Chapter 4: Mr. Purple

"Hm..." Exclaimed Tellius upon checking his system notifications, or rather the lack thereof.

'Strange... Why didn't I get the Enemy Vanquished notification or some rewards for defeating that robot samurai?' The hulking cyborg thought frustratedly, rubbing his latest trophy and still standing in the middle of the main hangar of the newly named Wings of Eos.

"Ahm... So, Telli?..." Sarah  said now over the loudspeakers of the hangar. "... We should get going rather sooner than later before that Baldur guy sends another wave of scrap metal or worse our way."

"Yeah, yeah... of course!" Agreed Tellius absent-mindedly, still confused about the concrete system requirements necessary for a payout.

*Weeeeooo!* *Weeeeooo!* *Weeeeooo!* The loudspeakers began to blare as Sarah started the 'Wings of Eos'' take-off procedures.

"Oh, come on, we won! Why the sad face?" Sarah asked him in his head.

"It's nothing..." Tellius lied as he walked over to the nearest elevator, obsidian bot's head still in hand. Rubbing his artificial facial skin, he eventually began to tell her as the elevator opened. "... It's just that this fight was so..."

"Boring? Unfulfilling?..." Offered Sarah as he stepped inside the elevator and it began moving up. "... Wait till you get your first paycheck... That's when the fun begins! With it, you'll start grinding for better gear, augmentations, and weapons."

"That's what you did all those years after joining Cerberus as a mercenary?" Tellius questioned just as his elevator stopped and its doors opened with a swishing sound.

"Yes, that and paying off my debts to buy myself out." Sarah confirmed just as Tellius rejoined her on the bridge, placing his trophy on a black console by the blast door.

"Rather casual now, are we?..." Tellius said, seeing that Sarah had ditched her blue catsuit in favor of only wearing a black sports bra and panties combination. "... Not exactly in line with military dress code."

"Oh, stop it! We're no longer part of the regular armed forces..." Sarah replied confidently, brushing her red, slowly blond-turning hair with her fingers. "... Also, I know you prefer me like this!"

"That, I do..." blurted Tellius out without thinking as Sarah's more prominent assets had him spellbound.

"Told you!..." Laughed Sarah before she said, "Take-off preparations complete... Clamps unlocked... Docking bridges retracted... and lift-off!"

That said, the  Wings of Eos carefully navigated  out of the Cerberus space station.  With the entire station soon behind and the entire universe before them, the two cyborgs were suddenly at a loss for words.

On the wide main screen of the bridge, the universe's beauty revealed itself for a fragile and unexpected moment of silent tranquility. As the lights of an innumerable number of suns from across the universe shone in the full spectrum of colors like a sea of ethereal diamonds.

"Oh, wow..." Exclaimed Sarah, touched by this unexpected display of primal, breathtaking beauty.

Even Tellius couldn't stop himself from commenting on it. "...  I guess that's why Major Blazkowicz was always so cheerful."

Just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone once again, and only the endless abyss of space remained.

"What now?" asked Tellius, for the first time in his life without a goal in mind or a mission to complete.

Looking at him with a gentle gaze, Sarah told him, "Whatever we want to do!"

With that said, Sarah rose gracefully out of the captain's chair, her large, dome-shaped breasts jiggling slightly. At once, she snaked her arms around Tellius's neck, closed her eyes, and pressed her velvety soft lips against his rugged iron jaw.

Despite being taken aback by Sarah's sudden display of affection, Tellius's cold metal hands instinctively found her midriff, pulling her closer.

"Don't stress it... Just think about it..." Sarah eventually said with sleepy eyes as she ended one kiss to have him begin another.

*Beep!* *Beep!* A notification on Sarah's screen blared abruptly. Ending their intimate moment, the two jumped apart like shy teenagers.

"Hm..." Tellius coughed before pointing at the screen. "... What's that?"

"Oh, um..." Sarah stuttered, needing a moment to recover from the moment before she rushed back to the command chair. "... Hm... That's... F**k! We're being hacked!"

"How is that possible..." Tellius asked, surprised, before he looked over Sarah's shoulder at the screen. "... Anything I can do to help you?"

"Yes, no,  I don't know..." Sarah told him, her eyes glowing white, signaling her mind dual-processing. "... As long as I am unable to trace the access point..."

That said, however, before Sarah could do anything, a purple eyed human figure of unknown gender in front  of a white background appeared on the bridge's large main screen.

"Hello, I am someone with a vested interest in the demise of Theodore Baldur and his older brother, whose kid you permanently terminated. You can call me Mr. Purple." The androgynous figure with blazing purple eyes introduced itself  courteously.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Tellius  asked Mr. Purple, not noticing Sarah's shocked expression and balled fists.

"This is not about what I want, Mr. Warfield..." The lanky androgynous figure replied with a chuckle. "... But what you need."

"And what do I need?..." Questioned Tellius before mocking. "... I have all that I need right here! A Inferno-Class Dropship, Sarah and I are alive. What else do I need?"

"A c**k, balls, a purpose..." Listed Mr. Purple on its fingertips. "... But what you need most urgently is a friend that shields you from the wrath of Frank Baldur. "

"And that friend is supposed to be you?" Snorted Sarah annoyed without making any eye contact.

"No, I am not saying that it has to be me..." The masked figure replied with a visible smirk even behind it's mask. "... I am only saying that it could be me."

"Oh, f**k you and speak straight!..." Demanded Tellius, his hands deforming the headrest of the command chair. "... What are you selling?"

"An opportunity..." Mr. Purple replied mysteriously. "... An honest request that I would like the legendary couple of Tellius Warfield and Sarah Lawson to take and fulfill."

"Didn't my friend already tell you to speak directly?!..." Sarah told their mysterious hacker, her eyes flickering red. "... What do you want from us?"

"I want you two to turn your cute little spaceship around..." Mr. Purple stated as if he were an Emperor issuing an order. "... and kill Theodore Baldur!"

"And why would we do that? I already unintentionally and permanently flatlined his nephew!" Questioned, Tellius, annoyed. "... Why make killing him intentional?"

"Self-preservation!" Summarized the mysterious hacker in one word. "... Look... Frank Baldur, the kid's father and Theodore's brother, will leverage his position as the CEO of Cerberus to have you hunted down and killed either way..."

"And who are you to suggest that you're in a position to help us?" Sarah chimed in with a question of her own.

"I was able to hack into an encrypted Cerberus robot and then use its severed head to hack into your ship," Mr. Purple stated coldly, its voice as cold as a frozen lake. "... Doesn't that prove that I have the ability to stay under the radar? An ability that I might be able to extend to you, too? Think about it."

With that said, the transmission ended, and Sarah regained control of the bridge.

"Dammed, we're f**ked!" Cursed Tellius angrily ripping the headrest off the command chair to vent his boiling anger.

*BANG!* The crumbled headrest hit the blast doors, leaving a small dent.

"Telli, calm down and think!" Sarah tried to persuade him by placing her smooth, warm hand on his cold, hard chest plate. "...This is just another battle, another enemy we need to defeat! So, where do we start?"

"Know yourself and your enemy..." Tellius replied, frighteningly calm with red eyes. "... And we're even in the position to choose our enemy."

"Frank Baldur or Frank Baldur and Mr. Purple..."  Sarah quickly analyzed. "... Shouldn't that be obvious?"

"Maybe..." Tellius replied, his eyes still red and ready for battle. "... What I am more concerned with is knowing oneself!"

"What do you mean?" Asked Sarah, surprised and taken aback by her friend's—hopefully one day lover's—thought process.

Gently stroking his bald forehead with the index and middle fingers of his cold right hand, Tellius explained. "I am not sure that we're actually aware of our own bargaining power. Furthermore, did you actually know that we had at least five quite possibly functioning mechs left in storage?"

"No, I didn't." Quietly admitted Sarah, relieved that Tellius was once again thinking rationally and yet also disturbed that his eyes had so far remained an unsettling red.

"And that is exactly what I mean!..." Tellius pointed out, an action plan already forming inside his head. "... There is so much that we don't know about ourselves nor our enemies!"

"I could do some research on Frank and Theodore Baldur and hopefully find something useful about Mr. Purple," Offered Sarah reluctantly, as she hated target research.

Clapping his hands, Tellius announced. "That's a good idea! And While you're at it, I'll be doing some bookkeeping down at the hangar. After all, we need an accurate account of what we have and what we might be lacking."

"Hmpf... Fine..." Sarah agreed with a dismissive gesture as she reconnected with the ship's mainframe. Judging the ship's energy storage to be a bit low on energy, she then said. "... The energy cells are a bit low on power... Do you mind if I do a solar flyby to recharge them?"

Only now, by not receiving an answer, did Sarah notice that Tellius had already left the bridge and gotten into the elevator. "Damned! Why am I only an airhead around him?!"

*BANG!* It meanwhile echoed inside the elevator as the cyborg angrily hit one of its walls with his left fist, denting it in the process.

"Damned!..." Tellius cursed frustratedly in the elevator. '... Why are my intimate moments with her always cursed!...' He thought as his voice listed. "... First Sergeant Huckley during the basic training on Aaru 5, then the mercenaries during the invasion on Thermopoly-6, and now Mr. P-..."

*Swush.* The elevator door slid open before Tellius had any more time to sort out his emotions.

As such, exiting it, he simply defaulted to being a man on a mission, and with that mindset, he began scanning boxes to create an accurate inventory list for the next few hours.

Eventually, however, he found himself taking inventory of the stored mechs with varying sources of error.

[Military-grade hardware detected... Mechs detected... Missing or defective components detected...]

[... 1× Vanguard XA8 | +Status: Offline...]

[... 1× Vanguard XA8 | +Status: Offline...]

[... 1× Vanguard XN8 | +Status: Offline...]

[... 1× Vanguard XN8 | +Status: Offline...]

[... 1× Prototype XS22 | +Status: Offline...]

Just going by most of the mechs' cannibalized appearance, Tellius could already tell that they were a lost cause and impossible to repair. But what intrigued him was the prototype mech that he had initially dismissed as scrap metal.

*Ding!* It suddenly chimed just inside Tellius's head as a new notification popped up.

[Remembrance of Greatness detected!]

[Do you wish to consume 2× Vanguard XA8 and 2× Vanguard XN8?]

[Yes | No]

Intrigued, Tellius mentally selected [Yes], and instantly the two Vanguard XA8s and the Vanguard XN8s crumbled to metal dust.

[You have gained +8 SP!]

[Note: High Value Remembrances of Greatness can not only unlock new skill trees that offer new skills and abilities but can also be used to create unique weaponry.]

'Badass!' Thought Tellius and immediately checked if he could also Use the Prototype XS22 the same way.

[Remembrance of Former Greatness detected!]

[Do you really wish to consume the 1× Prototype XS22?]

[Yes | No]

Noticing the slightly changed wording of the promo, Tellius automatically abandoned any idea of consuming the wreck of a mech armor and instead opened the Skill Shop.

[Skill Shop:]

[+Skill-Trees:]

[-+Commander]

[--Radio Silence: 50 SP]

[--Morale Boost: 25 SP]

[--Supply Drop: 5 SP]

[-+Mech-Pilot]

[--Final Stand: 50 SP]

[--Berserker-Mode: 25 SP]

[--Auto-Repair: 5 SP]

[-+Infantry]

[--Orbital Strike: 50 SP]

[--Aimbot: 25 SP]

[--Invincibility: Sold]

Thinking about the current situation and whether or not he should acquire [Auto-Repair] or [Supply Drop], he hesitated.

Realizing that he shouldn't be making any hasty decisions as either choice could be a total game-changer under the right conditions, Tellius shelved the decision instead.

And so, with the inventory list completed, the hulking cyborg returned to the bridge and his still half-naked companion.

Entering the bridge, Sarah immediately called him over to the adjacent captain's quarters that she had occupied for herself. "Telli, swing your shiny black ass over here.  I've uncovered some disturbing information about the Baldur-Brothers..."

"Oh, really, so quick?" Tellius questioned, intrigued, the Net's atrocious loading and uploading speeds intentionally caused by U-Net fresh in his mind.

"Yes, and now get over here..." Sarah stated, just as Tellius entered the spacious cabin. "... I have stuff to tell you!"

"Fine..." exclaimed the hulking cyborg, his red glowing eyes having seemingly become a permanent part of his face before he sat down in front  of her king-size bed. "... Happy now?"

"Not quite, but this should do..." Winked Sarah and began her lengthy presentation of her findings and speculations.

Eventually, Tellius tried to summarize what Sarah had been telling him about the Baldur brothers, Frank and Theodore.

"So, please let me get this straight, and please correct me if I am wrong..." Tellius began organizing all the information in his mind. "... The reason behind their families' unprecedented rise through the ranks of Cerberus was solely because of Frank and despite Theodore?"

"I wouldn't have worded it exactly like that, but yes..." Sarah confirmed, but before she could elaborate, Mr. Purple just had to hack their loudspeakers once more.

"So, did you have enough time to think about killing Theodore Baldur?" The enigmatic voice cut Sarah off.

Remembering all the horrible things that Sarah had uncovered about the man, Tellius was rather in favor of flatlining him, and yet he hesitated to agree. "We did, but just your unproven protection isn't enough for us."

"What else could you want?" Mr. Purple asked, intrigued by what the two cyborgs, who apparently had everything, could want.

"How about for one, you make a small upgrade to our star map?" Tellius stated, Sarah and his longtime careers as mercenaries in mind.

"I am listening," Purple Eyes agreed.

Smirking, Tellius explained, "I would like our star map to have the locations of Cerberus job offers added to it. The offers should preferably be marked in color by the corporate employer."

"Oh, so you want an overview of the Shadow War between the companies," noted the artificial voice of Mr. Purple.

"That that a problem?" Tellius challenged.

"No, and I'm already using something similar to that..." Mr. Purple revealed before sounding like an AI. "... I am forwarding the patch to your beautiful companion. Anything else?"

"For the time being, no..." Sarah told the annoying hacker. "... But I would like an alternative way for you to contact us instead of hacking our systems."

"I assure you, Miss Lawson, that I only have access to your loudspeakers and monitoring..." Mr. Purple defended himself. "... But I see your point. How about you give Mr. Warfield's latest trophy a new body so that I can install an AI of mine in it?"

"I guess we can do this, but no more hacking our system!" Sarah demanded, but Tellius's mind was already on something entirely different as a long waited notification finally popped up.

[ENEMY VANQUISHED!]