Details about Units Beta and Gamma.

Beta Unit:

Purpose: Elimination of Bladedaughter/Primary Infiltration team

Members:

SI Kim Liyung [Silver; Dual; Tier II]: Leading Investigator; Anti-Muramasa specialist. Dual Adapter Esper capable of universal telekinetic control and Shareware seizing. Will be the primary engager of Bladedaughter.

ASI Diana Ulrich [Gold; SIM; Tier II]: Sub-leading Investigator; Possesses Electromagnetic-based telekinesis and intense regenerative capability. Will control Bladedaughter's aerial blades.

ASI Harry Pouler [Bronze; SIM; Tier III]: Can harden his skin to be impervious to Silver-Grade weaponry. Will focus on defense against the Bladedaughter.

SI Lucas Grey [Bronze; BUG; Tier III]: Expert in blade usage. Will support Kim Liyung directly.

I1 Sabrina Thraum [Silver; SIM; Tier II]: Capable of invisibility and rapidly freezing objects with her breath. Will impede Bladedaughter's Shardware.

Mercenary Dreadwire [Gold; BUG; Tier II?]: All-round specialist in breaking into facilities. Will aid in infiltration and engage the Bladedaughter.

Mercenary Starlight [???]: Will provide communications and coordinate unit activity.

NeoCore Enforcer Archangel [Silver; BUG; Tier III]: Will support all unit activity.

Gamma Unit:

Purpose: Secondary Infiltration team/Command team

Members:

Lieutenant Anabelle Grazhe [Silver; SIM; Tier III]: Capable of manipulating others with her voice. Will sow discord and extract information from Muramasa.

SI Ahmed Koli [Silver; BUG; Tier III]: Data Delver and Rifle expert. Will perform primary information extraction and on-field analysis.

SI Laura Kipper [Bronze; BUG; Tier II]: Drone and defensive specialist. Will provide defensive support and covering fire.

SI Ken Rachfeld [Bronze; SIM; Tier III]: Flame Esper. Will be in charge of disabling heavy-duty Shard Adapters.

SI Miles Fernadez [Silver; BUG; Tier II]: Weapons specialist. Will be the primary engager of Muramasa assailants.

December 19th

8:24 AM

Diana

As Ripley finished up dealing with the final tower, I kept a good eye on the thick drone he'd brought here with him. It was ridiculously heavy, about as long as he was and wide as a torso. He said it was a mobile Armory of sorts and filled with replacement-parts, tools, and a few grenade launchers and mini-guns.

He was really getting into using drones now, I couldn't fault him for wielding machines to fight for him. Founders knew everyone here watching the feed of him dismantling their outer perimeter while we stayed safe had relieved us… but not for long. Ripley received a message to clear off a roof for us to land on, and he took action immediately. Using his claws, he sent Livewire grappling around multiple turrets as Muramasa shot from all sides.

He was motion incarnate, every piece of his body evaded and attacked at the same time — somehow even more fluid then back when we investigated the SynTec Meat Lab. He tangled a web around the turrets with his hands, then something strange happened, they stopped firing at him and began firing back at Muramasa.

"You're kidding me…" The Sergeant looked pale. "How the hell did he break through the countermeasures so easily?"

"He has Mirage with him. And her Personas." Sergeant Brinks tried to reason, but even she looked concerned from the ease in which Ripley took control of the prison's systems.

Archangel landed with a cloud of dust rising from the impact, looking a bit unsure as she stared at everyone and thought about who to choose. "I can take two of you."

Kim walked up, easily gripping Archangel's shoulder as another man named Ahmed Koli hesitantly took the other side. They sped off into the air, and reached the infiltration zone around two minutes later. They took charge of holding position while Ripley came swinging back.

Dreadwire landed on the ledge of the building, blood and grit dripping off him. His armor was riddled with signs of impact and bullet fire, but otherwise stable. "Three of you and my armory."

"Three of us?" Sabrina questioned, her gaze trapped on him with a measure of excitement.

Without saying a thing, one of his lower Arachne limbs pinched the back of her suit and lifted her up, the other grabbed his armory and secured it while his arms were free. I walked up, getting into position alongside a Special Investigator Rachfeld.

As we swung by, I noticed how much slower it was thanks to the added weight, but Ripley maneouvered us with ease despite it. Wind blowing, Rachfeld remained decidedly silent while Sabrina let out an excited scream as the wind rushed past us. "Woooah, this is kind of fun!"

"Yeah… it is admittedly." I said in a whisper, to which Rachfeld gave me a discerning look.

When we landed, Sabrina and I had much softer let downs while Rachfeld rolled across the ground. The SI recovered gracefully, only letting out a mild scoff before heat poured from his hands, with a precise flick he pointed through a Holoshield towards one crazed Muramasa guard hammering the shield with spitfire.

The weapon, once black and solid, began to glow a vibrant red and burst like a grenade in his hands. Each of the Special Investigators had their own quirks, they were gifted unique equipment to make the most out of their gifts. Koli was nowhere to be seen, but that was for a reason. The turrets by our sides suddenly sang vibrantly with power as they curved and shot all around us to eliminate more assailants. Koli was our on-field Delver.

I pushed electricity in through the door leading down, kicking it open as Sabrina and Kim worked by my side to clear out an entryway while our rear was covered. Sabrina threw a grenade in, which spewed a green frost that Kim gripped to freeze the lungs of the waiting Muramasa guards below. Ripley was with us too, his Livewire carrying him where he needed to as he flashed from one group of Muramasa to the other, either too quick to properly be shot at or too durable to be impeded.

Archangel came back with another two of us in a few minutes, and was exchanged for Ripley again. The Lieutenant was one of them along with a woman named Laura Kipper. From Laura's back detached around eight palm-sized flat drones, each circling us and manifested small domes of holoshields as the drones skirted to catch any stray bullets on those who were frailer.

Their defensive capabilities let Sabrina come out into the open and gain a position on the roof, her pistol shooting with deadly accuracy from beyond a shield emitted by Archangel's arms… it was the same type of barrier that the MAL had broken through at the club. Hexagonal plates expanding upon one another into a wide sphere, she alone covered almost all of us with an impenetrable defense.

As soon as Ripley arrived with the last two, we hurried inside but he stopped us with an Arachne spearing through the door. By now, the gunfire from outside had grown quiet, and he had grown aware of it. "Not through the staircase, we'll go down through the floor. Otherwise we're walking into an ambush."

"The floor?" The Lieutenant spoke behind her helmet.

His lower Arachnodyne pierced the concrete, drew a circle, and he fell down the hole with grace. We all followed in one by one, not counting Ripley and Starlight — there were ten of us divided between Units Beta and Gamma.

Beta Unit was decided by Kim Liyung, she knew the Bladedaughter and hand-picked those of us who'd worked best in combating her. There was me and Sabrina, along with Special Investigators Pouler and Grey. Both of the men were polar opposites, Pouler was a mutant capable of turning his body extremely impact-absorbant and elastic despite looking like a stone, when I'd punched him during rehearsals my fist caved into his chest and bounced right back. He just chuckled and said it tickled. Grey, on the other hand, was a blade specialist and meant to support Kim directly in overpowering the Bladedaughter.

As for Gamma Unit, they were designed according to who was best able to overtake the Prison. Naturally, Anabelle Grazhe led the team to work in being the inside commander while Captain Krishav dealt with Bladefather… She was the real powerhouse. Alongside her would be Koli, our Data Delver who'd work to get a foothold in the prison's security while the rest were their glorified bodyguards.

Not that they weren't more than that. SI Laura Kipper had nearly twenty drones, barely a few inches long, that wielded Silver-Weapon resistant holoshields and she had lightning-fast reflexes to defend our entire group. SI Fernandez, I'd heard, was the best shooter in the First Precinct and SI Rachfeld was recently promoted to the rank but had incredible Esper abilities to manipulate heat within metal.

As we dropped down, we entered what we recognized as a jail cell. Empty, neat and… with the doors wide open. Looking out, we saw that all the jail cells were empty, and some Muramasa guards who were yet unaware of our arrival as they instead flocked the nearby staircase we were expected to breach from.

Starlight pulled a visual of the floor to us, guiding us into the direction of the Warden's office. We stayed cramped in the cell as guards scrambled around, but Anabelle Grazhe's gray eyes swept over us from behind her visor. "Go deaf. Now."

We'd been told about this…

Starlight handled cutting off our sense of hearing, specialized disks in our ear canal would cancel out the Lieutenant's ringer. As part of our classified debrief, we received some insight into the Lieutenant's specifics about her Mutation…

The more people who heard the same noise as her, the more effective her Mutation. Somehow, it linked her psionic prowess to them. She walked out of the concealment of the cell, guns aiming at her immediately as she snapped her fingers.

There was a small plate right where her metal-coated middle finger smacked her palm, it vibrated to a pitch I didn't sense, and the lieutenant's lips moved in silence. But I knew what she said. "Kill yourself."

As though in a trance, their guns moved. If we could hear, we would have known a dense eruption of gunfire, the drumming pace of falling bodies, but the hollow silence was all that existed for us as we saw muzzles flash against the confused faces of the men and women who pulled the trigger. We filed out slowly, unable to say a thing as we took in the scene all around us as sound returned… blood was pooling from the floors above and below, dripping down the railings to collect at the bottom from what must have been nearly…

"I counted thirty-eight… I think they were all prisoners here." Starlight's voice was tense, a horror drenched inside.

Thirty-eight lives taken by two words… and the Lieutenant didn't even look bothered, she walked past a few corpses and we followed with our resolve and guard held high. "Some of them have resisted my call, take them out."

She pointed towards an upper ledge where multiple Tier II Adapters staggered out of a daze. They were clearly stunned, and to my surprise Sabrina was the first to shoot them with ballistic ammunition, their brains caving in. She shuddered as she did, stowing her weapon away as her eyes refused to show what was on her mind… it wasn't quite guilt... and it was eerily close to relief.

Now wasn't the right time to ask about it.

It was Archangel who actually wobbled forward onto her knees, breath audible from under her thick suit. I helped her up, her hand clasping on my arm almost painfully as she excused herself. "A-apologies, I just… I'm still tinkering with how much I need my wings to walk. Trying to conserve power."

Everyone else carried on without us, but I was beginning to formulate exactly why Archangel was acting the way she was.

Even I could have empathy for her. "Just focus on using your shields, don't think about the spear until you need it."

"Until I need it?"

Taking a deep breath, my gaze fell upon the countless bodies left without life because of Anabelle Grazhe. "You don't walk out of a place like this as the same woman. You hunt MALs, so I guess you were never trained for killing... humans. But you'd be an idiot to think I was trained for this, as well."

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———

Dreadwire

Muramasa was keeping their most valuable assets deeper in. We'd yet to find anyone who wasn't Tier III and there was a sparse amounts of Tier IIs, but their numbers were staggering. Everytime we moved into a new position, someone coordinated Muramasa's guards at our exit points — they'd grown wise as to how we slipped past them, now they had a large fence of guards ready even at mundane walls.

Our group was large, that was the issue. Back when it was me and R0N1N, we'd been able to move quickly and efficiently. Here, we had to deal with protocol and constant communication with the outside along with a group too big to manoeuvre stealthily, if we ever lost contact with Omen… they'd switch over to a frontal assault from the North and South Wings.

The brunt of Muramasa forces we'd seen so far inside were former prisoners outfitted with weapons to use against us, more than a few in guard equipment. Yet, not one Black Dragon or royalty had made an appearance yet…

A prison wasn't designed to be sneaky, everywhere was meant to be visible except the spaces where the staff would have been… it's also likely where the real Muramasa was hiding. And yet, as we walked… I couldn't help but feel like we were being played.

Cameras blinked around us, too many for me or Twilight to seize all at once without a direct uplink into their servers. Our location was known to their strongest… and yet, not one had come to kill us. Not even as we baited them with the Lieutenant. Her direct infiltration here wasn't too much of a surprise, she'd been an Intelligence operative longer than I was alive, but as a Lieutenant… her death was a risk to the entire police force.

One I would have to manipulate into happening.

I had some drones piloted by Starlight infiltrating the air vents, carefully scanning the floors for any number of Muramasa personnel. Thankfully, we had one more source of information.

Topaz. Muramasa didn't even know it, but he was lurking among them silently and observant, feeding us details through Twilight and Mirage.

"Yo, so they're about to activate riot control, whatever that means." Topaz relayed to our ears. "And send in a few Black Dragons to whittle you down, they're cautious… the guys here are just as confused about the orders as you guys are."

"Who are the orders coming from?" Diana whispered.

"War-Watcher. That's their Second Prince — you would not believe the beef him and R0N1N have." Topaz said carelessly. "Anyways, good luck, I'll see what else I can figure out. But there's a lot of them here… it's like a goldmine but… the gold's trying to eat you. Have to be careful, still have sensors here I can trip and they'll probably expect me to be here — even if they can't see me."

"We'll show them what true Gold looks like." Diana hushed, to which I agreed.

In moments, a red light began to burn across our vision as an alarm system went out. Numerous drones filtered into the air through hidden compartments in the walls but they didn't attack immediately, they were large and humming but half as capable as the Oni drones I'd stolen from Yuzhou.

Instead a voice spoke out of them. "This is War-Watcher speaking, Second Prince of Muramasa, state your reason of entry."

"Reason of entry?" The Lieutenant said in disbelief. "You took over a prison, stole hundreds of millions of worth of Implants, state why you haven't surrendered yet."

"Ah, did you not receive word?" The War-watcher asked, his electronic voice carrying a hint of amusement. "We're building a new Free City. Muramasa is staking independence from your oppressive regime, the Sixth Precinct will no longer be governed by you."

That revelation came as a shock to us all. Muramasa was carving out a chunk of the city to take for themselves?

"Our bargain is simple, we will return half of the Implants, execute as many of our people as we took from yours — and remain neutral with you." The War-watcher chuckled. "Of course, you'll need to get the mayor here to properly legalize it."

The Mayor…. Johan Trask, grandson of the Founder of SynTec… as far as I knew he stayed couped up in the Holowood District, living it up by the west coast's pleasures. If the mayor was coming, then Muramasa would be dealing with much more than just Westcrook's police — they'd be inviting the full strength of New California's military.

That would invoke the power of Captains, Majors… even a General. Diana was the expert on what that would mean, but all I figured was that this event was far larger than what any of us assumed.

Silently, I tried to reach for Mirage. "Did you know that?"

Her voice came in through static, she was deep within the Net, but it did little to mask her confusion. "No."

———

Diana

Things were beginning to piece together, Muramasa committing a grand act of rebellion by taking over a NeoCore shipment, attacking the police, parading around this prison like it was a castle. They weren't just committing crimes, their goal was far larger, it was… to make headlines and garner support from other anti-establishment groups.

To make a second Little Requiem. A larger one. The Sixth Precinct, Xiao Beijing, although I hadn't visited often, was subject to much of Yuzhou's industry and manufacturing for low-scale commodities and they practically owned most of this place. The pay wasn't the best here, unlike the high-tech products coming out of their Third Precinct, and the earthquake hit this place hard. Since then, Muramasa effectively took control of the place, if their ease in the prison takeover wasn't evidence enough.

Our research let us know that the 18 million denizens of the Sixth Precinct weren't particularly… hateful of Muramasa. The Bladefather was strong-willed and had some sense of internal justice. Here, they acted like a second police force, preventing any of the other gangs from operating within their territory. The enemy of their enemy.

Staking independence… Muramasa was the largest gang in the District. Our measures identified nearly 10,000 affiliated criminals who banded together under them. That was an army in itself.

"How much of your leadership is here tonight?" Anabelle said, her voice measured and cool.

"All of us, our father and my siblings." Came the teasing reply. "If you choose to remain violent and assault our troops, we will return to you in kind. However, we have proposed a peaceful option, one that will end this cycle of violence."

We were lucky only their core members were gathered here tonight… but maybe luck wasn't the word. This was fabricated by them, bait — or perhaps a message.

"You still killed 116 of our personnel." The Lieutenant's voice didn't waver.

"Ah, correction." One of the drones flashed an image, then the rest did as well. They were recent news articles, barely an hour old… and they all had headlines revealing that each of the cops killed were corrupt. From those taking in money from Yuzhou, to the other three major gangs of this city. It was a staggering list, containing exact details of their shady dealings. "We aided you in eliminating Investigators who looked the other way, but despite that, we've even agreed to offer you our own people's lives to justify it. By now, all media agencies should have received word of our deal."

"And you waited until we entered to reveal it." The Lieutenant let out a dark chuckle. "Oh, so what, are we hostages now?"

"No." War-Watcher responded. "You are guests."

Ripley's voice slithered into my ear as the Lieutenant continued talking to War-Watcher. {They're stalling us out, Yuzhou's never going to let this place go independent. Never was the city's offer.}

{Then what are they planning?}

{To draw as much of you out, from the mayor to the military?}

{Why?}

{To show strength? To assassinate some high-profile people? I don't know exactly… but if I had to guess, she's involved.}

I was beginning to fear the same. {Ms. Himiko?}

———

Dreadwire

Another party involved themselves into this mess of an operation, I was beginning to lose count as to how many fingers were tangling these threads. If anyone could ease Muramasa into taking over Yuzhou territory, it was the AI that had been lurking in this city's shadows for the company. That was Mirage's guess, that the mysterious backer behind War-Watcher wasn't Skeleton or Soul Killer, but Himiko.

She was sowing seeds of chaos within this city, all to further her own plan which was… utterly unknown. I thought the Uncaged had irregular motives, but Himiko was another being entirely. At her core, she was self-serving, neither on the side of humanity or the MAL, neither on the Uncaged side or even her own company.

Did the Founder of Yuzhou know what was happening? Worse, was this some scheme of his? Muramasa… if they were to take over the Sixth Precinct, would serve as the perfect excuse for Yuzhou to mobilize more troops here before the Swarm could begin. It would give them a reason to take control and have sway over our government, either forcibly or coercively.

At the same time, it could also be a sign of weakness that SynTec would take advantage of. They might show themselves as the stronger corporation, not being overtaken by criminals and pull the government over to their side — knowing the mayor, that was likely.

Or were both truths simultaneously working with each other? The fact was, should Muramasa be given a stake of land and independence, it would allow one corporation permission to grow more aggressive in their operations here and another would be seen as stable and powerful.

They would both gain from this. The only ones losing would be this City.

Muramasa had to have known they were sacrificial pawns, and as far as I knew, were anti-Yuzhou… or at least, The Bladefather was. Who was to say what his children thought or who they had sold their allegiances to?

"Where's the Bladefather's stance on this?" The lieutenant clicked her tongue. She was the only one in direct contact with Staff Sergeant Morgan 'Omen' Kirell and relaying all of this to him. They didn't want Starlight or her mother being able to reach him.

The drones stayed quiet for a moment, before speaking. "He's in secluded meditation within the Isolation Chambers of the Prison. Trust that his word is extended through us."

The Lieutenant's voice pierced through the Neuralink, everyone was ready even without her command. {Engage. We will verify the location for Alpha Unit.}

———

The Bladefather

A man was seated within a storm of holograms designed to break the minds of prisoners most deranged and terrible. They worked their way within the Bladefather's mind to break him — this was a torture method, plain and simple; centuries of scientific analysis of the human mind condensed into a single room developed to shred your brain and unfold it for all to see.

His own children were subjecting him to it.

Sounds, light, touch, smell, even taste and senses beyond them wormed through his mind. Chaos materialized and worked its way like centipedes with scalpels for legs, surgically dissecting his psyche with wild yet paradoxically calculative chewing.

He didn't even notice them, instead, his focus was entirely on the red-eyed metallic skull who was trying not to break. Skeleton might be strong, but he was human. The Bladefather was not.

"Mikail." The old man's voice slid out like serpent upon a blind rat. "I have come to an epiphany as of late. That my dream will never come true."

The skull raised its mouth, but only a weak groan came out. The mind within was a shell of its former self.

"I am old. I am at my limit. My family recognizes this — it's just as your former master warned me of." A scrawny hand reached out towards the skull, so thin you could make out the bones and tendons underneath the pale and sickly skin. "Yet, they will never claim me weak. Instead, my children intend to use me today… and I have let them. Do you want to know why?"

"Why?" Even from the chaos, Skeleton had a yearning to know why the Bladefather would let this happen to himself.

"Because I suffered from hubris -- and I believe in dutiful punishment." Came the calm reply. "For ronins like us with no master, we claim to have freedom to act as we wish and the price is to suffer from the consequences of doing so. I sought family for where Yuzhou had stolen it from me. I sought justice, I sought to end the tyranny of that corporation. In doing so, I cast aside all that tethered me to my reasoning, I raised weapons instead of children. But clearly, they see me as one as well, instead of a father. How ironic."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "In this life, I only have regrets. Perhaps, I can do one last thing to ease my conscience."

"Regrets are foolish… Kensuke." The skull wheezed. "You are the strongest of them."

"I am." The Bladefather knew that as fact. "I have been at this Tier longer than many of the others have lived. I have witnessed the rise and fall of legends — harvested them for my own arsenal — but it is when I am old and my children are scheming that the Titans began their plot. If I had been as I was long ago, then perhaps I could have changed something. Instead, my body grew weary as my mind grew wise."

"That's because you persist from nourishing yourself."

"I am malnourished physically, but spiritually… Perhaps it is not too late."

"Spiritually? There is no god, Kensuke."

"You may be right, but in the end… what choice does a dying man have but to pray? What choice does a sinful man have?"

"I will never understand you." The skull breathed.

"That's because you believe yourself a god." The old man's hand tenderly touched the metal of the skull. "Worse, you believe the Founders to be gods themselves and covet their position."

"Is it not their power that shapes the world?" Skeleton gripped onto the fleeting remnants of his sense of self. "Is it wrong to believe I would shape it better?"

"What shapes the world is not their power, instead, what shapes this world is their humanity. You and The Founders are cut from the same cloth in that regard." The Bladefather murmured.

"Hah, humanity? I suppose greed is very human." Skeleton didn't argue his sins, not when they would bear a virtue to span centuries.

"Does it matter? Suffering and the spread of its benefits? One could argue their cause and effect, their cyclical nature for a millennia — even be a part of it. As I am, as you are… as this city is."

"Yet, you're intending to cause more." Skeleton was reaching his limit. "How many will you kill today?"

"As many as it takes to open their eyes." The Bladefather's nails took a feather-light touch on the skeleton's head. "As many as it takes to reveal them to the madness of your group's schemes. As many as it takes to educate my children. Come for my body, if you seek, but even my corpse has the strength to kill you. Mikail, I pray my daughter does to your real body what I will do today to so many others."

With the release of a single breath, and barely a flicker of movement from the Bladefather's fingers, the skull parted into two halves, each light from their orbital cavities fading away. Thus, another iteration of Skeleton died. It was a shame that this drone would not share its memories with the main body… but perhaps, it would have changed nothing.

Skeleton was stubborn, but so alike, and once the student of a man deserving respect, and that was why The Bladefather had foolishly agreed to marry his First Princess over to him. Just a decade ago, he had been so different, so sentimental, and confident in his strength. He believed the Swarm to be something to control, until he saw the ways others coveted its strength… until he met The Sin of The Founders.

Until the truth of his own sins were revealed. No, they had always been out there, in the open, but he'd blinded himself under duty.

The only thing you could do against the Swarm, was protect those nearest to you. There was no winning or losing, only survival.

Holding that paltry belief, The Bladefather rose. His old body hadn't properly fed in decades. Today, he will feast. His first meal lay in the corner of the room, and its mind had been broken long ago — the original prisoner of this Isolation Chamber.

Crimson and white eyes barely registered to The Bladefather as he moved his finger, and a slit tore from the Soulless throat — finally putting that Gold Nexus at peace after years of tortured imprisonment. Blood swam down the storms of mind-shattering illusions, blending into them as the horrors of his past until they reached his feet.

Bending down, The Bladefather slapped a hand into the crimson pool. With a simple tug, the corpse unravelled as bones, blood and the Gold Implant itself forged into a blade for him to wield. A red-hilt leading to a curved bone-white blade that echoed in the madness of the mind it had once been.

Lifting the blade up, he swallowed it. And a new voice began speaking to him. One that was his responsibility to cleanse. One that was his sin.

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