Chapter 4 - Onslaught

They would attack Sequi tomorrow, mid-day. Franz had suspected them to be behind the newbie's parents' deaths. Cala was in charge of monitoring the group. Franz was in charge of helping Cala if needed, since this was her first non-simulation. The rest of them would be in the field, separated into groups. Daeus and Arc. Sen and Toni. Shawn was the exception, alone like always.

He wasn't good at teamwork. Ever since they took his little sister, he was antisocial, although it had gotten better when he joined. Him being separated from the group was also somewhat and advantage, since he refused to use guns. He preferred swords, ninja stars and machetes. After all, he was Japanese, and he refused to interact with anything 'western'.

Daeus knew exactly what he had to do. It was a lot easier said than done. Go in there, kill a few hundred, find Arc, check in, return to the branch. He stayed up most of the night running it in his head over and over again. But he kept missing.

There was that one man that just wouldn't die. No matter what he thought of, it didn't work. Trying one last thing and succeeding, the man fell to the ground in his mind. He flipped him over and saw Cala's face. It was at that moment that he decided he went too far and his mind started wandering. If he were to run it again, he was certain that his brother's face would be plastered on the man's face.

He got out of bed and changed into his outfit. He left his apartment and went down to the lobby. He was surprised to find Sen down there, sitting at a table with nothing in front of her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered without bothering to look back nor stand up from her chair. He walked over to her and sat in front of her. She was staring into nothing.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"No... You?"

"No."

"Bad dream?" she asked, her eyes focusing.

"Bad planning."

"Oh..."

"What about you?"

"Bad dream," she said, looking away

"Same old?"

"Yes."

He tapped the table with his knuckle. "Want to train with me?"

"With what?"

"I was thinking lazer guns..."

She looked up, giving him a sarcastic look. "Really?"

"Why not? It'll be fun..."

"That's what they all say." She stood up, walking to the elevator. "Are you coming or not?"

He stood up and walked to her, glad that Sen was back to her somewhat normal self. They hopped into the elevator and went down two floors, to the training area. There, Daeus found an empty room that wasn't too far from the change rooms and punched in 185 on the keypad.

"You're 6'1?" Sen asked him.

"Yes," he answered simply. The lock clicked and he opened the door, letting the lady go in first. There, they picked their guns and headed back to the change rooms. Neither of them was in the mood of getting their suits dirty, especially when they were already going to get dirty the next day.

Back in the training room, they were both now wearing black sweat pants and a black tank top. They set up the room and started working on precision.

A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER

Cala sat in a comfortable chair, headset on and staring at a few screens at a time. Franz was right next to her, sitting in a similar chair, in charge of taking over if she couldn't handle it.

Three screens, five windows, each window to a person, each screen to a group. Thermal cameras were installed in each room of the facility, and Cala had already hacked them to keep an eye on the squad while they were in Sequi's central building.

Under each window for each person, was a small screen receiving live feed from camera lenses. These small pieces of technology were the most essential to them, giving the one behind the screen access to a ground visual.

They had just left the building, everyone taking their separate way, ready to pair up if needed. Watching the multiple screens all at once, Cala remembered what she had realized a few weeks back.

These people weren't spys, but rather assassins. Fortunately, they didn't kill for the fun. They killed for justice, and that qualified them as some sort of vigilante group. Vigilantes that murdered people for equality.

An hour went by before the action started. Keeping an eye on everyone, Cala gave them instructions, asked them questions and ensured their safety. Everyone was plugged into the same channel, meaning that everyone could hear her.

"Daeus, you've got five on your left. Arc, a group of three coming for you. Shawn, one from every hallway around you." That was pretty much what she said for a good half hour, getting the group to kill them strategically, although what she saw through the contact lenses was pretty brutal and somewhat disgusting.

Nearing the end of their mission, Cala started to count all their kills. In total, they had ended 1475 members of Sequi so far, meaning about 30% of it. Daeus had finished 300 and was already heading back, pretty beaten. Arc had finished 250 and was going the same as Daeus, sprinting alongside him. Shawn had finished 350 and was heading back on the rooftops, two trails of blood following him, both of them from his machetes.

Those were the only three who came back on time. Their mission didn't exactly go as planned, for they lost a member.

FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO

"Where are you going?" Cala asked him.

"To fight some b******s... Isn't that what I'm supposed to do..."

"Yeah, but not that way... You weren't assigned there..."

"Stop lying to me Freckles..."

"I'm not lying, and stOP WALKING IN THAT DIRECTION YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!"

"I'm fine Cala..."

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

"Why are you freaking out?"

"BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT A SWARM OF SEQUI COMING TOWARD YOU!"

"I can handle it... How many?"

"Around 50..."

"Let them come..."

"Just get out of there."

"I'm not going anywhere... I'm here and I won't leave..." He was obviously ready to put up a fight. The group got to him and he started shooting.

"You've always been so stubborn..." Cala told him.

"Well, maybe that's just the way I am..." he said after a while.

"Shut up."

"I don't think I can handle all of these men..." he panted after a minute.

"Do you need backup?" she asked.

"That would be great," he said while shooting one from behind a few others.

Checking her screen, Cala came up with some bad news. "Um... Sen's pretty busy right now... I don't think she can help you out..."

"Damnit! Is she loose?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does she look like she lost it?"

Cala brought her eyes over to Sen's window. What she saw wasn't human. The speed Sen was killing them at wasn't normal and her stamina wasn't going anywhere. What creeped Cala out the most, was that the way she was fighting them hinted that she was really enjoying this, putting aside her slightly demonic giggles.

"Absolutely..." Cala said after a second.

"Figures..."

"What?"

"Arsenic has been unleashed."

"Huh?"

"Sen, she's basically like Arse - ARGH!!" Toni was cut off by a bullet to the shoulder. "S**t!"

"Oh my..."

"I'm fine I just - DAMNIT!" Another bullet to the shoulder. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Okay, you've got an exit on your left..." He had already stared to run in that direction, both arms hanging behind, limp. A gunshot was heard and the contact lens dropped to the ground, meaning that Toni was shot.

"I CAN'T F*****G MOVE! THEY GOT MY SPINE! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! I-" The thermal cameras told Cala that he was just shot in the head.

She started bawling. "F*****G HELL TONI!" She slammed the desk with her fist. "GOD I HATE THIS JOB! SEN WHERE ARE YOU?!?" It took Sen a minute to answer.

"I killed them all..." she said in a terrifyingly playful voice, emphasizing the 'all', followed by a small fit of demonic giggles. "All 425 of you..."

"Sen..."

She ignored Cala. "You've been killed by Arsenic..." she chanted.

"Ignore her Cala," Franz pitched in.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked him with a hiccup.

"She had a really rough childhood... That's all I'm going to say..."

"Rough enough to do that to her...?"

"Yeah..."

"Holy s**t..."

Franz pursed his lips. "Let's not talk about it anymore."

"Mkay..." she said, wiping away a tear.