744"You have been here for too long. Your lives have been reduced to the lowest of the low, with common folk outright not caring or ignoring you completely. Trapped here in an endless struggle to survive and stay living day to day life. I know how it feels to be helpless in where you are, unable to continue your lives and live a proper life. No longer. I am here to offer you a choice. No strings attached. No nefarious plans or anything like that. You may not recognize me, but you have helped save me and someone I care about. I am here to offer you the chance to do something more with your lives. If you don't want to take part, that is fine too. We merely wish to repay the kindness you offered to us so long ago. Nothing horrible I can assure you."
Bill, Carlos, Kat and the rest of their little camp stare at the odd blue woman in front of them. Lapis stands there in their camp, in front of the alleyway that Marcus first entered and traveled through. After so long when that kid entered their camp and he left, their wasn't much thought their little group gave the kid. Now though, as they hear the lady in front of them, as well as recognize the blue gem embedded in her back. Hard to forget with how harsh he was in protecting that gem. What also gets their attention and know that the woman is legit is the dog sitting right next to her, the one they recognize as Ace who was with them for quite awhile before he left. Much of them have looks of confusion at the situation, but others feel a little wary at what she's offering. "What kind of offer?" Bill asks cautiously.
"A job. Marcus needs people to help him and he wants to return the favor for those who helped him." She replies, gesturing to them all a little. She then takes out a small stack of envelopes from behind and holds it up for them to see. "In these are money. Five thousand dollars to be exact, each. You don't want to offer, then take one and that'll be it, no strings attached, as a sign of thanks. You accept, you'll have a job, you'll have a place… you'll have a home." This perks some people up. "Nothing illegal I can assure you as I've been told. So nothing like robbing people or selling drugs I think and stuff like that. " She moves to an empty barrel and places the envelopes on top before pulling out a disposable cell phone and laying it right next to them. "I'll be going now. Take as much time as you want. Just find out who wants what and call the number in the phone if you accept. Otherwise," This time, Lapis simply smiles and gives them a small bow. "Thank you for saving him."
Without another word, she turns around and begins heading out of the alleyway. Once she's out of eyesight and heads away, Bill as well as a few others slowly make their way forward to the items left behind. Bill stares at them for a second before grabbing one of the envelopes. Flipping it open, he's thinking in his head at how theirs no way something like this has come into their lap and is almost expecting the money inside to just simply be worthless paper. Much to his slight surprise, there is in fact money inside. He takes out a few bills and can't help but stare in awe at the cash and the feel of them. Others see and start muttering, gasping and talking ins surprise before more and more people begin grabbing their own envelopes. Whoops and shouts of excitement go around at the fortune everyone in their camp now has.
Some of them though, such as Bill, Kat and Carlos look hesitantly at the money. Questions stir up in their minds, such as whether the money was illegal, or if its real, counterfeit, if there are strings attached no matter what they said. Bill grabs an envelope in one hand, then the phone in the other. He looks between the items a couple of times before glancing back to Carlos and Kat on either side of him. Kat herself looks conflicted, even glancing towards her son who's sleeping near a wall. Bill eventually turns his attention back to the items and sighs.
Lapis meanwhile, walks a short distance and makes it to her vehicle. More specifically, it's the same car that Kevin used to own, now her own. Fully fixed up, modified and ready to go. The color scheme has been completely changed with various shades of blue going along the body with an ocean water decal going along the side of it. What cements the car as her own now is its name.
Li'l Lappy.
She may not be too fond still of going into the ocean anytime soon, but a vehicle on land will suit her just fine. She opens the passenger door, letting Ace hop in, before closing and heading around before stepping into the driver seat of the vehicle.
She grabs the phone she has in a cup holder and hits the speed dial button for Marcus. She waits a few seconds as the phone connects to him.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Marcus. It's Lapis. I just finished that thing you sent me here for." She tells him.
"Oh good! Awesome to hear! And you made it alright? How's the car?"
"Well, it's a lot better now that the back isn't all crumpled up." She answers with a cheeky smirk.
"Haha, yeah. Good to know. Anyway, thank you for going and doing this. Guess we'll just wait and see of their choice."
"Yeah, we'll see."
"You got your cheat sheet?"
"Uhhhhhh…" Lapis mumbles as she looks around before finding it on the dashboard. "Yeah. Got it right here."
"Good. Head on back to Beach City. Give the others some piece of mind and tell them I'll be back soon. Just have to finalize some things here."
"Alright then." She's about to say bye and turn off the phone but hesitates a little. "… I love you." She blurts out.
"… Hehe. Love you too babe. See you soon." With that, the phone call disconnects. She closes the phone and places it down in a cup holder. She sits there holding onto the steering wheel before a wide grin forms on her face. She smiles as she turns on the car and peels off.
'I'm so glad I was able to teach her a bit more about human technology and how to speak with humans.' Marcus thinks. She's been pretty isolated when it comes to interacting with others so since the rescue, he decided to do what he can to teach her a bit on how human people are, as well as human technology too. In order to prevent Lapis from getting blindsided again from humans he felt she needed to know a bit more about humans to better gauge them so she isn't surprised or confused by them, as well as more about technology so she's not totally stumped by everything.
To him it was a nice weight off his shoulders to know she's better at dealing with people now. She may be still awkward at time to times but he'll cross that bridge when he gets there. Marcus meanwhile continues to type along his computer, getting familiar with the structure he's now dealing with and making sure everything is in working and better order now.
Before he can continue a knocking is heard on the door of his office. "Come in." He answers without looking up.
A man walks in, "Sir, the people you requested have arrived." He is Caucasian with a russion accent, short brown mostly shaved hair in military style haircut with combat military attire.
"Ah, perfect. Thank you, Yuri. Send them in." Marcus replies as he finishes on the computer before closing it and pressing a button under his desk before looking forward. A small smile on his face forms as he is happy to see the men he asked for now in front of him.
The first group of people to enter are two individuals, Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield. Leon Kennedy, wearing a particular dark leather jacket and carrying a customized SIG-Sauer P226 E2, is a federal Division of Security Operations (DSO) agent, an organization under the command of the Presidential office to focus on combating BOWs, Bio Organic Weapons, however Marcus has the feeling why they were made in the first place. Chris Redfield, being a bit more armed than his counterpart where he has a full own armored vest and rig equipped as well as the large M4A1 he has on his back with an ACOG sight, Tac-light, M203 grenade launcher, and a bayonet equipped for his rifle. Chris Redfield is in a similar organization, the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) which is also an organization meant to combat BOWs but not under the command of the US but of other countries and nations. Marcus had to make some calls to get these two here for personal reasons, and to better understand other reasons.
The next group to enter are another two men but these are of a much different stature and… occupation than the first two. Famous and highly skilled hacker Aiden Pierce, along with one of the most wanted hackers Raymond "T-Bone" Kenny, with Aiden sporting his long overcoat and T-Bone with his short sleeved grey button up shirt. There is pretty much no type of online electronic system that these two cannot hack their way into and it took a lot of time and work on Marcus's own hacking skills to get these two to see him, let alone find them. Having been forced to make them know he in fact knows their exact locations, as well as the locations of people they know. It left a bitter taste in Marcus's mouth to resort to such subtle threat actions but these are some people he needs to talk to.
The two groups silently regard one another as they eye each other, moving to opposite sides of the room to not be close to one another. There are whispered murmurs between the four of them but they all aren't the only ones here as the last group enters.
This time, this last group which consists of three this time, are a bit more militaristic than the previous ones. Captain John Price, Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, and Sergeant Foley step through the doors and stand in the middle of the room as Yuri closes the door behind them. Captain Price, wearing his usual bucket hat, stands in the middle of the three of them, a British special forces sniper now the acting commander of Task Force 141, which is a multinational special operations unit made up of members of British, Australian, United States, and Canadian operators. Soap stands to Prices left, arms crossed without a hat on to show his mohawk haircut and is the co-commander of 141, being an expert in demolitions and as a sniper in the 22nd SAS regiment before moving to Task Force 141. Sergeant Foley, an African American individual decked out in his tan colored military equipment, stands to Prices right, a U.S. Army Ranger and the acting commander of Hunter 2-1, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger regiment. While the he may not work with the other two of his group, he has met their acquaintance before.
"All people of them accounted for sir." Yuri says to Marcus, who nods in reply.
"Thanks Yuri."
"Yuri, good to see you." Price addresses the man who let them in. Yuri himself smiles to the men.
"Captain Price. Soap. Good to see you again." Yuri replies as he shakes their hands. "I trust all is well?"
"As well as can be." Soap comments once he finishes shaking the mans hand.
"How's Nikolai?" Price asks.
"He's still kicking. Still working with his loyalists."
"How'd you end up here with this lot?" Price asks. Yuri opens his mouth to speak but closes it soon after before turning to Marcus, who is still watching the whole thing silently with a neutral expression. Yuri smiles before turning back to the men.
"I think it's time I let him do the talking." He states before stepping back till he's standing next to the desk on Marcus's right. "Sorry about that sir."
"It's no problem. Must be awkward seeing old friends like this huh?" Marcus cheekily states as he sits forward.
"More than a little." Yuri smirks a little before retaining his serious expression.
Marcus also retains his serious expression after and stares intently at all the men in front of him. "Gentlemen, I would like to say thank you for coming here. Is there anything I can get you to make yourselves comfortable? Chairs? Water, refreshment?"
"I think we'll stand." Foley states with arms crossed.
"You had to talk to a lot of very important people in order to get some of us here." Leon says, a small air of caution and wariness about him.
"Some of us you had to go through a lot of trouble to find us, and with threats to go along with it." T-Bone mutters bitterly, still unsure about Marcus and what was said to force him to contact Aiden in the first place.
The other groups glance at the hackers at his words before refocusing their gazes back on the person at the desk, the news of threats he used being new to them. Marcus looks down at that news. "Yes, I'm sorry about that. Frankly from what I've hear about you two, your exploits, your skills, and the fact your both extremely paranoid when it comes to a lot of people, me promising money, power, resources, immunity or anything of that nature would be too good a chance to believe its not a trap, correct?"
"… Right." Aiden speaks up, confirming Marcus's suspicions.
"And so, in order to get you to come here…"
"Was by telling me you were going to threaten Pierces family if I didn't contact him and tell him for us to meet you." T-bone sums up what Marcus did.
"Pretty much. While Mr. Pierce kept himself off the grid completely, you were the only person I know who could have any sort of way to contact him. Your helpful nature recently with DedSec left you open for me to find you." Marcus tells him.
T-Bone gets a frustrated look as he clenches his hand and groans in anger. "Fuck." He rubs his head in frustration before glancing to Aiden. "I'm sorry man."
"But why us?" Aiden shifts the question back to Marcus, not showing any anger towards his friend at the minor screwup. "Why not DedSec? They're easier to contact and would have been much more compliant than us due to your means." Aiden questions warily.
Marcus doesn't answer at first before sighing and leaning forward. "I'm not looking for organizations to join up or back me. I'm looking for people… I'm looking… for you." He says before pointing to the hackers, then waves his arm to the rest of the room. "For all of you. Not organizations or large groups of people, but individuals. People with skills that could help me with some important tasks. Skills that not just anyone has. That's why I had to make the requests to bring you here, and get you here, so I can offer you the chance to help." Marcus explains to them why they are here in the first place. He's being a little vague with his explanation, and not giving everything he knows right off the bat, but he's know these peoples reputations and knows their skills are legit.
The men all stand there looking at him with a bit of skepticism before they turn to each other.
"Price what are we doing here?" Soap comments as he turns around addressing side to side but to ensure Marcus doesn't see him talking. "We got orders to come here and talk to this guy but he's just a kid."
"The info and order they gave me was vague as well. Just to come here and talk to him." Foley says to them as well.
At the same time, Aiden and T-Bone simply regard what the others are doing and simply watch as the other groups don't seem too happy to be here.
"What does this have to do anything with us, huh Leon?" Chris crossly whispers states to his friend. "My superior told me this was my new assignment but that was it. How'd you get here?"
"Same thing. It was actually the Vice-president that told me to come here. Said it would involve it would help us and the BSAA with those creatures we've been having trouble finding."
"Ah yes." Marcus's voice cuts through all their mumblings, making them look at him as he stares at Leon and Chris. "The monstrous creatures and sightings you guys have been trying to find for several years now, even sightings and attacks that have been going on for years and years correct?" He answers.
This makes the government agents pause and stare at him. At first they thought this was joke, that a kid to them could be leader for a military organization, but the fact he knows what they hunt speaks volumes. "What do you know about them?" Chris asks, his attention focused on Marcus.
"I could tell you a lot about them. How they fight, how they move, where they've been…" This time, Marcus pulls out a folder from his desk and tosses it to Chris. "Where they are."
Chris grabs the folder and stares at Marcus before opening the document. His eyes widen as begins to pull out pictures. "Leon." He gets his friends attention and they both peer over the info. Marcus smiles as he gets their attention now.
"As much fun as it is for it to be digitally made pictures, but you just can't beat the feel of printed pictures in your hands you know?... Plus it helps to prevent hacking, right Mr. Pierce?" Aiden freezes at his name call. "Still can't get a signal through huh?" Marcus smiles as he turns to the hackers. T-Bone purses his lips in a grimace while Aiden stares at Marcus, before slowly pulling out his phone from behind his back. "I'll give you credit on the attempt at hacking but you'll find that any attempt at hacking is destined to fail. Why?" Marcus says, not really waiting for them to ask. "Because I had a jamming system setup right here in this office with only a specific frequency being allowed for electronic devices to be able to be used in here." He says before pulling out his phone and holding it up. "Such as what I have here." He holds up a smart phone, perfectly ready to use and has a signal in their room. "Here." And just like that he tosses it straight at Aiden, who catches it and looks at it confused before back to Marcus.
"What's this?" Aiden asks.
"Like I said, the frequency to cut through the jamming is setup in my phone. Go ahead and scan it with yours. I can wait." Aiden stares at him skeptically as he keeps his eyes trained on him as he takes his phone and scans Marcus's. Some beeps can be heard from Aiden's phone before it pings, getting a signal. "See. You got a signal now."
"I do, now what's stopping me from sending all your information from you to your organization out to everyone in the world?" Aiden threatens almost instantly. Marcus's smile turns smaller, but still there.
"Really? Even though your right in the middle of my compound?"
"I've gotten out of dangerous places before. I can send this info out and everything you have here, your identity, who you work for and with, all will be made public. Their will be nothing you can do to repair the damage I do."
"…You really don't care do you?" Marcus asks slightly surprised at the idea that Aiden will make him an enemy right in the heart of his compound.
"You threatened my family. They've been hurt enough as it is. No matter what I will make sure you don't find them, and hurt them."
"Pierce what are you doing man?" T-Bone uneasily says as he turns around, whispering to his friend. "I know your good but even I'm a little nervous about pissing this guy off if he's the head honcho." T-Bone quietly warns his friend.
"Okay."
"…What?" T-Bone asks as he looks at Marcus surprised. Aiden is also surprised but he doesn't voice it. Yuri glances at him curiously, while the other groups just look at each other uneasily, worried at the possibility of this turning into a firefight or any form of fighting happen when this was supposed to be a simple assignment.
"If you want, go right ahead and release the info. You have it with you." Marcus tells him. Aiden looks at him incredulously and moves his thumb to press on the screen to release the information. "But…" He stops as Marcus talks. "On one condition." Marcus stops for a second as he now has their attention. "I bet I can stop you from sending the info before you can send it. If you can send it before I can stop you, that'll be it. I'll let you walk out of here without any trouble. Deal?" Marcus proposes. Aiden stares at him for a good few seconds, trying to see if his lying or anything before turning to T-Bone. The man just shrugs in uncertainty. Glancing to the other people in the room shows their confused by this whole thing that happening but don't make any moves step in.
"Deal."
"Good." Marcus stands up from his chair and shakes his hands a little before popping his neck as he rolls it around. "Been a bit since I did this but alright then. On you then. Whenever you want." He states, not making any move to go around his desk or anything.
Aiden just looks at him in confusion. The way how Marcus acts, just how casually he talks about this whole situation, how Aiden now has the information to make his life a living hell right in his hands… and he just gave it to Aiden. If theirs anything that the Fox thinks of the leader in front of him, is that his overconfidence in stopping him will make him regret everything.
Especially if Marcus believes that he's going to give him a countdown to start.
Aiden doesn't bother to warn him, just that he subtly maneuvers his feet, ready to dodge out of the way of an attack and drops the other phone. He presses—
*Fwoosh*
Aiden freezes.
*Thud*
The phone Marcus gave him hits the floor.
"What the-?"
"Where did-?"
"Whoawhoawhoa!" Multiple voices call out in surprise, alarm, confusion, the last voice being T-Bone as he takes a step back from Aiden and fumbles behind him. The others turn with wide-eyes at what they see
Aiden's hand is stopped, another hand placed and hovering over the screen. Marcus stands in front of him, his other right hand holding his sword pressed against Aiden's neck. The cold press of the steel is enough to make Aiden stop. "Told you." Marcus says with a smile.
What's surprising about this to nearly everyone in the room, is that one second they saw Marcus standing behind his desk, then he disappeared with the barest movement of his body. It's only when they hear T-Bone exclaim loudly that they see the commander they were talking to now standing in front of Aiden with a sword in his hand and pressed against the hackers neck.
"Hold it there!" T-Bone takes out a pistol and aims it at Marcus's head from the side.
"Drop it!" Soap loudly proclaims as he, Price and Foley train their weapons on Marcus and T-Bone.
*Shing*
Another sword appears in Marcus's left hand, faster than they can see, and pressing it to T-Bone necks as well. Leon and Chris meanwhile drop the folder and photos and take out there weapons but keep their weapons aimed to the ground, being cautious of the potential fight.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you guys." Marcus says, not bothering to look at Soap and the others. They don't move their aim in the least on them. Just as Soap is about call out again for them to drop their weapons, they hear the distinct sound a weapons bolt carries getting racked right behind them. Slowly, Price turns his head around and looks behind him. He looks towards Leon and Chris, assuming the government agents to be the ones to pull the gun on them, even dreading the possibility of Yuri. But both Leon and Chris still have their weapons trained towards the ground but very confused from the sound they heard as well, with Yuri still standing in the same spot.
When he looks directly behind him, that's when Price sees it. A shimmer appears behind them before it slowly begins to take form, and soon they see someone standing there, holding an AA-12 straight behind the military soldiers group.
As soon as one were to look at it, they are reminiscent of what you would see from the black and white color scheme of the Stryder mech from Titanfall, called Howl Shot. While its somewhat lanky frame may make one think this mech couldn't take a lot of damage, which is right. This mech boasts more of a stealth and high shield wielding bot. It may have the look of a Stryder, but its specialty is far different.
Price stares at the bot for a long few silent seconds. Howl Shot tightens its grip on the weapon, emphasizing the weapons threat. "… Soap. Sergeant. Lower your weapons." Price carefully warns them as he slowly lowers his weapon to the ground.
"What?! Price why?!" Soap asks incredulously, not believing what his friend as he continues to stare at Marcus and the other two. Sergeant Foley however glances back and sees the potential hostile aiming at their backs.
"Better do it son." Foley warns and places his weapon on the ground as well. Soap lets out a groan of frustration and places his weapon on the ground as well.
"Good." Marcus comments seeing them standing down. "I didn't want to reveal him but better safe than sorry." He turns to Aiden right in front of him. "Now, I won, so I think it would be in your best interest to put your phone away, okay?" Marcus advises to him. Aiden stares at him with wide surprised eyes, trying to figure out just how Marcus was able to appear right in front of him with a sword no less, and just what that glow was when he pulled out his second sword. Still, he's not in a good spot either despite the questions in his mind, so he slowly nods and puts away his phone into his pocket before holding both hands up. Marcus nods before slowly turning his head to T-Bone. "Well?" He asks. T-Bone sighs in disappointment before slowly putting away his pistol then holding his hands up in a surrendering fashion as well. "Good." Taking his swords away, he flips them around, making them disappear right before their eyes. "Stand down." He says to no one in particular. Howl Shot takes the order and stands straight, taking the aim of its shotgun off them and holding it close to its chest, ready just in case again. "Now as I was saying before—"
"How did you do that?" Leon suddenly asks. Marcus turns to him to see both agents giving him accusing stares. "One moment you were there, and next you somehow went across the room and pulled out two swords out of nowhere. How… and what are you?" He demands.
Marcus doesn't immediately answer him, instead he stares at him for a few silent seconds. Eventually, he stands straight up and stares right at him. He doesn't decide to hide himself anymore, as his ability's right now have revealed he is not normal. He reaches up and slides his sleeves up, surprising most of the people in the room. To say seeing the rocks embedded in his arms surprised would be a bit of an understatement. "That's easy, I'm what you've been looking for." Marcus says with a smirk before letting his hands fall back down. Leon and Chris look at him with a bit more wariness at what this means now for them and the creature they've been targeting. "Also you don't have to bother anymore with the information Mr. Pierce. I had embedded the information you downloaded with a self-destruct code in it." After Marcus says that, Aiden pulls out his phone and checks to see if he still has it. When he doesn't looks back at Marcus. "After about a minute once the info is transferred out of the phone or copied, it will delete itself… and that wasn't my real phone." To prove his point, Marcus slams his phone down on the dropped phone, shattering it into a lot of pieces. "This is." He says as he holds up his arm, revealing a slim green gauntlet on his left forearm. A simple button tap reveals the screen that expands and ques up the functions and commands he can do. "A little bigger than a phone of course, but the amount of power and functionality this thing has I feel outweighs the subtleness of a phone."
"Whoa. What the heck is that thing?" T-Bone asks, his wary state before turned to awe at the new piece of tech in front him.
"Just one of the special surprises that I have… that I could show, and share with all of you."
At that, this makes them even more confused as all the groups look at each other. "Share?" Aiden asks.
"Even after we pulled our guns on you?" Foley asks.
This makes Marcus smirk as he pushes himself off his desk and walks towards the door. "Follow me. Feel free to grab your weapons back." He instructs them. As he walks past them through the doors, again the people are put back into a wary state but follow him regardless, after Price, Soap and Foley grab their guns. Marcus leads, with Leon and Chris next, followed by Aiden and T-Bone, then Price and his group with Howl Shot and Yuri taking up the rear. "It's not like I was expecting things to go over peaceful, nor expecting you to immediately take me up on my offer. So yes, despite your attempts of threat in physical or technological form, I am still willing to talk and offer up gifts and share ideas in exchange for your help."
"You also need to give us the information on the creatures in those pictures, as well as yourself." Chris tells him. Having been shown documents on the creatures the agents have been looking for, as well as revealing himself to have the same gem structure as the creatures, its obvious he now has the attention of the government agents.
"And I plan to, just after I show you all something." As Marcus finishes talking, they make their way outside of the large main building they are in and begin heading to one of the nearby large warehouses, the one holding a very peculiar set of equipment and people that are very important to Marcus. As they pass through the street, a quick glance in front of the entrance shows several vehicles parked, having been the vehicles used that housed the visitors to Marcus's meeting. Some military Humvees are there, engines still running with some soldiers inside ready to bug out if necessary, and the last couple are actually a pair of Rally fighter off-road cars shut down, having been the vehicles provided to allow for the hackers to make their way to where they are now.
Price, Foley and Soap give some subtle signals to the drivers of some of the Humvees, which the windows are tinted so they can't see them but they know the drivers can see them. They all continue to move regardless across the street. "In this such warehouse right here is actually my research building," Marcus states as they walk along the side of the building, heading for the entrance. "Where I have some of my men and one of my top scientists/engineer working on making new weapons and vehicles for us."
"Like the robot with the invisible camouflage behind us?" Soap asks with a glance back before looking forward again.
"That…" Marcus begins to say as he stops in front of the double doors and grabs both handles as he smiles back at the group of people, "And so much more." With a small flourish, he opens up the doors.
"WATCH IT! WATCH IT! WATCH IT!"
"Careful with that thing!"
"How are you so bad at piloting that you clod?! It's so easy! Didn't you pilot the tank?!"
"DRIVE! And how this thing controls ain't exactly easy EITHER! I trained with the tank!"
The scene set before them is one the outsiders were certainly not expecting to see. The warehouse is itself is nice and wide, with catwalks all around the place leading to several other storage and regular rooms around, even some hallways connected to some other buildings nearby for more storage or research labs. Large gray concrete walls make up all four walls making up the warehouse, with one wall sporting a very large garage door to open up and allow heavier vehicles through, with an angled metal roof with glass windows making up the ceiling. Large wooden and green metal crates and cases with various firearms on them line the ground floor and the sides of the room. In the middle though, gathering much of the attention of everyone, is where several people and machines are. What's going one is several soldiers and engineers are off to the sides and on the catwalks with two people in the middle. One is the unusual appearance as opposed to what a human would look like, Peridot stands there, arms crossed and a scowl on her face as she stares at the state the other person is in.
The second person is actually a guy in a giant skeletal mech bot. Unlike the one that Peridot piloted before, this one is another with a more slimmed down version, with all the armor and weapons removed, to allow for easier movement of the pilot in the middle with just the bare mechanics needed to make the large machine move.
Unfortunately, the movements are not exactly very… articulate. Unlike the liquified nanomachine goo that was used in Peridots ship and eventually the Vindicator, those could only be used by people of the gem variety. Marcus being half-gem allowed him to, however the pilot in the prototype mech has to use manual controls in order to make the thing move and all. Being that this is the first time he's ever piloted some form of bipedal mechanized unit, his equilibrium and attempts to compensate for his movements causes him to overcompensate and end up swinging himself in all manner of directions as he desperately tries to get used to the movements.
"Hey! Whoa whoawhoawhoawhoa!"
"Look out!"
"Watch you—!" Different voices, from Peridot, to the spectators on the side, and even the pilot, all cry out as the mech moves in one direction, leaning a bit too much. People move far out of the way as the machine tilts ever so much until finally it crashes straight towards the ground. Everyone, except Marcus and Peridot, jostles around from the small earthquake that happens from the large machine hitting the ground. At the same time, a small crate with guns laying on top of it shake and fall off onto the ground.
Unfortunately, someone forgot to put the safety on one of them.
*BOOM*
The RPG to be more specific. The rocket launcher lands on the ground facing towards the ceiling, the sudden hit of it landing on the floor causes the rocket to fire straight up. A small explosion goes off as the explosive impacts and destroys a center piece of the ceiling. Everyone besides Marcus and Peridot cover their heads or go to cover as pieces of metal and glass rain down from above and little the floor. The people outside though, aren't as on edge from the sound of the explosion. They just simply grab their weapons and wait to hear anymore gunfire or explosions. When they hear none, they go back to what they were doing. The research and testing warehouse has had its fair share of mishaps that the people around are only on moderate edge than full on edge.
Back inside, the sound of the explosion going off slowly tapers off until the only thing they can hear is the small patters of the glass crinkling towards the ground. Soon though, the mech in the middle that caused the explosion has its cockpit slowly slide open as it lays on its back. The pilot inside slowly crawls his way up until he manages to poke his head out of the machine before looking around and seeing the mess. "What the hell happened?" He asks. Afterall, he only just fell back onto the ground and that was it. A hole in the roof was something he was sure that wasn't there before.
The small group with Marcus slowly stand straight back up, staring at the carnage and how things went so bad so quickly. As they look at him, he lets out a small sigh before turn back to others. "That was… not exactly what I was going for." He comments awkwardly before slowly stepping forward. "Peridot?" Marcus hesitantly asks.
"Oh! Marcus! Yes! Finally thank you!" She loudly proclaims as she sees Marcus. "Someone actually competent here!" This gets her annoyed looks from the others around the room.
"How's the uhhh… research coming along?" He asks her as he walks closer to her.
"Oh its coming along great. Some of these humans actually have some facet of intelligence among them. We're starting to make a breakthrough with some new firearms." She begins to say then gets a thoughtful look on her face. "Lasers? Blasters?"
"She has one." Chris behind Marcus whispers to his partner.
"I noticed." Leon answers.
"Whatever. Point is we've got the idea of handheld energy weapons set but we still have some progress to make. Our invisibility/camouflage equipment is slowly having variations, but we're still working on trying to make it into an actual device instead of it being an entire armored suit, or part of the robots. As you've seen we're also starting production on our own brand of robot mech suits that you humans can pilot. IF THEY CAN PILOT!" She yells the last part loudly back towards the fallen machine.
"Oh bite me you little green Dorito goblin!" The pilot grumbles as he struggles to pulls himself out.
"Oh for crying out-! Becareful before you activate something you shouldn't!" She calls out as runs to him before using her boosters to launch her up and properly get the guy out.
The outsider group members all look on in disbelief at the amount of technology they just heard, along with the small, albeit disastrous, demonstration they saw. The technology they've seen thus far is way beyond anything they've seen in development. Marcus moves back to the others while Peridot reprimands the pilot. "Well, as you can see, we have a fair bit of our own form of technological advancements and information, from the machines you see before you," He gestures to the bot behind them and to the mech lying on the ground, "To the weapons and tech we're working," He gestures to his gauntlet, "As well as our own network of information." He gestures to the folder of pictures held in the possession of agents. "All this can and will be available to you if you agree to what I have to offer." Marcus offers them.
They gets the people on the wary side again as to what exactly the offer is. He's told them straight up what it is that they would get as a reward and backing for their efforts. Yet now they have one question through all this since they've gotten to that place:
"What do you want?" Price asks bluntly.
"Why call us and get us here?" Aiden adds.
For a second, Marcus is silent as he stares at the seven people in front of him before finally answering. "Training."
"…Training?" Foley asks slightly sonfused.
"You want us to train your people?" Chris asks.
"No… I want you to train me."
"…What?" T-Bone asks with genuine confusion.
"Listen, I'm good, but all my skills pretty much self-taught or stuff I've looked up and researched. I've never had any formal training besides melee and sword combat. If I'm going to be the leader of this group, then I need to be better trained overall in order to do this. I need to be better trained, more skilled than I was before. I need teachers, instructors in order to teach me everything I can from how to hack anything and everything," He says as he glances to the two hackers, "How to fight, command and take charge of soldiers and my men," To the three military soldiers, "And refining my knowledge of close quarters combat, as well teaching me what you can when it comes to using firearms." He finishes saying as he looks to the government sanctioned agents. "All of you were recommended to me because of your skills, your reputation, what you've accomplished and what your able to do. I looked, I planned, I researched, I did what I could to get and compile your profiles to get you to come here." He calmly explains to them. "So that's how it is. I want you guys to help train me to be better than what I am now to properly run my group. In exchange, all the technology, support, and information network I have established will be available and at your disposal." He reminds them of the situation.
"And what group is that?" Leon asks.
At this, Marcus can't help but smile as he takes a step back and extends his arms outwards in a show of flare. "The Crystal Kings."
With the name of his organization given, the rest of them stare at the man for a bit, contemplating his offer until they call someone else. "Roach. Ghost. We may be here awhile." Price tells his men on the comm.
"Ramirez, cut the engine. I think we got some things to take care of here first."
Even though they didn't say anything to him directly, he got his answer as he smiles.
The compound belonging to the former criminal group 'The Iron Kings' has been repaired and fixed since the attack on it before. While that was going on new management of the group decided to make a complete overhaul to the group. All of the men within the Iron Kings ranks in both the compound and in every other minor bases all over the world that anyone within their ranks that focused on and only hired to deal with the narcotics and drugs of the organization are to be rounded up and expelled from the group. All of them, as well as all the drugs to go along with them, and vacated them from all the bases. Tying them up and locking them in abandoned places and leaving a tip for the police and proper authority's to grab them.
No longer will the group be affiliated with harmful narcotic drugs but instead work under a new banner, with an entirely means of work.
Gone are the Iron Kings, the new Crystal Kings have risen up, establishing themselves as a new Private Military Company (PMC), with the men and women ready to be employed for military and security purposes. What most of the public don't know either is the slow build up of advanced new technology these soldiers and this group uses, with some even claiming the soldiers are able to disappear right from their very eyes, or heavy weapons with the stopping power and penetration of a Barret .50 cal. Sniper rifle and the weight of a handgun. Communication able to cut through any jammer and any terrain they find themselves. But all that is speculation to everyone else. At the same time, they now also have the means, and the permits to be a gun and ammo manufacturing company for any type of ammo and weapon, with in time allowing them to eventually develop their own type of branded firearm.
Marcus, as the new leader of the newly formed Crystal Kings, has spent some months and a lot of work to get his new PMC a force to be reckoned with.
Afterall, theirs far more threats out there than just the ones on earth. He's got a lot of work to do. Speaking of, Marcus sighs once everything's set in place for his teachers in a way. The schedule's have been set up, a little, and he's now making his way to his office to continue overseeing things. As soon as he enters his office, he walks right up to his desk and places some folders and papers he has down on it before straightening up. "Glad to see you made it Mr. Fisher." I smile as I turn to a particular corner of the room.
Similar to the same camouflage technology that Marcus has, this one is not nearly as advanced because a small silhouette can be see crouched in the corner. After he speaks the silhouette moves into a standing position before it begins to take shape. Sam Fisher, commander of Fourth Echelon, is completely geared out in his tactical gear setup, steps forward, his FN Five-SeveN held tightly in his hands but aimed away from Marcus to not antagonize him, but to also be ready in case he opens fire. Sam stares at Marcus cautiously as they look at each other. "I was told to meet someone here. Someone who could provide some vital information for us." He gestures to Marcus. "That you?"
Marcus smiles as he crosses his arms and leans on the desk. "Considering you got here without anyone seeing you, and the alarms haven't been raised, I guess I could say you passed. Your reputation proceeds you."
"Passed?" He asks confused.
Marcus continues to smile. "Would you believe that his was a test?"
And so, it is done. The Iron Kings are no more. His fight with them has ended, and now he has gained himself an army with new allies to work with, new resources and so on. With the threat of Homeworld on the horizon and at all points, Marcus can't let the opportunity to have his own well-armed organization ready to possibly take on a Homeworld invasion.
I've had the idea of Marcus having his own group to work with for a long while now. Having to take over the Iron Kings to turn them into something else was something I was going with for quite awhile as well. He's always had to scrip and scrap together all his gear and weapons for nearly his entire life, as well as stealing what he can or blackmailing some to get what he needs. Now with the favors and connections set up from the Iron Kings previous dealings and support, he now has the means to make the drug-focused criminals in the group to take the fall for the Iron Kings, and allow for a new legitimate group to take its place, The Crystal Kings. Seeing as how Marcus is pretty much part of the Crystal Gems, I figured it was a good idea to have his group similarly named to them. Afterall, theirs a high chance both Crystal groups will have to work together in the future to deal with some extreme threats.
And Marcus will do everything he can to ensure everyones ready.
Reviews:
Left-Handed GDI Commando: Glad you liked it. Awesome name by the way. Love that game series. Anyway sorry you weren't able to upload an armor piece but I'm glad you like it all nonetheless. I did what I could to blend everything together, mix in the different battles that were going on, give names and designations to the different groups to make them seem more real and not just randomized nameless soldiers and all. Took a bit of time but I was glad I was able to get it done before the year was up. Hopefully you'll continue to like more chapters in the future.
MADMatt6: Glad I did good work. I knew it was going to be long but I guess I misjudged the timeframe to get the chapter done before Christmas. Either way, I'm glad you liked it, as well as the twist I put in. Thank you again and I wish you luck in your stories as well.
Blaszczu2500: It certainly was. Thank you.
NJred2000: Happy you understand. I do what I can to keep things the same as they are told, whether by the shows standards or from other readers and authors. Sometimes they might not fit what it is I'm working with so I'll have to make some adjustments to make them fit. I'll try not to do it too often but I'm glad you understand. And yes when it comes to the "parts" for Lapis, she would only form the outside parts, not the far deeper in "parts" if you get what I mean. Afterall, taking the chance to have a child, knowing what happened to both Marcus and Steven's mothers, Lapis is one of the few people able to keep Marcus sane and together. Losing her would be a loss he might never be able to recover fun.
JustinTheSpider: That is definitely an option which will help out in the future.
ChimaTigon: Not really. I've been meaning to watch the new Godzilla movie but haven't had the opportunity to.
Marbled Gold: I'm glad I did those characters justice. I'll keep in mind if I need to use them in the future and I appreciate the authority you've given me over the armor. Thanks. As with the eventual time when the two new Lapis come into play, I can see our Lapis feeling threatened, maybe angry, and as you said more than likely very possessive. Things will be interesting when they come into the picture.
For the decision with the choice, that is a very good argument for not becoming the leader. He's tired of fighting all the time, so just leaving and heading back to Beach City with everyone, he could finally get the rest he deserves. But the opportunity to have his own military force at his fingertips is also an opportunity he can't ignore. Yes he would thrust himself back into fighting and all, but he'll be better prepared this time around. Both are tempting that's for sure.
And thank you for your well wishes. This whole thing with the virus is definitely crazy and now the protests and riots cropping up, things are just not looking good as they are. Good thing is I live in a relatively small town so I'm not getting hit too much with either the virus nor the protests so I'm good for now. Thank you.
An Awfully Bored Chap: Well I am happy you enjoyed it, in very interesting ways. Sorry their was no lemon but my skills in writing that particular brand of… writing, I'm not too confident. I used to write stuff like that a long time ago, but I've decided not anymore as time passes.
Ton190p: A very true statement. He's been ready for war since Peridots ship first came to earth. I'm happy I did good work for the chapter.
Kyrogue23: Oh yeah, he did not hold anything back when it comes to fighting his enemy, especially one that was willing to kidnap someone he cared about. As much as I didn't want to, Marcus and the gems cannot be the ones to solely protect Steven for every single threat, so that's why Marcus's last resort was to train and give Steven his own firearm as protection, even Greg. Peridot never was one for being particularly careful with organics so he crash and uncaring attitude towards the humans deaths aren't really something that'll keep her occupied, whereas Pearl has been told by Rose for a long time about the potential that organic humans can bring just leaving them alone, which started the Gem war in the first place. So having to full on go into a battle against the humans just made Pearl realize that they are going against what it was the Crystal Gems were fighting for, what Rose originally wanted, to give the humans a chance. She saw them as they were young, never knowing the danger they could possibly be in time.
Both decisions have their ups and downs. Ones advocating war and helping him prepare, even though he doesn't want to, the other he leaves it behind, but he won't be as prepared. A conundrum.
Guests: It's a tough decision for Marcus to take in his decision. One he continues his potential ways of war and better prepared, another he gets a moment of peace but won't be as prepared. Yeah it was pretty good he's paired with Lapis. I always liked her and Marcus and Lapis being together just felt nice. And then theirs the sheer number of you that constantly asked me to update this story. I don't know if it was one, two, three or five of you that asked me to update but you have to understand, asking me constantly to update won't make me go any faster in writing. While I understand the frustration of waiting for an update, please don't spam me.
Jeptwin: Wow… just wow… so many. You gave me SO MANY REVIEWS. I'm honestly surprised. Normally when I read a story I always like to wait till I hit the current last recently released chapter before I do a review. Afterall, something that happens in an earlier chapter just might get addressed later one, author posts a notice about it, stuff like that. But man you went all out and did a review for almost all of the chapters. Thank you for that. I can't really answer many of the questions you asked for chapters earlier in the story, or if maybe you got the answer as you read further down, but I will say that I hope this story has been to your satisfaction as it progressed and I hope you will continue to like things as it continues.
Miss Tri: Glad to hear from you again. I did what I could to give some more context and explanations than what the show provided. One thing that kind of was lacking in the show was the fact they sort of glossed over some of the emotional healing and dealings that some of the characters had to deal with, namely as you said Lapis and the ocean, as well as the awkward situation of Lapis having been trapped by the CG's for so long. I wanted to give a little bit of acknowledgement on those issues. Might touch up more on that as well as other issues later on as the story develops.
Not to mention I did what I could to make the relationship between Marcus and Lapis as believable as I can, to write it as best I can to make it seem like they are meant to be together. I think I did a good job in making it pretty damn believable.
And as for the Iron Kings, I think its safe to say that after Marcus's decision, the Iron Kings are done for.
GreatGodly: Oh yeah. I am definitely going to do the move and Future at some point. Already got stuff planned for those two areas, some small, some big, and certainly some crazy to go along with it. I think that's a fair assumption of his age by that point. 20 or 21 seems right.
Dperson3569 (Ch.40): Because I sucked a bit at remembering who had what weapon. In truth, we never actually saw Crystal Gem Ruby take out her weapon. She may have had it on but never actually showed us taking it out besides in her fusion form. Homeworld Ruby we saw her pull out her weapon, so I went ahead and assumed and I haven't bothered to change it since I've been focusing on the rest of the story since then. Sorry about that.
WebNovelMonster: I know right. How things change over time.
Ghost Leviathan (Ch.20): No not really. Only certain stories I may consider it but this one definitely not.
ObsidianPhoenix26: Twice? Wow. Thank you. It won't be too long for the next chapter. Apologies for the delay.
Will the video game characters I mentioned and referenced here appear later in the story? I have no idea. Captain Price, Soap, Foley, Aiden, T-Bone, Leon, Chris and Sam all belong to their respective owners and areas. They are only here just to show the seriousness that Marcus is going to take his training and advisors. All of his skills and talents are either self-taught or memories gather from his mother. He needs to get professional help, people who have had a lot longer means of training and experience than he has. As many of you may have heard of, played or seen what these men do, they are very good at their jobs and what their good at, what they do for a living. Like I said, I don't know if they'll appear later on. They might be mentioned at some point in the future but this will be their only appearance.
Now of course, there are some other things that need mentioning and some of you might be wondering about, namely the COVID-19 virus and the protests and riots. First things first, I don't want my story's comments and PM's to turn into a massive political debate about the protests and riots going on so I just want to give a quick bit of info. I AM ALRIGHT. My town is relatively small so we don't have anyone wanting or willing to protest or riot within the city limits, nor within the next few towns over, so currently I am in a good safe place right now. I am all for Equality, it doesn't matter to me who you are and what you look like, I want everyone to be given equal opportunity without basing off of appearances. That's all I'm going to say on the matter as I don't wish to flame anyone for the simplest of comment on this. I just hope this situation blows over soon and everyone becomes alright and we can refocus our efforts back into eradicating COVID.
Speaking of the virus, my town has also been hit somewhat low with the virus. Only about a 100 cases have popped since the virus first appeared in my town. For awhile we only had around a dozen cases in my town and all were quarantined and stabilized, but since the protests started we've gotten a lot of new cases popping way too often. Hopefully not anymore will pop up but that hope seems to be fleeting. My family and I have been very cautious and very careful to prevent any of us from getting infected, seeing as how a couple of my family members are either too old or have compromised immune systems, so we aren't taking any chances.
All in all, I am okay, I can keep writing. I just hope everything else begins to die down and everyone and everything starts to get better.
But one final thing for everyone to know about: this story is done. If some of you may not have already noticed, this story is now officially labeled as completed at the top.
Which is why if you go to my profile you will find the SEQUEL up and ready to read just after this chapter has been uploaded. Thank you all for reading the first part of this story and I hope you all like the sequel story, A Tale of a Jade: The Sons Journey.
Marcus is far from done and I think with how massive this part of the story is, I think it's time I separate it to an entirely new story section. Something I was debating for a bit and I think with the conclusion of the Iron Kings and the beginning of the Crystal Kings, this point would be a good place to stop and a new place to continue elsewhere. Depending on how fast the new story is uploaded and how fast some of you immediately jump on reading this story, it may take an hour or two or the sequel to be up, but I can assure you it will in fact be there.
Thank you everyone for reading up to this point, for giving my story a chance to read, and helping me develop this story as things progressed. Thank you for everyone who has favorited, followed, reviewed, or just simply read it. Thank you for giving me a chance. Alright enough thanking. Take care everyone and have a great each and every one of you. Take care and becareful out there.