Ifrailian Tales

Storming the Castle

The sun was beating down on Alexandria's capital city, Apilena. Filled with citizens from all walks of life, moving about their daily lives. S.C.S androids patrol the streets, preserving order in the mega-city. Not only were they keeping the peace, they were shoving it down  peoples throats. Apilena was without any shadow of a doubt, the most secure city in all of Alexandria. Double the amount of police, triple the security, and the king's castle. Which alone has enough S.C.S androids patrolling the grounds to protect the entire western district of Tafabid. But, no matter how large the police force is, or how well put together the propaganda is, people will always find a way to... misbehave. 

In the darkest corners of Apilena, thugs, drug dealers, and everything in between can be found performing actions most would consider immoral. Tucked away, in an alleyway, was Lance Safire. Beside him were two other individuals, Clyde Montae and Scarlet Sage. Each member present, wore hooded robes. After walking for a few moments Lance stopped dead in his tracks, Scarlet and Clyde followed suit. 

"Clyde," Lance stated, his subordinate nodded and held his arms out, twin balls of light formed in each hand, one yellow, one green. Clyde twirled his arms, the spheres of mana left behind a trail as they were manipulated by the mage. When his hands finally came to a stop, the yellow orb was hovering above the green. He lowered the yellow orb, which made a soft humming sound as it combined with the grass colored ball of light. After both colors were merged together, Clyde clapped his hands together, shattering the Yellow-green orb. A thin veil of golden mist exploded from Clyde's hands, filling the alleyway, shrouding the group within. There was a pause, no one said, or moved any part of their body, and after a short amount of time the mist faded away. 

"No one," Clyde said.

Lance nodded, "Alright let's go over the plan."

Lance plucked a small disk shaped object out of his pocket. He grazed the top of the device with his finger, which activated it. A sky blue light overtook the entire flat top of the device, Lance then tapped the button in the center and placed it onto the floor. Suddenly, the dim alley way was blanketed in a thin cyan light as the device came to life. Displayed in front of the group was a three dimensional, holographic map of Apilena's mage academy. Lance approached the hologram, making a pinching motion with his fingers which zoomed the display in on a specific chunk of the map. 

"This is one of the academy's storage centers. Here they store all of the materials and prototypes used by their research department." Lance said while directing his allies attention to specific points on the map. He turned his outstretched hand over, curling his middle and index fingers back, which in turn pulled zoomed out the image.

"Scarlet and I will cause a distraction while Clyde works on hacking the door." 

"Wait," Scarlet said, her voice was like silk, gentle and smooth. Enough to bring a man to their knees, she strode past Clyde and asserted herself into Lance's briefing. She pointed at a large structure adjacent to the storage center.

"That's the main building of the academy. Once we start a commotion, we won't just be swarmed by bots. We'll be attacked by those dogs and their pups." 

"What's wrong Scarlet, afraid of some kids pretending to be mages." Clyde scoffed, his voice was scruff and deep, the kind of voice you'd imagine the big bad of some fantasy drama would have. Scarlet sighed and shook her head, She inhaled, than exhaled. 

"It's not the brats I'm worried about, It's that old bastard they have coped up in the academy. Despite his age, he's still one of the strongest mages in the kingdom." 

Lance nodded, "It's true, if we want any chance at success we'll have to avoid the headmaster. Luckily, we have an ace up our sleeves."

Both of the other group members turned to one another, a puzzled look on their faces. Lance swiped his hand through the hologram, dissolving the image of the map, which reassembled into a snapshot of an unknown man. All black suit, charcoal black hair, and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Clyde and Scarlet's expression didn't waver as they stared at the photo. Clyde tilted his head, his eyes drifting from the top, to the bottom of the image. Scarlet moved closer to Lance, placing a hand on her hip as she questioned him. 

"This... This is our ace?" 

"Yes, Felix Nishi himself recommended him. Said he's the best at disabling security systems." 

Clyde glanced over his shoulder and chimed in, "Well does this guy have a name?" 

"Mhm, calls himself, the wanderer," Lance replied, although he could tell his partners still held a fair amount of skepticism between the two of them. He wasn't completely sold on the idea himself, but if one of the Nishi twins recommended him, he had to be the real deal. He crouched down and turned the device off, slipping it back into his pocket. 

"The Wanderer will disable the academy's security cameras and jam the androids' communications. Less hazards for us," Lance stated, finishing off his briefing. Lance had hoped that explanation would have painted a clearer picture for the both of them. Scarlet simply nodded, walking towards the light at the end of the alley. Clyde hung back, walking next to Lance with Scarlet a few feet ahead of them. 

"So, want to enlighten me as to why we're infiltrating one of the most protected places in all of Alexandria, in the middle of day? Wouldn't it make more sense to wait till nightfall," before Lance could even open his mouth, Scarlet had already responded to his assessment. 

"Clyde, I don't believe anyone asked for your opinion."

"Well, unlike you, I don't have a problem questioning Lance," Clyde snapped back, causing the two to engage in a quick back and forth of petty insults. Lance tilted his head down, bringing his hand up to his head, hiding away in his palm for a moment. He groaned, increasing the pace of his steps, quickly passing both Clyde and Scarlet. Apparently, not even this was enough to pull them away from their pointless argument. Insult after insult, it seemed like this squabble would never end. Lance wouldn't have this, the longer it droned on their chances of success decreased. 

"Enough!" Lance shouted, punctuating his sentence with the crackling roar of his catalyst igniting. That seemed to do it, as they both twisted around to face their blade wielding leader. The two of them stood perfectly still, like soldiers after weeks of indoctrination, Clyde and Scarlet's stance was a testament to their loyalty in their friend. Blanketed in the dim, gray glow of his mana blade, Lance addressed his fellow bounty hunters. 

"Everyday at 12:00 pm, the academy enters a lock down. All students are inside the main building, getting lectured by their instructors. Although the grounds are still patrolled by androids, as long as the Wanderer does his part, we won't have to deal with other mages, students or otherwise," and with that Lance turned around and left the alleyway with Clyde and Scarlet behind him, neither said a word. 

Fowl had taken position on the rooftop of a skyscraper overlooking the academy. 12:30, we were 30 minutes behind schedule, Lance thought, presumably the others were thinking along the same lines. Scarlet leaned against a water tower, Clyde paced back and forth on the rooftop, and Lance, he just stared off into the distance. Lance was a patient man, but even he had his limit, and all the waiting had started to take a toll on him. There wasn't much he could do, Lance didn't belong to the Conjuror class, he was a swordsman. With that being the case, telepathy was far beyond his reach. All he could do was wait for the Wanderer to make contact. Just when his faith reached its lowest point, the electric fence surrounding the academy shut down. Clyde sprinted next to Lance, he let out a relieved sigh and yanked his hood back. Revealing a head of spiked blonde hair, along with a better look at his hazel colored eyes. Which gleamed with excitement, it was as if the concept of battle alone was enough to restore that sense of childhood wonder in him. 

"It's about f*****g time," Clyde mumbled under his breath as he looked down at the academy. Scarlet chuckled, joining the others at the edge of the rooftop. She stood in between them, placing a hand on each of the men's shoulders. 

"Tone it down Clyde, we can't be certain that was our signal." 

Clyde groaned, brushing Scarlet's hand off his shoulder. Lance assumed Clyde was trying to be optimistic, he was never good at sitting around, waiting. But Scarlet had been correct, there wasn't any concrete evidence that the fence shutting down was the Wanderer's handiwork. Just when Lance opened his mouth to inform Clyde of the possibility, Lance felt a cold shiver run down his spine. His body tensed up, he felt the presence of another person, yet there was none. Then, a gravelly voice rang out inside his head. 

"Sorry about the wait," It began, "That- er, what do you call it again? A.I took a lot more effort to remove from the system. Not sure how long I can keep him reigned in, so you all better hurry." Lance thanked the Wanderer, who cut off the physic connection between them. There was little time to waste, their window of opportunity had finally opened, and Fowl intended to slip in and out before it was slammed back down. Lance nodded to his companions and ripped his cloak off, letting the wind take it. The others did the same, both Clyde and Scarlet wore bits of protective armor over their normal apparel. Full suits of armor weren't necessary as every class of mage could use basic augmentation magic to strengthen themselves, both offensively and defensively. Scarlet stepped away from the group for a moment, returning with three masks in hand. She then passed each member their respected mask.

Each mask covered the eyes of the wearer, as well as containing beaks that protruded out from the front. But each mask had small differences from one another. The top of Clyde's mask was dark brown in coloration, while the rest of the mask had a black base with twin streams of white arching around the cheeks. Scarlet's beak was shorter, and had a more prominent curve at the end. Lance had the most... conventional mask, painted all black with a standard length beak. All that set it apart, was the added voice modulator that extended off the bottom of the mask. Lance slipped his mask on and the others did the same. 

"Code names from here on out," Lance ordered, turning away from his team. Even though Lance had no intentions of confiding in his team, he felt uneasy. He looked at the academy down below, this was by far the most daunting task Fowl had ever been faced with. But, that wasn't what made Lance feel uneasy, no he was afraid of reuniting with someone. 

"Whenever you're ready Raven," Scarlet said, joining Lance. 

"Fowl, commence mission." 

And with that, the members of Fowl leapt from the building they had been waiting on, landing directly on the academy's grounds. Thanks to augmentation magic, no one had been injured when making the landing. Four S.A.S androids stood ten feet away from Fowl, Scarlet & Lance brought their weapons to bear while Clyde cast an invisibility spell on himself. The android's robotic heads turned a full 90 degrees, setting their sights on the group. In perfect sync, the androids twisted the rest of their metallic frame back to face the group. They all reached back and equipped the mark five scout rifle, standard issue for these robotic security forces. Lance tilted his head in Scarlet's direction, "Hawk, your up." 

Scarlet giggled, as if dealing with these androids was mere child's play. The catalyst Scarlet fought with was a J-21 hunting rifle, with a red dot sight attached. Now, the marksmen class of mages had two choices when it came to fighting. Either use their mana as a 3D printer, powering the catalyst's creation function to produce ammo as they fought, or fire off blasts of pure magic energy, and Scarlet chose the ladder. Cutting off the robotic speech coming from the robots, was three green bursts of searing hot plasma. Each shot hit it's target, burning holes through the androids' faces. Their bodies dropped to the ground, putting an end to whatever form of sentience androids had. With the coast clear, Clyde stalked through the grounds, covertly making his way towards the storage center's door pad.

Another squad of androids charged Lance and Scarlet's position, no pre recorded warnings this time, the bots were fully aware of the threat the bounty hunters posed. Two androids began to fire at them. Lance clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground, generating a dome of violet energy around them which absorbed the hail of bullets. The bots at the ends of the formation, plucked a thick black rod off their hips. Plasma blades, Lance's thoughts were confirmed when the sound of a small flame sparking to life swooshed past his ears. They brandished their sun colored blades in a stunning flourish, impressive, on the surface most would assume the S.A.S droids were incapable of such nimble movements. They broke away from their synchronicity, each one effortlessly slipping into their respectful battle stances. Lance held his hilt with both hands, raising the blade over his head. 

 "Hawk, once the shield drops fire at the droids. After that, leave them to me." Scarlet nodded and readied her rifle, counting the seconds till the shield would drop. Lance squeezed the handle of his blade, the androids were quickly closing the gap between them. As expected their protective shield dissipated, Scarlet fired at the two androids sprinting towards them, her aim was spot one but the Android's combat programming anticipated scenarios like this, hastily they swung their arms up, blocking Scarlet's gunfire with their plasma blades. Their mechanical arms bent at a fifty degree angle, swinging back around to counter another barrage of focused magic energy. 

Lance narrowed his eyes, focusing in on the foes that drew closer with every second. His breath slowed to a sluggish pace, the surrounding food court area he found himself in slowly drifted away, not even the thunderous roar of the androids' steps was enough to break his concentration. Scarlet fired off a final salvo of gunfire, which the androids defended against. Suddenly the androids were right on top of them, one slashed at Scarlet, she however evaded by bouncing herself into the air. Another attempted the same on Lance, but in the millisecond before the android made contact, he brought his blade crashing down on the android. Chopping off it's hand, which left the heated blade fizzling out on the pavement. 

Lance's mana blade cut through the android's steel frame like a knife through butter, and the robot slid apart into two pieces, each hitting the ground with a small thud. Now nothing more than a sparking mound of electrical wiring and scarred metal. It's partner who went after Scarlet, now attempted Lance, swiftly engaging him with a series of small, quick strikes. Lance deflected each one, this android was far below his skill level, but it existed in an odd in between of danger, if Lance took his attention off the android for a moment it would easily disable him, but when he focused in on the duel, he could bat away the robots strikes as if it was a child swinging a wooden toy. 

Out of the blue, Lance was forced to deflect a torrent of gunfire, which then left him open to an attack from the Plasma blade equipped android who swiped his blade down Lance's side. Lance side stepped before the blade could slice through his skin, however the blade did graze him, slicing up the right side of his shirt. 

"Lance," Scarlet shouted, popping off two shots of her weapon while descending rapidly through the air. Hitting the mark on one android, whose head was splattered across the floor, the second shot only managed to hit the other robot's arm, causing it to drop the scout rifle. The moment Scarlet hit the ground, she vaulted towards her aggressor, sights trained on the android's face. It's analytical program re-evaluated the situation, determining the best chance of success for the bot. It faced Scarlet and crossed it's arms, blocking its face, however sacrificing the arms in the process.

As the green bursts of energy tore through the steel lining it's limbs, Scarlet had now gotten close enough that the bot attempted to counter, throwing it's mangled right arm at her. Scarlet defended against the strike by using her gun to block, but the sheer force of the impact sent the weapon flying away. It slid across the floor, coming to a stop against the wall of the storage center. Next to Clyde who was attempting to wear down the lock on the door's control panel. Scarlet fought back with a kick to the mechanical being's chest, pushing it back enough to give her some breathing room. 

She reached under her garments and unsheathed a crimson shaded dagger that had been attached to her hip. Scarlet twirled the dagger in a brief display of the weapon's design before plunging it straight into the chest of the android. Although that was enough to take the android out of commission, Scarlet didn't stop. Instead she yanked the knife upward, mulching through the mechanical innards of the droid, until the knife had reached the neck, then, and only then did she remove the blade. As the android's corpse fell to the ground Scarlet strolled over to where her weapon had fallen, retrieving it. 

Clyde decloaked himself and chuckled,

"I thought girls were supposed to play with dolls, not punching bags" 

"And I thought worms were supposed to finish their task and die, before they even considered speaking to a superior," Scarlet replied with a healthy amount of disdain in her voice. Clyde scoffed, "Superior? You defeated a few mass produced robots, I just broke through one of the most complex security systems in Alexandria." He knocked three consecutive times on the chrome surface of the door, then as if in response the twin doors slid open. Scarlet, peeked down through the open doorway, seeing a staircase descending down into the depths below. Before she could properly assess the area, Clyde took a step forward entering the doorway before Scarlet stopped him. 

"Where do you think you're going?" 

"f*****g Irenous, where do you think I'm going," Clyde raised his voice. Scarlet stood firm, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back, "I don't recall hearing Lance give you that order-"

"I don't need his permission on every little thing I do, unlike a certain pup attached to his hip," Clyde swatted her away, both parties eyeing one another down with hatred filling their pupils. Almost on cue, the tension was eased by the sound of the metal head of an android scraping against the concrete, easing into a stop right between Clyde and Scarlet.

"You should've entered the building if the door was open," Lance said as he made his way towards them. 

"I f*****g told you," Clyde pushed Scarlet to the side, descending down the staircase. Scarlet chased after him, causing yet another argument to erupt between the two of them. Lance sighed, taking a step forward before he felt the familiar chill down his spine of telepathic communication. "Lance, you may want to hurry, that A.I broke through my confinement," The voice of the Wanderer warned. "Whatever you need to do, I suggest doing it with haste," and with that, he was gone. 

Lance had been afraid of this, within minutes their position was likely going to be swarmed with mages, androids, and worst of all, the headmaster. He didn't have the time to ponder the possibilities, he began to descent down the staircase, preparing himself for what was to come...