had to commend this genius idea...but then again...he wasn't going to take this lightly.

 

"Five....four...three...two...one..." Aero mumbled to himself, before moved and dove out from his cover, shooting two rounds of his incendiary ammo at the Contractor's feet. No doubt, even with the shield, the Contractor would be knocked back and probably dazed. It was his moment now. Aero took a mad dash towards the Contractor and slid towards the dead guard, swiftly taking the key card from his pocket.

 

At that point...things got a bit crazier. Aero watched as something rolled down the hall, before exploding into a ball of gas. He pocketed the key card and looked back at the stairwell. However, the Contractor he fought was still near the entrance. However...

 

Must be crazy! Aero turned and headed towards the hole in the window, quickly getting his sniper rifle off his back. Soon his foot pushed off the ground and he went soaring out the window. He brought his rifle's scope up and immediately took a shot right onto a flagpole that hung above the 20th floor, his zipline hook taking hold as he began his descent towards the ground.

Alright...one down...one to go!

[Ren✧]

Sebastian had descended on the scene like a messenger of death, unfortunately it seemed like he was a bit too late. Pulling out a sniper rifle and firing at the window behind the three assassins, one particular Contractor made a daring attempt to not only swipe the key card from the dead guard but also escape from the newly shattered window. For a moment, Sebastian wasn't quite sure how to react. It was truly quite astounding, but he didn't really have time to applaud his competition. There was still another Contractor to worry about, the one wielding a door like a riot shield, and of course he would be going after the key card. If he hurried he could meet the sniper down by the freight elevator and take it from him. 

 

As the toxic gas from his grenade continued to fill the room, Sebastian looked at his possible ways of getting to the ground floor. He couldn't hope to follow out the window, not unless he wanted to end up like a bug on a windshield, that left the elevator or the stairwell. He feared the elevator would be too slow, plus they might be busy during an emergency with the alarm sounding. Unfortunately the stairwell was quite well guarded by the other Contractor. Of course, if he decided to wait for an elevator he would have to fight with him even longer. 

 

Stairwell it was. Besides, by going for the stairwell he could take out whatever bastard was falsely claiming that his toxic gas was leaking from the elevator. 

 

Drawing his two semi-automatic pistols, he began to fire off round after round at the shielded contractor, all the while his Plague Grenade filling up more of the hallway with toxic gas. Ducking into the purple haze, he fired off a few more rounds randomly before rushing the stairwell, making it in under the guise of his thinning smog, which was quickly being sucked out of the open window. 

 

He turned to be faced with the barrel of a gun.

 

 

Eliza waited. Waited and waited. It was honestly only a few seconds, maybe a minute or two, but it made seem like her plan had failed. She heard several more rounds being traded in the hallway, saw a flash of orange, and the unmistakeable sound of shattered glass. If she had to guess, one of the Contractors had escaped through the large window that made up the eastern side of the building. Eliza could only hope that he didn't think his exit strategy through and was now a bit flatter than when he started his descent. 

 

The illustrious Catcall was about to give up when a man in a metal mask came charging through the door. He was unmistakably a Contractor, no one else would dress that...ridiculously. Of course, she would have thought that on a job like this he would have disguised himself a little better. Oh well, it was his mistake. Firing off a round point blank, she was surprised to find that while the shot seemed to stun the man, it ricocheted off of his mask and knocked it loose, bringing it to the ground.

 

Ready to fire off another round in quick succession, Eliza hesitated when a lavender haze spilled out of the man's mouth, curling through the air and settling around her gun. Immediately the metal began to corrode, melting in her hands. Instinct kicked in and she dropped it, causing it to misfire, but the bullet was either already eaten or lodged in the mangled weapon. "Kekeke!" The Contractor taunted, more of the smog leeching out of his mouth and now moving towards Eliza. 

 

Knowing instinctively that coming in contact with it would be disastrous, Eliza ducked under the slow moving cloud, jerking her arm out, causing one of her throwing knives to spring from their hidden sheaths into her hand. Unfortunately the Contractor had recovered from his dazed condition and fired at Eliza with his pistols. Eliza pushed with her legs, rolling into the dark haired assailant and dodging his first volley of bullets while the second went into the concrete ceiling.

 

Wasting no time, Eliza rose and jabbed her small knife into his neck, slashing horizontally. Immediately, her knife began to melt but it didn't matter. The Contractor was dead, his blood now spilling onto the floor and making quick work of it. "Kekeke, indeed." She imitated him, picking up one of his guns, which she noticed included a silencer. It would make a nice replacement until the job was done. 

 

Careful to avoid any remnants of his breath or his pooling blood, Eliza took off down the stairs. She doubted the remaining Contractor had the key, logic told her it was the one that had escaped out the window. She was so far behind now. "JABRONI!" She cursed wildly. However, silently she felt a small fleck of accomplishment in eliminating at least one of the wild cards. 

[Hälō]

Julian West Financial Associates

20th floor , 3:10 p.m.

 

BMG

 

Griever grunted in annoyance as the Contractor in the green suit fired off incendiary rounds towards his feet, causing him to pivot to the left whilst using his ability to reinforce his shoes. Even more chaos had broken out on the floor now, and as a noxious purple gas began fill the hallway, John was forced to raise his shield again as some freak in a plague doctor get up opened fire on him. "Like f***ing vermin..." John cursed as his lungs began to burn from the gas. Taking a slopping swing at the kid with the revolver whilst he slid past his feet and snagged the card, John broke into a another coughing fit. Whatever was in this gas was bad news... 

 
Watching as Aero bolted towards the window and jumped, John tossed the door aside before getting down on his knees and placing his palm on the hallway floor. His vision now becoming blurry from the toxin, Griever hastily used his latent potential to weaken the office floor before raising his pistol and firing off a few rounds into the carpet, taking extra care to save exactly two bullets for what he knew would come next.
 
"You're not getting off that easy, kid." Looking up to watch Aero fire his grabbling hook up towards the roof, Griever hastily reinforced his pistol before bringing it down into the weakened office floor with his monstrous strength, causing it to cave in. As he tumbled down through the medium sized hole in ceiling and landed on the 19th floor in a hail of debris, John caught himself on his hands in knees just has he heard a gruff voice shout from a few yards behind him. "What the- HEY!"
 
"Two on every floor..." Griever absently recited the information presented to him in the mission briefing, as he brought himself to his feet and glanced over his shoulder. Swiftly drawing Margret, the assassin effortlessly pegged the two guards in the chest with the two bullets he had saved just a few moments ago before breaking off into a sprint towards the window and holstering his weapon. Reaching his destination in a mere seconds, Griever reached into his jacket to retrieve his knife whilst cocking is right hand backwards and reinforcing his gloves.
 
With another grunt, Griever stepped forward and smashed his fist through the glass to reach out and grab the other contractor's zip line, causing sparks to dance in the air from the friction. Just then, the elevators opened to reveal the one of the fire team that had been despatched to clear the up levels of the building. "THERE'S ONE! TAKE HIM OUT! JACKSON. MARTINEZ. You two push up through the stairs." A commanding voice boomed down the hall, causing Griever to kiss his teeth. With only seconds to act, John hastily swiped his blade across the other Contractors lifeline, slightly disappointed that he wouldn't get to watch his opposition fall to their death.  
 
Rolling to the right to avoid a hail of gunfire from down the hall, Griever began calmly reloading as he listened to the heavy footsteps of the two soldiers that were sent towards the stairs. Gently feeding Margret a fresh clip, the man slowly brought himself back up to his feet before exhaling deeply. Maybe one of these pieces of garbage would actually kill him this time...

 

He played with the possibility of actually being able catch some rest in a nice cozy grave somewhere, but instantly dismissed the thought after realizing he had a date lined up this evening. His dead gaze narrowing slightly, the man rolled his shoulders before stepping back out into the hall. 

 

 

Kicking through the door to the staircase and flinging himself inside, Jackson's heavy build collided with that of a woman's, causing him to stumble backwards into Martinez who had been right behind him. "Move it la-" He began, before as he regained his composer for the collision and setting his eyes the one armed Contractor. "f***." He muttered under his breath before taking a swing at Catcall with the butt of his rifle. 

 

"I got your back!" Intent on aiding his partner, Martinez quickly brought his own rifle up towards the assailant before pulling the trigger in an attempt to give the staircase a new red paint job.   

 

Julian West Financial Associates

Lobby , 3:13p.m.

 

Meanwhile in the lobby, the six guards responsible for that floor seemed to be having a pretty rough day. With only two men still standing, the pair of mercenaries found themselves diving towards cover as the sound of gunshots filled the room, causing the crowd to erupt into even more of panic.

 

"f*** this, man!" The younger of the two guards cried out in desperation before rolling to the corps of one of his fallen comrades and scooping the deadman's M4A1 and ammo. The pressure of being trusted with the keycard for the elevator had final gotten to him, and if he was going to be a target, this man was sure as hell going to out swinging. Flicking off the safety, the young guard began to open fire on the crowd in an attempt silence their attacker. The shrieks of the civilians began to intensify as bodies began to fall to the ground in groups. High caliber rounds began to punch through the crowd at an alarming rate, and as the guard began to walk forward towards the door, their numbers began to thin rabidly.

 

Positive that his comrade had gone completely insane, the second guard decided to go for the more subtle approach. Keeping his gaze trained on the girl who seemed to be searching the body of one of his fallen allies, the more experienced guard took notice of her weapon and cursed himself for dropping his own firearm in the chaos.

 

Drawing a knife from his boot, the man used the commotion caused be the other guard's massacre to place himself behind the little murderer. Bringing his blade up in a knife fighter's stance, the man took a deep breath and lunged towards Mute's flank with the intent to kill. 

 

 

Julian West Financial Associates

Lobby , 3:18.m.

"This.... this is Commander Hugo...." The leader of the fire team struggled to speak with a shattered sternum as he laid back against the elevator wall. Glancing down at the two bullet holes in his left leg, the mercenary coughed violently as he shifted his gaze back to the man in the suit as he watched the contractor flip one of his soldiers as if the were a child, before casually putting a bullet in their head.

 

"Back... up.... please... we need back up immediately!"

 

Griever watched the man plead into his headset whilst slowly approaching. The entire 19th floor was now in shambles, with blood and the bodies of the fire team scattered all through out the area. His suit now littered with scratches and bullet holes, John took a moment to wipe his own blood from his lip before settling his shark-like gaze on Commander Hugo. "You're.... you're..." The injured man began only to grow silent when Griever leveled his gun to him. 

 

"A monster." Griever finished the man's sentence for him, punctuating it with a bullet through the center of his skull. 

[Dad]

Julian West Financial Associates

3:19 p.m.

 

"Back... up.... please... we need back up immediately!"

 

That was the last  broadcast Julian overheard from Hugo, a man who had been loyal and unwavering to him for years.  He trusted Hugo.  To do what needed to be done.  To make the hard call.  But today, Hugo had made his first and last mistake.  Crushing the walkie in his bare hands, Julian dropped the remains to his feet, and kicked them to the concrete wall.  His giant black knuckles cracked, as he stretched out a hand, and exercised his fingers.  "Guess I'll have to do this myself," he said softly, walking to the isolated glass room, and wrenching open the steel and glass framed door.  Two armed guards followed him, standing in wait as he walked towards his guest.  "Stand him up.  We're going to end this before it can begin," Julian ordered, the two armed guards rushing to either side of the man in the black suit.

 

He was bald, wearing thin, square rimmed black glasses, with deep silver eyes beneath them.  Two gold earrings in either of his ears reflected softly off of the dull light above him, the only notably different feature from his plain black suit, white dress shirt, and black tie.  Black, square toed shoes and simple black and gold cufflinks completed the stranger's ensemble, an outfit for any ordinary man, or any extraordinary man.  Who was to tell the difference?  

 

As the guards stood him up, they un-cuffed him from the steel chair.  He flinched, nearly making a bold move.  But he resisted the temptation to escape, breathing deeply as he was again handcuffed as the guards walked him towards Julian.

 

"Sir.  Where do we take him?"

 

Julian was still frowning, nodding his head towards the elevator.  "The lobby.  Whoever wants him got through Hugo and my guards.  They're probably loaded.  And obviously they're trained," he said following the guards to the elevator.  "So we'll meet 'em halfway.  If they're stupid enough to get in my wayt, he said as his he stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders.  "Then they obviously don't have what it takes to claim this bounty.  But if they get past me," he said over the ding of the freight elevator.

 

"Burn everything to ash.  And make it look like an accident.  My people will take care of the rest."  A silent salute behind him, and the marching of many footsteps gave Julian comfort.  He stepped onto the freight elevator, causing it to shift as he did so.  Following him were the two guards and his guest.  They rose swiftly to the lobby floor, where they could hear the screams of innocent people, and feel the chaos ensuing around them.

 

Julian's frown grew deeper, as he was consumed by rage.  "What exactly makes you such a valuable target, old man?" he asked, stepping off of the freight elevator, with the guards and his guest behind him.  "You're gonna talk," he said snatching the guest by the collar, and shoving him and the guards forwards.  The guards stumbled slightly, but caught their balance and stayed leveled with the guest.  "Or I'm gonna slit your fuckin' throat and move on.  Either way, I get what I want.  So if you value your life--"

 

"What's the matter, Julian?" the guest asked, after not having spoken in days.

 

Julian paused, only seconds away from grabbing the old man by the throat.

 

"Are you out of hired guns?  So now you're threatening me because you can't handle a few freaks?  Why should I fear you over them?"

 

Julian walked forwards and kicked the older man in the back of the knee, forcing him down.  "Because I don't have use for you.  The bounty with your face on it is dead or alive.  I could blow your funking brains out right now, but that won't send these bastards home.  So I wanna know why.  Why are you so important?"

 

The old man gave a pained smiled, raising his head as he looked forwards into the escaping crowd of civilians, only stragglers remaining.  "Why don't you ask the little girl that's coming to kill you?" he said aloud.

 

[spoiler=Notes]

 

Julian, the guest target, and six guards can be found on the lobby floor.  Julian is not a Contractor.  Julian can be killed, but not at this time.  Julian is considered a B O S S level NPC.  Julian can be knocked unconscious.

 

Julian and his guest are surrounded by a total of six guards.  Two of them are armored.  The other four are only wearing suits and small arms vests.  All of them are using M4A1 rifles with scopes.  Guards can be killed.  There are no more civilians on the lobby floor.

 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Aero was homefree at this moment, he had the first keycard and just needed to make his way towards the lobby. If only it was that simple. These were other Contractors he was going up against...of course it wouldn't be easy.

 

He felt something grabbing onto his zipline, before looking up to see the familiar face of the Contractor Griever holding onto his line, watching sparks dance from the entire thing. Damn...what's he doing? he thought, before seeing a blade sweeping across the line. With that Griever left Aero...and he began to fall. The line had been severed...and downside... D-Damnit...that was my only zipline! he thought, currently falling from where he was at.

 

A plan was needed now. He didn't have a parachute, nor another zipline. Hell! He didn't even have any abilities to keep him in the air. The only logical solution was...oh and that was gonna hurt. Aero took a deep breath, holding out his hand for a moment, before his hand firmly hit the edge of a window, causing him to stop suddenly and be jerked. Of course, this meant that he dislocated his shoulder. But the pain meant nothing to him right now...

 

Aero slowly pulled himself onto the window ledge, holding his shoulder. Fight through the pain. That's what they taught you. he thought, trying to reassess his current surrounding. Well...fell from the 20th floor. Without the wind to stop me or slow me down...I can safely bet that I've gotten down to at least the 5th floor... He took a small break for a moment, trying to pop his shoulder back into place.

[Ren✧]

Eliza had just began her descent down the staircase when she was stopped, quite abruptly, by two men carrying rifles that came crashing through the 19th floor stairwell door. She was fully prepared to throw herself into hysterics, begging to be shown down to the lobby by the two big, strong men, but before she could even begin to lay it on it appeared as though her cover had been blown. The Crocodiles were apparently on the hunt. That would mean they would bring out their biggest guns to protect Eliza's mark. Just another thing that wasn't going according to plan.

 

Cartwheeling to avoid the butt of a rifle to her face, Eliza hooked the crook of her leg on the neck of the closest assailant. Pulling him to the side to be used as human shield for the salvo of bullets fired from the second guard's gun, Eliza returned upright just in time to draw her stolen gun. The guard that had tried to bludgeon her now laid at her feet, killed by his partner's bullets. Eliza squared the other guard up, he doing the same to her, their weapons trained on the other.

 

"You know there's no way you make it out of here alive." He remarked, his finger twitching slightly on the trigger but pulling back last minute. Eliza could see a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. Eliza's lips twitched upward in a smile.

 

"You know there's no way you make it out of here alive." She said, mimicking the guard's low baritone voice, her pistol still outstretched and readied should he show the slightest weakness or sign of hesitation.

 

"Y-you're s-some kind of magician or something, a freak? Doesn't matter, you're dead." Martinez said, almost as if he was reassuring himself, more than threatening Eliza. 

 

"More like the devil." Eliza said dramatically, licking her lips and chuckling throatily. She watched as Martinez's breath caught slightly in his throat and he instinctively began to reach for the small golden chain that disappeared beneath his Kevlar, a chain that Eliza could only assume ended in a cross. Too late did he realize his mistake and moved to fire. By then Eliza's bullet was well on it's way to his head.

 

Taking off down the stairs again, Eliza was going to have a fit if someone got to the next key card before her.  

[Alaina]

As Echo continued to move with the flow with the crowd, it had appeared that things were starting to get a bit more hectic. Echo couldn't really tell why or when it started, but could only assume one of the guards had started to go a bit crazy. The sounds of gunfire lining the lobby could immediately be heard as the man opened fire on the crowd of people, clearly not caring who was who at the moment. Before Echo could really deal with the situation handily, he was knocked over once again and forced to the ground. However, this was time it was less from the crowd shoving each other and instead due to the lifeless bodies of them falling to the side, dozens at a time. As the man continued to fire upon the crowd, Echo had just lied there until both the bullets and the people had stopped entirely. 

 

Once it was clear that every passerby was good and dead, Echo had decided that about now was a good time to make his move. Lying on the ground, amidst the pile of dead bodies, he reached back into his coat to retrieve his gun out. As he started to stand back up, he struck the ground with his free hand, causing the noise of bullets firing to sound out from the crowd, though a bit of a ways away from where Echo was. This pulled the nerve wracked guard's attention, causing him to open fire almost immediately to where the noise was coming from. The only thing this managed to accomplish was to mangle the already shot corpses and pull the attention of the guard away from the last thing that would ever see him still breathing. 

 

When guard's attention had shifted, Echo had managed to half raise himself off the ground before taking aim. With the sound of three bullets being released from his gun, the gunfire of the guard had stopped. The now bullet ridden man had simply loosened his grip on the gun, as he collapsed onto the ground, lying in a slump. With him being taken care of, Echo used his tremorsense to quickly evaluate the situation. It was overall completely unnecessary, though, as there was a guard quite clearly in plain view going after a girl, who was equally in plain sight, with a knife. Looking at the girl, she seemed to be standing over a corpse, entirely unfazed by pretty much everything going on around her. 

 

Due to this, Echo came to the immediate and obvious conclusion that she too was a contractor, and thus was likely a threat to him in this mission. While the opportunity to bring her and the guard she was facing down had showed itself to him, there was something else that caught his attention. Continuing to sense to the vibrations in the ground, it was clear that there was a group of people that were moving. Upward. From where? Down the hall. If Echo had remembered correctly, that was the direction of the freight elevator. All that meant at this point was that there was no longer a need for the keycards. And so he stood up, not paying any mind to the guard corpses that littered the floor, nor the one the girl was going against. 

 

Echo simply strode down the hallway of the freight elevator, knowing exactly what he needed to do. Releasing the magazine of his pistol, he simply pulled one out from within his coat and loaded it up. He knew that he'd need a full one for what was coming. Then, putting the gun away for a moment, he got out the next of his stun grenades at the ready. As the ding of the elevator resounded throughout the room, Echo had tossed the grenade at the door. When the guards had come out, the young male drew his pistol, and readied his aim towards them. When the grenade went off, he had already figured out his targets. 

 

All of them were wielding the same weapon, yet only two of them were armored. That just meant two were harder to bring down. Which meant that 4 others were just as dangerous, but easier to kill. Less fire, less danger. And so Echo opened fire on the men in suits, managing to get to three of them before his window of free shooting had ended. With that, he swiftly went on the move to get out of the way of the guards, so that he could get some form of cover using the wall. With the target now in close proximity, the mission seemed so close to end. Yet with the guards at the ready, and now the contractor as well, there were two words to describe what this situation had shaped up to be. A pain. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Mute rummaged through the guard's body, finding nothing particularly interesting. Though he did have some gum in one pocket which Mute took the liberty of sticking in her mouth. "Mmm, minty fresh."

Due to her sound mute being still active she could hear the action outside of the small area clearly. There was some sort of gun fight but that wasn't what she was worried about. She heard movement behind her.

Mute contracted the silence field to much closer towards her body and waited, as she reached under her skirt to grab the knife that was on the opposite thigh as her gun. She waited, and listened, and waited, and listened, until suddenly she couldn't hear the movement.

 

She stood and spun on the spot, seeing the guard approaching her. She smiled widely as she lashed out with her own knife.

The guard managed to avoid being cut open, and lunged forward, aiming to shove the knife between her eyes.

Unblinking, Mute ducked under the thrust, and pushed her own knife upward and into the man's wrist. She twisted it as he screamed silently. There was a moment of panic as the man realized that he wasn't making any noise and, during it, she lunged forward and BIT into the man's neck, drawing blood and causing the man to flail wildly and drop his blade.

 

She pulled her blade from the man's wrist and shoved it into his eye, straight to the brain.

Stepping back, with blood dripping from her lips, Mute began to giggle. "Maybe The One would like this look better, he IS a killer too after all."

Looking around the room, Mute realized she was all on her own now, and decided to rush towards the closest hallway that led to the freight elevator. Maybe if she worked fast enough she could deal with them right now.

 

She didn't bother to move slowly, as her footsteps were muffled. Though she knew she had been using her ability for a while now and she'd have to deactivate it soon or risk losing it for a long while. A little longer was all she needed, however.

As she peeked into the room she saw it was packed with guards. However shortly after she looked a stun grenade went off. Rapid fire shots rang out as several guards toppled.

Mute grinned and raised the machine gun she had liberated from the guard, and emptied the last of its ammo into one of the armored guards, hoping to score a lucky hit in all this confusion.

Once the clip was used up she dropped the weapon and pressed her body against the hallway wall, inching away from sight, and turning off her silencing power. The time had almost come to make some noise...The One might be nearby after all.

[Hälō]

Julian West Financial Associates

3:25 p.m.

 

BMG

 

"f*** f***!" Julian bellowed in outrage as he peaked out from behind the steel frame of the elevator. After the stun grenade went off, the entire situation had gone to hell in a matter of moments; with four of his men gunned down by what sounded like small arms fire. Though something just didn't add up...

 

Glancing down towards the mutilated corps of one of his two armored escorts, the large man found himself wondering how any small firearm could have pierced through such heavy armor. With no time to dwell on the matter, Julian shot his hostage a sharp glare before reaching down and grabbing the weapon of one of his fallen guards.

 

"Hey! You two aren't dead yet!" Julian's voice echoed throughout the lobby as he addressed his remaining two guards who had managed to dive to cover to avoid the hail of gun fire that had greeted them upon their arrival. "Search the area. Find the bastard and put a bullet in his head. I'll cover you..." He punctuated his order by flicking the safety of his assault rifle and aiming towards the far end of the hallway has he grabbed his hostage and pinned him against the wall with his massive black hand. 

 

"Sir!" The two guards chimed in unison. Though before they could break from cover, a ping could be heard from one of the two main elevators. Moments later, the door of the elevator slid open to reveal non-other than Commander Hugo. There was a sudden silence in the lobby as every combatant shifted their gaze to the odd spectacle. A large hole sat in the center of the man's head and his face brandished the horrid expression of a man who saw his death coming.

 

Blood painted the walls of the elevator and as Hugo took a step forward, Julian's expression shifted from one of bewilderment to panicked in an instant. "Get do-" He began, but was immediately silenced by stream of gunfire from Hugo's assault rifle. "More freaks?!" Julian roared before raising his own rifle and firing a few shots at the corps of his former underling. 

 

Julian's bullets found their mark in Hugo's chest, colliding with his armor without penetrating the surface, as if the kevlar had been reinforced to be twice as strong. The corps continued advance through the lobby, gaining speed as a third hand shot from over Hugo's shoulder, brandishing a gleaming pistol. "Get out of here while you can..." Griever muttered dryly from behind his meat shield as he dashed past the little girl who had apparently been caught in the shoot out.

 

Letting off a single shot from Margret that landed itself neatly in the neck of the guard in the suit, John continued to push forward towards the freight elevator with Hugo's reinforced corps.

 

"Move Move Move!" Julian barked to his final soldier from behind cover as he continued to pepper the charging contractor with his rifle.

 

Intent on following his orders, the single remaining guard reached down to his belt and grabbed two spherical objects. Pulling the pin of a military grade flash grenade and tossing it into the area where the the enemy shooter and the hidden assailant were lurking. With a grunt, the armored soldier leaped from his cover and began slowly advancing towards where he had thrown the flash grenade, pulling the pin of a fragmentation grenade and rolling it down the very same hall before raising his weapon in preparation to gun down anything that moved.