Fused

"Dalton Brooks, Overstrike agent bravo-six-tango. Clearance level seven. Headache level nine."

"That joke was old a year ago Brooks. Get with the times."

Brooks remained silent. True, he didn't have a headache. True, Overstrike no longer existed. True, he'd made a poor joke, and Agent Capelli didn't need to point that out to him. But bad jokes or not, there was nothing to laugh about nowadays anyway. Not since Overstrike 9 had been disbanded. And not when the robots they'd fought against last year had become part of Overstrike's arsenal.

"And here we are," said Capelli as the pair walked through into the testing bay. "Your new sidekicks."

"I'm thrilled."

The elderly man looked at the former merc. "I told you to get with the times a few seconds ago Brooks. Believe it or not, I meant it."

I bet you did…

Capelli deserved some respect, the merc reflected. That whole Chimera thing half a century ago for example. Still, that respect didn't go so far as to separate him from his team and thrust him into the modern world. A world that, judging from what he saw in the testing bay, involved some nameless punk in power armour dueling some nameless robot who looked powerful enough to tear the armour asunder.

"Fuse."

Brooks glanced at Capelli. "What?"

"Fuse," the agent repeated. "Your new team."

Brooks remained silent, watching as the kid wove in and out of the robot's blows. Black haired, plain faced, not a scar to be seen…he kind of reminded Brooks of himself. Bar the lack of scars and a background that was probably as clear as the visage he beheld.

Give me Kimble any day…

But he wasn't there. Nor were Naya or Izzy for that matter. All he had was John Doe and…

"Does the robot have a name?" Brooks asked.

"Hmm?" Capelli asked, watching the thing take a volley of rounds into its glowing chest-some kind of power core, no doubt.

"A name. I can call the kid rookie for the foreseeable future. But the robot…"

"A hybrid. After the Chimera."

Brooks fell silent. Hybrids…the backbone of the Chimera if he remembered his history correctly. Why on Earth human robots would be named after them he didn't know. Not at first at least. But looking at the robot, he noticed that Capelli had a point. The robot had six golden eyes. Just like the Chimera.

"Fuse…" Brooks murmured. "Figures."

"Agent Brooks, you-…"

"We're fusing tech," the former merc continued. "Human robots. Chimeran imagery. Experienced agents with rookies."

"You have a rather high opinion of yourself Brooks."

"I do. And of Overstrike Nine. And I don't like that being broken."

"Well deal with it," Capelli said. "You've got a new team now. A new game to play."

Brooks sighed. He had a level one headache alert coming.

And descending down to the testing floor to play this new game, he suspected it would only get worse.

A/N

So, Overstrike's been remade into Fuse, its style has done a 180 and based on screenshots, we'll be fighting robotic Chimera.

Suffice to say, I'm a bit peeved by this. :(