Betrayal's Web

Herbert Chitepo Ave, Harare, Zimbabwe

I managed to open the door closer after a little push, the quality of the door was awful, the apartment I entered was no better, it was almost a dilapidated place, it was not nice, probably why it was empty, but it had everything I needed for the job, a window looking right into the direction of the U.S. Embassy complex. A plan literally created on the run, when I had to choose the right spot after a simple glance on foot at the nearby buildings.

It was time to set everything up, I took a table in the abandoned apartment and set it next to the window, which would allow me to be lying down but with the right elevation, I took a pillow and put my rifle on it and started to adjust the sights. Even the gun I had wasn't the right one for the job, what I had was an old Soviet SKS, a Semi-automatic carbine, not a sniper rifle, but the distance was less than 100 meters, something manageable, I just had to shoot a little further across the street. The window was not in direct sunlight and although I had no window, the shade should be enough to avoid being seen directly, I would have a few moments to take my time when shooting. 

It seemed that past successes always come back, this time once again I was preparing to screw the Fenrir team again just like in the days of the continental war. Wolf, the leader as far as I could see was as much about the money as he was about the battle, he was someone who liked the challenge as well, high risk meant high rewards, and this was a big one, but it certainly benefited from having the president of a country owing him his life. My idea this time was to leave the rescue of Mokgweetsi Masisi's price completely to them, they would bring him as fast as they could here to the embassy to give him diplomatic protection, where I would simply wait for him to cross the main gate and get out of the car to shoot him in the head, and make them lose their pay for the job, a little salute from his rival Moremi Khama, then run to my car and get out of here at full speed back to Botswana, it was already becoming a joke to cross the border after so much traveling from here to there.

But I had to admit that the United States had played it spectacularly well because it could win the rights to the 1313 mine in two completely opposite ways. If Mokgweetsi Masisi overran and came with them, he would give them the rights to the mines they wanted so badly in exchange for their protection. And in case that went wrong, they were still helping Trigon and the rebels, who had probably already negotiated to give the mine to Trigon in exchange for their help to the rebellion as they did not know the true value of those lands for now.

But the feeling that everything could go wrong at any moment kept going round and round in my head, I still had to meet Trigon after this, but if for some reason Moremi Khama backed out and left me sold that much I could escape and have the opportunity to attack, my plan depended on two men to keep their word in a time when everyone was against everyone, and here I was lost like an idiot in such an environment of betrayal, what a time to be alive, I almost remember the first days when I arrived to Atlantis.

And speaking of unlive, in the distance, we could hear the sounds of cars at full speed, quickly three black vehicles came into sight, the black MRAPs with the Fenrir PMC logos on the sides, my victim had arrived. The three cars passed the security gate at full speed, which set off the alarms of the embassy that seemed that they were not expecting his visit, the embassy soldiers came out at full speed with their weapons in hand trying to secure the place immediately, from one of the cars Wolf came out with his hands up, showing that he was surrendering in a pacifist way, his other companions got out of the car as well, From the second car Mokgweetsi Masisi came out as well, he still had his fine suit and tie, but his face was badly bruised, it seemed that being imprisoned under his friend Sizwe Mabena had taken its toll on him, next to him was his son Kabelo, scared of everything that was happening, the poor man had seen his whole life turn from one day to the next, and today would not be the other exception.

I started to hold my breath, I pointed my gun, I had his head fixed on the sight, he was wearing a military helmet to protect his head, an SKS ammunition would not be enough to go through a modern armored helmet, so I aimed a little lower, at his neck, it would not be a quick or clean death, maybe he would have to say goodbye to his son with luck, I did not count on it. I moved my finger across the trigger, the sound of a detonation, an impact, the father fell to the ground, his body shaking with horrifying fright on the ground, his son threw himself to the ground to try to help his father, but there was nothing to do, his wound was already fatal, with his last breath Masisi said something to him and touched his face for the last time.

Both the embassy soldiers ran to take cover when they noticed my shot, they began to look everywhere for the source, but I had already met my goal, but I did not run away immediately, the people against whom I was against were trained soldiers, I knew that now they were looking for any sign of movement between the windows of nearby buildings. A common mistake among poorly trained, novice or simply nervous shooters is to want to get out of the place as fast as they can, without realizing that this is exactly what would give them away, instead the idea is to stay put or just wait. 

The soldiers took the dead man and the boy and took them inside the embassy, Fenrir's mercenaries followed them upset to see how all their efforts had come to nothing, but seeing that the one who had the advantage also went inside to take refuge before continuing their search for the responsible. Now with the opportunity I ran out of the apartment to the stairs, ran as fast as I could to my car and put it in high gear back to Botswana, to cross the border once again, I was already bored, it was like playing jump rope with the border. But I had to do it, now I had to finally go for Trigon now that Botswana was theoretically saved, I just had to solve the personal problems.

The coordinates I had been given indicated the Jwaneng region, which was the location of the diamond mines that sustained the country and was extremely critical to the well being of the people of Botswana, especially in the future with the 1313 ore. In the middle of the Kalahari Desert, a huge hole in the earth's surface showed that most of the luxurious stones that were used to adorn necklaces and rings came from this part of the earth unknown to most people.

But today there was something strange in the mine, today it was not working, all its machinery was off, there was no guard at the entrance to the complex, which was already strange, no one would leave a diamond mine without security. And speaking of the desired minerals of the earth if I managed to find my other part of the payment just as it had been agreed, it seemed that Moremi Khama had kept his word, so I was less afraid that Trigon had escaped. I left the car parked and started walking on foot to better check the place, there was movement in the mine, in the background I could see a couple of people walking, they seemed to be doing guard rounds, quite well executed, a good perimeter, it looked like a good coordinated team, which means training, they were probably men that Trigon had gotten to protect himself and his precious mine of 1313.

I got closer to that place, after all it was where the man I was looking for was supposed to be, the origin of all the misfortune that this place has suffered, it seemed that the soldiers were preventing the entrance to a subway tunnel to the interior, which seemed much more modern than the rest of the mine, probably where the 1313 was discovered and triggered all these tragic events. Except that there were still more strange things, too many.

The first thing was that there was not a single human in the place, not even the guards, as the human forms I had seen in the distance turned out not to be. Instead, I found androids, mass-produced, quite rudimentary, not at all close to Kazumi or Charllote, these were clearly more utilitarian, just enough to move, yet they were armed with conventional fire rifles, but had grenade launchers integrated into their bodies. These were not produced by the Empire, it was the first time I saw something like this model, instead, my theory was that they must have been American-made, fairly new ones, just out of the factory. Maybe a project to match the DOLLs of the empire? very likely, after what they showed was possible it's not hard to imagine everyone else copying them slightly. The other was the reason for their use in this specific place, first of all it was an ideal testing ground, secondly being robots there would be no problems of loyalty or precoping for leaks by mistake.

Trigon had somehow managed to talk about their use because they are ideal for protecting the mine that the United States is so interested in, but without drawing attention to themselves, after all they can simply pretend that they know nothing about robots and that they do not have a technology that seemed impossible, except that they have been used for years throughout the continental war in secret.Even so, the robots were on high alert, seeing that they shot a couple of birds flying near them, not wanting anything near the sector they were programmed to guard, it seemed that Trigon had barricaded himself in the mine.

But it was not the only thing, even more, now knowing the layers of the forces on the ground, there was something that stood out. If they were simple androids you could easily imagine them working together as a single unit, the disposable units were the ones attacking head on, while further back was a captain who would act as the neurological center of the squadron. Or at least that's my theory of how these things worked when watching them for several minutes. But seeing them in a place with great visibility as the mine outside offered clear deficiencies could be seen in their formations, you could notice a path where they should be several patrolled robots but however there was none, a place with several blind spots that led to the entrance of the subway mine.

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Knowing now the new kind of unit I was facing, my original plan had to be changed on the fly. I was sure that the weapons I had would not be enough to destroy a fully armored enemy like those robbers should be. But instead, I could use the obvious lack of units and use that way to simply infiltrate easily inside the complex, where I would have the advantage of fighting in CQC.

I set out with my plan, it was not difficult, in fact it was very easy, I think that human patrols would have made the infiltration much more difficult as they might have noticed the huge lack of surveillance at the entrance. Once inside the mine I found several destroyed robots, they were on the ground, their batteries were on their backs, their cables had been cut, there were no signs of gunshots or severe damage, had they been destroyed by stealth? This type of attack from behind is what the Aseceninos like the black cloaks are trained in, although it was novel to use it on robots, you had to have enormous confidence in thinking that something like this would work, unless you already knew where the batteries were located. Checking the warning signs I could read the English language, I managed to find what seemed to be the central unit of one of the robots so I stole it, if I investigated the origin of the chips I could find the true origin of the robots. Although my biggest fear right now was not the robots, it was that it was very obvious that something was very wrong, someone had also infiltrated, Trigon's life was in danger for someone else besides me, so I quickly ran inside.

Continuing down the tunnel the lights had been cut off the electric power supply, it was very dark with only the red emergency lights, there were also more destroyed robberies in various areas along the route, but no signs of a fight, they were all destroyed with their battery cables cut. Further into the mine I found a white trailer, it looked like a mobile lab, I got my gun ready and went in to check it out, I found a place with several samples of dirt and minerals, something that made sense to have in a mine, but as I walked a little further I stepped in a puddle, as I looked down I could see a large amount of blood, next to it there was also a body, it matched exactly with the image that Major Zero had given me. Shit, someone else had been ahead of me in killing the bastard, but the question was who had done it, why, but more importantly for me if he was still in place, the person who did it was a real pro, a monster after going through all that security and reaching his target so easily.

I took several samples of minerals, thinking that some of these must be the 1313, I wanted to take them with me as a souvenir of the visit. I also approached a glass jar with earth, but while I was looking at it I noticed a movement that was not mine, someone was waiting hidden in the ceiling with a dagger, when I noticed his silhouette I felt a horrible shiver that froze me in place, I saw how he moved to attack me. Without much time to react instead I walked forward and summoned Avalon to block the assassin. I grabbed my weapon and when I heard the sound of clashing metal I turned to fire, but she spun and dodged my shots perfectly, leaving an experienced warrior like me in ridicule. Or maybe it was her appearance that left me even more perplexed if possible.

A beautiful girl held two daggers in front of me, her body was extremely beautiful, her style of dress was captivatingly sensual with her lustful Qipao that only enhanced her perfect figure. Her hair was tied back with two innocent-shaped odango twins, along with her captivating golden eyes, the true beauty of a traditional Chinese woman, but one that I knew too well, someone I had interacted with thousands of times, a person I trusted and took as an ally.

"What the fuck?"
"Xi'an!?"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Shouldn't you be in Japan? What are you doing in Africa?"

"Who the hell? Why do you know ....."
"!!!!!"
"No wait, that power, that mana!"
"Are you him!?"
"Shit! This wasn't in mom's plans!"

The girl spoke in response, she too was as surprised as I was to find someone else. But when she spoke I noticed that there was something different from the Xi'an I knew, this girl could speak perfect English without any accent, something that my mother's bodyguard was not capable of, together with the fact that there was no real reason for her to come here, made me think more and more that maybe it wasn't her. Maybe a little mistake on my part confusing her with someone else who just happened to look alike? but she seemed to know who I was talking about for a moment.

But all that didn't matter if what we were trying to do was to kill each other, but while she was still in doubt there was something that immediately broke everything and made me renew my determination to deal with her immediately. She took out from a bag a very unique object, difficult to get, it was again the Thalassian Enigma, the same object with crystal that gave me so much trouble in Korea, was now in front of me, a new opportunity to get it had presented itself to me unexpectedly.

I managed to narrowly dodge the explosion, but I could tell that there was nothing intact in the mine workings. The girl was good at running away because she hid in the darkness as soon as she could. And although the situation seemed hopeless to me, I was actually smiling with happiness. That girl thought that the darkness in a tunnel would help her win me, my, of all people, try to win me using that tactic to me? ha, what an idiot, she is my prey right now, the darkness is what I have the most experience with, the hunter is me in here, that bastard didn't know what she had caused by destroying her only chance to get out of here alive.

I looked for her all over the tunnel, I quickly went to the exit in case she was looking to get out and run away, but that was not the case, she did not show up there, the exit was intact just as I remembered it, which means she was still trapped in here with me. As I searched for my prey I thought about how easily that girl had come to destroy the Thalassian Enigma without hesitation, she didn't think twice about leaving it behind in exchange for ensuring her survival and leaving aside the fact that she clearly knew what it could be used for and how it was used against me to almost kill me. It also means that she knew how to obtain another one without much trouble or get the necessary materials and the manufacturing process, which by the way also means that she knew about magic, I'm not dealing with a normal case here.

The cave began to present strange signs adding even more strange things, due to the high attention that I had so that I would not be caught unprepared as before I took many more things into account, as the floor was quite wet due to the water that seeped into the cave, so far nothing out of place, but the dirt on the floor was a mess, it was a quagmire in which it was very easy to leave footprints, and yet I could not find any, only my own and I was being careful to try to leave as little trace as possible. There also began to be large spider webs in places where I had passed a moment before, there was no way that normal spiders could have done such things in such a short time. But when the moment of the girl's ambush came, I was not in a good mood, I was angry because of the destruction she had left, when she attacked from the ceiling I stopped her hand and I broke it from the anger I had. She writhed in pain but launched another attack, and then another, and another, and another, and another, I was confused thinking that I already had her hands but still somehow she pulled out another limb to strike. Cutting the limbs I was holding she managed to escape from me and that's when I could tell what had happened.

That girl was a monster girl, she looked like an Arachne, a creature with the upper body of a woman and the rest of the body of a spider. What before was a beautiful girl now looked like a chimera attached to a dangerous giant spider, furiously she tried to show how lethal she could be, then she threw her web to one of my arms to tie me up, but I was already in a bad mood, I took more of the web with the same hand and I launched myself against her, I used my dragon claws to kill her quickly because I didn't want to give her any chance, shit maybe I should have interrogated her first, but the damage was already done.

With the girl dead I took several pictures with my phone and took her daggers. Another mystery had appeared, why a woman identical to Xi'an had attacked me, why did she have the Thalassian Enigma and tried again to be used against me, what exactly was she doing in this place, why did she kill Trigon? the list was long, and at this point, even the real Xi'an would have to explain to me what was going on, because I no longer believe that she was innocent. After leaving the mines I drove all the way to South Africa to take a flight back to Japan to confront her, which hurt me because I considered her someone close to me, so I hope she was honest and would not do something stupid with serious consequences.

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