A-THEIST

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-"Dialogue"-

("Inner thinking")

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Episode 1

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Only the tranquil sound of birds chirping outside could be heard faintly outside the middle sized sun-room. It's glass roof easily let the bright sunlight come in and slide over the tall marble walls all the way to the multiple varieties of potted plants of various sizes that lay over the intricate floor mosaics, over which, a person laid unmoving in the floor, faking unconsciousness with the intention of pinpointing possible enemies and assess the situation with all the sensors in his or her gear silently activated via the primary synch-mode.

As soon as it was determined that no immediate dangers were nearby, the hooded person jolted up into a combat position, twisted the leather gabardine aside and reached down to the hip level of the cargo pants and then up to the tactical bulletproof vest to search for weapons that weren't there anymore, all while looking around under the cover of a full bio-filter mask and dark goggle-lenses that hid and protected the person's face, preventing the stranger from smelling the soft scent of the flowers in the room.

The subject moved in quick silence towards the nearest wall to get some cover while a hand gloved with a tactical gauntlet moved back the gabardine's left sleeve to reveal a tactical touch-screen mounted over the forearm of what looked to be some sort of armour. The person's hidden face looked down, checking the report of the sensors for environmental statuses. No life signatures were detected in the near proximity horizontal plane. The person remained still while pressing some more buttons on the screen and reading the shown result; and then from the speakers in the suit's neck a digitally distorted and ungendered groan came out.

"Where the hell am I?"

The place was startlingly neat and clean, and as the person pulled back the hood of the coat, revealing a long, tail-like braid of multi-shaded blond hair that came out of the nape all the way past the arse, the stranger took notice of the rusted sword 'Ama-no-Murakumo' on the floor, and carefully gave it a small tentative kick. The sword promptly glowed, just like it did when it was taken out of its case at the secret storage room in the evacuated museum's basement. The person jumped back just as the glow became a thin cord of light, that fast as lighting, rounded the person's and solidified into a pendant.

"What the...! "

The person pulled away the necklace and ripped it off, only for it to turn to light again and reform once more back around his or her neck. After a couple tries it became obvious that trying to remove it by force wouldn't work, so the person began examining the pendant under the bionic optical lenses spectrum analytics. The item held an enormous amount of condensed energy, but it was impossible to determine which elements composed it materially. Since that probably meant that it was made out of some lab-made unstable isotope, the person desisted from trying to remove it.

(But how did it shape-changed in the first place? Did I hit my head and am hallucinating? Or is it chemical dispersed in the air? )

Those sounded like a more feasible options.

Checking the sensors again, everything read clear on the environment. There weren't chemicals in the air, not even the normal heavy air pollution, suspended particles, or remains of acid rain vapor. It read clean, breathable air. That wasn't supposed to be possible given that the location was right into the middle of a city and a soon to be fighting zone.

(Did the hit broke my equipment?)

The performance lectures showed that the equipment was fine, and that wasn't fine at all. The person then decided to take an extreme stupid action next, it was better to die fast from the chemicals in the air than to be a victim of whatever hallucinogen might had been previously inhaled.

Taking a hold of the bio-filter mask, the person pulled it down and then removed the goggles, revealing her pale and face, with closed eyed she took a deep breath, and when a second later she opened her bright olive green eyes, she blinked in surprise and a digital shine flashed over the surface of her ocular globes. She took another breath. The air was the cleanest she had breathed in quite a long time. It didn't make any sense.

Her small camel backpack was in the floor where she woke up. She approached and knelt to check the contents. All her personal basic things were there, along enough field equipment to still be an effective operative, and enough water and food for a few days if she consumed only the minimum quantities for sustenance. This meant that she hadn't been captured, which was slightly more worrisome, because she either fell here or had been brought here and left alone for some reason with all her equipment.

(Alright, think, revise, re-assess and analyze) - She crossed her arms and concentrated into recounting the events previous to waking up in this strange place. .- ( Last I remember... I was running, trying to find a shelter position in the city before the battle started…)

The evacuation announcement had been sudden and immediate, but she had to stay and plant the signal fishing antennas to intercept all transmissions; that was her mission, and by the time those were already in place the city had already been evacuated and she needed to find some secure shelter.

She twisted her head to crack her neck, first at the right, and then at the left as she kept on remembering. -(All damn new buildings were thin and mostly prefab…I saw the local history museum, a heavy stoned building that could probably survive the initial bombings.)

When she entered the museum, it looked already raided, and it was obvious that such had been intentional. The artifacts above on the exhibitions floors had been evacuated, but with such a short notice, the biggest ones or those of less value would have surely being left behind. The set-up to make the place looked already pillaged was a clever trick.

Coming back to the present for a moment, she walked around a bit and examined the plants of the room. Peace lilies, ferns, philodendrons… normal indoor plants. She then continued recounting her steps. -(I picked out a museum's map at the information desk near the entrance in order to locate the hardest structural center, the basement. I only needed to stay there for like 12 hrs. until the first aerial raid ended, and then I would have slipped away from the battle easily. Mission complete and time to cash out.)

Once in the basement, the storage's lock was easy enough to hack. However, inside were only the average office furniture or material to set up exhibitions; or so it seemed until her suit's detection sensors found a false wall at the back behind a rundown wooden cabinet. The perfect place for anything valuable left behind.

After checking the door for traps, the armored woman entered the place, where right in front of her, an old wooden chest laid over a table in plain sight. She approached it and scanned it just in case, and when the lectures showed it was safe, she opened it to find an ancient bronze sword inside with a loose paper tag. 'Celestial Sword, Ama-No-Murakumo' it read. The sword didn't looked interesting in any way, but if it wasn't a reproduction then it might have some value in the market. She'd take what she could, as a mercenary, she had her money on sight -( Not very impressive. The design is not oriental at all, so it's probably a commissioned item). -She had thought while picking it up to examine the antique, but as soon as she touched the sword, it glowed brightly.

"A flash grenade!?"

The sword jumped in the air like a 'bouncing betty'* anti-personnel mine while the mercenary dropped to the floor and took cover below the table, but instead of a lethal spray of shrapnel showering the room, sudden light covered everything and engulfed all her senses. That was the last she remembered happening before she woke up in this place at the unusual sound of living birds.

Back to her present situation, she stretched her lips before grabbing her stuff. She was still sore from that other mission a few day ago and would have liked to check herself for new or old wounds, but that'd be stupidly risky. She had remained stationary for too long already and she needed to find out where she was and what she was facing. Without any more ado, the mercenary put back her bio-filter mask and goggles and covered her head with her gabardine's hoodie.

(At least I don't seem to present any fractures.)

She quietly walked towards the door of the sunroom and activated her sonar and proximity detectors. She found nothing again, but she really didn't expect to, those sensors were designed for a stationary position on short range, no more than 25 meters around and they were almost useless while in movement, so she turned them off and headed outside while carefully looking for surveillance measures.

Not trifling around without caution, she walked by the sides of the corridors and started exploring the place at a fast pace. The facilities looked big and lavished; tall columns, symmetrical shapes, triangular pediments, tall rectangular windows, and domed roofs that pointed at a variation of a neoclassic style. One thing was obvious. She wasn't in that museum anymore, and her best approximation so far was that she had somehow ended in an underground facility.

After some minutes of walking she entered a corridor with big support arches that were covered in green lush vines, she detected someone walking out of them not that far ahead. She quickly took cover behind one arch and managed to see that the guy had dark green hair and slightly pointed ears. The guy stopped for a second and barely glanced in the direction she had hid. She prepared herself for a confrontation but the man continued walking in other direction.

Loosening her stance, she considered following him but decided against it. He had acted suspicious for a second and following him could lead to a trap. It was more important to learn where she was.

Now that she was in a more open space, she checked her localization instrumentals just in case she now had signal in this location but everything was still bad. The GPS didn´t read anything, her secure satellite phone had no signal, and she couldn't detect any network at all, not with the handheld, the tablet, or anything else.

(Heck! None of my gadgets or devices find any signal, no networks, webs, no nothing. Damn jammers!) -There was no reception of any kind and she almost growled in frustration. - (Perhaps an electromagnetic pulse or wave…? One more lecture.)

She tried the air reports again but the sensors were still the same, they signaled to the cleanest environmental conditions she had ever seen. Conditions that didn't exist in the world anymore unless artificially produced inside a controlled environment like a laboratory or very remote and inaccessible areas. That pointed even more to her hypothesis about an underground facility with very good air systems, but to confirm it, she needed to get to higher ground.

Her high combat boots took the first steps when a bunny ran in front of her and in the direction she had been about to go. The bunny looked weird enough to be someone's pet, but in any case, it had had been running around in this environment and had been exposed for longer to any pathogen or chemical agent that may be in the air. If she caught it she could get a sample for those, and in the strange case it came up negative and the primal environmental conditions were as good as they looked, then she could have the rabbit served as food.

With that in mind she followed the rabbit, and rounding a corner, she barely had time to hide behind the wall when she saw a guy with blue hair enter a room and loudly speak to someone inside the room.

She took out her small wiretap sound amplifier and put on the headphones before setting the microphone to the wall, and modulated the frequency to listen to their conversation through the structure. There were only 2 persons, apparently both males were brothers; they were talking about not knowing where they were and had simply woken up here, just like her. She took out a button sized wireless camera and set it in the corner of the corridor pointing in the direction they were about to come from now that their conversation was finished, and while safely hiding away, via the screen on her forearm she observed the blue haired guy come out of the room along a guy with purple hair holding the bunny in his arms, and then they both went away to explore the place.

The mercenary went off in her own way too and while 3D-Mapping all her route she found her way towards the roof, where she saw something impossible.

This was a big complex of well-maintained buildings. There didn't seem to be gates, blockades or security perimeters. Weirder still was the fantastic horizon with a lush forests that unnaturally extended into a tropical beach, or the impossible floating islands and the shining massive crystals that appeared in the scenery at the distance. It all looked straight out of any fantasy videogame. It was so pretty and clean that it was completely unnatural.

(It can only be a projection or a massive dome... Must be some private underground facility.)

From a compartment in her attire, she took out her digital binoculars, and zoomed in at 30x into the distance. With her campaign tablet she began recording all she could see, at the same time that distances were being estimated by incremental depth calculus in order to generate immediate more 3D maps. The buildings were first, then the forest, and when she reached the beach measurements, a noise nearby put her into total alert.

She turned around to see a BIG, pinkish-white, winged horse appearing on the rooftop as if it had always been there.

( A B.O.W.* !? They do genetic experiments here! )

The horse approached and she took a step back. Whomever created this creature, had enough money for all the complex research needed to make Bio-Organical Weapons work. She began backing away slowly and the horse took a step forward. This animal was potentially very dangerous no matter if it looked friendly. If they had managed to grow such big wingspan on a horse, they could have as well make it able to spit venom, have fangs, or any other nasty surprise, and set it as a guard in this high place.

As soon as she was inside the building again she closed the door in front of the horse and went back and though on how this presented her with a more terrible possibility. Experimentation and testing of random subjects. That wasn't a nice perspective.

She was almost at the bottom of the narrow stairs when her near-proximity sensors warned her of someone a couple meters away. Without hiding options, she quickly jumped up and extended her body, setting her hands on one wall and her boots on the other to get suspended above and out of sight. From that upper position, she saw a guy with red hair and a braid coming from his nape in a similar but thinner way to her own braid pass running in apparent search for something or someone, and once he was away, she dropped down and continued her way.

Not too long after, she passed by an inner patio with a flowered garden, where a relatively feminine guy wearing white clothes was playing with some birds. Without enough time to reach the end of the corridor, the guy noticed her.

(Is he another of the lost subjects or is he personnel of this facility? … But where is the personnel?)

She prepared to attack, but from out of nowhere, the red haired dude from before appeared and rushed towards this guy without catching sight of her, and before he did, she disappeared. Trying to dispatch both would be too troublesome.

Things were too strange and suspicious, and except for the guys she had seen, everything was completely deserted. There were also small but significant details, like there been no spider webs, dust or dirt. Everything was unnaturally pristine and new; she had seen rust or any type of other decay, and with no obvious personnel around that was something too hard to achieve. The faster she was away from here, the better. She was searching for a way towards the open field when a new flash of light left her outside a heavy wooden double doors.

A quick report appeared over her vision, but the data coming from her instruments showed no security measures, wired walls, heck not even electricity, however, she could detect 2 people inside the room in front of her. Before she could try to slip some sound chip or mini camera blow the doors, they opened at her proximity. Rather than running away, with her high powered electric combat-baton already in hand, the only weapon she seemed to have besides all her blades, she jumped into the room and took cover behind a column.

A deep and resonating male voice spoke. - "Welcome. I've been waiting for you"-In the back of the room, holding a tall scepter in one hand and seated over a throne like chair, a blond man that looked in his forties stood up to greet her.

Accounting for factors and calculating outcomes, she decided to come out her cover structure and see the man. She kept on guard and advanced. Under her goggles, her eyes lit with a digital glow when she activated her neural synch-mode in preparation for combat.- "You're the one who brought me here?" - All her sensors were in use despite her faked relaxed her posture, and with her digitally cloaked voice she was covering her identity and gender. -"Who are you?"

"Yes, I did."- The man's golden eyes observed her with curiosity -"I'm Zeus, the god who governs the skies" - He posed with so much pride and certainty that it almost seem he believed his own words.

Her digital distorted voice was full mock skepticism- "Zeus?"- She knew well her mythology and was not impressed in the least by the code name this man used.

Arrogance and pride dripped from every word he spoke. - "You know who I am. even the most ignorant human knows my name".

She didn't bother answering. All the data passing in augmented reality messages and images in front of her vision told her where were all the exits, behind which column was hiding the other man, that there were no hidden mounted weapons, that the man wasn't wearing any bullet proof clothes, etc. This didn't look like a gunner trap, so perhaps it be better to listen instead of preventively attack.

"You don't believe me, mortal?" - 'Zeus' eyed her with barely distinguishable disgust at her disregard.

"What do you think?"- Now that all factors had been calculated and a battle plan had been designed, she sound arrogant too.

The man hit the base of his scepter on the ground and a golden light covered him for a few seconds. When it disappeared, a child was standing in the spot the man had been.

"Changing form is very simple. Convinced yet?" - The kid spoke with calm and confidence.

"Next pull a rabbit out of a hat. " - Now sure on her info, it was the moment to get some answers. If not by asking, then by less polite means. -"Please answer the generals W's. Why, what, where… "

The Kid smiled and extended his scepter- "Want me to next invoke lightning?"- The scepter began releasing sparks.

In response, she pointed her baton in his direction and activated the mode that made the miniature tip electrodes act like a taser, causing the weapon to produce sparks too in a similar way than his specter. - "Grow up, Kid. Why am I here?"

Had she not had her face covered, they would surely be having a staring contest. Both maintained their postures for long and tense moments until he pulled back his scepter and spoke again.

"I called you here to be part of my plan."

"That sounds like business"- She lowered her baton but kept herself ready. Her lectures hadn't shown where the man could have gone not had they shown where the Kit had been hiding.

The Kid walked in her general direction and spoke with a serious tone. - "From the ancient times, gods have loved humans and humans have adored gods, but the connection between the realms governed by the gods, and the realm of the humans had been weakened" - He walked behind a pillar and the man that had called himself 'Zeus' was the one who came out. - "If this keeps on, a terrible future awaits."- Zeus turned to look at her -"That's why I decided that the gods who have the most problems with their connection with humans need to be educated."

"Educate? How noble and magnanimous."- Although she truly valued education and personally had quite the big curricula, she was also more than convinced this man's statements were bullshit.

"Yes. Educate."- He raised the scepter and a transparent screen in the ceiling lit out of nowhere to show the guys she had almost encountered.- "The norse gods Balder and Loki, the Nippon gods Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, The greek god are some of them. More might come later if I deem so."- He made a dramatic pause in his speech. -"What are humans? What is love? If they come to understand that, maybe that funnest future can be avoided. That's what this school is for. " - He pointed the scepter at her as spoke with a commanding voice. -"So girl. You will learn with them and teach them about humanity."

(A school?) - She hadn't considered a school in her scenarios because it had been unfeasible. That was one issue, the other was that she just wasn't about to amuse this man. -(Why mention such primitive stupidness like such imaginary myths?)- She had no idea who this weirdo was, but her preliminary analysis said he had various mental disorders like megalomania and possibly schizophrenia. In any case, she wasn't so sure 'Zeus' really was the one in control of this place but she had a way to find out. -"Whatever.."- She waved her hand in a dismissive way - "The thing is this. You want something and I'm not a charity org. I'm a mercenary. Since you're the one who brought me here, you should know that. I don't care for your claims. If you want my help, I have a price… if you can match it I may be willing to get hired." - This was the interesting part. She would get more valuable information from the way the man acted than by whatever came out of his mouth.

The man dedicated her a look of amusement - "You don't decide anything. I do."

"Oh really, and who claims to need me, eh?"- She had learned exactly what she needed. He was totally confident that she would accept and was probably about to offer her a good deal. She had gotten various clients like this and the psychological profile and behaviors patterns were roughly the same for them. She crossed her arms and then turned around. -"Well, you and the one behind that column..." -She pointed to the exact place her lecture showed the other was person had been hiding from view- "... seem to be very interested into me being here. You should say how valuable is this is for you in the offer you are gonna make. "

Zeus's smile didn't drop, but his eyes trailed to where he knew his would-be main teacher was hiding and listening to the conversation. Then he pointed his scepter at the armored female again and addressed her with condescending confidence that he could force her to comply to his plan.- "I won't release you from this world until you fulfill my plan."

The girl didn't falter and began walking away -"That just made the price tag go higher, Mr. Person who claims to 'need' my help. "

Not being able to scare this girl into complying was interesting, and perhaps it was also a sign that things were far worse than he had thought. He stopped pointing his scepter. There was no doubt in his mind that his plan would follow as predicted, but with so much is at risk he decided to propose a deal. That perhaps would be faster.-"You'll do as I say and then I'll give you a name."

She stopped but didn't turn back. - "... A name?" - The sound that came out of the neck speakers of her armored suit was like some sort of mocking snarl . - "I have many names and change them as I need or want to. If you're implying a spot under your constant payroll then that won't do either. " - She continued her walking again. That offer had been unexpected, and although it had hit a nail in the coffin of her past, it had no value. It had been many years since she had a name rather than using codes, it was not important anymore.

"Foolish mortal, don't you know the importance and power of a true name given by a god?"- He was just as surprised that she hadn't jumped at the chance to possess such a word of power. Just as surprising was that she didn't possessed a name at all.

"And you don't know how to negotiate with a professional mercenary, less a white-neck one like me." -She took a couple steps away towards the door. - "Let's make this interesting, Mr. Cheap. Offer me something interesting that isn't money and we'll see if I deem it worthy of even listening to what you want me to do."

Without hesitation he spoke and the echo of his strong voice bounced off the walls - "One wish. Any wish you may have. "

"Huh?" - She stopped in her steps again and looked over her shoulder at Zeus smug yet serious face. Her eyes shifted to a light green shade when she changed the lenses analysis type to check the him under the biometrics display. All indicated that he wasn't lying, believed his own words …. or that he was an excellent liar that could control all his body reactions. - "And what would be your initial payment then? "- She had gained enough insight. He had pass from demanding and dictatorial to negotiating. That meant he really needed her. It also showed that the man had apparently never dealt with mercenaries, much less of the few in her particular field of expertise. - "A so called wish at the end of a deal with no proof that it can even be accomplished, is just words in the wind with no backup or guarantee."

Zeus remains silent for a second, his eyes narrowing somewhat. Now the one in disbelief was him. A mortal taunting him, the one who governed even over other gods, distrusting his words and not believing him capable of granting a mere mortal's wish? Preposterous!

"Call me 'Aria Hadron Scherzi' for now. " - She walked away and this time she didn't stopped. - "I'll be lurking around while you think about what will your proposal be." - In truth, she had no intentions to stay at and wait.

After she was away from the room, the man behind the column came out to reveal a tan skinned man with pale hair and sporting a monocle over one his blue eyes and sharp gaze. - "So… the sword choose such an unlikely bearer… How unexpected. You still think you can use this mortal?"

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*Bouncing Betty - The "Bouncing Betty", is the nickname of a class of mines known as bounding mines (The best example is the German S-mine). When triggered, these mines launch into the air and then detonate at about 0.9 meters (3 ft). The explosion projects a lethal spray of shrapnel in all directions.

*B.O.W. stands for Bio-Organical-Weapon

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