Meeting Between Ghosts [Part 1] [One-Shot]

Thirteen days after he got the message, Zulu was standing in front of a particular building pointed to him by the coordinates graciously given to him by the person he was supposed to be meeting today. He was told not to come here until the specified date, and although curious as he was, he kept to that little parameter. That didn't stop him from surveying the area from afar though. He had eyes out for anyone getting in or out, which turned up zero results, although he did detect fluctuations within the building. Nothing too major or even noticeable unless one had a finely tuned sense for electromagnetic fields. He thought nothing of it at first, thinking it was merely some loose wiring or faulty equipment. That is, until he found a relationship between his own PCG and the pulses he picked up. Now it was either a genuine corridor, or someone was playing with portal-spawning tech. Pretty similar in construction to his as far as he could tell.

Now what could that possibly entail? If one had that kind of tech, no doubt her friends would as well, despite her saying that the outfit she was with was 'dead'. He could have easily been walking into a trap here, and he was honestly fine with that. It had been a good while since he had a good rampage, and something like an ambush would allow him to let loose without having to tarnish his principles. Plus, there was something he really wanted to try pulling off, and he was just dying to use it.

He approached the door and pressed the tip of his boots against one of the decorative slates on the door frame, which opened up a panel on the door. How classical. He needed a code, but his gracious contact didn't give him one. It was tempting to simply kick it in, but he'd be drawing attention to himself, which would be a very bad thing to happen at a time like this. It seemed lock-picking was the way to go. And by lock-picking, of course it meant turning a finger into a needle and stab it into the keypad. The mercenary hummed as his nano machines flooded into the board, integrating themselves into the whole system and giving Zulu full control of the locking mechanism. The door hissed open and within moments Zulu was inside and had shut the door behind him. While he was attached to the controls, he saw that the door was made of heavy metal alloys and synthetic materials, in a combination that could withstand a Category G beam weapon, so it was a good thing he didn't kick it in. It would have made quite the racket, and then it was bye-bye possible contact.

It was dark inside. Save for the light that filtered through the window, in shadows were on every corner. On the table where the filtered light hit was a note written in cursive. Beautifully done so, if he might add. He had to smirk at what it said: "Congratulations! You opened the door!" So his contact had a sense of humor, did she? That was good.

Zulu pulled his mask down and switched to his night vision set of scopes. The room he was in was a standard-looking living room with some couches, a coffee table, and a TV. Nothing too out of the ordinary, which was what he expected from a reported outpost. Which meant there was a secret entrance somewhere to an underground bunker. Or just the basement. Unless it was a particularly large operation, outposts only had basements. Made things easy to dispose of should the need arises, and if not, the operators would only lose so little.

As for the secret entrance, Zulu found it already open for him. It wasn't an entrance in the common usage though. It was a standard-looking teleporter by the looks of it. Forge-made. How peculiar. He wasn't aware people from Forge already transfered operations here, but knowing the underground community, it wouldn't be a surprise. Perhaps his contact was someone he knows. But admittedly, he hadn't work with anyone with such a beautiful voice.

He stepped into the teleporter and was warped to an empty room with one door, and it was already open and leading to a wide, well-lit hall. He checked his coordinates and saw that he didn't move much horizontally, but he was deep underground. He could see a few design flaws with it to be honest. They better have a traditional exit of sorts since if the teleporters all died, the people stationed here would have died as well, either from asphyxiation, starvation, or the insanity brought about by boredom as they await the sweet embrace of Death. I should ask for this place's blueprints so I could mock it more accurately.

Dull clangs would sound as he would walk down the hall, doors lining the walls at the regular. Must be the living quarters. A lot of the doors were ajar, allowing the mercenary a few passing glances to confirm his hunch. Each room had adequate space and had at least two bunk beds. If this place was still functional in all of it's facilities, perhaps he could put this to good use. When he found suitable volunteers, this outpost could belong to the Crimson Shadows, or whatever he decided to dedicate this place to. He was still contractually bound to Marigold though, so he'd have to let her know this place existed, and no doubt she'd want to utilize this place. But it could wait until he got what he needed. It's not like this place was going anywhere. As much as he wants to make sure the Darkson's, uh, specialists were technologically equipped with the best equipment, he also really wanted to play with the toys first. And besides, if it blew up in a town-wide nuclear explosion, he was much more likely to survive the encounter. He'd still be kicking and within a few minutes too. He wasn't sure of the others to be honest, but at the very least, it wouldn't do well on their skins.

As he explored the bunker, he found a number of facilities that would make this an adequate base of operations. He didn't explore all of it though, that'd take forever. He found a terminal and downloaded maps on the facility, and he was happy to know that according to the security cameras, there was someone waiting for him in the control room. He knew they'd be watching, and was quite frankly surprised that they hadn't snapped yet for taking so long to meet them (which was of course, intentional). He guessed it only meant they were patient, long-term planners. Or in other words, someone to watch out for. He'd have to be careful not to fall into a pit he'd never get himself out of. He had to meet them now so he could make a plan on how to kill them if the need arises, which often does with this sort of people. Marigold fell into this category as well, and Zulu made sure he could combat her if needed. Not only that, but everyone associated with her. A tough order to fill, but it wouldn't be too much of a problem, he hoped. The meeting two weeks before was definitely a good start in identifying immediate threats, not to mention the communicators would do their part as well. But that was a worry not for today.

Deciding that he kept them waiting long enough, he made his way to the control room, which went right past the armory. Unfortunately, all the gear was cleared out, but he did see another note taped to the wall, still with the same beautiful cursive writing, saying: "You're getting the schematics only after we're done~" There was a cartoonish drawing of a winking face accompanying the note. Made it difficult to be annoyed, really. His new contact seemed a little bit childish, which he hoped didn't mean that she was insane in any way. Not that he had a problem with crazy chicks.

Finally he came upon the control room and opened the door in the same fashion as the one previous. The control room had a lot of video feeds on every corner of the facility, including the area where he downloaded the maps. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I decided to take the scenic route. But anyway, you wanted to see me?" He stood at attention, his weapon pointed to the ground. His contact didn't respond. He didn't see her personally, just the back of the large swivel chair fit for a business executive, but he did see a faint reflection on one of the monitors. "Hey, did you hear me?" No answer.

Grumbling, he slung his gun on his back and stepped forward to rotate the chair. The person sitting on it had her legs crossed, hands under her chin with entwined fingers, and... quietly snoring. "You've got to be kidding me..." But there she was... eyes closed and lips curled into a wavy smile, giving off a soft expression of peaceful slumber. She had long, silvery hair and wore a trench coat usually seen in arctic conditions. She was actually very beautiful, which matched with her handwriting, if it was indeed her writing those notes. There was an old-fashioned rifle leaning on the control panel to one side, quite possibly belonging to her. So she was a sniper as well?

She still hadn't woken up, so Zulu decided to gently poke her on the side of the head, just enough to offset her equilibrium. It started off slowly with her head tipping to the side slightly, then as it became more and more off-centered, her body dropped to the side and fell on the floor with a thud. "GYAAAAAA!" she shouted in surprise.

Zulu simply stared, holding back a chuckle.

"Mgh... Fell asleep again..." She picked herself up and stretched, yawning. She sighed and looked to the screens for a moment. "Hmm... He's still not here... This is bad... Maybe I should have left him a keycard to get in? Oh, what if he left because he lost interest? Oh no... he'd never talk to me again if he thinks I'm just wasting his time." She fidgeted with her hair and was visibly perplexed. "I gotta fix this! I really gotta fix this! Alright, I think I know where he'd be, I just need to rush over there before sundown..." She looked at one of the farthest monitor to see the outside. "OH NO! The sun's already setting! Gotta hurry!"

She picked up her rifle, turned and ran, only to bump into the mercenary's chest headfirst. She fell down on her rump. "GHYAAA!"

This is my contact?

"Ow. Ow... Oooooowwwww."

Seems like an airhead, to be honest...

"Ow... I really need to watch where I run to... That wall was a bit harder than the rest..."

Don't tell me she's been running into walls on the regular...

The girl looked up and saw the imposing figure in front of her. "Ehh?"

"Are you the one who called me here?"

There was a blank look on her face, as if she was trying to piece together what her situation was. "Ehhh...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"WAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Hey, hey! Take it easy!"

"W-W-What do you want?! I don't have any supplies here, s-s-so, go away!"

"Actually, you--"

"N-N-NOOO! I DON'T WANT TO!!!" She pulled out something from her pocket and sprayed the mercenary generously with it.

"..."

"Gha... it didn't work..."

"Listen--"

"NO! STAY AWAY!"

"... I don't have time for this. Are you the one who called me here or not?!" he snapped at her.

"Ehh?" The girl blinked her sapphire eyes, seemingly calming down a bit. She gulped. "R-R-Roy?"

Zulu simply nodded.

Her face blushed fully out of embarrassment. ""GYA!! I'M SO SORRY!

"... I'm outta here."

"No, wait! Come back!!!" The girl ran after Zulu, who turned and went back the way he came. "I'm really sorry! Please, just hear me out! I have the schematics! If you want it, just listen to me for a minute!"

Zulu stopped and looked back. "You have all of it on you right now?"

"Yes! I have it right here!" she exclaimed proudly, pulling out a number of memory cards from her coat pocket.

"Then what's keeping me from killing you right here and now?"

The girl's eyes widened. "W-What?"

Zulu turned around fully and took a step forward. "You heard me. What's keeping me from killing you and taking the cards right now? I mean, you have nothing else to offer me."

The girl swallowed a hard lump, taking two steps back. She knew she had to answer him rightly or he'd kill her. "I c-can offer you my s-services..." She took another step back as Zulu advanced. "I-I'm skilled in a n-number of areas, a-all of wh-which would be helpful to you." Soon, she was with her back against the hard, metal wall, cornered. Running out of time, she screamed, "I HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER!!!"

At the mention of his little angel, Zulu wrapped a hand around the woman's neck and squeezed it lightly. "My daughter is dead. Don't make me think for a second that she's not. I've had my hopes crushed far too many times. You're not the first to play that card, and quite frankly, I'm tired of the same low-blow tactic."

"No.... lis.... listen.... she's alive.... I can... prove it... Check.... left pocket...."

Without loosening his grip on her neck, Zulu checked the indicated pocket and pulled out a weaved bracelet of sorts with a variety of beads hanging shortly along the loop. The band itself was red with a black silhouette of a raven's head. It wasn't just any other bracelet, at least not to Roy. Shortly after taking her in, Lucy learned from the craftier members of the Blood Ravens. That bracelet was one of her most favorite to make, and she always had a signature on the inner band, which was just the letter L. And that signature was right there.

Zulu released his grip, and the girl collapsed on the ground, unconscious. "Must have squeezed too tight... she's alive though..." As if to confirm, the girl whined. Zulu looked at the band then to the girl, thinking about his options. The band was recently made, he could tell. She looked at the girl's unconscious form. "Alright. That's a good enough reason." He picked her up and carried her to one of the rooms he went past. Couldn't let her sleep on the floor, now could he? This could all just be a ruse, but... he was willing to have his hopes crushed once more.