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089 - Beneath the Shadows

 
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JasonPaul




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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:43 pm    Post subject: 089 - Beneath the Shadows Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

"Thank you for all of your help, Yue," Michael Wight said to the Mesian preistess, who was currently inscribing a Mesian crest in Blue's right hand. Not only did Yue know how to inscribe such brands, as a priestess it was one of her roles.

"I still don't feel right about doing this," Yue replied. "Inscribing one of these crests on a non-Mesian is blasphemy."

"The ink I gave you is a degradable agent," Wight assured. "It will fade completely in fourteen days, and then it will look as if you never touched her."

Yue sighed heavily. "If you say so." Not that any Mesians were anywhere nearby to complain. Most of her tribe vanished seemingly overnight in the UPCA raids under Dr. Righteous. While many of the felinefolk tribes were released following Righteous' ousting, tribe Mesia had yet to be found. It was Yue's search for the tribe that caused her to cross paths with Miwan in Alaska, where she believed that representatives of both tribe Mesia and tribe Kendou were being held hostage. They did indeed find an old UPCA installation, as well as Righteous' lap dog, Volg Stalin, but there was no sign of any felinefolk from either tribe.

"I hate contact lenses," Red whined. She had completely donned her disguise and looked quite different now. Her long braided hair was gone, cut short, just above shoulder length. She had washed the dyes out of her hair, changing it back to its natural color of dirty brown. On her right bicep was the Kendou crest, inscribed in the same ink that was being used for Blue's crest. As she mentioned, she was no longer wearing her glasses, but since her vision was impaired, she required the use of contact lenses. To round out her disguise, she wore a woman's One Nation uniform. "I do like this crest though," she said, showing it off. "I've wanted one of these all my life."

"That's another thing I'm worried about," Yue said, the pessimist in her raising its voice once more. "I'm certain I didn't inscribe the crest correctly. Another Kendou would certainly know she isn't one."

"It will be fine," Wight replied. "To a human, it's indistinguishable, and as far as I know One Nation had only one Kendou in their services. She died during the attack on Ohio, but as far as One Nation knows, she's still missing."

"And that's going to be me, right?" Red asked.

"Correct," Wight replied.

"So what about me?" Blue asked. "Do you have an identity for me already picked out?"

Wight shook his head. "I'm afraid not, but it's for the better that way. It's much easier to put you in Ohio."

Upon hearing these words Red stared at her employer with shock. "You mean we're not working together!?"

"Not this time," Wight replied. "I'm certain the culprit is either from One Nation or Ohio, and by sending one of you to each side, we can cover more ground."

"Right," Blue said with a nod. "So who am I supposed to be?"

"You're the widow of an Ohio man who was killed during One Nation's attack," Wight explained. "You want justice for what they did to your husband, and you'll be joining the militia."

"And while I'm there I'll be looking into Karn, right?" Blue asked.

Wight nodded. "As of now he's my primary suspect, but I can't make a move until I've confirmed that he's the guilty party."

"Sounds good," Blue said. "Do you have a disguise for me?"

"Nothing in particular. Just some casual clothes will be fine. Oh and we'll have to change your hairstyle. I'll also have to take your knives."

Blue winced at this. "Why?"

"Ohio does not have the technology to create monofilament weapons like your knives. You wouldn't be able to come across any knives like this as a citizen of Ohio."

Blue sighed and shook her head. "And yet my sister gets to keep all of her weapons. How is that fair?"

"It turns out Lie Ling was quite a sharpshooter, believe it or not," Wight answered, also answering the question that Miwan posed to Red of, "What kind of a Kendou carries a gun?"

"Fine, fine," Blue said, pulling her knives from her boots and laying them on the table in front of her. Red smiled and pulled her own knives out of her boots.

"You can have mine, Bluzie," she said. Red's own butterfly knives looked quite similar to Blue's, and had roughly the same feel and weight. The only difference was that they were not created with the same monofilament technology that Blue's were. Red herself rarely used these knives except in an extreme emergency, as she was not anywhere on Blue's level as far as hand-to-hand combat went. Blue sighed and took the gift. They were nice enough, but they just weren't the same.

"Here's Lie Ling's ID badge," Wight said, giving it to Red. "I've altered the photo a bit so that it more resembles you."

"So won't it be bad when someone tells me I look a little different?" Red asked.

"They shouldn't," Wight replied. "Lie Ling kept a low profile. Still, I would avoid as much contact with Marco as possible. Someone in his unit might recognize you."

Red nodded. "So what's your name, Bluzie?"

Blue thought for a second, before turning to Yue. "I'm not familiar with Mesian names. Could you give me one?"

Yue thought for a second as she put the finishing touches on the crest. "How about...Dian Ren?"

Blue nodded. "Fine with me."

"Right then," Wight said. "I'd like the two of you to get moving as soon as possible. I don't think it likely, but if we can avoid a war altogether, it would be for the best. And take these." Wight handed both twins a cellphone.

"Neat!" Red said. "Let's share numbers, Bluzie!"

"Out of the question!" Wight said in a scolding tone. "You two are not to contact each other during this mission." Ignoring Red's pouting, he continued. "My cellphone number is already recorded into the phone's memory banks. Contact me only if you find anything important."

"Roger," Blue said, standing up as the inscription was finished. She looked at the crest. "Nice work," she said to the priestess.

"Thank you," Yue said.

******

Miwan had also returned to the neutral site. She would have left right away, but Michael Wight wanted Yue's aid in a mission for Blue and Red, and since Wight had been good to his word on providing information about Akira, Miwan agreed to lend Yue for a while. A lot was on her mind right now. Why did Akira have that bracelet? Where was he going with it? What was his connection to the UPCA base in Alaska?

"You seem to be in a tight spot."

Miwan hissed at the voice and turned to an odd blue-haired man. She knew who this man was, but she didn't trust him at all. He was the one that dropped the tip about the Alaska base in the first place, although he was very cryptic in his aid. Almost as if he were leading her around.

"You knew Akira had that bracelet, didn't you?" Miwan asked the man with more than a hint of anger in her voice. "When were you planning to tell me?"

"Forgive me," the man said with a smile and a bow, "but while I did have my suspicions that he had the bracelet, I did not know for certain until you did."

"You could have warned me, at least!" Miwan shouted.

"And what if I had? It wouldn't have changed anything. You'd still be on the same path as you are now."

"So why not give us some direct help this time?" Miwan asked, knowing she wasn't going to get it.

"Forgive me again," the man said with another smile and bow, "but there is another matter that I must look into."

"Does this involve Akira?" Miwan asked. "Or is that another 'secret'?"

The man laughed a bit. "No, it isn't a secret, but there's a pretty good chance that I'm dead wrong on my hunch, and I wouldn't want to worry you about it if I'm wrong."

"I never knew you to be humble," Miwan muttered.

The man turned to walk away. As he had his back turned to Miwan, he spoke again. "Maybe it's just grasping for straws here, but if I were you, I'd try to find out where Soljin got that bracelet in the first place."

"Is this another one of your hunches?" Miwan asked. "Or are you just leading me around again?"

"That is a secret."

******

Blue and Red were on their way, to different sides of the impending conflict. Although Michael Wight had hoped that the culprit would be found before any fighting began, he wasn't very optimistic. Still, it was better than nothing.

And so Wight began his own investigating. Although he didn't tell Blue or Red, there was a third party that he suspected might be involved in this. Something had been nagging at him ever since the assassination. Something that his boss had told him.

"We gave Reynolds a means to keep fighting. He shot us down."

This revelation didn't come as much of a surprise to Wight, although it wasn't something Wight personally would have done. The UPCA was meant to be a neutral party and would not have offered aid of this sort to a developing nation except against a terrorist threat or something else of that nature. And while Wight wouldn't go so far as to call One Nation a "terrorist threat", they certainly were one of the most ambiguous groups ever formed since TECH. They put a stop a number of legitimate terrorist organizations, such as the Wayne Brothers of Texas. That was good. They also brought a number of peaceful independent states to heel in the name of "unification". That was bad. Their methods were extreme, but Wight wasn't so willing to tag the "terrorist" label on One Nation. However, that wasn't his decision to make. That was the decision of the board. And Croft made it very clear that he wanted no part of the UPCA.

However, something was very wrong. Andrew Lizar and the UN demanded a cease-fire, and amazingly, they got it. They demanded peace talks, and they got them. They demanded a compromise, and were it not for the death of Reynolds, they would have had it. Why then, would the UPCA offer Ohio a means to keep fighting if peace were that easy to obtain?

Did someone in the UPCA want a war? One of the board members? Perhaps even David Holmes himself? For what purpose? To provoke a long and drawn out war that would leave One Nation crippled?

He hated to suspect his own, but it certainly seemed as if someone in the UPCA was putting the needs of the organization before the needs of the world.

******

((As of this moment consider Miwan, Khali, and Yue (and that stranger Miwan was talking to just now) out of the chapter until further notice.))
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