Shadow felt the nudge and dropped into a low crouch, edging his way inside the room along the wall to position himself behind his target. These guards will believe anything, he thought as his eyes flicked from con-job to guard and back again. He hadn't gotten to known his fellow killers yet, too caught up in the lone wolf mindset of a Europa killer, so he wasn't sure just how they each got their hands dirty. Hopefully it wouldn't be anything too loud.

The con-job had started to make a sickly sounding gagging noise and Shadow knew this was the opportunity he was looking for. Hoping the noise would draw the guard's attention he launched himself at the bastard, the plasblade sliding easily into his hand. He aimed for the back of the neck hoping to sever the spinal cord.

“No need to report that one to Kolac, eh? Hell, it’s not like i’ll be going to piss him off again. The man is mad!” The guard nudged the one to his left and they both chuckled as Alsia had begun to get closer… and closer… and closer…
“Hey,” he affirmed. “Hey, mind your fuckin’ space, buddy” as the Ephemeral had started to get into his personal space with alarming ferocity. The guard, clearly agitated, rifle still stowed, raised him arms to shove Alsia backwards as her facial panel lifted.

The guard barely had time to scream before Alsia’s tongue punched a solid hole directly through the armour plating of the guard’s helmet. The body fell limp to the ground, blood coursing through the open wound, staining the dry, metallic floor a deep, sticky scarlet.

“WHAT THE FU-“ The second guard began to scream, but his voice did not carry far as his bellow was cut short by a small plasma blade materialising from the ether behind and somehow plunging itself into the base of the guard’s skull, forcing his body, too, to fall limp to the floor with a sickening thud.

Alsia and Shadow had cleared the room, leaving the rest of the Ephemeral to move in and regroup, and to devise a deeper strategy. There were many guards between them and Kolac, and the radio silence of a pair of sentries would not go unnoticed forever.

Jemini got to work quickly once the two guards dropped; Alexis followed close behind once he heard one of the guards shriek out in surprise and checked all three doors for any outside activity. After confirming that no one was coming to investigate, he went behind the structure to talk strategy, motioning for the team to follow and grabbing the ruined helmet along the way as he waited for Jemini to patch herself into the enemy communications network.

“Alright you lovely bunch of psychopaths, we have a small window of opportunity in order to execute our mark. We can extend it if Jem there can get herself into the network and if our shifter friend here can properly imitate the two guards’ voices.”

Alexis projected a holographic of the map the Terrarial H.A.K.E.S.A.T.H provided the team onto the floor in front of him through Apollo. “Our least likely path of resistance will be staying close to the southern part of the facility eliminating anyone we see along the way. Now assuming we get to the Marshall without a hitch, we’re inevitably going to be caught there so we’ll need to take out the mark quickly and efficiently.”

“Luckily, our Great Overlord has so kindly provided us with a weak point in the Marshall’s armor. Through our current entrance we have a three door entrance into the mark’s room so we’ll do a three pronged frontal attack; three guys will go through each door and attempt to open the faceplate any way they can. The rest of us will follow soon after and surround the room once the Marshall’s distracted and focus on taking him down.”

“By then there’s a high possibility that they’ll be looking for us so we’ll exit through the northern part of the facility and loop back around to the extraction point. We’ll be flying out hot so we’ll need Cyborg here to be on top of her game once we get there.” At this point Alexis clicked off the map, gathered the two bodies, and after finding some rope, quickly blindfolded and hanged the two dead bodies.

“Remember, we also need to make an example of the defectors. Treason shall not be rewarded. Sound like a plan Ephemeral?”

Rin was still sitting crosslegged on the shuttle floor when the others went on through, a zen like stance as he donned his armor and stood his blade on its tip. He watched carefully taking note of how the others worked, it was peculiar at most and he often spent his time watching the changing one, tricking the guard into thinking it was one of their own. Decietfull, dishonorable-yet... effective. Once the first two bodies hit the floor that was his cue. Standing straight up, the scratching of his armor against the steel wall sounded like fingernails to a chalkboard. Rin was not much when it came to stealth, that is why he was the rear guard. His mind tracked back to what the A.I. briefed about. "Hayden Kolac..." He muttered under his breath, the clicks and hisses from the back of his throat echoed as his deep voice pronounced the name like a trained bird. His "accent" getting in the way of clarity.

With his Jawbreaker in hand and Stinger neatly wrapped around his waist. He pushed passed a few of the others and took position near the farthest door keeping an eye out and listening to the plan. "Guards may not be there for a reason." His gutteral clicking echoed low and deep. "The path least taken proves to have the most obstacles." Rin spoke as if his training has proven this multiple times over. He did not know this... thing that spouted orders nor did he remember him being designated leader. "I suggest a scout on both fronts, two viewpoints, two more ways to not die." His common tongue was rusty but Rin believed his opinions got through well enough. Taking post note of the Shadow one, mentally voting to stay near him.... her... it. "It" seemed to have manners and would likely listen to his input.

In the back of Rin's mind he was starting to regret going along with that A.I. who are these people anyway and what makes the murder of this man better for the greater good? How would things change? Aside from the stench of these ugly creatures surrounding him, these questions lingered in his head, But all this needed to be put aside for when he leaned up against the east wall he felt the presence of at least another guard behind the thin steel barrier. Instinctively he raised his fist up and signaled about a possible guard opposite of him.

Uncloaking, Shadow removed his blade from the guard's skull, turning off the Plasma rim in order to wipe the blood off it. Just what in the fuck was with the con-jobs tongue? He had seen it out of the corner of his eye and it unnerved him. Not enough to help the guard but enough that he didn't want to stick nearby.

"We should push through 33 onward through to 34."

Testing the plasma setting on his blade to make sure it still worked - it did- he set it back into it's sheath and pulled out his pistol. Checked the clip, loaded full of Hydra venom, a nerve agent designed to kill fast. The gun was fine, as he knew it would be but he couldn't help but feel paranoid about his gear. It only takes one fuck up....

As far as Thalos was concerned, she was here along for the ride. The fact that a talking suit of power armor was giving her orders didn't really phase her. What did worry her was the possible conflict between the others and this self selected leader, that would be worse than a mere fuck up. The AI didn't give the team a chance to bond, and that, right now, is the bigger threat. Just as casually as she walked off the shuttle, she walked into the room, listening to the rest of the team discuss their ideas as to how they can take care of the bad guy. And she decided to pitch in.

"If you need the target's panel opened quickly, I can shoot the weak point. And trust me, I hit 100% of the time. And right after his face plate opens, I can blast his head off. But I'm sure you have your own ideas. But whichever plan you all choose, we will get detected..." She shruged. "Just tell me where you need me."

Guardsman Ano crooked his head to the left, eyeing up the other two Guardsmen who were stood at their posts outside room 29. He had had his head pressed against the layered metal panel wall that separated them from 28, and had noticed… unusual anomalies.

“I can hear voices,” he remarked after a moment of contemplation.

“So? There are men stationed in there” one of the others announced rather condescendingly.

“I can’t quite make it out, but… I can hear a female? I think, anyway. That or it’s a child. it’s hard to tell with these fucking walls.”

“Well, you know what those two are like. Their crude ass impersonations don’t fool anyone,”

“And something far from human. Like, that can’t be a human voice. That’s disgusting, it sounds like a bug,” he recoiled once more from the wall, playing with the idea of pressing up against it once again to ascertain and discern more information. He immediately beckoned his somewhat skeptical squad-mates to join him in trying to listen in to the muffled voices through the heavy walls. This was only possible due to the slight sensory augmentation of their helmets; it wasn’t a big bonus, but every little helped.
Cautiously, one of the others also put his head to the wall, and the tone changed immediately. To him, it was no longer a joke.

“Intruders?” he gasped.

“No way to tell.”

“We could just go in and look?

“And then what? We get ourselves killed. If there are intruders in there, those two guardsmen are worm food.”

The second guard pondered for a second, his brain ticking over as many solutions to the situation at hand that he could think of.
Finally, he announced:
“Let’s just check in the the two guardsmen via radio. Just hope to god that they answer, okay?”

The first nodded, and gave the third a signal to access the radios of the two (dead and hanging) guards in 28.

“Come in 28-2-K. This is 29-3-K, report in any discrepancies on your end to the data flow. I think we may have been hit by a minor blunt object, most likely an asteroid. Over”

In room 28, the radios flared to life, transmitting the message for all Ephemeral to hear.

After the guard had fallen Alsia's tongue had quickly retreated back into her mouth through the slit in her face plate which rapidly closed behind it, leaving no sign other than the shattered skull of the fallen guard that anything had happened. Though was that the faint sound of chewing and swallowing coming from within her helmet? Regardless she seemed completely unbothered by the way that the Shadow had retreated from her after she felled the guard. Alsia had been less than pleased with the described method of progressing and her orange eyes had narrowed behind the faceplate with disdain for the way the jumped up cybernetic had attempted to take command. It was not so much that it had attempted to take command as that the plan it proposed involved forfeiting stealth far more quickly then she would have been comfortable with.

She had been about to voice her displeasure when the radio in the guards helmets had sudden sparked to life. Alsia quickly understood the nature of the communication and swiftly picked up the helmet that had not already been grabbed by the construct. Her face plate slid back fully to reveal the her flawless almost human features that were not marred by even a speck of blood from whatever she had done earlier. "Move the corpses and get out of the sight lines from the door on either side. Be ready." She hissed out in a whispered voice that would not carry beyond the room before she activated the microphone in the headset.

"This is 28-2-k." She spoke in a voice that sounded eerily similar to the voice of one of the now deceased guards, though it wasn't perfect. "We read you and think you're right. No cause for alarm. After all," She paused for a second remembering the banter she had heard as she entered the room. "We aren't dead yet." Her mal-synth armor shifted slightly and she removed a silencer from a hidden pouch, attaching it to the end of the rifle.

"But we're about to check it out to be sure, can you all cover the post?" She turned to face the door, hoping that the others had listened to her instructions and would be in proper position to aid in dispatching the guards if they came through.Her own gun was held in a casual but ready position.

As soon as the radio transmission went through Shadow had began moving the guard he killed, bringing him back into the sector 14. When returned the con-job was using the radio, talking just like it was part of the instillation. He turned his stealth suit back on, becoming nothing more than a shimmering space and positioning himself by the door to 33, ready to take whatever opportunity arose, be it another dead guard or a distraction to sneak through the door.

"A very apt impersonation, Miss Alsia. You have many talents," Dying Star murmured as it flitted over to the door leading to room 29. Its own voice had slid down several registers to the rough baritone of guard 28-2-k. "I recommend, Master Alexis, that you do as the lady says and hang the second corpse in a less conspicuous location. If you could also have your drone tap into the facility communications network as you mentioned, I would be much obliged to you."

"Now, my friends, a moment of silence for the brave guards of room 29," it whispered, warping and expanding into a towering, transparent haze that arched over the doorway like an ominous cloud. "Hide yourselves and allow them to fully enter this room before you begin your work. We wouldn't want to disturb the rest of the guards prematurely. No screams this time."

A very apt impersonation indeed. Slightly impressed with the alien, Thalos listened to the cloud of whatever-the-fuck it was and chose to hide behind the wall that was facing the door to the corridor that lead to room 29. She put away her tiger claws as they weren't currently needed, she could do this with her hands. And so the waiting game began.

Rin instinctively took the rear entrance in case the guards from 29 doubled back around through room 18/19. As he stated before, the lower route may be less guarded for a reason and one can't factor out that they didn't buy the changing ones mimic. Jumping up above the girders supporting the low hanging celing lights he held onto a nearby I-beam while planting his feet horizontally. Keeping himself flat above the rear entrance ready to pounce down at a moments notice. Keeping his blade pointed downward with jaws wide open waiting like a mantis stalking his prey.

A low gutteral grow followed by some clicks signaled to his teammates he was ready. (Ha! Teammates!) the thought of the word tasted sour in his mouth. He trusted them no more than he would trust these guards. If anything, he's eaten bigger things than the ugly-fleshy one called Liz. Although that tan flesh looked rather tasty hmmm....

“Roger that 28-2K, we’re just a little on edge here. You know how it’s been between the Star Marshals lately, I swear there’s going to be a civil war some time soon. That wont be good for anyone.”

The guard let himself go to ease once he had heard to obviously human voice on the other end of the radio-line.

“We can’t completely leave our post, so i’ll come in by myself to cover you while you check out the damage to the facility hull,”

He signed off the link to the dead guard’s headset, and linked a new channel to the guard in room 50, a small, sealed containment chamber for high disorientation and incendiary mining explosives. There were 3 such chambers, all kept locked for obvious reasons.

“Come in 50-1-K, this is 29-3-K, we need an additional man to cover 28 while they assess some damage to the facility, request you support through the south door, over,”

“This is 50-1-K. I hear you loud and clear, on my way now.”

The guard in 50 immediately set down a data pad he was using the process some unknown data, placing it upon the terminal he was stationed at and turning on his heel to the door that kept the explosives safe. He unlocked the door with a quick ID scan and swiftly jogged down the hallway to the door or 28, which slid open; he strolled through, not expecting anything out of the ordinary…

The guard from 29 cautiously moved through the upper-east door of 28, with his rifle raised however. He was not taking any chances…

Jemini cracked into the enemy communications with a happy whir and both she and Alexis were quickly bombarded by the chatter of all the guards in the facility. Alexis managed to localize the signals before having Jem hook up everyone else to the network.

The hacker was pleased that the guards from 29 didn’t suspect anything from the Creeper, but their small triumph was dampened by the fact that 29-3-K and 50-1-K were about to come into a room that decidedly did not have 28-1 or 2K. Complications.

Seeing his companions going into position to take care of 29, Alexis and Jem took up positions near the doorway to 49, taking a moment to cut off both 50-1-K and 29-3-K to the enemy communications network, ordering to Jem to similarly cut off both 29-1-K and 29-2-K if Ephemeral engages the other two guards. Alexis pondered whether or not to use his rifle, but he didn't have long to process the thought before 50-1-K came through the door.

Alexis immediately lunged toward the guard, hoping to grapple and choke him out while Jem stood guard ready to bash and shock him should anything happen.

Rin held what breath he had in his lungs as he saw the tip of the rifle peek through the sliding doors below him. Slowly and carefully he unhooked Stinger and flung the jagged edge down hopefully hooking the guard by the neck the second he saw a helmet. The whip swung down like a mini gillotine hopefully either catching the guard with the jagged blade in the neck or twisting the whip around the neck rendering him unable to breathe let alone call for help. If it was the latter, he could use the girder he was holding onto as a pulley and drop his own bodyweight to lift the guard up. Looking similar to his previously deceased brethren.

Hopefully his "teammates" would know what to do if his little game of hangman goes sour. This damn A.I. must of picked them for a reason and hopefully that reason was that they could fight. It was obvious that the changeling had some skills and Jemini with his little toy managed to get them hooked into the comm chatter. He couldn't wait to find out what the other fleshlings had up there sleeves.

There was a moment of silence, even from the Ephemeral as the both doors quickly slammed themselves shut once more, leaving the two new guards to their fates. The first, Guardsman Ano, at the top eastern door, who had his rifle already drawn had little chance to react to anything he could see. His eyes glanced over the body of a guardsman hanging from the structural beams above, and a gathering of fierce looking individuals beyond.

He had no time to raise his rifle, let alone loose an expletive from his lips. He knew he fucked up.

A chitinous dagger lashed from the ceiling; he didn’t even check above himself. The sharp bio-blade dug itself into his neck with a sickening whip, sending a small spray of blood gushing against the door he had just come through and crooking his head to one side as he gurgled and tried to speak. There was another split second of apparent apathy before his neck snapped as his body lurched upward and Rin descended slowly to the ground, leaving the guardsmen hanging, lifeless, with a broken neck, bleeding profusely over the floor below him.

—

The guardsman who had proceeded through the south door, who was completely unaware of the situation, had almost even less time to react than the first. He had no chance to unclip his rifle, no time to scream or shout, no time to engage his radio and absolutely no time to defend himself as Alexis launched himself at the hapless sentry with the force of a damn meteor, taking him to ground with no resistance. The guard was slammed against a storage container by the furious Cybernetic, which cracked it’s way through the helmet, and the skull, killing the second guard instantly and quietly. A small thud would have been all that was heard.

Achievement obtained by Alexis / TTwoThumbsUp. 'Taking out the Trash'

Dying Star darted through the closing panels of the door separating the luckless 29-3-K from his companions and lingered, huge and silent, on the threshold of Room 29. As the door hissed shut behind it, the Riftosian broke left, tearing down the hallway toward the two remaining guardsmen who stood in the top left corner of the room. It swirled noiseless around their booted feet while they laughed and bantered, slowly but surely swelling into a smothering cloud. The guards' masks would slow down the process a bit, but it was only a matter of time before Dying Star found its way through the tiny cracks and passages that littered any suit of armor and into their vulnerable respiratory systems. It would be a relatively painless death and - more importantly - a soundless one.

Satisfied with his work, Alexis got back up and patted himself off, happy that the blood stayed inside the helmet. Blood was hell to clean off.

However, their job was far from done. Radioing his other teammates, he said in a calm voice, "Alright Ephemeral, we've done enough fighting in this singular room. We need to get a move on. Since the Shroud already went and eliminated both guards at 29, we should probably split up. Some of you have apprehensions going through the southernmost part of the facility, so me and Jem will go alone, eliminating anyone we see along the way as quietly as we can. Should you run into any more guards, contact either me or Jem and we'll cut them from the enemy network. Hopefully we'll rally at Kolac's room and be able to eliminate him together."

With that said, Alexis checked his rifle to see it was still in working order. Satisfied that it was, he started moving toward 51, motioning for Jemini to stand guard at the entrance to 55 with her shock probe. Cutting 51 from the enemy communications network, Alexis quickly entered the the room and taking advantage that the guard's head was encased in a closed helmet, heated the inside until either the guard died from asyphxiation or severe gas burns.