It had been two very interesting months for a certain someone. Once he was sad to feel the boredom take over his life and be only able to make a few missions every now and then. But slowly, his name got big enough to hit more interesting characters that needed his assistance in certain matters. People like famous slavers, royalty, and even rogue agents... In fact, his first mission against the Directorate was assigned to him by a rogue agent.

His rate of success was what attracted the attention of everyone that was looking for a mercenary. He had never failed a mission and that fame was what gave him the possibility of being so wanted by his clients. Indeed, when he killed the diplomat just under the ADD's nose he could only go higher. Though it was clear that he did other missions against the Directorate, his swiftness and ability to remain secret didn't give them much proof against him. But they knew and knew well, and that's why they have tried to capture him for some time.

Agent after agent, they fell. When rescued some time later, they were all found in the same state. The humiliation of being defeated and raped only made them realize that they were not in his league, and the message when found drenched in cum and unconscious was clear enough for the Directorate that they would have to try harder. It was just some time later that they were informed of another attack to one of their labs in a moon.

Video recordings show an armor similar to that one of Rahs, though it had some differences. They didn't know of the mercenary's upgrade to his armor and ship, but the design was similar. It had the same mask and helmet, the gauntlets had the same decorations and main shape of the rest of the gear indicated that the one that stole an important substance being researched in the lab was syrictae. The only syrictae they had in their sights was Rahs, even if the horn on the helmet didn't fit with his profile.

Whether it was him or not, it didn't matter for them. It was just another excuse to find him. And where would they find him? In a remote planet just outside of the Vanejin VI system. Arid lands and a steady wind along with some mountain regions made it good enough for 'baddies' to hide for a while. In the outskirts of a city was a bar where the former soldier clad in his new dark gray armor sat, waiting for information about new jobs.

On a ship drifting along the outer reaches of the Vanejin system another unbeaten soldier was waiting for her next mission. Well, perhaps waiting was a bit strong of a word as she was actually asleep, the covers tightly wrapped around her curves which were completely bare under the soft fabric of her luxurious bed, and this compromising position is how she was found as a transmission popped onto the monitor in her room the scowling face of her commander looking in on her impatiently.

Seeing that she wasn't in any hurry to wake up the commander took a breath and bellowed "WAKE UP, NATSUKI! YOU HAVE A MISSION!" Sitting up with a start as the order echoed throughout her room she was too out of it to remember that she was naked under the covers, when she saluted the covers slipped downward unintentionally flashing her commander as she said, still groggy from her sleep, "Natsuki.....Reporting for duty...ma'am"

It was only when the commander didn't say anything further, instead looking downwards at her chest, that the tired Natsuki looked down covering her bare chest with her arms as her face turned bright red and she said "So sorry ma'am. I wasn't expecting an assignment this early." Seeming to finally be able to think clearly once again the commander cleared her throat and said "Right. On to the mission.... Not long ago one of our labs on the outskirts of the Vanejin VI systems was attacked and an important substance that was being researched there was stolen. From the video recordings we recieved the attacker was a syrictae... Now the only syrictae we have in our sights is a mercenary by the name of Rahs Xalezel, although the attacker's armor doesn't match his profile. And you would do well to hope that it isn't Rahs as no agent that has gone against him has come back unscathed. But I suppose that is why they assigned this to you.. But nevertheless, be it Rahs or some other syrictae, we have tracked him to an arid planet just outside the Vanejin VI system, and you must capture him or if that is made impossible at least retrieve the stolen material."

"Of course ma'am. I will do my best." She was about to stand up and get ready when the commander added "I almost forgot to mention. The location data was sent to your system map. Get ready fast and get this mission done. We need that substance back ASAP. And....good luck Natsuki." With one final salute she said "Thank you, ma'am!" and with that the commander's transmission ended and Natsuki slipped out of bed leaving the covers crumpled in a pile as she quickly started getting ready.

A quick shower and a run to her closet had her dressed, a skin tight dark blue bodysuit tightly hugged her body over matching blue underwear, and grabbing her armor from a nearby shelf she rushed out of her room to the hanger. Alone on her ship she could safely leave it unzipped as she walked pushing a button as she reached the hangar to load her Gatling Armor into a landing pod and as it did she zipped herself up, slipping the body armor over her chest and pressurizing it with a hiss of air it.

Along with her armor she slipped two pistols into holsters on a belt around her hips and with her prep done and her mech loaded she quickly moved into the pod hopping into the mech with precision and starting it up quickly. Pushing a button inside the mech the pod launched from her ship, rocketing quickly to the arid planet nearby and landing outside of the only notable town with a loud rumble.

That bar was a very lively place. Even when filled with bandits and a few inhabitants from the world, it still looked like a normal place and probably would fool a newcomer into thinking that he wasn't really on the land filled with pirates and bandits. Of course, it would probably take a few seconds to realize the location of the bar again, and see that those were indeed aliens with nothing but money and fun in their minds. At least they were a bit calmer than the ones in the deeper regions of Vanejin VI.

"Anything to drink while you wait?" Asked the barman to Rahs that simply sat on the bar, his arms covered in armor resting calmly before him and his masked face only letting his bright blue eyes stare back at the humanoid alien with pink skin. "No, just tell me if someone has anything." The mercenary's reply had his usual cold tone and didn't let the barman know how exactly he was feeling, he could only nod and tell him he would be right back.

Rahs sighed, staring into a bottle of liquor on the wall until a visor slid from the helmet slid in the mask's eyes to reveal the time it was and some trivial news in town. He decided to wait a couple of minutes before leaving but it was then a huge tremor shook the entire place, the drunken aliens not noticing it but the rest of the people stopping what they did and trying to wonder what exactly happened.

"Nope, nothing new, sorry. Hey, you felt that? We don't get earthquakes around here..." said the barman once he returned from behind a door and looking at Rahs. His eyes never left the bottle that threatened to fall from its place as he spoke back "That's too bad... And I don't think that was earthquake..." Rahs' vast experience told him that something fell on the planet, noting how the things jumped slightly when the ground rumbled instead of shaking like a normal earthquake. He quickly stood up, and headed towards the door of the bar as he magnetically pulled the bottle with him, making it fall on the floor.

With the pod's extremely loud landing, Natsuki knew that someone would likely figure out that she had landed on the arid planet. But there was nothing she could do about it now and with that in mind she pushed a button inside the mech, opening the landing pod's doors, and as she sat inside she said to herself "Alright. Lets get this mission done." As the pod's doors opened and a ramp slid down to the ground she took the controls of her mech, The Gatling Armor, and walked outwards and towards the town.

It was a risky move to just take a direct route to the town with her imposing armor. But she had no reason to be stealthy as she knew the town was likely a den of pirates, bandits, and other "seedy" elements from throughout the galaxy and even if she attacked head on she would be doing the universe a favor by eliminating so many potential threats. And even if she didn't need to go that far capturing this syrictae who had attacked an ADD lab would be a fun fight for her.

As she arrived at the edge of town she turned her mech's voice amplifier on and said, her voice sounding mechanical but distinctly female, "Syrictae! Come out now!"

Just when the agent had approached the town, Rahs left the bar and walked on the sidewalk for a minute or two until his keen ears caught something nearby. In that second, the visor slid again and alerted the mercenary of an unknown new vehicle approaching the town a bit slowly. It was relatively large and through the ground's slight shaking it could be deduced that it was very heavy.

When Rahs was going to cross the street, hoping to avoid any sort of problem that day, he heard a female voice coming from his left. The robotic female voice asked for a syrictae to come out, and as if Lady Luck favored the agent, the mercenary had been caught in the middle of the street before the huge mech. As if not believing his own luck, Rahs turned his head slowly, his bright blue eyes staring right at the cockpit of the armored vehicle. ... Revenge? Maybe not... More possibly ADD...

She had turned off the voice amplifier after her order and as she sat waiting in the cockpit she said to herself "He better be here. This is the only town worth mentioning on this hot little dustball." And just as she said those words, almost seeming as luck was on her side, the "he" in question walked out in front of the large mech armor stopping in the middle of the street and turning his head slowly seeming not to believe his own luck of getting seen already.

Her mech's sensors went into overdrive after seeing him, matching the armor with the video feed that was taken from the ADD lab and confirming that this was the syrictae she was looking for. And with that confirmation she hit the amplifier switch with a slam and said "By order of the ADD you are to return what you stole from the lab and come with me." She knew that the diplomatic approach wouldn't work, it never did, but being the straight-arrow that she was she knew it was protocol to say it.

The mech's amplifier started again with a weird noise first as if something had hit an object but then the voice quickly spoke again.

"By order of the ADD you are to return what you stole from the lab and come with me."

Haha, what? Like I'm going to the lion's den by my own free will. The mercenary chuckled, and then turned his head forward. They were outside the town, the street barely able to be called a highway that got covered by sand mere yards away. Rahs raised a hand to the mech and let it fall limply, as if letting the agent know she might as well could return to her ship for all he cared. However, no one in their right mind and sitting in a huge mech would go back either, and so he had to stare at the hills beyond some abandoned houses, where he would have to use some space advantage against her eventually.

At Rahs' response a sigh could be heard from the mech's pilot and she said "Of course you won't. Why I have to say that is beyond me. Now..." the two gatling cannons clicked as they were turned on and she pointed one at the syrictae and finished "...You will come with me, unless you want to die. As I have permission to kill you if need be as long as I retrieve the item you stole."

With that Rahs would hear her voice quiet again, the gatling barrel staying pointed directly at him, as she waited for a response. Inside the mech Natsuki was fixated on the monitor, trying to study every detail of this syrictae as she could tell by his demeanor that he would not make this easy on her.

The agent's response amused the mercenary, every word she said was proof an annoyance that kept increasing according to him. And just as he expected, a distinct clicking of the gatling guns came from the mech as his back was just starting to face the machine and he stopped walking for a moment. He wasn't considering in going with her but rather calculating the best ways to deal with the armored vehicle once in the hills.

She would be able to see a sheathed sword sticking on his back through her monitors and his left hand clenching and relaxing repeatedly. But suddenly his head turned around to look at the mech once more, the transparent visor sliding again as he whispered to himself "You will only try..." With that, the armored syrictae made for the back of the abandoned houses, which would at best force the agent to change her position so she could aim better at Rahs. That was the simplest thing he could do to gain a bit of time to reach the hills and draw her closer. She wouldn't take long to fire either if she knew how fast he could run even with the full armor.

He's certainly confident about his skills. Turning his back on me like that. she thought to herself, watching his reaction as her guns turned on. She saw the sheathed sword on his back and his left hand clenching and relaxing repeatedly. And like the mercenary her fingers were clenching and relaxing against the two control sticks of her mech, while her thumbs rested atop the firing button for both guns just waiting for a reason to fill this syrictae full of holes.

And suddenly Natsuki saw his head turn towards her mech once more, whispering something to himself before taking off at a run towards the back of a bunch of a abandoned houses. Turning her mech quickly the running mercenary would hear her swear into the voice amplifier before her voice was drowned out by a hail of bullets and the sound of the mech's stomping feet as it worked to keep up with the extremely fast mercenary.

Laughter came out from his mouth as he heard the agent's curse followed by a barrage of rounds coming his way. They initially hit the houses, piercing their walls and making holes in them, some old walls even breaking apart completely due the impact of the bullets. But the more she tried to picture where Rahs was and aim towards him, the more futile it was to shoot since the rounds had to pierce through more walls until they were getting stopped by so many obstacles.

However, it didn't take the agent much to finally move her mech to a more comfortable firing position, its feet making the ground rumble a bit and keeping the thunderous fire on the mercenary. By the time she moved around the houses, Rahs was far from her, probably around 10 seconds away from the hills. The swift motion of her aim made the bullets hit the ground, a few walls left by the houses until it was clear that she had him in her sights and would eventually get shot down like a dog. But being far away and the constant stream of lead wouldn't let her see exactly that her bullets were getting stopped by his magnetic field.

Stupid buildings are in my way. she thought to herself as the mercenary quickly ran from building to building. Each wall her bullets passed through was quickly littered with holes, some even collapsing completely until there were so many obstacles in the way that she was forced to move chasing the running mercenary down as he ran towards the hills.

Being so far away from the mercenary along with the storm of bullets chasing him down she could not see why he wasn't full of holes himself yet. And finally she yelled "Stop running already and die like a man!" By the time her words caught up with him he had already escaped into the hills, likely lieing in wait for her and her large mech.

As she finally reached the hills she slowed down, carefully scanning the hilly area for possible hiding spots of which there were many with someone as skilled as her target obviously was.

"How can you say that when you fight so unevenly? But it doesn't matter, it's more fun this way..." said the mercenary to himself after hearing what the agent said in annoyance as Rahs managed to block all the bullets coming at him. He had just reached the hilly area at last, jumping and then avoiding a last barrage of lead as his form disappeared behind the rocks.

He quickly found two hiding spots to his left and right, and thought of something quickly to confuse the agent. Quick to do something, Rahs took off his right gauntlet that didn't serve him much right then and hid it behind some rocks in the spot to the left. He then ran quickly to the other spot and hid himself behind a small wall. If her mech didn't have any heat seeking missiles or x-ray vision, his plan of drawing her attention to the spot on the left by moving magnetically the gauntlet and letting the rocks fall to then attack her from above would probably be a success.

Making her way through the hills and rocks she quickly came between two piles of rocks to her left and right. Scanning from left to right she easily saw the well placed gauntlet to her left and turning her mech towards that pile and its back towards the crafty mercenary and used the strong arms of the mech to push the rocks out of the way.

Unknown to her the clattering of the rocks would have given the mercenary the perfect opportunity to strike, and with her back facing him there was no way she could see him in time to keep him from sneaking up on her.

It didn't take long for the agent to catch up with him in the hills, he had just hid behind the rocky wall when the large mech appeared from behind the hill. It quickly gave a look around, and in fact, it didn't even take him to move the rocks away as she saw the gauntlet right away and pushed the rocks away easily with the mech's arms, only to be disappointed in the lack of the wanted syrictae.

He looked carefully and then ran up towards the armored unit. Rahs made a huge leap and managed to take out his sword from its sheath and land on top of the mech. His left hand tried to get a good grip on the armor and then he placed the sword's tip downwards, aiming at the mech's left arm to disable it. "Neeeaa!" Swiftly and decisively, the sword stabbed down at the arm.