ASP: Blurred Lines (PRIVATE)

[Atkemri]

Calgary, Canada
6th ASP Strike Team "The Unseen"

It was an unusually cold day in Calgary, especially for summer. While many would claim climate change for this and prepare to send a wave of social media harassment to their representatives and leaders, there was a certain few who knew the true reason for this sudden change in their temperature and that reason was a certain Ice Cream truck located in the cities sewers. While to the average person this sounds like madness to the average member of the ASP this was one of the more normal things they had encountered. The 6th ASP Strike Team had come to retrieve the truck and it looked to be an average operation, but as with most things in their line of work, looks were deceiving. Covering as the city appointed repair crew they crawled into the sewers and began searching. None of them knew why it would be here that the anomaly would lie especially considering its appearance, but that wasn't their question to ask. "Did any of you see that?" A member from the back spoke her voice startling most of her fellow squad mates causing one to fall into the sewage before quickly rising to his feet. "What the hell Denise! Scared the hell out of me." Denise was still looking around as he awaited an answer "I'm sorry Kane, but I swear I saw something around the corner."
"Well then point me to it! We have to mainta-"
Before he could finish the distinctive jingle of an Ice Cream Truck. Turning the corner the team saw it wedged in between the two walkways in the sewage flow with bits of ice slowly creeping out in tendrils from it. They had found their target. They lined up and aimed their weapons at the truck as it slowly got colder and colder near the epicenter of the Ice Cream Truck. They could only imagine the conditions inside it.

The truck was in relatively good conditions minus all the sewage surrounding its bottom. It was running, but surprisingly quietly for what it looked like. It had a generic Ice Cream Sandwich on it's the side with writing in an unknown alien looking language. The head of the team, Christian Evison, a tall yet slim man called their commanding officer and git a single command. "Wait until we can extract you." Normally this would be simple, but the cold would be a major nuisance. At least nothing else would happen in their time waiting. Or so they thought.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Anton Feldmann

The tall, slender man in the dark brown jacket, in his short time with the anomalous liberation task force, the Vakolskrtm division that enforced absolute freedom, had discovered a few things while he was on the job; one of them was that sewers made excellent hiding places; lots and lots of overhead pipes that can be crawled between, in order to wait. And wait. And wait. Elder let everybody know what the ASP foundation was doing, and usually the day; the time however was generally some form of mystery to him, either that or enjoyed making Feldman and his fellow agents wait; it didn't matter though. For a 250 year old vampire, an hour or so meant very little; and for the cyborg beside him it proved a very good opurtunity to recharge. All the same though, the Canadian sewers still smelt decidedly unpleasant.

The action here formed only one of a large-scale coordinated grouping of anti-ASP foundation activity that day. In total, 12 strike groups had been sent to 12 different places, each one targeting a specific foundation operation. Months of foundation planning was about to be destroyed in one Vakolskrtm operation, and the vampire could not have been happier.

When the call went out, it left no room for argument, no thoughts of any form of discussion or backing down.
"Corrective procedure level 4 has been activated," his cyborg companion burst into slow, robotic speech, and as she did so the guns of the Havenic agents opened fire. "Enemies of freedom face no mercy The Haven stands." Across the world, ASP foundation operatives were receiving the same message from strike group after strike group. This...this should make them listen.

[Atkemri]

6th ASP Strike Team "The Unseen"

It happened very fast. One moment they were sitting around an Ice Cream Truck talking while yet being cautious of the object in front of them and the next being shot at by some Haven members. Without a word, they all began retreating to behind the nearest wall where they would return fire. Christian looked out and saw a member of his team dead, blood spilling into the sewage and mixing in with it, flowing through the sewer system. From what he could see it almost looked like.....their medic. Reaching for his pocket he picked up his radio " Todd, please copy." a moment passed and more gunfire was heard and yet no Todd, once again, picking up his radio he said, "Todd are you there? Please copy." More static and gunfire. At this point, it was obvious what had happened, their medic was dead and looking over it looked like Kane had been hit in his arm. The situation was hopeless and he could see that. One last time he reached for his radio and called their commander again "We need immediate evac. We've been ambushed by Havenic agents and there is a causality." A few moments of silence passed before he heard a response from "A VTOL is coming to your location, get out of there and note any anomalous activity you see from the Havenic's" turning off his radio he threw out a smoke grenade and started running beckoning to the rest of his squad to come with.

A few stayed behind to help hold back the havenic assault. Christian, Kane, and Denise moved to the sewer opening while thinking of what the fate of their squad members would be. They ran as fast as they could and hoped that their squad's potential sacrifice would be enough.

James S. Quinn

Constant assault. The Haven had been harassing and prodding at ASP operations for months in mostly small ways, but this was the last straw for him. He had been in the anomalous containment business for an extremely long time but never had he ever seen such resistance against the ASP's operations and he was reminded of this as he saw team after team makes casualty reports to their superiors which were then relayed to him. Why would they resist normalcy anyway? Had they not seen what some of the things could do to people? That question could be asked later, but now he needed to find out who was leading these attacks, and he intended to find out sooner rather than later. James knew that going to the government directly would likely not result in anything desirable, but they seemed to be the only vessel to get recent information about their operations other than cam footage from the containment breach. So, for now, he'd go over what was left of it. There was some electric interference caused by the Havenics and he had still not found out how they did that yet or who the "Elder" stated to be behind it actually went through with it. James was in the dark for the first time in a long time. He found it oddly nice.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

The operation appeared to be something the Havenic agents were taking extreme pride in; not only shoot and run, but peeling off and following for maximum impact and casualties. It was almost as if it was Havenic policy to completely remove the ASP foundations ability to do business, and right at this moment they appeared to be doing a very good job; Feldman, unaffected by the grenade, fired with cold-blooded hatred at his enemies. This was, of course, being carried out across the world; when the agents ran, they were shot; if they surrendered, they would be shot; even if they dropped their guns and lay on the floor, they would be shot. The Haven was taking no prisoners in this operation and it had one objective: to deprive the foundation of an operational fighting force.

Elder, ASP foundation headquarters

Elder was not in the ASP foundation headquarters, Elder was everywhere. His mind was in the headquarters however and it grew as every report of foundation casualties grew; his plan coming into action before his eyes. It was time to make things better, yes...make them much better indeed. Some day soon, every old god and vampire and rampaging thing with knives would be able to live free. It would happen, for it had to happen.
Finding the right computer screen, he made the contents of it dance before the face of a smiling young boy popped tup on the display.
"Good morning," he laughed, sounding as jolly as possible, "It's been such a good day, hasn't it? I'm enjoying myself right now, how about you!"

[Atkemri]

The members of the 6th strike team that had stayed behind were dead and those that ran felt that they would not be too far behind. Christian, Denise, and Kane continued to run while being shot at. Slowly they became tired and got slower. First Kane went down after being shot multiple times in the chest while shooting back at the Haven agents. His death went mostly unnoticed by his compatriots as they ran on trying to avoid the same fate. Then went Denise dying instantly as a bullet passed through her skull, as Christian now the only living member of the 6th strike team ran on. He too fell to the Havenics hoping that those reinforcements would be coming soon. They would be there on another 5 minutes. Probably too late to avenge their deaths. Their deaths were a shame, but not an uncommon one in the ASP

ASP headquarters

James just looked at his screen with a look of total disgust. This.....thing had just orchestrated the deaths of as of now 17 people and was happy about it? Even in his old age, the depravity of these anomalies could shock him. Reaching into his desk he pulled out an obviously very old journal and turned through the pages very quickly, looking for any reference of this being in his past journeys "Hmm, nothing". Looking back at the screen he turned to a new page and began sketching down the face of this new entity. " Exactly what are you, foul spirit?" James inquired at Elder all the while still drawing his face and attempting to find any abilities that may be manifesting while the two spoke.

[Sinyal]

and then I nuke you.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

"They call me Elder," he replied, "For I am indeed elder. Than you...than your God...than your country." With a smile, the computer screen glowed as he flowed through it, standing beside James, still in his usual form of a small child.
"I am currently working alongside the government of the Greater Vakolicci Haven," he told him happily, "It's my job at the moment to chat to you, at the moment. Do you want to stop standing against my interests, call off your operations and talk?"

[Atkemri]

James

James looked almost insulted "What interests do you speak of? The collapse of society? Mass chaos? The deaths of hundreds?" Putting down his journal he stood up gaining distance from Elder. "I will speak to you, but I cannot call off my operations until you define what an operation would be to you. There are some things that can not be simply canceled." James wished he knew how to dispel this spirit, but it's origin was still strange to him

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

"Millions, most likely, my dear," Elder replied. He often referred to people by overly-affectionate pet names, it was something of his way; even as he kept the exact same difference from James that he always had.
"Well...If you call off your operations, I will inform you of something that could prevent the impending end of your world. If you don't...well," he sighed, "There are other planets for me."

[Atkemri]

James

"The end of the world? That's impossible. The foundation has checked every corner of the Earth for anomalies like that." James was only a few minutes away from pulling out one of the old ritual books and attempting to seal this "Elder" away, but he realized that he could not just dismiss a possible undiscovered Apocalypse class anomaly. "We can both get what we want here Elder. You tell me about the anomaly and I'll call off our operations. Fair deal, yes?" James didn't plan on keeping that promise for long, but Elder would see ceased operations for at least a couple weeks if he accepted.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

Elder's smirk grew, and he let out a joyous, childish laugh that seemed to fill the entire room. He walked over to James, placing an affectionate hand on the mans shoulder.
"At present," he informed him, "Your people are tracking down, torturing, killing and imprisoning creatures different from yourselves all over the world. Some of these I have pledged to protect; remember this...I do not give up my obligations lightly. Please allow me to inform you of something very important: I know exactly what your plans are. I am aware when a new operation is launched, the target, the people you send, and the personelle files of those people. I also know when any of your staffers use foundation computers to send emails that...probably breach company policy in quite a big way. I know when you get a new order of weaponry delivered, and when you get a new order of coffee delivered; I know literally everything I could possibly know about your operations. That which you have seen today is what happens when I stop hiding; all over the world your people have been killed, and they will continue to be killed." He straightened, his form starting to grow.
"I am not your friend, Mr. Quinn. If you continue on your present course, you will die; I make this vow here, today. Your operatives will continue to fall, and you will have absolutely nothing to do but cower in your last baltholes waiting for the end. If this is the existance you see for yourself, go ahead and launch more operations; which naturally will end in a 100 % casualty rate, or something similar. I wonder if you will die before our mutual enemy ends the world, I don't know or care.
I am doing you a favour here, Mr. Quinn. I don't have to continue extending it if you truly choose death."

[Atkemri]

James Quinn

James was troubled by Elder's words. A breach in ASP hadn't happened since it's founding and then this thing comes and says it has all the information in the ASP database? Though a tough pill to swallow James decided to play along with Elder for now. See what this anomaly is. "Alright then, Elder. I will cease our operations and let everything still out there be." To show how "sincere" he was about this is went to his computer and typed up a small paragraph detailing how all ATF forces should stop operations and making sure Elder saw sent it to all existing ASP sites that could receive it. "There, I did what you wanted, now you tell me about this world ending anomaly. It seems that it is a matter you know much about seeing as you have the confidence to come into my own office, threaten my operations, and invade the ASP data banks. Would I be correct in assuming that?" James opened a drawer in his desk revealing a small bottle of wine which he drunk in front of Elder awaiting an answer.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

Elder opened his hand, and an identical wine bottle nestled in it; the thing with the form of the small child hadn't created it from nothing...but he did have his sources, hidden away from the world. He took a slow, measured sip of the wine and placed it down on Quinn's desk.

"You'd be correct," he replied jovially, putting a hand on the other mans shoulder, "Would you care to accompany me to a location more apt for this particular discussion?"

[Atkemri]

James

"Sure, just allow me to grab something for the trip." James finished his wine, opened his desk and pulled out a very thick book which if Elder could tell radiated with energy. It was an object he had picked up back in his old days of traveling Europe and looking for anomalies. It came in handy when dealing with spirits or anyone else for that manner so he brought it along unless this was a trap from Elder. "Alright then, shall we?"

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder saw what he was bringing out and began to laugh.
"What the fuck is that," he said, still chuckling, "Seriously, you won't need your magic book, it's not going to help you anyway even if you did. But well...if it gives you comfort," he rolled his eyes and raised his hand, allowing a strange golden mist to fall around them.

When James looked around again, he would find himself in a different place entirely. The office appeared to be more high-tech than the one they had just left, with computer screens placed liberally around the room; a chair moved into place for James, and he took one himself.
"Ready for a history lesson?" he asked, "Welcome to Iros, by the way. You'll find the Haven...a very hospitable country."

[Atkemri]

James

James looked around the room calmly, the teleportation would have surprised him if Elder had not already shown himself to be a very powerful anomaly. James sat down in the chair book in hand and looked at a few of the computer screens scattered about. "I suppose it is, now about this anomaly, what does it actually do?"

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

Elder turned on one of the screens and drew with his hand, the things he was drawing appearing on the screen.
"You don't need to know the ancient history," he told him, "Mass migration, unpleasant times, bad things happened. All you need to know are their are 4 main beings that are important to our drama."
He drew a few images, they looked to all intents and purposes like a normal human family. A tall, middle-aged man; a rather prim-looking woman, and lastly two children. The children in the image looked very similar: a carefree, smiling boy and girl with long hair and the same golden eyes...it would be clear to James from looking at the image that what he was looking at was Elder and his sister.

"4 beings of particular power," he continued, after his drawing was completed, "Pretty evenly matched. All 4 are active on numerous worlds...and this is the form that they generally manifest in. I can look like any of the others if I want to, I can look like you if I really want to but every shapeshifter has a body they're most comfortable in...I only wish mine was a little bit more practical. Seriously, trying to be taken seriously when you look about 5..." he laughed shortly "Not an easy task."

He folded his hands around a new bottle of wine and took a drink, his eyes following those of the girl in the picture. "The thing I'm worried about is...her," he pointed at the girl, "And what the hell she's doing. Our interests are rather diametricly opposed...don't get me wrong I like chaos, but what I also like is life. I like people having the ability to live their own lives and not be directed in everything by an overbearing force. If she takes power...we won't have that, she will without a second thought enslave millions. And she's currently..." he cast his mind out for a moment "In Argentina. So yeah, was this worth your time?"

[Atkemri]

James

"So your sister is planning to enslave the planet? Yes, it would seem that this threat is worth my time." The situation was oddly relatable to James who had his own troubles with his brother, except the planet wasn't going to be enslaved by either of them. "So how do you suppose we deal with her? I assume we don't have much time and killing anomalies usually takes a very very long time."

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder

"Killing?" Elder shot James a hard look, "You've killed your last, James. You don't want to kill my sister...because doing so would lead to your own death in short order. We're just sending her back over from this world."

[Atkemri]

James

James rolled his eyes, he had no idea how it's sisters death would lead to his own "Okay Elder, then how would we send her back over? Once again these things usually have time and seeing as you bring this up now I assume I have a time limit." James already had a few names of people to "assist" Elder in banishing his sister, though he still had his doubts about Elder's warning

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Elder


"It's quite simple really," Elder informed him, "Although it requires both force and cunning. We must trap her somewhere, as well as any forces she has gathered to her command, which are unlikely to be easy to ignore. To capture her we must keep her secured in a bubble trapping her from both her elemental and psychic powers; her ability to influence matters remotely are great, and I suspect the equal of mine. The one advantage that I have is that I have experience in these bubbles design, so while I could break out of one in a matter of days it is unlikely she has ever had to try...it will baffle her."

[Atkemri]

James

"Hmm, so we have to trap her somewhere? That should be easy enough. It is what I've been doing for most of my life. I'll get a team together to assist you with your family issues." James was fine with the arrangement especially since Elder might go down with his sister in the battle. If not they would find out how to trap him along with his family so still there would be some success.