Chain: Chapter One

Chain

1
Philip had been waiting outside of the office for a good twenty minutes by the time he was granted access. The office was just as dreary as everything else in the Special Defence Core which seemed to be comprised of nothing but different shades of Grey. Behind a grey desk sat Officer LaMarr. LaMarr was a man who always wore grey suits, white shirts and aqua ties, by his dress sense alone one might presume LaMarr a dull man but his face told many stories. Stories written in his jagged jawline, a nose which had been broken one too many times and the scar which sat over his left eye.

"Take a seat" LaMarr said in a voice that was gruffness by experience and years of smoking. Phil had done so at such a pace that almost showed his fear of LaMarr. Almost.
"Officer"
"Phillip, you know why I've called you hear, correct?"
"Not exactly. I hear it's something to do with MAO"
"That's quite right. Em-Ay-Oh"

2
LaMarr had a series of dossiers and loose documents scattered over his desk. In the glance over the documents Phil saw the letters 'MAO' several times as well as some pictures of an injured woman, some kind of dog and newspaper clippings about the PLK interstellar racing championship.

"Phillip" LaMarr spoke with a military definition that demanded attention "We believe we have leads on the origin and circulation of the MAO drug. We already have teams destroying the circulation of the drugs. What we need you for is the hunting down of it's creator. You must find her and bring her in for questioning, that way we might be able to derive an antidote to the drugs effects"

Phil had payed limited attention to what LaMarr said. He already guessed why he was here when he saw the picture of the woman. He was a hunter and they wanted him to hunt. During LaMarr's speech Phil had been looking at the photos of his next target. She had the sort of face that might have been pretty once but had deteriorated considerably. She looked like she was dying.

"So she's the one who created MAO?" Phil questioned while pointing at her picture on the desk.
"Yes, we don't have any record of a full name although several reports say her name is Lucy"
"Lucy. So what's her story then officer? Mad scientist? Being forced to create it?"
"Mage. She's not from our quarter of this system, that's why we have no records of her on our system an you know how the Ondroxtins are with the sharing of information"
"So how do we know it's her that started this?"
"Anonymous tip"
"Is that really all it takes nowadays?"
"If it's all we've got then yes"
"Okay and what's this?" Phil pointed at a the picture of a dog. A dog with the head of Middle Aged Asian man.
"Found it at an apartment she was supposedly renting a while back. Labelled 008. Human experimentation I suppose"
"That's all great and good but how am I finding her? We must have some starting point"
"We do. Out tip wants you to meet him at a bar called 'Visage' on meteor 882 in the Kingston system"
"Officer.I don't trust this one bit"
"That's why you're the one going. You're trained to deal with things when they go wrong"
"One last thing. I'll need backup. I was thinking Yishan"
"As were we. She's already been briefed about the situation"

3
Phil once again sat in a grey hallway as figures in dull, dreary business suits passed by him. This time he was waiting for her. He was waiting for Yishan. During this time he looked back over the mission details which he had been given in a rather full dossier. He flicked through pictures until he got to the newspaper articles about the PLK championship. That was the whole reason they were stoping MAO anyway.

MAO had first been alerted as a danger during the 34th annual PLK racing tourneamount. It was a huge event which attracted many of the galaxy's finest racers. The perfect place for a terror attack. It was during the second-to-last lap that a group of armed men stormed onto the race track and released canisters of MAO. The drug immediately took affect as the drivers became more competitive. This became violence and at least three racers were killed during the violence. All of the others were hospitalised as thsy remained violent. It was a disaster on an incredibly public stage.

4
Yishan stepped out of the shower, water droplets rolling off of her tan skin as she trundled across the floor. She knew she was being watched. She didn't know who or what by but she knew. As she grabbed the towel she stayed ear of any ventilation shafts in the ceilings. After she wrapped the Rowell around her body she carefully looked behind her. She couldn't see her watcher but she sensed it. She left the shower room, being careful to remain alert.

This amount of spacial awareness never let down with Yishan; even when she wasn't being followed. She dressed cautiously and made sure a defensive item was always within close range. She would have almost been relieved by the fact she wasn't attacked. Not then though, she knew that she was still being trailed. The key was not letting her trailer find out.

5
Dead bodies lay at the feet of the terrorist Leeson. Leeson reloaded his gun as the other members of the terror group 'Dynasty' approached him.
"It's all done" One of them said in a voice that sounded far too over exaggerated to be real.
"That was easier than I thought it would be. This MAO is a treat. Use it to get the natives to kill each other and pick off the remainders by hand. Incredible. This city is ours. Find those who surrendered. Do what you like with those who surrendered" Leeson smiled and holstered his gun. This would soon be the biggest news in the system, just as the plan dictated it would be.

6
Yishan could have hugged Phil as she layed eyes on him. She probably would have if she wasn't military. Instead there was a simple handshake shared between the two of them.
"It's been too long Yishan"
"Yeah, I suppose it has"
It was at that moment when Yishan almost forgot about the follower and the mission. Yishan could have stood here forever with Phil. She wanted him. She wanted every part of him. Phil wanted her more.

Within twenty minutes of their reunion the two were on board a small ship that approached meteor 882. The two shared simple chit chat. Nothing personal. The last time they'd become intimate it hadn't ended well for either of them. As much as they both wanted to be with the other it wouldn't work. So they just spoke about the mission and the news, simple stuff, while avoiding the subject if their past together entirely.

One thing, however, was shared between the two. Yishan had informed Phil she was being watched in a quick whisper as to avoid attention. Phil had simply nodded. He felt the same way.

They landed on 882 within the hour and it was only a short walk to the bar known as 'Visage'

7
The bar was surprisingly alive for a building in the middle of nowhere. The bar was manned by three seperate bartenders and they all seemed consistently busy. Phil and Yishan had found themselves a small table in the corner of the room.
"That's our man" Yishan pointed into the group of people on the dancefloor and it took Phil a couple of seconds to notice the same man.
"I'll go get him" Phil said quickly and immediately approached the man.

The man who's name was Carlos was just below average height and had the hair one might relate to a 70s hippie but he was not unnatracitve, in actual fact his blue eyes were actually quite beautiful. Phil tapped Carlos on the shoulder and Carlos had jumped in fear. Phil gestures Carlos to follow him and he sheepishly did. Carlos was scared. Carlos was in danger.

As Phil and Carlos sat at the table Yishan already had her hands on her gun. Not out of fear of Carlos, out of fear of the danger in the air. She sensed something bad was going to happen and that it did.

Before they could even begin questioning Carlos he was already out cold. Yishan pulled her gun out as both her and Phil stood up. This was it. This was the prescence that had been following her and it had just taken Carlos out. Even before the creature showed itself Yishan knew what it was: a smokestream.

Smokestreams were a unique bread of human like creatures that could turn their physical forms into clouds of smoke. From there on they could adjust their opacity and the toxicity of the smoke. It had invisibly taken Carlos out.

Yishan wondered for a brief moment why they'd even bother sending a Smokestream but she figured that her follower wasn't quite aware of her Chi and her ability to detect such creatures.
"Where is it?" Phil said, surprisingly quietly considering.
"It's" she swung her arm, a blue light pulsating as it slammed into the Smokestream "right about here"

As she landed her hit, the smokestream reformed into it's more human-esque form to reveal a naked man with a skull mask, he fell back in recoil and surprise before flexing his toned body and preparing for a fight. The people in the bar began to scream.