This was supposed to be my entry for the clan war between Wind Chasers and New Journey, but the whole thing kinda crumbled, so I decided to not let a good piece go to waste. The format is a bit different, since we agreed (with Acute's consent) to make those battles in a different way: instead of plain out fighting each other, we decided to save our matchup from an unknown thread. Later on that threat became something called Worker's Liberation (WL short). GamerXD provided to add a hidden plot that would have developed itself throughout the 8 stories. But for now, there's only mine.
Story Reading: Normal Characters are narrative passages and dialogues, Italics are thoughts, stuff that happens inside the mind of Serena. Dialogues are represented by << >> sybmols, thoughts by " " symbols
(It's about 36 pages long...)
CnC is greatly appreciated, since I put a lot of effort into it.
P.S: He's coming back
[SPOILER=Story]“Great. It’s snowing. Fucking great. Outside is -10 and I have to sit here and look at this fuckin’ building. Why? So Lucario’s conscience could remain clean; because they were our future opponents; because it’s dishonorable to not aid a valiant opponent in need. This is bullshit!”
A cold and icy night reigned over Stickpage City. It had a magical atmosphere: the Downtown skyscrapers towering over the surrounding buildings, all of them filled with a plethora of lights, almost looking like a huge swarm of fireflies. The ships moored at the docks, gently wailing first towards their left, then towards their right, almost like engaged in a gentle and silent waltz. Everything topped with small, white snow flakes pouring from the sky, giving to the whole scene a very magical feel.
But let’s focus our attention on one particular building in Stickpage City: the WLC & Co. compound situated in Riverside. A very vast and elaborated set of buildings, connected in between each other via suspended tunnels and catwalks. Nothing really special about it, besides its dimensions. Apparently this building is the headquarters for public assistance related to work issues, injuries and financial problems. Basically heaven for poor and unemployed people. Leaving aside the building, let us move our vision slightly to the left, where on top of the adjacent building we can spot a familiar figure: Serena Richards.
The Irish woman is laying down on her belly, watching the WLC & Co. building through a pair of night vision goggles. Apparently, the building is very interesting to her. Her facial expression hints that she is not very happy with the task given to her, but that doesn’t seem to stop her from doing her job, at a very efficient and precise rate as well. As she kept on observing the building, she took notes on a quire laying right next to her. By looking closely at it, you can read:
“The compound appears to have a really big structure. Estimated number of buildings: 5. Security is scarce at the front entry, but it gradually increases as we move further along the compound. Many surveillance cameras all around the perimeter. Apparent break in or out impossible.”
The hours passed. Snow kept on falling upon Stickpage City, slowly burying it under a soft white blanket. The swarm of lights on the facades of the surrounding building slowly started fading to dark, leaving only the pale light produced by light poles to illuminate the streets of the now dormant city. Unfortunately for Serena, this beautiful atmosphere was making her job all but easier; now buried under a small amount of snow, her dark silhouette was almost invisible. Only the goggles and her right arm showing firmly through the snow. As the hours passed, she gathered more information, and her complaints slowly died of cold. The quire on her right was almost filled with words.
*Etchiù!*
A violent sneeze broke her concentration. Serena slowly pulled her head away from the goggles. When her eyes accustomed themselves to the environmental lightning, she noticed a soft beam of light coming from the horizon: sunrise.
“Awesome! I got a cold as well. Fuckin’ awesome. I swear Lucario is gonna pay for this.”
As her eyes were getting used to the light, apparently her complaints were coming back to life from hibernation. Serena slowly stood up, shaking the snow off of her and paying attention not to slip off the building. She proceeded on to stretching for a couple of seconds, before lowering down to collect her gear off the ground. After everything was carefully stocked into her backpack, the woman slowly walked towards the fire escapes on the side of the building.
*Etchiù!*
“Ooooh he will pay. I will make him taste the pains of Hell.”
*Sniff*
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A couple of days have passed and Serena’s health conditions weren’t improving: the night that she spent under the snow, gathering information for her mission definitely took a toll on her. A runny nose, frequent sneezes and a very husky voice were the main problems. She proceeded to complain to Lucario about the usefulness of that mission or its sense, but with no avail. His words were the same. Still holding up the same personal honor code, still pretending that all of them would be saved. Of course she also complained about the health complications that she had to deal with thanks to this mission, she also complained about the incredible impact that this cold had on her supernatural capacities. But Lucario was as cold as the snow storm she endured that night; he limited himself to give her two days of rest, in order to recover. And even if recovery wasn’t complete, Lucario ordered her to carry out the mission after two days. No excuses. Serena could only pout at him and accept her faith in silence (not that she could reply, you know...)
The banshee was relaxing in her motel room. The buzzing sound of the cathode tube television, roaring in her ears like a swarm of bees. Her head was pounding and she could barely breathe without coughing or sneezing. She had to get a pretty big supply of tissues to contain her runny nose, which was a really hard task to do. Her red and tired eyes slowly crept up to the clock: it was almost midnight.
She had two days of time to stay at home, rest up and fill herself up with medicines, but all that she managed to do was to actually make her cold worse; she managed to go from small running nose and an every-now-and-then sneeze to a full on quarantine disease. She was pale as a ghost, she would sneeze or cough approximately every 10.6 seconds and about 6 packs of tissues were used every hour. Not even mentioning the red and tired eyes and her lack of strength, which was just enough to randomly make her stumble while walking. Overall? She was in a horrible shape. But as the last hour before her departure passed by, the first thought she had was the conversation with Lucario. The one where he endured her with this task:
Serena was carelessly singing under the shade of a tree, trying to enjoy that rare moment of peace and quiet, one of the few that she encountered during her lifetime. Not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was shining.
Lucario slowly approached her, trying to not disturb her peace. Apparently, she did not notice him.
<
Her singing stopped almost instantly, as now her amber eyes were locked onto his red ones. She firmly nodded in agreement, granting him the permission to sit next to her.
<> his eyes still locked onto Serena’s, awaiting for approval.
It arrived shortly after.
<>
“What do I care? We get a free win. They get to have fun with their new friends. It’s a win-win situation.”
Serena seemed not very interested in the argument.
<>
“WHAT!?!”
Serena bolted up on her feet, staring down Lucario in a very menacing fashion, her eyes filled with indignation. She clenched her teeth, closing her fists and expressing all her anger towards her leader through the glare that she was now giving him. He just proceeded to slowly stand up, and stretch.
<>
“Oh save me that bullshit, lad.”
<<...And they might be coming after us as well.>>
“Let them come. I’ll break their bones in a matter of seconds. I am not scared anymore.”
<
“...Oh bollocks! YOU FUCKIN TWAT!”
Serena started shaking her head and furiously waiving her hands around in disagreement, but she noticed that Lucario was smiling, which meant that she had no way out of this mess. Realizing that her fate was sealed, Serena sat on the ground, dissapointed by the outcome of things. Lucario crouched and faced Serena, still with a big and fat smile on his face.
<< I got you this time. But since I am a magnanimous leader, I already did some of the job. My intel managed to track them down to some kind of facilities. Apparently all of them a cover up for some wierd anti-RHG movement called ‘‘Worker’s Liberation’’. According to the intel, their goals are to stop the RHG battles and society; there are many recorded cases of gladiators that dissapeared and apparently got locked up in those facilities. Their courses of action and motives are currently unknown.>>
“LIKE I CARE!”
<
“Fuck off, yer ugly cunt!”
A sudden beeping noise woke up Serena. Thanks to that cold, sleep overcame her, as she was laying on the couch in a very odd way. With a bit of an effort, she managed to get herself into a sitting position. With her hair all ruffled up, she slowly stretched her hand out to the alarm clock: it showed 02.00. It was time to go.
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During the two days that Serena spent indoors, the snow kept on falling on the city. The news reported that numerous accidents happened in the city because of ice that formed under the white sheet and transportation became a lot more complicated, given that it was going as high as 80 centimeters on Stickpage City. And that snow was definately not pleasing Serena: walking through it was incredibly hard, and that freezing atmosphere was only making her cold worse.
After a stroll of about 3 hours through the city’s snow, she finally reached the outskirts of the WLC & Co. building. The streets were completely deserted and only a few lights were lit into the surrounding buildings. Even the guards posted around the facility were fewer than the last time. An advantage for Serena’s task. After a quick checking of her surroundings, she proceeded to approach the building. The surveillance cameras were patrolling the full length of the area around the building, not leaving a single open space. Luckily Serena thought about that, and stepped a bit outside her comfort zone for the sake of the mission: she tainted her leather armor of a very pale and bright white, and fortunately it almost matched the snow. She was invisible.
Without wasting any time, Serena got on her belly and started crawling towards the building. The first bit was tough, because of Serena overestimating her physical capabilities; but after a couple of feet, she got used to the effort, as she was now crawling through the snow at a very constant speed.
When the surveillance cameras were about to catch Serena into the frame, she would completely stop and remain as immobile as possible. In the previous nights, she thought about studying a plan for breaking in; one of the key points of this plan was the rotation speed of the surveillance cameras.
“5...6...7...8...Now!”
When the camera lost sight of her silhouette, Serena rocketed up on her feet and made a run for the building’s wall. With her feet sinking in the snow, the maneuver proved to be a lot harder than expected. She looked at the camera out of curiosity, and saw that it was quickly closing in on her position. With a split second decision, Serena decided to dive towards the wall. After lowering her body, she pushed with all the strength she had. Her body was flying through the air, and everything felt like it was going in slow motion. Serena was feeling very majestic for some wierd reason, floating in mid air, trying to avoid the camera’s field of view.
But if we look at the scene from an outside perspective, the scene was very comical.
With a loud thud, Serena landed on the snow, smacking her shoulder against the wall. It’s safe to say that it was a dumb decision. She slowly turned around, sitting on the snow and resting her back on the wall. The easiest part was done.
<
<
<
Serena’s blood froze in her veins. She slowly dragged herself to the corner of the building and peeked around it. A security guard was coming her way. She pulled her head back, and started to panic. While her eyes were darting around in terror, she noticed the path that she took to get where she was now: for the first bit, there were only light tracks in the snow; but when she decided to stand up, run and afterwards jump, there was a mess. Numerous deep holes in the snow and a human shaped hole closer to the wall. It was even possible to distinguish Serena’s face at the bottom of that.
“Bollocks...”
The guard was getting closer, as Serena was now able to hear his feet sinking in the snow. The window of time left to react was becoming really short. Overwhelmed by panic, Serena started tossing snow over to the holes using her bare hands. She was doing a decent job, but she wasn’t fast enough. That’s when a brilliant idea came in her mind.
She quickly stood up, and started singing, keeping a low voice and a low tune. Serena turned her head towards the messy path that she created and sang. Suddenly, a strong shockwave scattered the snow, throwing it away and almost revealing the asphalt under it.
Her plan to use her Symphony of Winds to clear her traces was successful. She took the time to take a sigh of relief, before realizing that she was still in danger. With one instant note, Serena lifted a decent amount of snow and after dropping to the ground, she stopped singing, letting the previously mentioned snow fall on top of her, concealing her body.
Serena held her breath for a while, trying to hear the guard’s footsteps and hopefully determine his location. It didn’t take her long: only a couple of moments after she buried herself under, she heard his boots sink into the nearby snow.
The guard turned the corner, and examined the area. Something felt off, but he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what.
<
He started marching forward, flashlight in hand. The alleyway had a bit of a different atmosphere: nothing special, but it was a feeling of his. He kept on walking forward, and the more his s