Collaborative Mission
Around thirty men and women were seated in a dimly lit, circular room. The center of the room glowed as a holographic display spun slowly. A short, stocky man with an angry face walked calmly behind the seated group.
"The primary objective for this mission is to eliminate this target!"
The holographic display suddenly changed to the face of an elderly man with a deep scowl and heavy lines on his forehead.
The mission briefing stated this man was the leader of an activist group that recently took over a small country. The contractor's association had recieved a well-paying request from the overthrown government to take down the man and wipe out the activist's main group. The briefing didn't cover the details of what the activist group stood for. All that mattered to the contractors was the pay. Indeed, they were little more than technologically advanced mercenaries.
The stocky man walked behind the group and shouted out the final decision on specific assignments. After the names were called out to fill the second squad's ground team, Cayce finally heard his name called.
"Cayce Tale, you will be primary overwatch for squad B! This concludes assignments! The mission starts at 06:00 tomorrow! Use the rest of the day to finish your preparations, dismissed!"
The dimmed lights brightened as the briefing came to a close. As the group began to get up and disperse, a young man nudged Cayce's shoulder.
"Hey man, you got overwatch! Sounds like you'll be keeping me alive!"
Cayce smiled back at the agent, "Don't do any rushing though, I can only protect you from so many enemies."
Over the past few days, the members of the hired group spent time training with each other to get a feel for their teammate's combat styles. This young man happened to be the heavy armor Cayce fought just recently, the 83rd rank, Palmo Genin. Surprisingly, Palmo was very friendly towards Cayce when they met.
"Cayce, you want to grab something to eat? I know a good place nearby."
The Starless Day company hired contractor agents from all over. The base they were at now was in the Capital city of the Northern State's empire, a larger group that rose shortly after the Shattered Star event destroyed the previous governments of the North American countries.
Since Cayce was in this large city for the first time, he didn't know many of the surrounding sites.
"Thanks Palmo, but I have a few preparations to complete before tomorrow. Perhaps when we get back?"
The young man nodded happily, "Sounds like a deal!"
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Sweat beaded Cayce's forehead as he held the mana cell in concentration. After a few more seconds, the 6th cell was fully charged.
[ Mana cell charge: 2000 / 2000 ]
[ Mana cell fully charged ]
Cayce slid the cell into a sleeve holding 5 others. They were dark black cylinders that closely resembled a thin water bottle. Cayce wiped the sweat from his forehead and got up from a chair beside his armor. Before attaching the sleeve of 6 mana cells to his armor, he looked at it with wonder.
"So much power in such a little package..."
The mana cell was a recent breakthrough in magi-tech. They were expensive little buggers, so Cayce just recently purchased his 5th and 6th after his duel with Palmo. They could be used to fuel machinery and armors, but they still needed to be charged to be useful. Cayce would need the rest of the day to replenish the natural mana reserves in his body.
The mana cell sleeve fit his armor well. The 6 canisters were positioned on the armor's mid-lower back, pointing up with three on the left and three on the right.
Cayce brushed his hand across the new black plating on his armor with a smile on his face. Old John was grateful for Cayce's understanding when the mechanic teams was busy the other day. Their relationship was good even before that, so Old John surprised Cayce with a free upgrade.
Now, the armor was covered with a special black composite material that was only possible now due to expensive mana-fueled manufacturing methods. The plating was sleek and light, and it was comparable to his previous plating. The main difference was the darker color and higher impact resistence.
Cayce counted the color as a valuable feature, not just because it looked cool, but because it would help him remain camouflaged when he needed to be.
"Status"
[ Status ]
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[ Agent: Cayce Tale ]
[ Rank: 82nd ]
[ Mission success rate: 82% ]
[ CP balance: 10,464 ]
[ Functionality: 98% ]
[ Mana: 5230 / 6430 ]
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[ Armor status: connected ]
[ Armor: Fallen King's Gladius ]
[ Functionality: 100% ]
[ Mana reserves: 12,000 / 12,000 ]
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[ Mana channeling system: Arcpuller 4 ]
[ Plating: ANX-9 composite ]
[ Attachment: Greppen AI ]
[ Attachment: Lancelot magi-rifle, modified ]
[ Attachment: Mad Dog magi-blade x2 ]
[ Attachment: Mana cell c2000 x6 ]
Cayce smiled in satisfaction. It took him a long time to earn such an expensive machine. Most people would own mass-produced armor, and Cayce had spent his fair share of time in such armors. The Fallen King's Gladius, however, was custom made. Naturally, most of the top-100 agents used custom armors.
Cayce then went out to buy some expendable items for the mission.
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The desert sand hissed as the wind blew it against Cayce's armor. The sun was out in full effect and heated the black surface to a scalding temperature. Luckily, most armors were fitted with an internal cooling system, so the inside was cool enough.
Currently, Cayce was laying prone on a desert hill, somewhat concealed behind a dry bush a few hundred meters ahead of his assigned squad. For this mission, he was acting as the first of the three members of Squad B's overwatch team. In other words, he would stay in high positions and provide information that could only be seen from a higher perspective. He would also be able to act as long-distance fire support if necessary, as a sniper.
The tricky part of this mission was that the target was now the leader of a small country. They had to make their way to nearly the center of this small country, perform an assassination, destroy as much of the target's base as possible, then get out alive.
They were deep behind enemy lines and if they made the wrong move or had inaccurate intel, they could be surrounded and wiped out entirely. This mission was tremendously dangerous.
[ Unknown armor detected ]
[ Scanning ]
Cayce immediately sent the moving mark on his visor to the team HUD. This was a feature that allowed an armor with specialized detection to share important locations and targets with his allies who didn't have such specialized sensors. As long as one of them could see the target, the rest could as well.
"Heads up squad B, an unknown armor just showed up. He has a long-range rifle and he's looking at you. Marking location now."
Cayce trained his magi-rifle on the mark and used the scope to look closer at the enemy sniper. The new armor was laid prone and held an old magi-rifle Cayce didn't recognize. The armor was also an older model and didn't have any attachment slots, all weapons had to be held by hands alone. Scratches and dents covered the enemy's earth-colored surface. It seemed this armor was due for some maintenance... No doubt, there were some weak points Cayce could exploit.
"Ballistics calibration."
[ Target range: 418 meters ]
[ Reticle adjustments complete ]
[ Reticle adjustment update interval: 2s ]
The voice of the ground team leader filled the comms channel, "Target outside of ground team's range. Requesting overwatch kill."
"Affirmative, hold tight."
Cayce's rifle formed 5 grey, light rings around the barrel as he prepared to take the shot. The ground team didn't visibly react, as to keep the enemy from realizing they had been spotted. The team knew a sniper had them in their sights, but they trusted Cayce's sharpshooting to protect them. After all, they had seen his abilities first-hand in training.
The enemy was using one hand to adjust the knobs on his magi-rifle's scope. Cayce held the advantage, as his Greppen AI had already calibrated his rifle and would periodically make corrections to the reticle. The enemy, however, still needed to do it all himself.
"Performing kill. Standby."
Cayce cleared his mind and trained the reticle as he smoothly exhaled. When his lungs had reached a fully relaxed state, his crosshairs landed on his taget's visor, a known weak point of the old model. After a breathless second, Cayce pulled the trigger.