Who Steals Sand? [Mission 3]

Yuri walked out of the government building, resisting the urge to facepalm. It's a miracle this country was still kicking with that kind of management. The young man was in disguise, with brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a handle bar mustache. He was also "fat". Faked of course, but looked very real. He looked like some red neck old military guy.

In his hands was a file with everything the govnerment knew...which wasn't much. A quick move to an alley with some different clothes and into a small safe house he went. Less then two minutes later, Yuri came out with dyed blond hair, insta-tan, white tank top with a light blue unbuttoned shirt and jean shorts with tennis shoes. And he had a duffle bag with him.

Going to a bar (he spends way too much time in these) in a back alley being ran by a contact, he saw a familiar face. "You have got to be kidding me...Kain...what the hell are you doing here?" Walking over to the spook, the bartender/owner/contact had his mouth hanging down because Yuri knew the spook. He soon got back to work...with the whole four total people in there.

After Kain's story, Yuri had to comment. "Well...joy...looks like we're working together then..." The man took out the overly thin file and handed it to Kain for him to critique. "Just from feeling it, it's too small for my liking. Watcha think? Beyond the government's intelligence agency has about as much worth as cow dung."

A man in a black hood walked into a bar in a back alley. There was a total of four clients in the dive, and all eyed Kain with suspision. Of course, coming to a place like this you'd be on edge if you seen someone you didn't know. The bartender looked at kain without emotion, clearly forgetting who he was. "Wiskey, straight." Kain said sitting down. The bartenders eyes widened and he reached for a gun, before he could touch it a black ice blade shot past his cheek and into the wooden post behind him, stopping him dead

Kain lay another black ice knife on the counter, staring into the eyes of the man who owned this shit hole of a bar. "Nice to see you too.." Kain said. The man, an old rat under the tumb of the organisation that raised Kain, gulped and started to pour the drink. "Damn.. I was sure they killed you... What do you want? Come to finish me off? Want information on them? I dont have any, I swear."

"Nothing so entertaining. I'm looking into the dissapearing sand." The man looked around. Before speaking. "I dont know anything. I only heard about it, I..." Kain picked up the Knife and tapped it gently on the counter. "Your lying.."

"No I... Swear I dont. But i know someone who does, he's on his way here, why dont you wait." The man said looking more nervous, but he was telling the truth this time. "Fine. I'll wait. now, that wiskey." The man got his drink as asked, as another man entered. Kain turned to see Yuri walking towards the bar, as shocked to see Kain as Kain was.

"Let me guess, you were on the way to see this dirt bag too?To bad, he doesn't know anything." Kain spun the knife in his hand and stuck it in the counter. "I already asked.. I'm looking into the disappearing sand too. My boss asked, or I'd be doing something more useful with my time."

Yuri showed him what he'd found so far but it wasn't much. "So this is all the goverment knows? Just as well we met now, or someone was about to recieve a very unpleasent visit. We should move out of here before someone tries something stupid, agreed?" Kain looked at the bartender.

"Makes sense. And not really to see him specifically. He just helps me on occasion since he was skimpy on payment on a few jobs I did for him. In this case, since I'm feeling both cheap and lazy, providing a place to stay for free." Yuri chuckled at Kain's next statement. "I wouldn't worry. I do have back up...though a tad unexpected considering I thought she was dead..." The blond looked at a tanned, dark haired, drop dead gorgeous woman smiling and lifting a glass to him. "I'd love to catch up afterwards. Make sure that idiot doesn't try anything." Turning to the bartender, he spoke to him. "By the way, werewolves are mean, especially the women. Angel over there is hard core proof of that."

Upon the man attempting to take his gun out, Angel was already on him, growling like a wolf, eyes golden. She was ready to tear him apart. Chuckling, Yuri nodded at Kain and left the place. "Yeah...werewolves exist...that woman back there is Angel...my childhood friend's fiancee...or former fiancee...he was a werewolf too. Just hope you never have to fight one unless you're really into fighting." He should know...he fought with and against his childhood friend multiple times. Often sparring with him. Those were good times...

Stopping at a rental place, he got a hovertruck. And he got behind the wheel. "Where to first? check out the Nile just south of the city or try an oasis farther off?" Yuri would go to whichever Kain suggested, or if it didn't matter, he would go to the closest lead. Going at least 30 miles per hour over the speed limit and driving like a maniac, though with excellant skill, he got them there in one piece. His hyper intuition was already screaming the second they got out of the city. Getting out, he simply scanned the area first. A few crocodiles were sunbathing on the opposite bank, but otherwise seemed clear. He was ready to draw his gun at the first sign of danger though. His knife was on his hip, in plain view, but not his gun, hidden by the shirt he had over his tank top.

There was no wind, and things seemed a little too quiet. Yuri still looked around and would be ready to leave if Kain also didn't find anything...

Kain nodded at Yuri's comments. He was well aware of the things that existed in this world, though there were far worse dangers than werewolves. Kain eye'd Angel with a sly smile as he answered Yuri. "Don't know if you picked up on this last time, but my job revolves around fight. there's nothing I love more." He said.

"Go to the oasis. Sand disappearing near a river isn't as uncommon, considering th river flows down to a sea." Kain held up a hand and a small figure of ice started to form. When it fully formed the ice started o move hovering up off his hand. "Alice, meet Yuri. Yuri, meet my former handler and partner in crime." The little fairy flew up to Yuri and around his head before looking back to kain.

"Go ahead of us, let me know if you see anything odd." Alice nodded and shot off towards the desert. Her small size would keep her hidden where they'd be spotted, and if a trap lay ahead they wouldn't wonder into it unknowingly. kain hopped in the truck and it took off.

The truck pulled up to the oasis and Kain hopped out. Alice was waiting, fluttering around above them, but beyond a few sunbathing crocs, there was nothing going on. Alice did mention the ground shook for a few seconds when she was waiting, which Kain relayed to Yuri. "Either a minor earth quake, or somethings going on below the sand..."

Yuri again gave a small smile. "No offense, but then you're no true assassin. Kill the target with as few other casualties as possible and then get out undetected is what an assassin does. You're more of a frontline fighter than anything then." At the comment about the river, Yuri piped in. "True, but the report says it's far different than the river simply washing the sand away. We should check it out anyway at some point."

He looked at the fairy curiously. "Now I think I've seen it all..."

At the report, Yuri frowned. Below huh? "Way to make things interesting...how deep do you think we should go before moving on then? Or just a survey for now?" Depending on the answer would determine his actions. If a distance was given, he would use one of his most powerful spells, Judgement, to "dig." Which really just blew up a big hole in the ground, disturbing the crocs and partially burying the hover truck.

If Kain simply wanted to survey, then he would get back in and again drive at reckless speeds towards their next destination, but any obstacle was avoided with quite a bit of skill. At least, the normal animal and rocks and stuff kind. His Hyper Intuition was still screaming at him...

Kain pursed his lips. "That is one thing an assassin does.. But that wasn't always the job. I wasn't just trained for stealth, sometimes, I was used to make noise, cause chaos, distractions whille others hit the vip. even wipe out whole groups of bodyguards, not just one man. Dont try to understand how that organisation works, just be thankful i'm not on their side anymore, and your not on their radar." Kain held no remorse for the things he'd done, infact he was proud to have been such a well trained killer. He also probably should have been a little more tight lipped about such things, but sharing that kind of information could be bad for his enemies, and that was a good thing in his eyes.

Kain conisdered the options, and gave Yuri the go ahead to dig. He didn't know what they'd find if anything, but he was ready, two black ice swords formed as he watched the ground explode, sand flying up. Alice hovered above, also ready to attack if something came out of that crater. Kain waited for the dust to clear.

Rumbling across the vast deserts of Egypt, a machine of gears and bolts streaked through the sand beneath its futuristic treads. Its engine growling violently beneath its sound proofed cage of wrought iron and steel. The sand dispersing wildly as the machine zoomed across the empty area miles away from the oasis at the moment. The sun glimmering radiantly off of the metal husk of the machine as it screeched and churned loudly within. Its special camouflaged shell bouncing radio waves and signals away from it as its internal properties where hidden, not letting out its heat signature or noise. Though, despite these slight advancements the behemoth of a machine was an obvious site if one witnessed it from a physical standpoint. The enormous train like vehicle descending slowly as its treads soon went beneath sand, the tunneler disappearing from site as a slight rumble of earth could be felt across the desert.

Dark tan in color and and possessing no logos or other signs of words across its hull, the tunneler moved beneath the sand like a desert worm, the front opening up to reveal complex sifters and filters as the forty foot long machine began taking in sand into its system, its small pocket dimension absorbing the sand as it flowed in without flaw. All the while the pilots spoke through their headsets do to the noise within the sand guzzler. "Heating systems, check. Rear motor at optimal efficiency, check. Preparing to descend further." He spoke as his co-pilot began switching the controls to dive further into the sand of Egypt. The initial rumbling on the surface having ended within a few seconds.


"Forward absorbers running, preparing red light, prepare for data transfer." He spoke through his crackly headset, the co-pilot relaxing for a moment as the tunneler stabilized underground, the occupants in the cargo bay who were sending their data to the surface of their base. They were all mere grunts but they were heavily armed, a make-shift militia all above average humans. Their glowing optics giving an eerie style to the red lit cargo hold where they worked tirelessly on their respective objectives. The tunneler moving at a fast speed as it soon came closer to the oasis, where an unexpected surprise awaited them. Though as the machine continued going, continuous transmissions were being sent back and forth between the base and the machine.

"Forward sensors are picking up unnamed objects above, directive?" The pilot spoke in his rough voice, before receiving text on the hud of his helmet to continue digging. The tunneler speeding right under the oasis, the sand caving in as the machine went, leaving a trench of sorts on the surface spanning several feet in width. All was going well until they felt a rumbling themselves as the sand above them began sifting to the sides, the tunneler becoming exposed as the dark metallic machine came into view in the sudden crater created above.

Suddenly the pilots were quickly switching power balance to their rear engines as the explosion above soon made their operation visible, the huge machine shaking profusely as the soldiers held onto whatever they could as the bobbed up and down from the blast, the tunneler itself safe from any major harm, though knocked off its course all the same. As the explosion ceased and the sand started caving in on the crater the mechanics ran across the long expanse of the cargo hold, trying to fix pipes that had burst, and reinforcing damaged frames.

They had no idea that above they were being watched, the soldiers in the snakelike machine grabbing their gear as the emergency vents above opened up to air out the smoke coming from damaged parts of the machine. "Error report! The starboard hull has been damaged, front absorbers are powered off." The pilots rattled off as they continued to speak and send information to their main base, the pilots initiating the fail safes so that if anyone tried to access any information on the tunneler all data would be immediately eradicated.

For the moment the entire machine was stalled.

When he was given his answer, Yuri turned his back, pointed backwards with his thumb pointed behind him. A white magic circle appeared, and a beam of holy energy was fired downwards. Yuri got sandblasted and got sand in places he really didn't want sand to be in...he should have worn different clothes. An explosion sounded, and Yuri turned around and looked down at a train...like...thing...with black smoke coming out..."Don't know if that was skill or just plain luck...but I'll take it..."

The blond jumped down on top of the black train thing and started looking for a way in. He found it, opened it, and jumped in. He landed inside a hall, with damage control teams moving out. The place was a wreck. Yuri found it easy enough to sneak through though, despite his duffle bag. He found a good target. Grabbing the grunt, he swiftly killed the man by breaking his neck. The disguised man then stripped the bastard and put on his clothes. Finding a decent place to hide his duffle bag, he put it there. Luckily for Yuri, he knew enough about engineering and repair work to help out with the repair teams.

That was when the alarm sounded...and people dying filled his ears. Kain. Really? As soon as the man came into view, one of his coworkers went at the man. Then another one. Then two more. and Yuri slit the last guy's throat. "You're not very subtle are you?" The young man looked at Kain's new appearance. Must be one of his powers...they did only got a glimpse of each other's abilities in New York...

Sighing, Yuri found a console and started working his magic. Only for a system wide wipe to occur. "Nice fail safe...assholes just have to make this difficult...alright...let's see if we can't find the commander of this thing...we're gonna make a slight detour to get my duffle bag..." After Yuri got his duffle bag, they went on. He let Kain do most of the work, Yuri only having to get involved a few times from ambushes. Usually a single slice to the throat or a dozen stabs did the trick. He did have his gun...but Kain was doing an excellant job at handling things.

Once they got to the control room/cockpit, Yuri put his hand on Kain's shoulder. "You know...you guys suck...you could use a lot more training or some actual security. What's going on and why you're doing this? Please make it easy on yourself...who knows...you might even make two recruits..." Yuri smiled angelically at the male pilot, hoping for an answer that would not involve him letting Kain be the bully that he was...

Kain looked down into the crater, at the giant... worm train.. He glanced at Yuri and back down. "Well... I was expecting... I dont know what I was expecting, but that was not it." Yuri jumped down and landed on the roof, but Kain took the time to enter fullbring, guessing he'd be fighting in tight quarters.

Kain jumped into the crater after Yuri, but instead of using a hatch, he suddenly became incorporeal, and passed through the hull coming in from the side. The men were focused on the hatches, and as kain phased back into a solid form, a man turned to meet his terrifying skull helm. The man jumped back, raising a gun, but Kain had already cut his hand off, with his sword, and drove claws into the man's throat.

He moved on, rushing at a group of men milling around a hatch. One hit the alarm, the others rushed to meet him. Kain laughed loudly, his voice resonating strangely in the mask. "This will teach you to steal sand and waste my god damn time!" he said, kicking the closest in the gut so he flew back into the guy behind him. One aimed a gun at him, and Kain shot him in the chest with a purple bolt of energy that pierced his throat, spraying blood as the man fell gurgling.

Kain finished of the others with a series of quick slashes from his sword, eliciting screams from them. A few seconds later, he rounded a corner and was attacked by an engeneer. Kain used the warp to grasp the man, and smash him into the wall, crushing various bones from the force. "Satisfying." he growled as the man slid to the ground broken, and the man behind him started back away. Kain lunged forward, slicing open his throat with the sword. The last two put their hands up but Kain gave no quarter and spattered the wall with blood.

Walking cooly towards the remaining two he watched as one cut the others throat, and relised it was Yuri... That was close.. "subtlety... I do not need it.. No one will be left alive... To tell of this tale." Kain though about that. "Oh. Except for you." Kain walked past Yuri, a smirk rising on his face under the helmet.

Yuri let Kain do most of the work, which he greatly apreaciated. He hadn't had a chance to let loose of late, and this was the perfect time. If parius seen this slaughter, he might not be so happy, but the fact was these men were trying to kill him, not really trying that hard, but it was still enough to warrent the brutality Kain unleashed.

As the last body hit a wall, bones crushed by warp power, Kain smashed through the cock pit door with the same power. He stepped in, leveling eyes on the pilot, but Yuri lay a hand on his shoulder. He took that as a sign to leave this one alive, but he didn't want the man trying anything stupid. He used the warp to rip any weapons off the man, and push him backwards a little more gently than he had been with the others.

Kain ripped the gun to pieces and dropped the leftovers onto the ground, glaring silently at the commander. The knife he took from the air, though he had no intention of using it. He let Yuri do the talking, sure that this man wouldn't try anything stupid now he was weaponless.

Hearing the bloody screams from beyond the cockpit door, the pilot tried his best to ignore the tragedy befalling his crew as he kept managing the controls, or at least the controls which were still operational. His armored suit, specifically made for piloting such an enormous machine was scratched and dented from the explosion and the resulting force trauma. The co-pilot dead as he laid across his controls, a small trickle of blood leaking from the dark tan and green helmet. Turning slowly back to the switches and gadgets before him, the pilot began turning off the thrusters, shutting down the machine so it would not implode onto itself, taking great care as he measured the pressures in the various pipes before opening the rest of the outward hatches.

Sand began to fill the damaged vehicle slowly, but being in a crater there was nothing too much to worry about at this point. Though, the pilot could not help but jump as he heard the cockpit doors slide open, a hand placed upon his shoulder. "What to do?" was the only question that ran through his mind at that moment, not even daring to turn around to see the face of whoever was behind him. Sighing, from beneath his scared helmet, as it blinked a red light every so often, the man took in what he could from his damaged hud screen. Still slightly dazed from the abrupt stop, the pilot stayed silent for a good few seconds before the door was smashed, landing on the dead co-pilot beside him.

Before he could even turn he felt his body lifted and shoved across the small room, his pistol being destroyed and spread across the floor like confetti, the pilot's only good knife out of reach. Nothing seemed to have gone correctly today, and this layered the cake of that morbid feeling. However, looking at Kain's eyes through the damaged helmet screen didn't frighten the pilot, despite his predicament. Calmly staring back, even though his face could not be seen, the man stayed calm and still, feeling his jaws being tightened by some type of pressure. Hearing what both had to say he felt himself being let go so to speak with a push.

Landing on his feet, the pilot tried to keep his composure seeing as there was no response on the communication system from any other engineers or soldiers alike. "Am I the last one?" He thought to himself as his fingers moved on their own, wishing they had something to grasp other than air. Moving his arms slowly he adjusted the tubes to his mask, releasing old carbon dioxide that was stored in his mask from breathing.

Turning on his outward microphone the pilot spoke slowly, pronouncing every syllable with a subtle undertone of peace, making sure the he could at least live a while longer. "Better training would not prepare those who have died already, they did not possess the power such as those which try to take over this world for their benefit." Pausing as he adjusted his damaged tubing to his helmet, he spoke without erring, making the points as the questions were asked. "What is going on? Simply put this would be an interrogation. Now if you are referring to the machine itself I was collecting samples, well I should say we." The pilot turned to his dead co-pilot before replying again. "We collect the samples of sand to transmit them back to a larger holding area which they are then put through the process of being filtered. This is merely a collector, nothing much else." The pilot ended as he patted a small girder that had broke through the wall.

Hoping the simple way he spoke would please his captors, but the pilot doubted it, as he looked over the damaged of his beloved tunneler through his hud screen.

Yuri shrugged and signaled Kain to put the man down...as he was effectively disarmed. "It would have at least made us earn this little victory." He then listened to the rest. He grinned kindly. "Smart-ass...but better than being a dumbass. Please try to excuse my bloodthirsty friend...apparently his boss doesn't let him cut loose enough. I'm much kinder. Exactly why are you collecting these samples? And where is this holding facility? I'm assuming you're a part of an organization...surely you have an HQ and a name." Yuri walked over and looked at the various switches and gadgets. He didn't understand them completely, but he was slowly figuring it all out. "Sorry for killing your emergency repair crews...I was taking the place of one when Kain went apeshit on your people. Think you can get this thing running again? Even if you have to surface? I might be able to repair some of the lighter damage...but you'll need a crew to fully repair it."

He moved the dead body...actually, he tossed it at Kain. "Here, hold that." Yuri started to look at the what was left of the co-pilot's section.

If Yuri didn't have any more questions, he would start asking the pilot what was the most critical thing to have this thing operable and not explode and follow directions. Using Kain to help him when necessary. But otherwise, he wanted Kain to keep watch, but not to beat the man to a pulp or kill him.

Kain caught the body and put it down in the hall, out of the way. He'd listened to the man's words, reaserchers or no, he felt no remorse. He did walk back to the man and hand him his knife. "When the time comes, you can have a chance to avenge your fallen freinds. For now, dont do anything stupid, or I'll break your legs and take that honor away."

Kain looked around the cockpit himself, completely lost in this level of technology. He let Yuri take the lead on this, though he had a few questions of his own. "What is so important about sand?" He asked, looking at the man. "This machine seems like... a waste.. just to gather sand.." Kain listened to the man's reply, scratching the clawed gauntlet against the wall for fun.

Miles away from the devastation occurring from the tunneler data collectors moved furiously through their archives as they dug into the information being sent to them directly by their numerous research squads out in the field. The data giving these sifters plenty of work to deal with as they calculated the amount of sand being stored within each tunneler, and each one's relative position. As the men and women worked behind their computers under the domed buildings partially hidden in sand, one of the sifters found that a tunneler has stopped sending back information. "Code D, we have a disconnected tunneler!" One of them called out as they started going into the data further finding the machine's last coordinates quickly before sending the information to her superior.

It was not uncommon for tunneler communications to go out for periods of time, as it was tricky to send information while underground, but the information was troublesome as the data reported the mention of unknowns above the tunneler's location. Reading the data without even batting an eyelid the superior grimaced as he set down his coffee mug. Ramirez was his name, a short stocky man in his mid thirties. His ripped shirt and military grade cargo pants still appearing rather large on the muscular man, his dark mustache coming down and connecting to his thin beard. "Send in a reconnaissance drone to speculate further. I want two available search and retrieval squads ready and able at the garage in five minutes!" He shouted in his rough voice that echoed his Cuban ancestry. He was not a known leader among the sifters but he has always been given preference from his boss do to his strength in combat.

Jogging over to the Garage, which was a remarkably similar dome shaped building connected by an underground passage. Ramirez stopping at a gun rack along the way as he grabbed a standard assault rifle and sand gear from the armory. Decked out in the traditional uniform he waited at the garage on a hover jeep, his laptop on waiting for a response from the drone sent out to investigate. The drone being a four foot long piece of machinery that glided across the sky, it was several miles away from the tunneler but it would reach their given enough time.

All the while at the crater, the pilot took back his knife from the one known as Kain, slipping the blade back into its sheath at his side. Looking back at Yuri then at Kain, the pilot could not help but shrug as he listened intently. "Your going to half to do more than break my legs." He replied to Kain as the pilot sat down at his console, tapping his left leg a metallic sound could be heard. "Lost those a long time ago. Though, to answer your questions, this machine was designed to collect sand and bring it back to headquarters, as I've said. However, the sand samples are used for efficient energy sources for the time being, as known most all physical substances have spiritual energy imbued into it, though small. Now, what happens if this energy is harvested, stored, and re-purposed? Well the sand itself disappears and we are left with raw spiritual energy." The pilot spoke as he moved some debris off of the panels. The man adjusting the power balancing in the engines.

"This tunneler will move, but not up this crater, no. What's left of the engines would burn out and stall." Pausing a moment to run a system diagnostic, the pilot stopped for a second seeing as it would take a few minutes for the diagnostic to complete itself. "You ask why the sand is collected? To harvest its energy and funnel it, or rather compact it, into a more usable source. What that is used for I wouldn't know, I'm just a pilot after all." Cleaning up the area a bit, by tossing the debris on the floor, the pilot watched through his hud the electronics beneath the panel, seeing as many of them were still intact. "The main areas in the cockpit seem in relatively good repair, though I do not see why you would want to use this tunneler instead of something more plausible." The pilot remembering from the scans that their was a vehicle above the crater.

Hearing the controls beep, the diagnostic was brought up on the cracked monitor signalling that most of the internal instruments were intact, but the frame was badly damaged. "The tunneler can move on its own, but with such a steep crater it would fall apart with a damaged frame, and if we tried digging into the sand with this machine this would become flattened indefinitely. We could supplement the support beams with the debris from the cargo hold, and using various parts that are unneeded, but there still lies the problem of moving the thing onto the surface in one piece." Seeing the numerous flaws in this idea of using the tunneler the pilot turned to Yuri and flatly stated it would be simpler to use the vehicle above the crater. "Considering I am not much more than a hostage at this point, I can lead you to the headquarters, seeing as I have no choice in the matter."

Sighing inaudibly beneath his helmet the man realized he forgot to answer the other questions, "As I almost forgot, the Organization is a loosely based research conglomerate, receiving funding from the Egyptian government under the table, in hopes for a more powerful power source, seeing as their city is continually demolished. We are called Thaos."

Yuri nearly busted up laughing at the fact that their hostage's legs were made of metal. "Still...don't tempt the man...he'll just stab you in the heart with ice...or did you lose that too?" Yuri half joked as the man answered his question. Yuri frowned heavily. He could easily guess where this was most likely going. "I can already almost guess. Either enhancing humans, or anything for that matter, with raw spirit energy. Making them stronger or making special items. The Coalition uses similar items and materials. Even my gun and knife are results from similar research. The bullets, grenades, various melee weapons, the tesla arcs, everything. And classified information from their Japanese branch revealed that there was a group that tried embuing arrancar like energy into humans, making them stronger or have arrancar like abilities. And other animals for that matter according to the report. But that had dangerous consequences and got a lot of attention. It could be used for something else, but it's unlikely in my mind..." He shot Kain a very worried glance.

Then came the rest. Yuri facepalmed himself. "The only other way I can think of immediately would strain me too much...the hover truck it is..." Then came the rest of his answers. Yuri jerked his head to the man. "You have got to be kidding me...I was hired to investigate this BY the Egyptian government! But I somehow doubt the research is being used for a generator or something. More than likely, either enhancing humans or pets, or weaponry..." Yuri kind of gave his thoughts on the matters. Spiritual weapons of mass destruction...the implications were very negative. His hyper intuition was very sure of that. Though the slip up on who he was working for kind of killed it. "You take us there, and then disappear. If your buddies find us first, don't mention who I'm working for...or you'll meet the same fate as your workers." He threatened him.

Exiting the machine, Yuri had a circular disc form below him...and their hostage should he be unable to get up to their vehicle. The disc allowed him to fight in mid-air. While it also acts like a shield, it was a very weak shield. It floated them up. Yuri started to unbury the hover-truck. "Take the wheel and drive there. Kain, redirect him to someplace hidden or a very good distance away should the base be found..." Yuri took the back seat (it's an extended cab) and was getting dressed back in the clothes he was wearing originally. He tossed the worker's clothes out the window and watch from his back seat perch, gun drawn should it be needed to cap the driver. Or an ambush. Or something. Damn hyper intuition was going haywire on him...

Kain listened to what the man had to say, not really interested. He found it a slightly silly idea. Ok, not silly, god damn stupid. "Your work is causing trouble, and thats a pain in the ass for me. Why not steal sand from hueco mundo, as I hear, everything there is made of spiritual energy. You've only got to worry about some hollow then."

Kain strugged when Yuri mentioned possible spiritual based weaponry, and the same though occured to kain, only because a human goverment was mentioned, and he was well aware of the stupidity and dangers goverments were capable of. Somewhere down the line, he was a result of that stupidity.

"I might be getting allot more work, if war breaks out.." Kain said. Otherwise he wasn't worried. He followed yuri out to the roof of the digger and used bringer light to launch himself out of the crater, taking the momentary air time to look around for trouble.

As he landed he waited for Yuri and the hostage to enter the vehicle, then hopped in himself. He was still in fullbring and decided to stay that way for now, if the man tried something stupid like crashing, Kain could use warp to counter it. "On with it so, I'm getting bored again."

Gazing at the destroyed machine from the top of the crater, The Thaos Pilot could not help but feel a great sense of longing as he saw the shattered corpse of the metal train he had been assigned to keep safe. Perhaps it was the sudden outburst in his mind that all of his comrades he had known for years were dead, his apprentice dead, and he was trapped between two rather violent men. At that point, the unnamed pilot could not help but fall to his mechanical knees, his helmet letting out a burst of gas as it took in clean air. The man was a wreck, he had tried his best to keep the charade up, yet the tragedy finally came. It came with the force of all his dead comrades choking his mentality as he stared blankly at the sand he had been ordered to collect.

Being brought back to reality at Kain's demand, the pilot stood up quietly as he shook his head profusely, trying to regain composure; his hands shaking, trembling. He has seen death a number of times, but the idea of everyone he remotely depended on being gone with the wind was too much for the half mechanical man. He walked to the hover truck's door, opening it without much emotion and sat in the driver's seat. With a sigh, The pilot grabbed the wheel, taking a moment to figure out where all the necessary buttons where before starting the ignition. To say the least the engine purred like a kitten, it had power, yet it wasn't as overbearing as the tunneler had been.

Backing up away from the crater, the pilot floored it as the truck lurched forward as it zoomed across the edge of the wide crater, figuring there was no point in testing it down that deep slope of sand and up again. The ride continued as the pilot stayed quiet, half focused on where he was headed, and the other half trying to push back the grief for later. Up above the trio was the reconnaissance drone, a few miles away, its bright white paint contrasting against the blue sky nicely as it glided on the wind. The drone streaming video and taking in pictures as it flew, all of which where still being sent directly to Ramirez at the headquarters of Thaos.

Nothing had gone wrong up until the drone reached the horizon line, as it zoomed in on a vehicle ahead of it, a hover truck.

Yuri felt sorry for the guy. His way has often been better at minimizing casualties. Kain certainly seemed more like the action type than the espionage type. Yuri kind of relaxed after getting dressed. That was when he sort of noticed a shadow...and it was getting bigger. Curious, he opened the window and looked around in the sky. There was something white and shiny heading towards them from a very far ways...but it was getting closer. Sticking his head back in, he asked Kain something. "Do you have a range limit on your abilities? There's a drone following us..." At his response, Yuri smiled. "Destroy the drone...Thaos guy...move over...Kain, go topside then get in the cab after dispatching the drone"

Yuri went out the window on the driver's side and opened up the driver's side door, putting his hand on the wheel and waited patiently for Kain and the Thaos guy to move to their respective spots. The blond closed the door and floored the pedal. Once he saw that the drone had landed violently, he changed directions, swirving to the left. "We're gonna go this way for several minutes, then direct me which direction to turn. Kain, have that Fairy of yours scout around...I want to know if we have trouble coming our way and from which direction." He was still going full throttle. But high speed chases and evasion was one skill he needed to learn by the seat of his pants...and now it has become mere instinct.

Kain did as he was asked, swinging out the window to climb onto the roof of the truck. He knelt, digging claws into the roof to keep him stable, while he took aim at the drone. He gauged the shot like you would with a sniper, accounting for speed of both the truck and the drone. A couple of seconds later, he fired a purple ball of energy that shot towards the drone.

The bolt of warp energy smashed through the wing, dead on target, and sent it spiraling towards the earth. It hit the sand throwing up a plum of depbris and sand, and kain shot a bigger bolt to make sure it was completely destroyed. He flipped back into the cab, and transfromed from fullbring to his final stage of powers, the armor and mask replaced by his regular clothing. If Yuri asked, he'd explain he couldn't summon Alice in fullbring.

He once again summoned Alice, but this time she was comepletely human in appearance and size. "Check ahead of us, but dont engage the enemy, and return." Alice nodded, and the 5 foot girl threw herself out of the vehicle and shot ahead, flying high to keep out of sight like the drone had. Only, the drone had failed to.

Kain waited for any sign of trouble, which Alice would relay through telepathy. She could speak to anyone that way, but she was feeling rather shy and probably wouldn't say anything to Yuri, which may make Yuri believe she was nothing more than a mobile ice that looked like a human, when she infact had a soul. It was a very strange situation, but after her real body had been killed, it was the only thing that had kept Kain from going completely off the rails.

Obliging Yuri, the pilot switched seats quickly, throwing himself in the back with a rather loud clank of metal as his foot hit the floor of the truck. "It's Knochen," he spoke through his damaged mask, the microphone fill with static. Releasing a burst of gas out an open window again. Watching the drone from the back window, Knochen quickly ducked for cover, making sure he was not going to be caught on the cameras he knew the drones had. Knowing that if such information was known even he could end up at the wrong end of a firing squad for treason. Though despite ducking in the back seat, the pilot watched as Kain moved on top, piercing the roof of the car as a purple blast was fired.

At first an explosion could be heard through the damaged receptors on then helmet, then came an even louder boom as the drone was finished off. Sitting up as Kain flipped back into the passenger seat. Knochen was intrigued how the man's armor had changed so drastically, noting that for future reference. What really threw the pilot off however was the fact there was a girl suddenly in the cab that jumped out as if it were nothing. Quickly moving to the other window, Knochen peered out watched as the one known as Alice ascended into the sky. "Well, I guess that's something new..." He mumbled under his breath, before sitting back more comfortably. "That large dune on the horizon, you see it? you'll want to take a right after reaching the foot of it, its a man made sand pile." Knochen replied to Yuri as the truck's engine roared from the stress of going at top speed.

Back at headquarters Ramirez slammed his laptop closed as the video stream ended, the drone having been destroyed. The man shouting across the garage as the squad men assembled to their stations, jumping into their respective jeeps, lightly armored and designed to go across the desert. The machines roared loudly as they lifted off the ground and went through the exit. The jeeps filled with twenty seven men, all armed with light assault rifles and medical supplies. Each jeep having an older modeled chain gun mount on the top. "Your orders are to secure the last notified position of the reconnaissance drone, Squad Delta, you are to head to the tunneler and investigate the damage." Ramirez shouted through his headset calmly as he flexed his muscles in anticipation of a fight. The man as powerful as a high ranking vice captain. "Alert has been given, there are two hostiles in a hover truck, they may have a hostage but we do not know for certain proceed with caution. Set your guns to stun, kill if you have to."

The two jeeps soon split in directions as Ramirez headed towards the drone as the others went for the tunneler. To say the least the Head quarters was on standby, the gates being given additional guards, but they were far from being on lock down.

Yuri grinned. "Nice to meetcha. Yuri Romanov, the Jack of All Trades." Hearing the directions, he went to the left instead. "Let's circle it and see if they're gonna respond to their drone being destroyed..." Stopping the truck, he kept it on as he got out. "Let's wait a few minutes. I'm gonna get out and see if there isn't any response teams heading out...Kain, don't kill the man, or hurt him...I don't think he'll do anything stupid, but keep an eye on him..." Yuri grabbed his duffle bag and started rummaging through it, getting a desert camo blanket and binoculars before leaving.

Army crawling to the top, more to the edge and digging in a little bit, he watched as two jeeps came away and then split, one towards the drone, and the other the tunneler. That was faster than expected. After waiting for five more minutes, he went back, and started going. "How much farther is the HQ? And do they have any more vehicles besides those two jeeps?" Yuri kept an eye out for a place to leave the truck. He didn't trust Kain to be so subtle...but maybe it could work to his advantage in finding out the specifics of this operation. He would obviously need to work out this plan of his with Kain...he just hoped things won't get too messy...

Alice flew high, spotting the trucks in the distance. She flew a little farther before she decided to report back. Meanwhile, Yuri pulled the truck over and hopped out. Kain chuckled to Knochen. "He speaks to me like I'd obay. Dont worry, i'm not going to kill you. I'll admit i got a little out of hand before, but I wont apologies. You're more than welcome to take a shot at me once this is over." Kain hopped out of the truck as your came back.

Alice was on her way back now, and relayed to Kain about the trucks. But she had more to say than that. "Alice says the jeeps parted way. Ones coming right for us still though. Knocken, care to tell us if there's anyone significantly dangerous in your security teams?"

He figured Yuri would want to plan, and asked as much. "My suggestion is we deal with who ever's in that truck first. When we get to the base, I'll draw off security if you want to take a look around unhindered. Or we can do this quitely, but.... Thats up to yourself.." Kain didn't like quietly. He could do it, no problem, but he'd always prefered being the distraction. He couldn't help thinking right then that if he died he was going to hell.

Staying in the truck as it parked for a second, Knochen took out his personalized knife cutting the right tube to his helmet seeing as it was useless as a filter any longer. Waiting for Yuri to come back, the pilot merely cleaned himself up as he smeared the blood from the front of his visor with a quick movement of his gloved hand before he opened up a small hatch on his left leg. Knochen listened to Kain's word without replying at first as he was too preoccupied with reorganizing the wiring in his robotic leg. Slamming the hatch closed with a satisfying click, Knochen stretched while looking out the window, his knife sheathed. "I'll take that chance when I cross over that bridge, for now there is no logical route to pursue that wouldn't mean some kind of harm if I attacked you, even after this calamity."


Laughing brazenly at Yuri's question, the static voice crackled as the pilot tried to contain his laughter, failing to do so for several seconds. "Anymore than... two jeeps? Ha! I'm surprised you would ask such a thing considering what you destroyed earlier was something funded by the government. Thaos has an entire complex above and below ground made specifically for the trafficking of tunnelers and their men. Two jeeps is but a small fraction of the resources at the hands of our organization." Taking a deep breath, Knochen continued as he regained his composure. "I can say with utmost certainty that we have at the very least fifty or so jeeps and armed vehicles, not including service vehicles for carrying cargo and the like that would not need weaponry are advanced armor. Though when it comes to tunnelers I've only seen fourteen of them, but there are many docking bays for them, so I'm guessing there are more squads, or some back up tunnelers in case one is under repair."

Knochen flicked a piece of sand from the truck, turning his attention to Kain. "Jeeps are usually reserved for search teams, mainly suited with light weaponry and more so medical supplies. The only people I can think of who would even bother joining a search team would be my project supervisor, Ramirez. I don't know how powerful he is compared to you two but I know he's under gone training from more than just simple military outfits."

Seeing the wreckage of the downed drone Ramirez ordered the jeep to stop near the crash site as he jumped out, several soldiers deploying along with him, the rest continued to keep up communications. There were seventeen of them in total. Taking a step towards the small hole the drone made, pieces of machinery and scrap metal laying across a large radius the supervisor ordered the men to scout about and gather anything of value from the wreckage before reporting back. "I want this drone completely gathered, do not leave a single piece of scrap left on the surface or visible. Set up the data transfer using the laptops see what you can scavenge from its internal memory." Looking across the sand the Puerto Rican didn't spy anything of significance, but he had a gut feeling that the trouble makers were far from gone. Walking back to the jeep to gather his assault rifle, Ramirez slung his weapon over his shoulder using his hud screen to zoom in across the horizon.

"Alert headquarters the hostiles are unknown, and open a wave length to the boss for me." The man spoke through his headset, the hot sun over head not affecting the troops as they collected the destroyed drone. There was nothing to do but wait, and wait he did until a nearby officer told Ramirez the communication link had been opened.

"I hear there has been a problem." Spoke a light voice, obviously female.
"Yes mam, I'm still awaiting for data on the ambushed tunneler, from the looks of the reports I received it was no accident, even more so with the drone being attacked."
"Do not worry too much, I have already sent word to my contacts in Cairo, they are not pleased that their secret experiment is being bothered by someone else. They've traced the information leak which is being dealt with as we speak. Apparently someone suddenly grew a sense of morality."
"Any precautions or orders mam?"
"After both of your teams have finished investigating come on back to HQ, we are driving ahead the plan faster than we would have wanted, though those fools in Cairo want their toy now."
"Roger, I will be in contact shortly."

Closing the transmission Ramirez moved out as he began collecting the shrapnel off the ground that used to be the machine's engine. One third of the squad on guard duty as they scanned the horizon for anything different.

Yuri grinned. "I was just making sure. We don't know a whole lot about Thaos or anything, so any information is much appreciated." Then came in Alice's report and Knochen's response. One jeep was heading back already? Finding a cave in an array of rock outcroppings, he sped to there. The vehicle spun five times before straightening out and Yuri backing it in. Turning off the lights, he watched. Unlike tracked or tire vehicles, hover vehicles didn't leave much of any trace if any. That's why on sand areas, he prefered hover vehicles...or areas with a combination of water and sand and everything else like swamps.

"Let's be a bit more quiet like, but I'll give you the details once we're closer. Again, how much farther is the base?" He responded to Kain and repeated a question. Depending on that answer would depend on when he let the man go. If it wasn't too much farther, than this would be a good spot. If it was still a ways off, he would continue driving after the jeep had passed and was well out of viewing distance. Finding a good spot to keep the vehicle out of sight and within a good distance to get to the base without a vehicle, Yuri got out and motioned for everyone else to get out too. Grabbing his duffle bag, he walked up to Knochen.

"This is where we part ways. If there is anything else we need to know about the base, now's the time." If there was nothing or after Knochen had said all that he wanted, Yuri would continue. "Alright. Take the hover truck and get to Cairo. Go to a bar at X street and ask for a woman named Angel. For the love all that is holy, don't try to pick a fight with her...female werewolves can be extremely mean. Tell her Yuri sent you and tell her what you need. New identity, new background...basically anything to set you up for another life or a similar one. She'll even help you out of the country should you need it. Good luck and be safe." The man held his hand out to shake. That would also seal the deal.

Turning to Kain after he left, Yuri will smile. "You're either going to hate me...or like me. How much would you like to cut loose for a while and allow yourself to get caught should you get surrounded? That should cause enough of a ruckus for me to get in and investigate this Thaos organization. Maybe even slip in in disguise. I'll keep tabs on you to give you support or something, depending on what I find. Oh, how good are your acting skills?" Yuri almost grinned maliciously. With a snap of his fingers, Kain's appearance would change dramatically. Yuri would also tell him when he starts tearing the place apart, the spell would be disengaged. Of course, if Kain's acting skills sucked...Yuri would change his appearance to that of a blonde, busty, very hot woman in a skimpy outfit. And distract the guards at the front gate long enough for Kain to start his surprise attack on the front gate.

Then the game was truely afoot...

They hopped back in the truck and were off again, Alice still hovering around the truck that had stopped. Likely, they were waiting, and expected Yuri to drive right up. Kain was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen, infact as the hover truck spun in circles towards a rocky outcrop, Kain started to think they weren't going anywhere in this thing again.

Yuri stopped and reversed the thing in, then started asking more questions. Kain wasn't to bothered with the whole thing, he was more interested in what Alice had to tell him as she watched one of the recovery teams gather up the broken parts of the drone. what ever came next, Kain didn't pay much mind, until they were ready to move on the base. Kain hopped out of the truck and called Alice back.

Yuri gave some instructions to Knochen and said he could take the truck. Kain gave Knochen a curt nod goodbye, expecting they meet again one day. Who knew. Then Yuri asked Kain something that made him regard the man with sceptecism. "I can't act worth shit. I can walk somewhere with perpose, if I dont have to talk to anyone I can get in postion without trouble."

The next part of the plan amused him. Getting caught, that would be a first. Still he would get to ply his trade at the same time, and getting free wouldn't be two hard. "Sounds like fun. I wont need back up for the most part." He said, nodding towards Alice who appeared nearby. She'd reverted to her fairy form to conserve energy, and wouldn't be able to take on the human one for a while now.

Kain checked out his new appearance, and nodded. That would help blend in. "So, lets get in there then. I'm ready when you are." Kain said. Alice shot up into the sky as he said that.

"The base is two miles Northeast of this outcrop, we used to use this for temporary storage during construction of the base itself. If you look carefully and can see past the heat waves warping the ground you can see a small radio tower on a clear day. That's the outskirts of the headquarters." Knochen spoke without much emotion as he jumped out of the truck for a few seconds to move about, the small cave bringing back Knochen to past memories, which he quickly shook off. Shaking Yuri's hand with his cold gloved hand, the former pilot took his leave as he took the keys as started the ignition again. The Truck having barely enough gas to make it to the edge of Cairo if nothing went awry. Peeking out his masked face from the driver's window Knochen merely waved as he gave Yuri one last bit of advice before exiting the cave. "Don't go underground unless necessary, the passages were built to collapse in case unwanted persons were known to be inside the complex. It will be a ghost town there during lock down."

Putting the petal to the metal so to speak, Knochen blazed a trail in the sand as the vehicle lurched forward the sand being kicked up in a small cloud of dust. "Consider that slight payback!" Knochen laughed through the static as he moved away from his captors. He didn't know what the wind felt like, but he imagined it was great as he went through the desert aiming for Cairo. All the while Knochen kept repeating to himself what street and bar to look for.

At the crash site Ramirez gathered the last of the wreckage, throwing the heaps of metal in the back of the jeep's trunk he waited for the second squad to reply which the did shortly to the supervisor's convenience. The tunneler was beyond repair for the moment, the crew fully dead, but the bodies were hard to count do to the carnage the squad coming up short two bodies. Ordering them to withdrawal back to base the crater was filled in thanks to well planted explosives across the top of the area. Once notified that the tunneler was buried both jeeps headed back to base, as ordered, though both were still separated by a few miles.

Headquarters was on alert as the guards moved back and forth to the gates of the complex. The entire area spanning out for half a mile in all directions in a giant circle of metal and concrete domes pushing out from under the bed of sand. There were ten domes, each one devoted to a different sub branch of Thaos protocol, however each one only had two entrances, one connected to the outside and one connected to the tunnel network that ran under the entire complex. High walls could be seen across the circle, decorated with barb wire and land mines beneath the concrete wall rising seven feet tall. The place was a fortress for normal humans. However, the place lacked anti air support, possessing only one cannon for taking down aircraft.

Guards were posted among small watch towers next to the four exits and entrances to the walls as armored jeeps were present with their chain guns. As the place moved in an organized frenzy the boss stayed in her central position of the entire complex, working away at her console with her security branch, making sure there were few places left unguarded.