GWOTC: The New Order/The Last War (Parts 1 and 2; IC)

[Oppermenia]

The Docks

“Hey, too far,” Jon said. “It’s not that bad, although not good for stealth situations. I would definitely like a darker suit like, say, a black suit for stealth missions.” He turned to Taipan. “We’ll be fine,” he assured them. He heard Ghost’s ominous statement to Taipan. He didn’t wanna know right now. “Shall we go?”

[South Raznakova]

"Yes, let's get out of here before somebody see's us. Maybe I can take a look at your suit, I could make a few modifications."

[Oppermenia]

"Yes, let's get out of here before somebody see's us. Maybe I can take a look at your suit, I could make a few modifications."

“Sounds like a plan,” Jon replied. The two teams went their separate ways.

[South Raznakova]

Federal Investigation Division Building

"Jon, come with me, it's time we made some modifications to that suit. I had some a piece of tech get flown in from South Raznakova and remodelled for you. I think you will like it."

[Oppermenia]

Federal Investigation Division Building

"Jon, come with me, it's time we made some modifications to that suit. I had some a piece of tech get flown in from South Raznakova and remodelled for you. I think you will like it."

Federal Investigation Division

“Okay,” Jon said. “Never thought I’d be getting help from you, but I guess here we are.” He went off with the Ghost.

Daniel came up behind them. “Just don’t demolish the old suit, I’d like to save that!” he shouted. “I can get you a copy of the old suit designs though, for modification!” He handed Ghost a copy of the technical outlines and designs of the suit.

[South Raznakova]

"Oh, we will not be needing those, and yes, I will make sure that the old suit is kept."

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

The Seraph glided through the sky like an eagle. Sarvos had been forced to take his nephews along with him; leaving them at the Ash Fortress unprotected felt wrong. Amidst the flight, Sarvos had to turn his Seraph somewhere else for now. He needed to know something. After thirty minutes of flight he found Katonai. It was a punch in the gut to see the the city the way it was, it was ruin. A pile of rubble had been created and it did not look like the mess Merhold became, but he looked out towards the Temple of Luna and saw it had fallen as well. It was the ancient temple the Magnum Ferrum were trained and where the Crone lived.

The Seraph was quick to land wherever it could. Sarvos dragged the others quickly along, almost literally, and Veronica took to the skies. Drel and Taegos looked confused, but Sarvos was sure Taimon and Arvel knew what he was there to do. As he walked through the reconstruction he heard gasps in awe and disgust in his name. As the long walk had been completed he gazed at what the Temple of Luna once was. From that he saw a familiar face rush towards him. "Captain Sarvos? Is that truly you?"

"It is I, Arc of Winter." Sarvos said in a voice of dread. "Please, tell us what happened here." Sarvos was sure he had a good idea.

"Captain," Arc of Winter said in a melancholy voice, "they came. They attacked the city and the Temple. We lost good men, too many men. Sarvos, Crone Elizabeth is dead." Sarvos assumed just as much, but it hurt him all the same. The Crone had been a wise and respected ex-fighter in the Magnum Ferrum. Elizabeth was like a mother to him. "Here, one of our newest members is coming." Arc beckoned a young youth with a white bandage around his chest. He limped forward.

"Captain?" the boy realized. Sarvos nodded.

"This is Leon, Sarvos of Ashes. He was just out of training when the war began. Go on boy, tell him what happened."

Leon took a breath. "Well, they just started storming the temple all of a sudden. We held them for so long I thought we would have destroyed the whole invasion. Then they pushed us back. They took the hall and finally we were pinned down inside. But we made way into the Crone's Quarters. Elizabeth...she was magnificent. We were all shocked at what she could do, she slew I can't even begin the guess. Her aim with the rifle was as precise as it must have been all those years ago and when they got too close...her daikatana was in their throats. We held them until we were wondering if they gave up on it. Then came the shells.

"They rained down their stupid shells on us and the building collapsed. I don't know how I made it alive, but when I woke I saw that Elizabeth had too. The Raznakovans were treading over the temple's ruin and she hopped on one and slit his throat. Then the others killed her. I crawled away somehow and I what remained of the Ferrum made a short raid and took me with them. Shortly afterwards the cease fire had been called and we were back to stare at our destruction. We thought you died, Captain."

"Not quite," it was all he could say. The Crone was always so gentle somehow, and she was adored by the entire Magnum Ferrum. She could tell everyone's name even if their face was masked behind a visor and she knew when one of the Ferrum's mind was troubling them. "Arc, how many of the Eleven are living?"

"Not many." Arc muttered, the Eleven were the eleven anointed knights who oversaw the Magnum Ferrum. Arc was the Knight of Winter and Sarvos the Knight of Ashes. "Jean of the Black Sword and Lucas of Seas were slain in the temple, Vorun of Lances fell at Dyllongrad and Devan of Talons at Bastrict. Celine of Moons has gone missing. Diane of Morning is alive and well at Hinnitum. Fredrick of Daggers survived with the Hydra, Ethan of Eagles wasn't so lucky. Allard of Thorns was injured in Hinnitum but is being healed as we speak. So five, and maybe six if we can count on Celine's survival."

That was painful as well. Every single knight of the Eleven he knew. Sarvos remembered when he was anointed Knight of Ashes and at the same time his best friend Dominik Buluru the Knight of Thorns. Now they were gone. Sarvos had naught to say. "They deserve a funeral." he said.

"We have most of their bodies, they had already been sent here. In life they have served."

"And in death their spirits march on."

[South Raznakova]

The Crimson Ghost led Jon into a room next to the armoury. The room was empty, except for a table in the middle of the room and a case on the table.

"Go ahead and open it Jon.", said the Ghost.

[Oppermenia]

The Crimson Ghost led Jon into a room next to the armoury. The room was empty, except for a table in the middle of the room and a case on the table.

"Go ahead and open it Jon.", said the Ghost.

Federal Investigation Division

Jon opened the case to find a new suit. It looked reminiscent of the old one, only this one was black. The emblem was kept on, a red circle on the chest with a gray wolf. Jon looked satisfied. "I like it," he said.

[South Raznakova]

"The suit is made of a material that the Ministry of Defence is using in Unit 46 armour. It is the same material that my armour is made out of. It is extremely lightweight and is capable of stopping up to .50 BMG ammunition. The mask consists of two parts. The upper part is equipped with a hud that displays a 3d map of the AO, as well as showing you the locations of known enemies. The lower part is a gas mask. On the right lower arm, there is a dagger, that goes in and out of the suit. There are no weapons on the left arm, so as to not interfere with your shield, which I also had modified. Also, I have received word that Sarvos is on his way here, he has some questions for you. So get that armour and lets get ready to greet him."

[Oppermenia]

Jon put on the new suit. Because it was Sarvos, he didn't feel the need to wear the mask. Besides, he wasn't sure about the mask covering his whole face... he kind of liked to have a breeze on his face when fighting... but he didn't mention it to the Ghost, of course. He got ready to meet with Sarvos.

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

Their faces were too familiar. He saw them all of the bodies of his old friends line up neatly over the cremation fires. Jean of the Black Sword, Lucas of the Seas, Vorun of Lances, Devan of Talons, Ethan of Eagles, and Crone Eliza all met together. Arc of Winter lifted his torch. "Brothers and sisters we gather to send our goodbyes to the fallen. While we breath we protect and when we fall we rest. The fires burn with the passions of our order and the goals we have set. We serve the King and fight at his side, our brothers and sisters did just that and fell. They are slain, not broken.

"They are slain not broken!" the Ferrum repeated.

"And always they serve. They join the Three in Orom to serve the kings and Imperators of old now, and one day we will join them. Be it Kegyeleem or Orom, we serve."

"Kegyeleem or Orom!" And so Arc burned the flame, the smoke rising high above the ruined city. After a moment Sarvos approached Arc. "Still no word from Celine of Moons?"

"No, I fear. Fret not, if we find her dead or alive we will let you know immediately."

"Preferably you find her alive." Sarvos stated. Sarvos, Taimon, and Arvel said their goodbyes. Sarvos would have rather stayed with the Ferrum but he had other things to attend to. And so they retrieved Drel and Taegos and returned to the Seraph. They stepped aboard the Seraph and Sarvos and Arvel took the pilot seats and took off into the skies. "Arvel, do we have any messages?"

"That we do, from the Spider." Damn the man.

"What does he want?"

"Something about a band of highly skilled warriors await in Oppermenia. He says they are joining the apprehend the New Order."

"Who are they?" Sarvos asked.

"We have Jon Neddard, Captain Oppermenia. The bastard of Mitchel Opperman, raised in the Outer Islands until he realized his heritage. He the best individual soldier in Oppermenia and arguably the world. Ex-Unit-46 and he escaped South Raznakova twice. He was tortured at Blacksite Delta and never bowed his head. He is resilient, powerful, and thankfully just."

"No surprise Neddard is part of it all." Sarvos said. "Who else?"

"The Commander of Unit 0. His name is unknown, yet his feats speak for themselves. He led his unit on many difficult missions and is one of Oppermenia's best. He fought with Rose and Rolf in the Dyllonic Civil War and executed New Sollis himself."

"Ah yes, I saw it with my own eyes. He was slaying the mad man and I was tied to a post rotting beneath the sun." Sarvos said gloomily.

"The next one is uhh, Crimson Ghost."

"No." Sarvos muttered. "Some said he was a myth, or a pen name rather for anonymous Raznakovan assassins. Looks like I was right all along."

"Indeed you were Captain. His name is unknown yet many suggest he is Acrenese, inhuman, an actual poltergeist or even Vodovenko's long-lost son. He is a bloody man and not the one you want to see approaching you in a dark alley. It is a mystery if he is a free-lance assassin or a thrall to Vodovenko."

"My guess is the latter. I should have known the Raznakovans would have a part of this. I still don't like how calm Vodovenko was when the girl came in through the window."

"This next one is...Taipan. Their nationality and even gender is unknown."

"Well a taipan is a snake. And a snake could only mean..."

"Rakdai." Arvel finished. "They are an infamous assassin and deadly with an urumi. They hate firearms but will grudgingly use a sniper if necessary. They love destruction, find it amusing even, and caused quite the stir in South Raznakova. Even attempted to slay Vodovenko, and almost got away with it too. Gave the proud fool a few cuts on the face."

Sarvos did notice Vodovenko had a nasty fresh cut above his eye at the conference. He hoped it hurt like hell. "I must say, I don't like the idea of working with this many assassins. Any assassin is too many. They hide in the shadows and cringe at the light of day." Sarvos had spent much of his career dealing with them. Even TSAR's finest couldn't best him, the only assassin who ever escaped his talons was Alfinius Cullingham or whatever he calls himself now.

"Well, Jon and the Commander should be a happy enough sight."

All Sarvos could say was, "Jon and I have a history no doubt." Soon the Seraph found the airport and landed. He came out with his brothers in arms and his nephew. The moment Sarvos Lysandos spotted Jon Neddard. Ignoring the assassins he greeted him with a jestful smile and said, "The bastard of the Outer Islands..."

[Oppermenia]

JON NEDDARD

Jon was quietly awaiting Sarvos' arrival. Those two certainly had a history. Jon respected Sarvos, a man of honor and integrity, however cranky he may be at times. And, Sarvos respected Jon. The best of their nations, symbols of patriotism of Oppermenia and Dyllonia, respectively.

When he saw Sarvos walk out, he couldn't help but smile. "The knight of Ashes," Jon responded cheekily.

[South Raznakova]

The Crimson Ghost was standing a few feet away from Jon. He kept his eyes on Sarvos and the people who accompanied him. He kept one hand over his sidearm and one hand on his knife. He didn't trust anyone, but then again, no sane Raznakovan truly did. He noticed that one of the people who were with Sarvos was carrying something. It appeared to be Unit 46 armour. From where he was standing he could tell it was fake, a bad one at that. His time with Unit 46 had made him very familiar with the in's and outs of the armour. He understood how one could mix up this fake with the real thing. On the outside it seemed real, but the red LED on the inside is what gave it away. He was curious as to what Jon was going to say about the armour.

[Rakdai]

Iraak Military Base

Sakhalin Krai arrived in the military lab, and was greeted by Jekistin, the head scientist. “Welcome to the site of Project Grey Eyes. We are very pleased for you to be here”. Sakhalin replied, “Likewise. Is it completed?”. Jekistin smiled. “See for yourself”.

As Jekistin walked through the halls, he told Sakhalin all about the project. “So, as you well know, the most high quality exosuits have been made with graphene. Now, graphene is a wonderous material, and while South Raznakova has been stuffing as much tech as possible into these suits, we’ve been working on improving the basics. While the Raznakovan suits may kill you in five different ways, we’re making the suits as reliable as possible. Now, we may have found the one thing that will singlehandedly change the entire game”.

They arrived at a room, where four suits were hanging up, as well as some rolls of grey material. “What is this?” Sakhalin said. “This is called graphyne,” Jekistin said. “This is what these beauties back here are made of. So, while graphene is a wonderous material, it is not the best you can get. A decent layer of it and some high-impact get makes remarkable good body armor, but a layer of this is about 20 times stronger. So, if you have enough impact absorption, these will be absolutely invincible. Now, there is one drawback. Both graphene and graphyne are extremely conductive, which means that to be completely safe, you need to add on a thick layer of rubber. These suits, however, only have a thin layer of rubber on the outside and inside, so if anything can both pierce the outer layer and shock, the electrical components will be in real trouble. This is still the case with graphene suits, so it is still entirely worth it.”

Jekistin suddenly whipped out a heavy-duty pistol and shot one of the suits. The bullet ricocheted off and hit the floor. “As you can see, there is absolutely no damage to the suit. Graphene clocks in at 2.4 TPa, while graphyne hits past 40 TPa. Nobody else holds this kind of technology, the closest is obviously South Raznakova, but they are still years away. For all their fancy killing machines, they never thought to upgrade the base. Now, these suits are still being finished, but they will be done soon. I hope you know who deserves this kind of tech.”

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

What in Luna's sweet name is he wearing now? Harpy Man wondered. A brief moment of silence passed as the two awkwardly held smiles. "It's good to see you again." He said, then he looked not far behind Captain Oppermenia. He saw the Commander of Unit 0, an aged man yet he could cut through any opponent as if they were butter. He looked different since the last he saw him. Then his eyes fell upon the ones called Taipan and the Crimson Ghost. They both kept quiet, yet Sarvos sensed the mistrust on him. Likely neither of the two would keep an eye off the other. Sarvos learned from experience that many of the most dangerous assassins were least predictable and Crimson Ghost and the shier Taipan were smothered in unpredictability.

As his nephews arrived he heard Taegos's voice erupt in the squeakiest tone Sarvos had ever heard. "By Polaris, by Polaris, by Polaris! It is you, Captain Oppermenia! Standing here, next to me!"

His brother slowly approached him. "Breath, Taegos. Breath."

Sarvos took a step forward, ignoring his nephew's outbreak. "Fighters of Kegyelee, it is a pleasure to be here. Sajaar tells me you four have been rather busy lately. Researching into this New Order I hear. For those who do not know me I am Sarvos of Ashes, Captain of the Magnum Ferrum; the Harpy Eagle of Dyllonia; the Dark Blade of Merhold and Black Knight of The Ebon Mountain and Mount Ashenfield." he gestured behind him. "These are Taimon Black, one of my order's best. He is deadly with the sword and precise with the rifle. And this is Arvel 'The Hatchling' Stag. A long-time friend of mine and a damn good fighter as well. These are my nephews, Drelos and Taegos Lysandos. Drelos, show him the armor."

Drel approached Jon and offered him the alleged Unit-46 armor. "Here you go, we were attacked." he said meekly.

"Attacked by unknown operatives dressed in Unit-46 armor. They assaulted the Ash Fortress, my ancestral home. Taimon here took care of the three of them with ease. Tell them the rest, Taimon."

Taimon Black nodded and stepped forward. "They struck the Fortress as the Captain said. They died rather easily I must say and their armor was like jelly. We dumped their bodies in one of the volcanoes but I remember them not looking too Raznakovan."

Sarvos spoke again. "Jon, you used to wear the armor yourself for a time so you would be able to tell how this we found compares to authentic unit-46 armor."

[Enteres]

Daniels

Awatto | Level 2 | Sector 11

Daniels walks into the dark and dirty coffee shop on one of the lowest levels of the Entersian Capital city, most of the higher levels were bright and cheerful and the perfect place for a tourist, but the lower levels were dark and grimy and full of crime, gangs roamed the streets attacking anyone they deemed an easy target, hiding from the sparse Military Police Patrols, and attacking some smaller civilian police patrols. Inside the coffee shop, Daniels sits at a table, a waiter quickly comes and asks what they would like to drink, they order a cup of coffee and take out their phone, reading the news of what is happening around the world, after scrolling for a few minutes the waiter comes back and places a mug on the table, the semi-clear liquid in it, steaming slightly. Daniels sips it slowly, reading a news article on the attack on Rommel inside of Oppermenia, from far away a police siren can be heard, slowly getting louder. Two men walk in, and sit at a far table in a dark corner, far from anyone else. The sirens, now much louder, stop, the bright lights of a Military Police APC light up the street outside, uncovering years of filth and dirt from the darkness only sometimes lit by dim streetlights, or neon signs. The APC Rolls to a stop right outside of the Coffee Shop, with two Civilian Police Armored SUVs behind it. An EAF Uniform wearing soldier jumps out of the back of the APC, a plate carrier with a pistol in a holster on the front of it sits on top of his perfectly maintained uniform, he opens the glass door, which has the top pane of glass broken, and walks into the shop, sitting down across from Daniels, removes his pistol and places it on the table. "They want you back again." Daniels smiles, taking another sip of his coffee. "You think I would want to join the special forces again?" The Solider tosses a folder on the table, Daniels picking it up and looking inside, a picture of him wearing an Enteres Special Forces Uniform, standing in front of Arsenal 1-1 while it was still in development falls out, two other men stand next to him, one of them is the Soldier and the other has his face crossed out. "I guess we aren't hearing from Zimmer anymore?" The Soldier stared at the picture on the table. "No, we won't be. We need you back, Command is getting ready for something, and they are having me get together the old Team." Daniels Stands up and starts to walk out of the door but he turns around. "as long as I don't have to live here ill be fine."

[Oppermenia]

JON NEDDARD

"It's good to see you, as well," Jon replied to Sarvos. He listened to what they were talking about.

"Well," Jon said, "I can say the armor shouldn't be like jelly. And, the operatives shouldn't have died so easily. The armor definitely isn't Raznakovan, those operatives might've been unauthentic."

[South Raznakova]

After listening to Jon, the Ghost spoke up.

"Show me the armour, I can explain why the armour is not real."

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

Sarvos nodded at Jon's perception. It was all he needed to hear. Then the Raznakovan spoke. The dreadful unnatural voice was enough to send shivers down ones spine. He is so paranoid that even his voice hides behind a mask Few assassins owned such advanced equipment, but he knew this one was no less mortal then the countless he had slain. This one seemed quite the opposite from Alf Cullingham. Crimson Ghost seemed a very martial man and Alf always kept a cocky sense of humor on him. Crimson Ghost disguised his voice while Alf loved the sound of his own.

Sarvos did not like the way the Crimson Ghost kept his hands on his weapons and he was already mistrustful of them enough. He looked at the mysterious one beside Crimson Ghost, noticing the urumi coiled up like a whip at his side. Two armed assassins certainly was never a comfortable site.

Sarvos knew that with Taimon and Arvel along with the Captain Oppermenia and the Commander of Unit 0 the assassins trying anything would be a death sentence. However he spoke calmly. "With Jon's explanation and what we already know the fraudery in the armor is obvious. Drel, take the suits back to the Seraph." The young dark elf retrieved the black armor and ran back to the aircraft. Sarvos turned to Jon again. "What do you know about this so-called New Order?"

[South Raznakova]

The Ghost looked at Sarvos and began to tell him what they had found out so far.

"We do not know much. We managed to find one of their spies within the Oppermenian government, and he is currently being detained. He told us about a meeting three New Order members and the children of Francis Nova, the millionaire. The deal went sideways, and we had to kill one of the New Order agents. We then ended up killing another one to get the last one to talk, and after he gave us some information he killed himself. We are planning on talking to Francis Nova. I am sure I will be able to get him to tell us about his involvement in the New Order. We did get some new information on a supposed recruiter of the New Order, whose codename is shadow. That is all we know so far."

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

"So I see," it was half a lie. He never trusted the word of an assassin, and a Raznakovan assassin was even less trustworthy. The nation had always been the most Machiavellian in the world and Sarvos Lysandos knew that you had to keep a padlock to your lips when around them. However if King Kevin and Jon Neddard believed this to be a serious threat then it was worth looking into. He needed the know more about the assassins he decided. Drifting off away from Jon he came to where the Crimson Ghost and Taipan stood.

"You are called Crimson Ghost as they say." he said. "We have had countless self-proclaimed bounty hunters claim they caught you like some Lone Sakatkin. I have seen some of the stories myself about how people bring in someone else dressed like the would assume you were. Some of them even wore red bed sheets or Malum's Eve costumes." He looked over to Taipan. "And you must be the snake, Taipan. Sajaar's Friendly Ghosts say you visited a certain admiral recently. Gave him a cut I hear," why didn't you shoot him then, wealth craving assassin? Instead he just said, "Nice job. Anyways it is a pleasure to have you both here with us."

[South Raznakova]

"Come now Sarvos, we both know you would love nothing more than to see us leave, do you really think you can lie to us. We Raznakovans practically invented the word."

[Dyllonia]

SARVOS

Suddenly, Sarvos was reminded of the peace conference, he remembered Vodovenko saying very similar lines. He is trying draw a reaction out of me, Sarvos realized, and soon he remembered the words Crone Elizabeth spoke so often: calm as still water. "Then we both have our fair share of unpleasant ancestors then." Sarvos laughed, "Maybe they are having a drink in Polkol as we speak."

[South Raznakova]

"I highly doubt that."