The Art of Magic

A Small Test

After Discussing with Alessandra, Nex went back inside the pub to scan the details with Jack. She was grinning from ear to ear when the opened the door.

When she went inside she saw Nadja and Mad Jack conversing. Nex raised her eyebrows and went near her two accomplices.

"Hey! Whatcha doing here Nadja? " She asked her weapons specialist as she stared at the two of them. She shrugged her shoulders, "I want in, I heard from Jack that this one's a big score."

Jack chuckled, "I told her, judging form your expression earlier, this is very big. So I figured that you'd need all the help you can get."

Nex grinned, "That's right it's a different system kind of big." Jack opened his eyes wide and whistled, "Now, let's go in the back, and give us the details."

Jack looked around, and locked the doors. Nadja on the other hand, put a circular metal plate in the table where they sat.

Nex stared at the machine Nadja deployed, "What's this?" She said as she poked about the thing. Nadja smiled proudly and puffed out her chest, "It's a little something something I found in the Black Market. They said that it was found in the wreckage of Ganymede Prison Colony."

"Wasn't that the place that was bombed by that wanted mercenary 3 years ago?" Mad Jack said inquisitively.

Nex looked at the Metal Plate and brought out the image of the bomber. It looked like a young man of Asian descent, that looks to be in his early thirties. He had short messy hair, which fit him. Sharp and Cold eyes, that matches his features perfectly, and a staple cocky and confident smile.

"This man is the most wanted man in the Galaxy, This man is Kazama Haruki, The Wolf, The New leader of Ragnarök. The bounty on his head is enough to buy you an entire system." Nex explained to them.

Nadja nodded her head, "Oh, I know about this. I was still a fledgling hacker back then, I read on the confidential files of the Ganymede Government is that he used a Thermonuclear Hydrogen Bomb. Detonated it from inside the prison."

Nex crossed her fingers as she leaned in the table, "Yeah, there's no news about him that surfaced since that incident. Some say he died in that explosion. That it was an inside job from the U.C.P."

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I can't say I'm surprised, The Universal Council of Peace doing something like that isn't exactly news to me. Those old fogies would do that to anyone that threatens their reign."

Nex scoffed, "Yeah, but do tell me something Naj, What in the hell could this thing do?" She said as she pointed at the circular metal plate.

"It's a noise cancelling barrier, It completely isolates the space inside the barrier to block soundwaves. So no sound would come out." Nadja said as she turned it on and a large spherical blue barrier almost covered the entirety of the room.

Mad Jack raised his eyebrows, "But what is this tech doing in a prison? shouldn't this be in like secure government facilities?"

Nex sighed, and looked towards Jack, "It's a prison old man. What else do you think they do with it?"

Then it dawned on him, "Oh yeah... Torture..."

"Alright enough idle chitchat, So what's the Job this time? Assassination? A heist?" Nadja eagerly asked.

"Nope, Sabotage. The Android Universal CEO wanted me to put a stop, possibly even destroy a large scale Magitech operation." Nex said excitedly.

Jack heaved a deep sigh, "Fuck... That's big. Really Big..." Nadja on the other hand was staring at the 'Downpayment' A.U. gave them. Her eyes glittered like stars and grinned towards Nex, "Well where are we going?"

"There's no we. I'm going in alone, it's somewhere near where you found that little Gizmo of yours. It's a planet called Dirt." She said as she checked the details that was sent to her by Alessandra.

"Huh, No you dumbass, that's read as earth. What is Magitech searching for in that wasteland? That shit hole is the last place you'd want to dig for treasure." Jack said as he checked the details.

"I mean if Magitech is there, there must be something. They won't be making any big moves, if it wasn't the case, right?" Nadja asked doubtfully.

"It doesn't matter what, I'm only going there to find out what. Then I get paid, Boom! We're rich." Nex said confidently.

"When it comes to you? I highly doubt that it would go that smoothly. Come by tomorrow and I'm going to give you some useful tools to bring with you." Nadja raised her eyebrows towards her.

The three ironed out the details of the mission, They all walked out of the pub quite drained. Nadja, Upgraded Nex's E.V.E suit. She made it a little more durable, so it could withstand Earth's dangerous weather and atmosphere.

Two days has passed since then, Nex prepared to go out bringing a black duffle bag. It was fairly early in the morning, yet she is wearing sunglasses. Mrs. Su saw Nex walking out of her apartment and approached her.

"Good morning, Young Nex Going somewhere?" The old lady asked, Nex stared at her and smiled excitedly, "Yes, a short business trip in a nearby system."

She covered her mouth in surprise, but it was quickly replaced with a smile, "Alright, take care on your way, young lady."

Nex nodded and bid farewell towards her Landlord. As she stepped outside, a far distance from the bustling crowd despite the traffic, there was a luxurious black car waiting. The man leaning on the car waved his hand to signal her, that he's her ride.

She entered the car and asked where to, the driver however was silent. He just smiled and proceeded to make their way towards the U-port.

When they arrived she immediately spotted Alessandra, sitting at a nearby coffee table. She was sipping on her piping hot laté elegantly. She smiled towards the approaching Nex, "It seems that you didn't change your mind."

Nex grinned, "Won't you hunt me down if I didn't?" Alessandra shrugged, "Please, I'm not a bore. Why would I eliminate such a fine asset?"

She chuckled and sat down in front of her, from a distance it looked like they were a couple of friends catching up with each other. But it was far from the truth, the two were discussing new information gathered by her agents.

Her eyes looked grim, "They deployed one of their finest agent in the field. Just last night, we have gotten word that Alexei "Rook" Wozniak, Squad leader of Scythe, under Magitech's private army is to be stationed at their operation in earth."

Nex read through the files, "Judging from this long list of dead people under his name, I guess he's quite the capable man. Although he hasn't met me yet."

She stared at Nex, as she listened to her confidence, "Well miss Nex, since we're in this together, and Magitech has somehow gotten wind of this. I would like to see your skills first hand. Consider it as a small test for our trust."

Nex smiled, "Magitech just gets a little guarded, suddenly you get a little cautious and jittery. I can't blame you, but... This test is not for free."

Alessandra's smile widened, "Naturally, this test won't go unrewarded of course. It's also a show of trust from us. Trust goes both ways does it not?"

Nex was amused on how Alessandra does things, "Well, what's in it for me?"

Alessandra grinned, "Information about him." She said as she showed her a blurry image of a man holding a katana. He was wearing a mask. The image wasn't clear enough to see, but judging from it's long snout it is probably an animal mask.

Nex frowned and clutched her fist, "Is this what you call a show of trust?"

Alessandra raised both her hands in the air smiling, "Relax, I just got curious, so I got a little carried away with my homework. I just wanted to see the capabilities of- -"

Nex leaked a bit of killing intent towards her direction. She felt suffocated, her guards noticed this and aimed their guns towards her. She signalled them to stop and maintained her lovely smile.

"The U.C.P.'s most tightly guarded secrets are really easy to buy. That's why I chose you, because we have a common enemy." Although she struggled to speak she still conveyed her intentions towards Nex.

Nex pulled back her killing intent as she sighed, "Fine, what's the test?"

"A stolen military Convoy, containing top of the line brand new Military Grade A.I., I'm quite interested in this. I wonder what the difference between my Company's A.I. with that of an A.I. developed by another company would be. Although I could buy this information... If I did, there wouldn't be much of a test now would it?" Alessandra said as she took a sip from her coffee.

"Their hideout is located on a nearby warehouse, One of my men posed as a buyer, but I haven't heard from him since. Retrieve the Military A.I. for me, if you would." She gave Nex the map and continued to enjoy her morning coffee.

"What about your employee?" She asked as she stood up, to be on her way.

Alessandra merely glanced at Nex, "What about him?"

Nex just shrugged and took the car she rode in on towards the warehouse. She inputted the coordinates and pressed the autopilot, so she could read the details of her mission.

As she finished reading, the car came into a halt. She saw a huge metal gate, it seemed that the warehouse was sturdy enough to withstand a couple of ballistic missiles before it breaks. In front of it were two guards armed to the teeth. As soon as they saw the car, They aimed at it. Their fingers hovering over the trigger. As they scanned the car.

Nex slowly opened the door, and went out her car with her arms raised, "Woah there! You might shoot a customer with how you handle things."

The two slowly put their guns down but they didn't let their eyes leave Nex, as their hands were ready to move at any moments notice.

"You a buyer? What're you buying?" The Man with a tattoo on his face asked her.

"The recently auctioned A.I." She said cordially.

The Man with a scar on his cheek frowned, "Boss said it was sold, so go back where you came from or I'll put a bullet in your head."

"C'mon boys, I'm sure we could arrange something? I have something that you would definitely enjoy." She smirked as she reached for her jacket.

The Man with a tattoo on his face used his eye augment to scan her, but he has detected nothing.

"She's clean, Do you have enough dough on you?" The man with a tattoo on his face narrowed his eyes.

"If I didn't I wouldn't come here now would I? Also if it's still not enough, I have something that could satisfy everyone here..." She said as she winked at the two of them.

The two looked at each other and nodded, "Fine, we'll guide you to the boss. But first we need to see some I.D."

Nex raised her eyebrow, "The fuck is this? A bar? You fucks the traffic police or something?" She reached por her jacket pocket, "You know what... Fuck this." She drew her gun and shot the first one in the head.

Not one of the two expected it, because of the scan. Luckily they don't know how much of a genius Nadja was, that even a military scanner couldn't even detect her weapons.

*Bang!*

A resounding gunshot echoed throughout the area. In a split second the bullet pierced the skull, spraying his brains on the metal gate. Half of his head was gone, it exploded like a watermelon.

"What the- - "

*Bang! Bang!*

But before the other one could aim his weapon Nex had already fired towards both his knees. The sheer power of the gun almost.blew his limbs apart, only a few tissues and ligaments were left connecting it.

The man fell on his butt, he fired towards Nex as he fell but she was too quick to even properly aim. She quickly dashed towards him and kicked his gun away.

She pressed the still hot barrel of her Hand cannon Grace on his forehead. The man howled in pain but Nex ignored his plight.

"Wait! Please don't kill me I'll tell you anything!"

She gave him an even wider grin, "Alright." She removed the muzzle on his forehead, and holstered it. The man heaved a sigh of relief, but before he could rejoice he saw her pulling out her gun Mercy and aiming at his head.

*Bang!*

The last thing he saw was Nex's smile, that looked like the grim reaper's scythe.

Nex made her way into the Giant Metal door, Guns Blazing. She stood in front of the large door and said,

"Cry Havoc!, and let slip the dogs of war."

She planted the EMP Nadja gave her to disable all the devices in her immediate area, except her weapon of course.

The Blast Shields were now down, she kicked open the gate with gusto and went inside, with a big smile.