One of the most frustrating part of being a Consultant Agent stationed in your company’s HQ is what to do once you find other Consultants from outside the company sphere in places where they should not be.

  The most preferred conclusion to such an interaction would be the safe and collateral free restraint of the other Agent. However, due to the multitude of instant retirement options, the next best case resolution is simply isolating the Consultant and notifying Human Resolution Officers.

  -Employee Handbook for Consultants, 2043

  We holed up in a shopping district, throwing C-Foam to block the hallways. We ran through about half of our supplies making it here, but we found a stairwell door, so we decided to hunker down here and rest.

  “What the fuck is happening here, sir?” B-three growled. “How badly did Intel fuck up to not catch the fucking Spatial tech! We have Spatial disruption detectors, so how did they miss this? Let alone those…. Things!”

  Her anger is justified, but I have few answers. We figured out the Spatial tech easily, after all, we never found the rest of our squad nor Charlie squad, and we checked for quick set concrete traps from our cam footage, but found nothing. Then, B-Six activated a Spatial disruption scanner they had hidden and it pinged quickly before going silent.

  The fact that it detected anything at all was enough for us to know two things. That he had very advanced Spatial tech, and that he could actively mess with our sensors at will.

  “He probably participated in some huge hive. There were two reported in the last week, but the members list are redacted by Class IX encryption, which is a few tiers higher than we have access to.” I shake my head as I sit against a wall. “The only official report involving War Games was the incident last night, and the fact that he purchased some floors. Kasasuchi was unable to find any traces of him anywhere else except a hotel he and his family stayed in before moving here, and even then the only records are that he had a room.”

  “Which is not that unusual for Samurai who value their privacy.” She says, sitting next to me.

  We sit in silence for a bit. “He knew we were coming, which is not surprising. Young Master probably warned him.” I muse. “But the Spatial traps are not things he could have set up in a few hours, nor those monsters, yet this place is needlessly livable for a dungeon.”

  “Which means what, B-one?”

  “It means that we are his prisoners already,, Saki.” I say, abandoning the code names.

  The squad looks at me in surprise. “He split us apart into small groups, separating us from Katamaru. While the monsters we fought went down easily, we used a lot of ammo to make it here. And yet, no more monsters are trying to dig through the C-Foam, which we know Model Threes are capable of given enough of them and time.”

  They looked to the plugs we made and realized that there were no sounds of digging or clawing, which is normally very audible if something was trying to get through.

  “He wants us to fight our way up to him, to use up every piece of ammo and gear we have, so that he can sweep us up and interrogate us.”

  “So what do we do, chief?” Suzuha asks.

  “We have only three choices.” I say looking up. “We play along, fight our way up and try to fight him and whatever Samurai bullshit he has. We surrender to him right now, because I'll be damned if he isn't watching us right now. Or…”

  I don't say the last option. We all know what it is, what we are supposed to do if captured.

  Saki sighs, “What do you think the odds are that the other squads figure this out?”

  I hear Shiki snort, and I agree with him. “There's a reason we are Bravo, Saki. Those guys are drones through and through. Whatever traps or plans he has, they will simply try to power through them.”

  “Damn. And Katamaru?” She asks.

  “Who knows, but I figure he should make it all the way. No idea if he will succeed in the mission, but he won't be caught like us.”

  We sit in silence for a moment longer, then I sigh. “The mission has failed, “I say, “and we are on the verge of being captured. Follow your orders, Bravo.”

  We all swallow something that was already in our mouths, and the world goes dark.

  *********************************

  Katamaru

  As I walk through the foggy halls, I close my eyes and extend my other senses. Nothing but silence in all directions. Opening my eyes, I wander the center of the floor, taking in the boring walls and doors, hoping for something to pop out, for me to fight.

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  Yet I am left disappointed. Then I hear a gunshot in the distance and start sprinting to it. I hear the sounds of boots sprinting, the sound of thermite burning, more boots slamming on metal. I arrive and see the door to the stairs melted off its hinges and I smile ferociously.

  I charge up the stairs and burst through the door, but then I see nothing but more fog and hear nothing else.

  I then sprint through the floor at full speed, seeing nothing, no one, smelling nothing but the water in the air. I grow to hate this smell.

  I stop dead in my tracks as I see something new, a light at the end of the hallway. I draw my sword and jog that way, senses on full alert, scanning for anything else.

  Nothing happens as I arrive at the light, and instead I see an elevator door in the middle of the hallway, with a single spotlight shining down upon it.

  I look around the door and see that there is nothing on the other side, nor above it. Just as I am about to turn and leave, the door dings and opens up, revealing an elevator cabin inside.

  “Shit.” I say. Spatial tech. All estimates are thrown out now and I curse my brother. He's supposed to catch this shit.

  I shake my head and step into the elevator, sheathing my sword and grabbing my gun. No matter what's on the other side of the door, I will be ready.

  I feel some slight movement as the elevator ascends, moving for far longer than ten floors should be. Well, that's no longer surprising, knowing he has Spatial tech.

  I feel the elevator slow and get ready. Once the doors open, I open fire, shooting into the next room for a solid five seconds before I stop, seeing that I am just shooting a wall.

  I step out quickly and point my gun to the right and see the target in some light blue armor. I don't shoot her, as I have no guarantee that armor could survive my bullets.

  Shouldering the LMG, I start walking towards her, “There you are, Young Master. Finally coming to your senses and surrendering?” I say, closing the distance quickly.

  She rolls her eyes, and I reach out to grab her. She ducks under my grip and punches my diaphragm with more force than I was expecting, pushing me back.

  She pushes towards me, fists at the ready, and punches my torso two more times before I slam my right arm downwards with the intent of having her dodge, giving me some space. She rolls to my left, but keeps close, so I kick out with my leg, catching her off guard.

  She launches herself with her other foot behind me, rolling on the ground as I turn and throw a quick jab at her face.

  She bends backwards as an unnatural angle avoiding my fist, then she whips her left leg into my calf, doing nothing to me. However, she uses the attack as a lever, pulling herself once more behind me.

  I jump forward, turning in the air, dodging her attempt to grapple me. She jumps back as well. There is now a few feet of distance between us that neither of us try to close at this time.

  Neither of us is breathing hard as we eye each other up. I see her stance is good, designed for MMA CQC, and there are very few openings. My smile grows. I will enjoy breaking her just enough to leave her almost dead.

  I flick my right wrist and a knife flies into it as I get into a different stance. She pumps her fists and gauntlets form over them from her armor. Nanite armor and weapons. I narrow my eyes. Tricky.

  I take slow steps to the right, intending to start circling, but she launches forward once more. I step back as she jabs with her left, then I slice down at her arm. The knife connects with it, but it slides off as if the blade was made of plastic. I growl annoyed. Class II nanite armor.

  I push a button on my knife and the blade shifts to plasma. It will only be active for five minutes, but I should be done by then.

  I take a more aggressive approach, slicing diagonally to the left, forcing her to back up. I keep up the pressure, slicing and stabbing, forcing her back even further until she is almost at a wall.

  I see she goes to dodge to my left, so I feint a kick with the intention of causing her to hesitate, but she sees through it and dodges anyways.

  I slash downwards, but I feel my hand get slammed upwards, feeling a bone crack and my grip falter, my knife flying behind me.

  I go to flick my left wrist for my other knife, but she jabs that hand as well, causing the knife to fly past her. She then punches with both hands into my solar plexus and I feel pistons engage and the gauntlets slam into me.

  I lose my breath entirely as I fly backwards at incredible speed, slamming into the back wall. My auto injector administers a cocktail of healing as I stand back up, drawing my sword. She doesnt need her arms or legs, I decide.

  I move at my full speed now, slicing upwards from left to right with the plasma blade active, but she jumps over it at the same speed I move at. I go to turn around, seeing her trajectory to land behind me, but she does something different.

  Her lower half shifts from two legs to a massive tail, the extra mass pulling her down on top of my head, her tail wrapping around my torso, squeezing and crushing.

  I cannot move my arms, I cannot breath. I go to activate my last response as I see her fist, no, her claws glow and they descend on my face.

  *******************************

  I watch Cari fight with all her strength, seeing how she flowed with the fight, leading the tempo. When he pulled a knife I grew worried. When the knife turned to plasma, it took everything in me to not have an Assault Swarm tear him to shreds.

  When she disarmed him and launched him away, I felt excitement, thinking she won. Then he got right back up and pulled out that plasma sword, moving even faster than before. I screamed as he swung it at her and she jumped over it, seeing him following through to slash at where she would land.

  I gave the order, fight be damned, but then she shifted and I stopped.

  ‘She's a lamia?’ I thought. Oh. Oh no.

  I rush out as she finishes dicing up the big guy’s head, landing on the floor and turns towards me. I see her eyes have shifted back to the serpentine form I remember seeing at the gala, and that makes sense. Why did I think it was just a cool effect?

  I see she is about to say something, but I just hug her. I don't care that she is spattered in blood, I don't care that she's now more than a head taller than me. I simply hold onto her, feeling that she is safe, feeling her heart rate thumbs wildly.

  She shifts so that her head is only slightly taller than mine as I pull back slightly, and I see her face awash with different emotions. Joy, concern, fear, disgust, all covered by the blood of the corpse next to us.

  “You're breathtaking,” is all I say.

  And I see all her worries be washed away by joy as I kiss her.