09-23-2023, 05:24 PM
Ganiri Woods, 30 miles from the Southern Border
“Down now!”
Lily shoved her companion’s head down with her as they both slammed to the ground, just avoiding the spray of bullets passing overhead.
“Surrender or die.” A voice calls from the forest, masked behind a robotic drawl
Lily motioned for silence and the two laid in the grass for what felt like an eternity, hearts beating at a hundred miles an hour. They’d prepared, luckily, for a situation just like this one, although they hoped it would never come. In full camouflage and lightweight equipment, the two were decked out for stealth in the vast Branchian woods.
They now found themselves near the Southern border of Thousand Branches. Maybe 30 more miles and they would’ve made it across without a trace of interference. Lily knew though, that the security would be stronger at the border — they’d be looking here first.
But now they were cornered. Even a good camouflage falls apart upon close enough inspection. And knowing the Branchian government, the scout had already called for backup, likely backup with infra red tracking. They had to get out of here now. Only problem, they move and they get their bodies peppered with the led of the scout’s gun. What they needed was a distraction. Some way to take the scout’s attention for just long enough that they could sprint the hell out of there. And she had just the thing.
Capital Building, Office of Tulen Levensky
Tulen Levensky was not a shy man. Nor was he a man who backed down from anything. He’d been elected six years ago on a platform of strength. The people believed him an untoppleable pillar, a man who would stand as a bastion for the nation no matter what came.
Now he waited in his office for what felt like an eternity. He knew the Zongongians had sent out feelers after their missing journalist. He knew the pair were nearing the border every day without any news of their capture. He knew if they escaped and this story went public, there was nothing in the world that could stop it.
He had expected to find them weeks ago. It felt, for a time, like a paltry threat — two people in way over their heads, destined to die holding the very secrets they planned to reveal. He’d underestimated how good the capital’s assassin program was. Nils was a highly capable assassin, thief, and master of any kind of murder. They’d trained her that way after all. Her mission log went back nearly 11 years. But one assassin could only hold out for so long.
They had garnered certain clues in the search for her. A guard at the Southern town of Ondil had turned up dead, throat slit without even being able to sound the alarm. Almost certainly the work of Nils. From there they’d tracked her into the South and set up several temporary camps across the Southern border. An impenetrable wall. She wasn’t making it out of the country alive, not unless she had a wealth of miracles up her sleeve.
The more irritating of the member, however, was the journalist. He’d received three calls from Zongongian government departments in the last two weeks, all of them probing into the supposed death of the man. At some point, Levensky would no longer be able turn them away without sounding even more suspicious. Problem was, like any of the government’s planned murders, they didn’t have a body. And an attempt to forge one wouldn’t work with all of the extensive technology in criminology today.
The prevailing story was that he’d disappeared into the woods many years ago and never returned. That was the story they’d set up years ago. No body and no reason for there ever to be a body. Eaten by animals, drowned in the stream, bones taken by wildlife and fungi. Such bodies simply were never found. But at the same time, Levensky had noticed how common this story came up in the nation’s planned murders. He had never directly overseen the BID (Branchian Intelligence Department) and had always assumed the directors would be… well… intelligent. But now one could go into the history of the last 20 years of unsolved government cases and find a suspiciously high number of accidental disappearances. Even in a country surrounded by forest, there was no common reason for this to exist (not to mention how many had links to anti-government and foreign powers).
Fuck.
So Levensky could do nothing but sit and wait for the call. It would come, but would it come quickly enough?
Ganiri Woods, 8 miles from the Southern Border
The alarm blared.
“Finally!” Jack exclaimed, jumping up from his perch and mounting his armor, “Can’t fucking wait to put a bullet through that traitor’s eyes.”
“Oh shut up Jack, you’re just mad because you had a thing for her.” The voice came from Kila, his partner in the field, who was also quickly gearing up
“Am not! I care about this country and whatever.”
The two bust out laughing.
“Oh my god can you imagine?” Jack asked, nudging open to the door to their carrier.
“I really and truly can’t. Anyone who cares about this shithole is an idiot. But damn if they don’t give us money and let us kill people for them.” Kila said with a smile, “Ain’t nothing better than that.”
The carrier dug it’s tires into the dirt. It was a vehicle designed to traverse those kinds of quarters — thin, nimble, but still heavily armored. They rarely had a chance to use it these days since most missions had to be done through stealth, but not today.
It revved through the mud as the two finished gearing up, their goggles going on as they sped into the woods.
Ganiri Woods, 30 miles from the Southern Border
“Listen Andy.” Lily whispered to her companion, “We’ve only got one shot at this. In my bag I’ve got three flares. That’s it. I’m gonna grab them and lure him away.”
Andreas started to argue but she cut him off before he could interrupt.
“Listen. We have no other option Andy. You know I’m good at my job. You know I can do a damn good job of keeping these idiots on the run. No doubt they’ve got a dozen mercenaries en route right now. We agreed, remember? That alarm bell rings, only one of us is making it out alive. That person has to be you.”
She tucked the flash drive into his pocket, nodding and reaching for her bag.
“Maybe I make it out, right?” she said with a halfhearted smile, and she began to run
Immediately the gunfire came back up, sending the air into a spray of bark and leaves. She pulled a flare from her bag as she ran, lighting it and throwing it into the haze. Instantly, the floor set alight, the flames licking happily at the debris. Perfect. She whistled, making sure the scout still had track of her and she ran deeper and deeper into the woods.
30 minutes passed. She now lay against the backside of a tree, catching her breath. She’d been running almost nonstop for the last hour. The scout had been, while helpful in this situation, annoyingly constitute. And it was only going to get worse. She could already hear the engines of the Carriers on their way and when they arrived she didn’t have a chance. But she did have a plan.
3 months ago she’d raided a base on the North docks of Palas. Inside she’d recovered hundreds of kilos of cocaine, but not before insurgent guns had torn through half of them, leaving a cloud of cocaine dust across the entire compound. Did she have hundreds of kilos of cocaine on her now? No… but she did have a bag of flour prepped to explode on a trigger, essentially a makeshift smoke bomb. It wouldn’t help with the infra red of course, but it would confuse them enough for her to maybe make a getaway. And of course, she still had one more flare.
The carriers arrived, carrying with them 8 highly trained mercenaries.
Crouched again behind a tree, Lily slowly lifted the flour trap from her bag, rolling it slightly forward before detonating it. Immediately, the flour shot across the entire region.
And Lily fucking ran. Even as she pulled the flare out and lit it. Even as she threw it into the haze. Even as the entire world behind her blazed bright, sparkling orange for less than a second.
She just hoped it would be enough.
“Down now!”
Lily shoved her companion’s head down with her as they both slammed to the ground, just avoiding the spray of bullets passing overhead.
“Surrender or die.” A voice calls from the forest, masked behind a robotic drawl
Lily motioned for silence and the two laid in the grass for what felt like an eternity, hearts beating at a hundred miles an hour. They’d prepared, luckily, for a situation just like this one, although they hoped it would never come. In full camouflage and lightweight equipment, the two were decked out for stealth in the vast Branchian woods.
They now found themselves near the Southern border of Thousand Branches. Maybe 30 more miles and they would’ve made it across without a trace of interference. Lily knew though, that the security would be stronger at the border — they’d be looking here first.
But now they were cornered. Even a good camouflage falls apart upon close enough inspection. And knowing the Branchian government, the scout had already called for backup, likely backup with infra red tracking. They had to get out of here now. Only problem, they move and they get their bodies peppered with the led of the scout’s gun. What they needed was a distraction. Some way to take the scout’s attention for just long enough that they could sprint the hell out of there. And she had just the thing.
Capital Building, Office of Tulen Levensky
Tulen Levensky was not a shy man. Nor was he a man who backed down from anything. He’d been elected six years ago on a platform of strength. The people believed him an untoppleable pillar, a man who would stand as a bastion for the nation no matter what came.
Now he waited in his office for what felt like an eternity. He knew the Zongongians had sent out feelers after their missing journalist. He knew the pair were nearing the border every day without any news of their capture. He knew if they escaped and this story went public, there was nothing in the world that could stop it.
He had expected to find them weeks ago. It felt, for a time, like a paltry threat — two people in way over their heads, destined to die holding the very secrets they planned to reveal. He’d underestimated how good the capital’s assassin program was. Nils was a highly capable assassin, thief, and master of any kind of murder. They’d trained her that way after all. Her mission log went back nearly 11 years. But one assassin could only hold out for so long.
They had garnered certain clues in the search for her. A guard at the Southern town of Ondil had turned up dead, throat slit without even being able to sound the alarm. Almost certainly the work of Nils. From there they’d tracked her into the South and set up several temporary camps across the Southern border. An impenetrable wall. She wasn’t making it out of the country alive, not unless she had a wealth of miracles up her sleeve.
The more irritating of the member, however, was the journalist. He’d received three calls from Zongongian government departments in the last two weeks, all of them probing into the supposed death of the man. At some point, Levensky would no longer be able turn them away without sounding even more suspicious. Problem was, like any of the government’s planned murders, they didn’t have a body. And an attempt to forge one wouldn’t work with all of the extensive technology in criminology today.
The prevailing story was that he’d disappeared into the woods many years ago and never returned. That was the story they’d set up years ago. No body and no reason for there ever to be a body. Eaten by animals, drowned in the stream, bones taken by wildlife and fungi. Such bodies simply were never found. But at the same time, Levensky had noticed how common this story came up in the nation’s planned murders. He had never directly overseen the BID (Branchian Intelligence Department) and had always assumed the directors would be… well… intelligent. But now one could go into the history of the last 20 years of unsolved government cases and find a suspiciously high number of accidental disappearances. Even in a country surrounded by forest, there was no common reason for this to exist (not to mention how many had links to anti-government and foreign powers).
Fuck.
So Levensky could do nothing but sit and wait for the call. It would come, but would it come quickly enough?
Ganiri Woods, 8 miles from the Southern Border
The alarm blared.
“Finally!” Jack exclaimed, jumping up from his perch and mounting his armor, “Can’t fucking wait to put a bullet through that traitor’s eyes.”
“Oh shut up Jack, you’re just mad because you had a thing for her.” The voice came from Kila, his partner in the field, who was also quickly gearing up
“Am not! I care about this country and whatever.”
The two bust out laughing.
“Oh my god can you imagine?” Jack asked, nudging open to the door to their carrier.
“I really and truly can’t. Anyone who cares about this shithole is an idiot. But damn if they don’t give us money and let us kill people for them.” Kila said with a smile, “Ain’t nothing better than that.”
The carrier dug it’s tires into the dirt. It was a vehicle designed to traverse those kinds of quarters — thin, nimble, but still heavily armored. They rarely had a chance to use it these days since most missions had to be done through stealth, but not today.
It revved through the mud as the two finished gearing up, their goggles going on as they sped into the woods.
Ganiri Woods, 30 miles from the Southern Border
“Listen Andy.” Lily whispered to her companion, “We’ve only got one shot at this. In my bag I’ve got three flares. That’s it. I’m gonna grab them and lure him away.”
Andreas started to argue but she cut him off before he could interrupt.
“Listen. We have no other option Andy. You know I’m good at my job. You know I can do a damn good job of keeping these idiots on the run. No doubt they’ve got a dozen mercenaries en route right now. We agreed, remember? That alarm bell rings, only one of us is making it out alive. That person has to be you.”
She tucked the flash drive into his pocket, nodding and reaching for her bag.
“Maybe I make it out, right?” she said with a halfhearted smile, and she began to run
Immediately the gunfire came back up, sending the air into a spray of bark and leaves. She pulled a flare from her bag as she ran, lighting it and throwing it into the haze. Instantly, the floor set alight, the flames licking happily at the debris. Perfect. She whistled, making sure the scout still had track of her and she ran deeper and deeper into the woods.
30 minutes passed. She now lay against the backside of a tree, catching her breath. She’d been running almost nonstop for the last hour. The scout had been, while helpful in this situation, annoyingly constitute. And it was only going to get worse. She could already hear the engines of the Carriers on their way and when they arrived she didn’t have a chance. But she did have a plan.
3 months ago she’d raided a base on the North docks of Palas. Inside she’d recovered hundreds of kilos of cocaine, but not before insurgent guns had torn through half of them, leaving a cloud of cocaine dust across the entire compound. Did she have hundreds of kilos of cocaine on her now? No… but she did have a bag of flour prepped to explode on a trigger, essentially a makeshift smoke bomb. It wouldn’t help with the infra red of course, but it would confuse them enough for her to maybe make a getaway. And of course, she still had one more flare.
The carriers arrived, carrying with them 8 highly trained mercenaries.
Crouched again behind a tree, Lily slowly lifted the flour trap from her bag, rolling it slightly forward before detonating it. Immediately, the flour shot across the entire region.
And Lily fucking ran. Even as she pulled the flare out and lit it. Even as she threw it into the haze. Even as the entire world behind her blazed bright, sparkling orange for less than a second.
She just hoped it would be enough.