Marcus looked around as he climbed out of the truck, eyes narrowing as he focused on the spent casings lying on the ground. A engine rumbled behind him, and he turned to see Cavenaugh driving up in a truck loaded with a 50 Cal. gun. "What the hell happened here?" he shouted across to him.
----------------------------------
Rhaegson frowned. "She wiped out the science crew? There's no survivors? Damn, that's..." He stopped as Lupis confirmed that he could finish their work. "Yeah? Well, that's alright, no harm done. You had me worried there for a second," he said, relaxing visibly. "Make sure our little mutant freakshow doesn't try anything else. I've already lost a few men just earlier, I don't want to lose any more. 'S bad for business."
He glanced down at his watch. "Well, well, would you look at the time," he said, stretching his arms above his head, the movement causing his joints to pop. "I'd say it's about time for me to show my lovely face. Just get on with your part. I want that bitch prepped as soon as you can."
----------------------------------
"You... you can sense that kind of stuff?" Axel asked Vergil. "Alright... Alright! I think this could actually work!" he grinned, starting to feel hopeful again. We're coming Lily... Above the group, a huge screen was suspended from the ceiling, hanging over the bustling crowd. On the screen, a cheerful animated squirrel was advertising a new brand of hazelnut cookies. "If we just..."
He trailed off when he noticed the image on the screen start to flicker, static playing across, the sound of the advert cutting out. At first, through the grey fuzz of the interference, Axel could just about make out a shape moving around. Then, all of a sudden, the static vanished.
In place of the advert, a small, unkempt man was standing in a grey room, the image grainy. Hanging on the wall behind him, a black piece of cloth was hung up, with a red cracked gear symbol printed on it. Axel's heart skipped a beat. The Purifiers... The man's hands were shoved casually into the pockets of his denim jacket, and beneath dirty blonde hair that hung over his face, his eyes glinted savagely. Axel's own eyes widened in confusion. A few shoppers had noticed the change as well, and, like him, were pausing to look up. Axel heard a raised voice, and he glanced across the mall to a television shop on the other end. The same image was on the screen of all the TV sets he could see. His tail curling nervously, the rat returned his gaze to the big screen above them.
The man grinned. "Hello, Lanthae," he said, his voice booming through the mall. "I hope you're all having a pleasant day. You don't know me, but I know all about you... I know that the city is full to the brim of so called 'citizens' who've decided to pollute their bodies with machinery, with bits of metal, circuits..." The man's smile vanished, his expression twisting. "Turning yourselves into freaks of nature..." He paused, and after a second his jovial expression returned. "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves."
By now, most of the shoppers were looking up at the huge screen, or the smaller monitors dotted around the mall. A few feet away from Axel, the obese man who'd barged through them was staring up, a half eaten burger now hanging from his hands. "Who's this guy? What's he playing at?" he demanded.
"If you don't know who... or, what I represent by now," the Purifier continued, indicating the cloth behind him, "Then... well, you're a fuckin' moron."
The fat man looked down dejectedly at the ground.
"The reason I'm here now is to offer a heads up to some, and a warning to others. There's going to be a few changes coming up. Some... most of you probably won't like them. Unfortunately, that doesn't really mean a damn. The Purifiers have spent the last few years cooking something up. A weapon. Most of you will have heard of something called an EMP, or an electromagnetic pulse. Fries all computer circuits, electronics... you get the idea." The Purifier paused, his predatory smile spreading even further across his face. "You all probably get where I'm going with this."
"In exactly 24 hours, we'll be launching an EMP bomb with an... extra ingredient to give it a little more oomph. Believe me when I say it's radius'll be... impressive. Any augmented who are watching this, don't bother trying to run. You won't be able to escape. Any augmentations you have will be destroyed, and you'll be left significantly worse for wear. We have agents planted everywhere, waiting for the countdown to reach zero. And once it does, they have orders to execute every single augmented they come across." He chuckled. "And therein lies the warning. You're all fucked. But nobody can accuse me of not playing fair. Now, then, for the rest of you. As long as you stay out of our way, you won't be harmed. As long as you don't fuck with us, we won't fuck with you. Hell, go ahead and take out a few augmented yourselves. We'd sure appreciate it."
The man lowered his voice. "And you're going to want to earn some brownie point with us. Because while some of our forces are dealing with that, more of us are going after Lanthae's government. The government which just so happens to place so much importance on augmentations for their defense." He cackled. "Bad move, boys. And once we've accomplished that, any who've tried to get in our way will be dealt with. Just a little something for all you normal, pure folks to think about."
He leaned closer to the camera, brushing aside the hair from his eyes. "Well, that about concludes our time together. For now. Take care! And remember, it's open season on those freaks!" The expression on his face darkened suddenly, and the pitch of his voice lowered. "Have yourselves a ball," he growled. The image on the screen suddenly flickered off, and was replaced by the tail end of the cookie advert. "They're the nuttiest!" the squirrel exclaimed.
The crowd gathered around started looking amongst each other, suddenly speaking again, a cacophony of confusion and fear. Axel looked at the group, suddenly aware of his augments. "Was... he couldn't be serious?"
