on the backwater planet of Rosso, a beautiful world that revolved around a giant red star, was what many considered to be paradise. These days, however, Rosso was no longer the paradise it had been now that it suffered from being occupied by the ever-growing army of Nakamura Technologies. No battle fleets soared above head in orbit, no planetary defenses laid in wait, for the world was silently being assimilated by the technological virus that is Obsidian. Safe within his newly-built fortified complex, Takeru watched with interest as his troops rounded up Rosso's natives into the holding pens. The criminal smiled, as he kept on receiving fresh information on the planet as his forces continued to occupy whatever remained free and unmolested.

Soon, the entire planet would be under his control, stripped bare of its fertile resources, choked by the oil and pollution of his machinery and complexes, the skies darkened as the virus continued to rape the planet for all it was worth. Far into the red horizon, a mega structure could be seen growing into the air, self-assembling. It was merely one of the many communication towers being built on Rosso. Takeru chuckled as he thought back on the other worlds he had come to, of the fact that he had built similar structures on them, as he established new communication networks. Each world that fell to him, he would build new networks, linking them up to his systems, to his fleets, to his forces. Absolutely EVERYTHING would be synchronized, leaving little to no weaknesses in his defenses. One day, Takeru knew, even the mighty ADD wouldn't be able to stand up to him, especially as long as they continued to allow him to expand.

Oh yes, he would continue to expand, literally infecting world after world. Until everything was linked together under one mind. Until his forces had surrounded the ADD, maintaining a siege on the organization. Until the day came that he would close the curtain on the self-righteous ADD, ending lawful rule of the galaxies. Everything would run exactly as he planned it. Everything would perform exactly as he dictated. Everything would operate with chilling efficiency.

'None of this pathetic weakness that has infected all of life. The age of the lifeforms is drawing to an end. Soon, it shall be the dawn... of the machine.'

His sensors, however, alerted him to an unidentified presence near the holding pens. With few members of the occupying army present, the holding pens had indeed been vulnerable. But Takeru dismissed the report, considering the presence to be just one of the lucky natives to have escaped the notice of his troops. That would be rectified soon enough anyway. There were few natives on the world that could match the strength of his indoctrinated soldiers. And the few that had indeed resisted... Had been captured and infected with nanobots, becoming the very same indoctrinated troopers they had fought against. Takeru chuckled yet again, as he enjoyed the thought of himself as a parasitic virus, as a black plague all his own.

Agent Veil had known every facet and every aspect of the mission placed before her to the extent of which her superiors had known. Her target had escaped agent after agent and made examples of those he had captured. A.D.D had been learning far to late the turn danger this man, Takeru presented and it was know they had sent her with all the collective data they had managed to obtain after him. Her role was to capture him alive and bring him back before her superiors. A role, after reading the reports, she disagreed with completely yet that was her job within the special branch, to secure and capture the most dangerous criminals and bring them to justice. Justice, that word never ceased to sicken her and the hypocrisy that A.D.D itself endorsed didn't make things any better. As much as she despised A.D.D it was the best chance she had at making a difference in this verse and few other organizations could match their resources. Having left her ship in stealth floating around orbit, Veil had taken one of the orbital drop pods down onto the surface. The pod itself was bare bones, containing only what was needed to survive decent into the atmosphere and a small device to destroy itself once she had departed. Some ways away from the crash site she had buried a communications device so that she would be able to call in her ship once she had the criminal in hand and escape from the planet.

At least that was her plan.

Her black wings were folded as she concealed herself behind one of the few gadgets she had brought with her, an adaptive camouflage cloak. Rendering her nearly invisible she had slipped inside the defenses and moved quickly and soundlessly. Even with her arcane magic's sealed, Veil's enhanced extra-sensory perceptions could still feel and sense the being's presence. When she had found his aura and felt his presence it was nearly overwhelming, the A.D.D said he was dangerous but if what she had seen was true...he was far far worse. The lightly guarded slave pens had been what she thought to be the perfect place to sneak into the main compound. All her training, all her countless hours of meditation and martial studies did little to quell the rage that boiled deep within the very core of her essence. Whatever her plan had been, whatever the mission had been was just changed. Takeru wasn't going to escape and she doubted she was going to make it much further undetected anyway.

Slipping into the security control center, Veil quickly dispatched the two soldiers monitoring the cages silently as her silenced energy pistols punched twin holes into the backs of their heads. Ever since she was a child Veil had always had an affinity with computers, she understood them as few had understood her. Her gloved hands appeared almost as if floating in thin air as she began to hack into the system and unlock the various cages holding the planets natives as well as attempting to re-rig the security devices to attack the other guards. If nothing else the confusion and chaos would give her a better chance of getting inside and give those prisoners a chance to earn their freedom back.

Chaos erupted as the security weapons began firing not at the intruders they had been programmed to but instead at the men that had installed and programmed them. Yells ripped into the increasingly darkening sky as flashes of laser blasts tore through the lightly armored Riflemen that had been guarding the complex and watching the holding pens. Holding pens that too seemed to malfunctioned as the gates swung wide open, the panicking natives flooding out of them and overwhelming the already disoriented Riflemen. Loud klaxons blared as the thick blast door of the complex began opening slowly, dozens of Troopers within gathering quickly.

'Hmm, perhaps it wasn't a native... No matter, they won't get far with the majority of this complex's garrison in the way.'

Takeru silently assessed the situation, sending locations for his men to occupy via the interlink network through the complex's communications array. More screams tore through the air from the rear as flames erupted from the holding pens; Torchers began appearing from the thick jungle, their weapons spewing forth super-heated flames that burned everything, turning even reinforced metal into slag. And from the eastern gate, an armored tank rolled in, the cannon turret moving steadily toward one of the pens that still hadn't emptied out and fired upon it, turning the reinforced pen into twisted metal and the natives into bloody and charred bits.

Ruthlessly, the Troopers stormed out of the complex once the blast door had opened enough, reinforced by their Heavy Troopers and their deadly shotguns. Seemingly not caring about taking slaves any more, the military troops began shooting down everything that moved as the Grenadiers opened fire on the now-badly damaged security weapons, reducing them to scrap metal as the flood lights came on. Another holding pen was blasted apart as the tank fired yet again, even as additional troops began charging into the base from behind the tank.

From near Veil's position, a side door swung open as a Gunner emerged, rallying the Troopers that had held the position. Within moments, the Gunner led the Troopers into the action, leaving the door wide open, the complex now vulnerable to the hidden agent. It was Veil's good fortunes that her location had been in the Troopers' blind spot, and now with all the chaos, no one would notice her at all.

Veil winced inwardly at the sight of the seasoned soldiers quickly moving in to quell the local populaces en promtu uprising. She didn't like the idea that she was using them as a shield to gain access to the highly secured compound when she likely could have helped some if not many of them escape. A.D.D would be quick to remind her that no matter her personal feelings on the matter, the mission came first and with a criminal like the one she was after if she failed then only more would suffer later. It was a bitter pill and she hated it. Her only comfort came from the fact she had given these prisoners and would be slaves a chance to free themselves. A chance she doubted many others would have. Having been a slave, Veil would be the first to agree with the age old adage, better to die on ones feet, than live on ones knee's. Those who fought and died for their freedom would have at least earned their rest.

When she found this criminal she planned on making him pay for each and every life he had taken and ruined. They never said how alive they wanted him brought back.

Not wasting any more time the nimble Agent dashed quickly into the opening, her foot falls landing silently even as she was near sprinting through the metal halls of the compound. The heads up display in her goggles brought up a small alert after a moment, letting her know that her camouflage cloak's power cell was nearly drained. She hadn't expected it to last much longer anyway nor make it into the compound with it on. She had to make it as absolutely as far as she could however as once it was gone, she had no doubts the intricate security system would pick up on her biometric readings. Darting down corridors, Veil moved ever closer to the source of this planets trouble and the strong aura her sixth sense had picked up. No matter how skilled she was or how hard she trained Veil couldn't help but dislike the orders she had been given for this mission. Why couldn't she have just waited until he departed from the planet? Dealing with transport, no matter how large would have at least been a more feasible option than this. Given the lack of intelligence A.D.D even had on him she would have thought a more cautious approach would be in order but that wasn't really why they sent her here. They hadn't even given allowed the seal over her powers to be suspended for the mission. She was acutely aware of how little her superiors trusted her and even more aware that each one of her missions to date had been what many would have called, suicidal. For each obstacle tossed in her path it only stoked the fires inside of her, she many not have always succeeded but she was going to survive.

Her cloak shimmered for a moment before she reappeared. Her features hidden underneath the drab, gun metal grey cloak as a pair of small goggles reflected like red mirrors from underneath the hood. She hoped she was close enough to her objective and would be able to deal with him and his personal guard before reinforcements showed up. It wasn't likely...but a girl can dream can't she?

Feeling rather concerned now that nearly all of his forces located at the complex was now outside, trying to impose order and destroy anything that continued to instigate chaos, Takeru had abandoned his command center. Leaving behind the majority of his Elite Guard behind to hold the center and to bring the situation back under control if it came to that, the criminal had decided to relocate to the growing superstructure as one of the strike forces that had invaded Rosso was still encamped there. It couldn't have been an agent from the ADD, Takeru decided. His patrolling warships at the borders of the star system hadn't reported any intruders. And it was unlikely they had been avoided.

Beside him marched one of his Elite Guardsmen, this one being more of an unarmed combat specialist than the others and his personal favorite. The two continued to walk down the hallway, heading for the gunship behind the base that had recently been refueled and was simply waiting for them. The door ahead of them whirred open and they stopped, taking notice of a lithe figure, face obstructed by what appeared to be a grey cloak and red-lens goggles. Only then was he aware of his systems trying to alert him to the presence of an intruder. His hubris had allowed him to overlook this fatal flaw in the complex's security, and he mentally resolved to make sure it never happened again. "Well, I have no idea who you are, and while I would introduce myself... I've no time for such banter. So, please get out of the way."

Takeru finished speaking just as the Elite Guardsman sprang into action, running toward the female, pulling a stun baton out of its sheath and flicking it on. The metal length began arcing with electrical energy as the Guardsman jumped, raising the baton over his head for a strong downward swing. "Move it, bitch!"

The Agent remained motionless as she and her target came face to face within the corridor, both of them coming to a momentary halt like gunslingers from an old western. She hadn't expected to run into him here, Veil would have honestly thought he'd have been within a bunker in his control chamber making sure the sudden rebellion was put down. Perhaps he had come to deal with the intruder himself and her movements weren't as secret as she had thought. Her eyes narrowed hidden behind the goggles as she saw his aura flicker with a wave of annoyance. He hadn't been expecting her and his words confirmed it. Even if she had caught him by a bit of surprise, this moment was where all of her training, survival and cunning would come into effect. The reports about Takeru had hardly been complete, most Agents that had encountered him and survived couldn't recall any specifics about him or his abilities or even how they were caught. That said a lot to Veil by itself and given the high levels of technology this compound was utilizing she guessed the two things were connected. That and until recently he hadn't be considered a high priority target.

The large cloak hid a great many of her movements as she slipped her hand around the rubbery grip of one of her energy pistols. She knew well enough to play it carefully, not wanting to give away who or what she was or any of her abilities until she had to. She had brought a select amount of gadgets and weapons with her to help accomplish this as well to help drop any odd bits of tech the dangerous criminal might throw at her. As the guardsman rushed in closer towards her an two energy blasts shot a hole through her cloak, both blasts aimed straight up at the guardsman's chin, the barrel of the pistol smoking from the scorched synthetic fabric of the camo-cloak.

Limp the Guardsman went as he had started to fall as Veil lunged forward from the momentum of his swing, her hand wrapped around the Guardsman's wrist as she twirled, spinning with a dancers grace as the cloak lifted up around her revealing just a hint of her slender legs and combat body suit. Securing the stun baton, Veil pushed herself towards her target, brandishing the weapon with a cold, calculated proficiency as she moved in to strike. While she closed the distance between the two of them she unleashed peppering blasts of stunning energy from her pistol at him, either trying to take him down before she got there or keep him off balance enough until she was within striking distance.

Mildly surprised to see that one of his own Elite Guard had been defeated already, the sole weakness in their armor exploited, and mildly annoyed that he would now have to deal with the intruder. "I applaud you for dispatching one of my best soldiers that quickly, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to play with you." Takeru spoke calmly as he began retreating backward, away from the woman. The blasts from her weapon had no effect on his body, as he had long since calibrated his defenses to deal with many forms of conventional weapons. Still, they did manage to push him off balance.

Feeling himself falling back, Takeru growled in annoyance as he pushed his foot against the ground, allowing himself to fall further than he would have naturally, the other foot's bottom opening slightly to allow a long blade to appear, poised to strike the woman as soon as she came. Though, he was quite worried about the stun baton she now wielded, as he had not expected his men to lose them nor had he expected them to be used on him. And another mistake, he realized, was that he was quite unprotected against the charges they carried. "You are severely trying my patience, woman!

The pistols energy disappating harmlessly against the man did little to stall her advance, re-holstering it and once more obscuring her hand from sight underneath of the cloak itself. She said nothing in response to his words, ignoring his seeming air of confidence and control. He had every right to feel secure in his own base but Veil wasn't about to let the oppurtunity she had been presented with pass her by as she was sure it was only a matter of time before more of his soldiers would come to his aide.

With her hand free from the pistol, Veil grasped one of the few other items she had brough with her and pulled the small disk from from the bandollier hugged acrossed her chest. The disk itself was a hyperkinetic charge, like concussion grenade except far stronger and a far smaller blast radius. With a skilled flick of her hand the small disk primed and bounced into the ceiling behind Takeru, not even faltering in her advance. Veil wasn't sure if the disk would have any more effect on him than her pistol, but even if it just knocked him to the ground or towards her it would hopefully give her opening.

Taking notice of what she had thrown, Takeru's sensors quickly determined just exactly what it was and he mentally swore to himself, realizing that either this woman was quite knowledgeable about him and his men somehow or she just happened to be quite lucky. Not shielded against explosives of a hyperkinetic nature at all, the criminal was now worried. Dismantling the blade he had created as it would have hindered his attempt to get away, Takeru got onto his feet quickly and tried to leap to the side. But the few seconds he had spent removing his bladed weapon had meant the difference between getting away unscathed again and being damaged.

And indeed, as the charge went off, Takeru could feel the explosive hitting the nanites within his left arm and leg, causing them to temporarily freeze. 'Shit, shit! Not good at all! Who in the fuck is this woman!' Now unable to move properly, the criminal was vulnerable for the first time in his career, and it had been against some intruder he hadn't even expected! "Goddamn it, you're fucking around with the wrong criminal!" Takeru swore as he began reassembling his right arm into a bladed weapon, desperately trying to finish the construction of his weapon before she got to him. But his combat systems knew all too well that he had no chance this time around. The woman had won this battle.

As the explosive force directed downwards at the man, Veil wasted very little time or movement as she plunged herself into the kinetic wash, twirling in a low crouch before bringing the weapon and herself back upwards in a hard strike towards the man's head. She didn't know if the weapon itself was lethal or not, but giving his already proven resistance to convential weapons she really didn't care all to much. As the blow landed against her already weakened target, she kept the energy prongs hard against him and let the electric current drive into his body. Waiting until he hit the floor, or gave some other sign that he was in fact unconscious.

She could only hope that most of his guards were still trying to deal with the mass exodus she had caused but she wasn't counting on it. With her cloak more or less destroyed she couldn't just openly move about if they had finished up.

The electrical charges of the baton was a bitch. Takeru realized that in the split second between getting slammed with the stun baton and being knocked out. He really should have thought of making sure he was properly shielded against tha- And the host had been silenced just like that. Now entirely at a loss, the core programming was unsure of what to do, now that two of its limbs were still down because of the hyperkinetic charge and the rest were currently malfunctioning because of the electric currents running through the nanites. This was indeed a dark day in the career of Takeru Nakamura, master criminal.

The host might have been disabled, but the 'parasite' most assuredly was not. In a voice empty of any emotion or humanity, a voice far removed from Takeru's own, the defeated criminal's body seemed to be undergoing slight spasmodic movements as it spoke. Subject: Nakamura, Takeru. Current Situation: Incapacitated. Sensor and weapon systems, nonoperational. Motor system, operational. Manual Override, engaged. Undergoing rebooting... 3 Percent Completed. This went on for several moments as the percentage continued to rise while the body kept trying to repair itself and bring its systems back online. And at the same time...

"Mr. Nakamura! The gunship is fueled up and prepared for take off, the pilot's waiting in Hangar 6, near your location, sir!" It seemed that the guards were not yet aware of Takeru's current situation, but merely had assumed that for whatever reasons beyond their comprehension, their master had simply decided to stay in his current location. Or perhaps, they realized, he had simply been waiting for them to inform of the gunship's situation. And indeed, not too far along the hall, there was a closed door with the words H-6 on it.

From underneath her hood hidden from the prying eyes of any security camera's, Veil soft pink lips beamed a small smile as the radio chatter provided her with a way to make it back to her own ship. Hoisting the criminal up from the ground with an unnatural ease and carrying him over her shoulders Veil bounced in place for a moment, making sure she would be able to move and engage with him on her back. Obviously she had a time limit to get him back to her ship and secured before he rebooted. Rebooted. At least more of the things she had seen here and the impressive technology was starting to make sense...well some what. Turning her head towards to hanger doors, she pulled her pistol free from its holster once more and dashed off, leaning forward with her other hand planted firmly against her target to keep him in place.

At the very least she could use him as a shield if she came under fire or they didn't believe her bluff. Taking off in a run once more she heads through the doors to Hangar 6.

The gunship was certainly impressively designed, thinking to herself that perhaps she would store it aboard her own ship and see what she could learn off of it. Of course, it wouldn't have been Takeru's personal transport without a couple of guardians lurking around and with that in mind she simply began to walk at a brisk pace, heading to the ship itself. Maybe they'd believe she was working for him and trying to get him out of there...if not...well they'd find her more than willing to explain the situation.

The situation outside had grown worse with all the chaos, but now it appeared as if the Nakamura forces had finally managed to turn the tide. Corpses littered the ground amidst burning metal and scorched earth, the complex's weapon batteries all destroyed by the Grenadiers and their explosive weapons. The unmanned tank, having never been programmed to deal with the situation it had faced, had simply opened fire on any non-Nakamura personnel, including those that had strayed too close to the fortified building. As a result, its blasts had rocked the fortress several times already, breaching the thick walls.

Undaunted yet, the military forces continued to suppress the impromptu and chaotic escape, gunning down everything in their way, even including the Riflemen that had been trying to hold the tide back. If there was one word to describe them, it was that they were ruthless. Accepting minimal losses for the sake of the overall mission, the soldiers had accepted the deaths of their fellow men. But still, more and more soldiers came storming out of the fortress-like complex, including those that had been assigned to protect the gunship.

The hangar remained empty save for Takeru's escape vehicle, the pilot nowhere to be seen. As the agent, carrying the criminal, moved toward the heavily-armed aerial vehicle, the pilot chose that moment to open the door to the locker room and step through. "Hey! Who the hell are yo-!" Abruptly screaming, the pilot slipped on one of the discarded tools scattered around, falling back into the locker room as the door slammed shut, a large pipe falling down against the door, keeping it locked. Loud slams on the door began sounding out as the pilot kept on screaming out muffled shouts.

Veil actually stopped walking, her goggled face hidden by the hood turned as she watched with disbelief as the ONLY person in the entire hangar managed to secure and seal one of the other entry ways for her. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would have never believed such a thing could actually happen. Of course, he probably had a radio which meant now she had to move it. Sprinting for the open portal of the escape craft Veil nearly jumped up the small ramp leading inside, turning just barely in time to let the man over her shoulders pass by. She had been sorely tempted to just slam him into the frame of his own craft but time was rapidly going to become a factor.

Instead she heaved him from her shoulders and onto the floor as she slid into the pilots chair. With the ship already prepared for take off, she secured the hatch and opened the hangar bay doors. Blasting out from compound Veil was able to survey the damage Takeru's soldiers had caused. From behind her red tinted goggles, she closed her eyes for a moment. Many had suffered this day but it was not in vain, the leader of this criminal organization had been captured and she was going to make sure he was turned over to the proper authority. Pulling back on the flight stick Veil rocketed skyward as she punched in a small locator frenquency on her arm deck.

The Omerta recieved the signal, engines coming to life as it moved quickly on intercept. No stranger to the skies, though a bit unfamilar with the way this ship handled Veil quickly set about to docking, placing the ship within one of the prisoner bays as it was none the less an enemy craft. Once everything was secured again, she turned and grabbed hold of her prisoner once more, jabbing him with the stun rod once more for good measure as she dragged him off into the prison chamber.

Speaking more to herself, "A level 5 containment field ought to make you feel right at home." Tossing him inside of the small room, the kinetic force barrier raised around him like walls. Had Veil actually known more about the criminal she probably would have taken more scrict measures to ensure that he wouldn't be able to escape.

Turning on heel Veil contacted her command, sending forward the message.
Prisoner detained, enroute to rally, send in the strike. As she hit send, she felt a grim satisfaction. Soon those soldiers would be learning the price for their actions. Leaving the room she remotely set her destination as her ship hummed in response, the FTL drive spooling up and sending her ship across space.

The mission itself might have gone more smoothly than she could have imagined, it had still been a long day. Walking into her quarters, she dropped the cloak and goggles into place on a small stand and she began to peel her well toned and trim frame out of the form fitting battle suit.

Rebooting completed. Subject: Nakamura, Takeru, operational.

Takeru felt everything falling into place as the rest of his systems came back on, now completely restored. The last thing he remembered was getting hit with the stun baton, and that it had hurt like hell. But from his current situation, he could tell that the moment had long since left. Unaware of his position aboard the agent's ship or that they were now off world, the criminal tried to clear his mind and begin putting together a plan to take back control of the situation.

'Projection: We're likely on a ship the woman procured from somewhere, and in transit from the feel of the craft.'

Aboard the stolen gunship, way in the back of the vehicle, sparks explode from the exposed wiring and devoured metal casings. Though the host had been shut down and the nanites rebooting, several of the new ones had escaped and managed to flee before the woman had struck him with another electrical current. Hiding deep within the gunship, the freed nanites went about the business of assimilating the gunship's technology, producing even more nanobots. Without organic material to consume, a new Takeru was not viable at all. Instead, a small robotic being had been constructed, made up of only the very necessary materials with no armor or weapons whatsoever. 'Bare bones', one might say.

The mechanical creature scampered toward the bay's exit, sneaking into the Omerta proper, hiding in small nooks and crannies in order to escape detection in case the agent was still walking around. Without her in sight, the machine made its way to Takeru's prison, finding the host to be conscious and waiting for it. Going straight for the prison's control panel, the machine hacked into the ship's system and shut down the cell's kinetic field and ensured the ship wouldn't raise any alarms as it would think that Veil herself had lowered the barrier instead of it being broken into.

"Thank you, gentleman." Takeru smiled as the tiny robotic creature scurried toward him, melding into his leg and joining the whole. "Now, let's go inform our captor that there is a prison revolt in effect..." 'Why not, after all? The bitch set my captives free. It's only fair I return the favor.' Takeru smirked silently as he began walking out of the prison, making his way for the signature several free nanites that had caught a ride on the woman's battle suit. She might had won the battle.

But not the war!