It was pouring down hard in the simulation. Azrael and Twilight walked into the machine H, immediately making for Agent Gray’s office. Agent Jones walks up to Azrael and nods in greeting, following alongside him as Twilight was at his other side.

“What’s the situation, Jones?”

“Deteriorating quickly, Mr. Schwarzvald. If we do not deal with this soon, the Assassin will be one step closer to crawling his way out of the simulation and into your world. And that would be bad for both of us.”

“I trust that Moonbeam has been made aware of this as well?”

“Yes, she is already working on her part. But we need your expertise once more. Along with your team.”

Azrael looks to Twilight and nods.

“Twilight, the girls appear to be on, call them and give them the heads up..”

She nods quickly, grabbing her phone and begins making the calls.

“On it.”

There walking pace was quick and brisk, it must be pretty bad if they have to get up to Agent Gray’s office that quickly. While Twilight was busy with the calls, Azrael was in the office speaking with Gray, learning of what has been happening as of late.

“Rogue agents?! What the hell do you mean?! Didn’t you all learn your damned lesson after the Smith incident?!”

“Mr. Schwarzwald, calm yourself. This was something we did not see coming. They aren’t just rogue agents, they have been corrupted by the Assassin’s code. Luckily, it is only the form that they currently possess right now. Should you destroy the agent, the sentient program will be set free and the agent will be able to reform again from the source. There are three rogue agents guarding the main server in the downtown area that you need to go and shut down. But fear not, I am going to have two agents going with you this time to offer support. After all, three agents isn’t going to be easy, even with your skill, Mr. Schwarzwald.”

Gray looks over to the entry way.

“Agent Taylor, agent Jordan, and agent Williams. You will be giving Mr. Schwarzvald and his colleagues support in this mission. Drive them over and give them any backup they need.”

He then turns back to Azrael.

“I assume you have mobilized your organization, Mr, Schwarzwald? The building is going to be crawling with corrupted police and SWAT units.”

“Yes, they are all waiting in the lobby. We are ready to load up.”

“Very good. It is good to know that you have such a large organization of like-minded individuals who come from a different side. Makes you quite versatile. And do not worry about these agents here, we have created a program that destroys the corrupting code on contact should they try to transfer it over. Each agent will go with one group and will keep the corrupted agent at bay while your men rush forward and break through the line of defense. I trust your men still have those com radios I provided?”

“Yes, we still have them”

Gray nods.

“Also, as I understand it. Ms. Sparkle here is your top hacker, yes?”

Azrael nods with a smile.

“You better believe it. A first-rate mind for sure.”

He nods again.

“I suggest you keep her safe. You are going to need her once you reach the server. Should you successfully shut it down, bring the info you get from it from me. Perhaps we will be able to use what we can get from it against the Assassin.”

“Don’t worry bossman, I keep her safe, in and out of the simulation.”

“Ah, I am beginning to understand. You and her are on....intimate terms.”

Azrael chuckles and nods. Twilight blushes heavily and nods in agreement. Once they head down to the lobby, Azrael briefs all the members of his organization. Rarity being the one who sees over the Merovingian branch, and Apple Bloom who is in charge of the Zion branch. Her friends both voted her in as the leader.

“Alright everyone. This is going to be rough. But luckily, I have these agents here who are going to help us out. Please show them respect. I know quite a few of you aren’t fond of them, but they are going to help us in the long run. Have I made myself clear?”

“SIR!”

They all shouted. They stepped outside and loaded up into the large armored trucks, each driven by an agent, Azrael places his finger against the small com radio in his ear to activate it.

“Zion and Merv branch this is machine branch do you copy?”

“Ah hear you loud b’ clear, Azrael!”

“Yes, darling, coming through fine.”

“Listen the building we are heading in has two stairwells. One on each side. The agents will be taking point until they run into one of the corrupted agents, then the branches will push on ahead and fight through the weaker corrupted enemies. Understood?”

“Sir.”

Once they made it to their destination, they stood on the rooftop of the building opposite of their target. Azrael looks back to his organization...no, his friends and smiles lightly.

“Alright everyone. I want you all to know something before we head in. I am glad that all of you came to join my organization, now we have made it our organization, our home. I know without all of you, I wouldn’t have been able to recreate Exemplar Triune. And I know I couldn’t do this by myself. So thank you, all of you.”

Why was he speaking like someone could die for real during this mission? It’s just a game after all. Maybe he was just feeling sentimental because of the memories of his old friends. For an instant, he saw a few of his old friends behind everyone else. Dulex, Brixx and their old leader Praey. They all three smile to him and nod, slowly vanishing.

“Azrael..are you alright?”

Asked Twilight with concern. He quickly comes back to his senses and nods.

“Yeah….just thinking about old times is all.”

[He turns to the building that is their target, he takes in a deep breath and exhales slowly...

“Commence the attack!”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFTm7dWKR70)

With that, they leap from the building, first him, then the ages, then the other leaders, then the rest of the group. Once they hit the ground, they split up, the merv and Zion branch taking the stairwells, Azrael and the others storming the front. The fighting began almost instantly once they made it inside. Guns going off, the sound of hacking beeps and boops echoing through the room, and punches and kicks breaking and cracking bones as they plowed their way through the enemy.

“Azrael, we have already came into contact the one of the corrupted agents! The agent you sent with us is currently engaged in combat with him!”

“Same here, he is doin’ a pretty good job of holdin’ his own!”

“Excellent, push on ahead with the others and take down the rest of the opposition! We have yet to run into the third corrupted agent! Should any of you run into him, I will send the agent with me to your location! Keep pushing forward! I will let you know when I we have things done here. When I give the word, I want you all to break off and retreat! Get out of here as quick as you can! They will only be after me!”

“Right!”

Eventually the agent that was with Azrael met with the last one and engaged him in combat. Which meant that the machine branch was free to push on. They made it up to the top floor and into the room where the server was after taking out stronger guards in heavy armor. Once they made it to the terminal, Azrael looked over to Twilight.

“Alright,you are up. Let’s get this thing taken down and take whatever info we can.”

He turns to the others.

Let’s stand on guard while she works, more could be coming at any moment. Lightning, Shy and myself will maintain a defensive barrier around her. Be prepared for-.”

Suddenly his phone rings, he quickly picks it up and places it to his free ear. There it was again, the sound of thousands of flies, though it sounded aggravated this time. And Azrael knew it. This made a smile form slowly on his lips.

“Sounds like you are pretty pissed off, Assassin. I trust you are enjoying the show from wherever you are hiding?”

“You are becoming quite the nuisance, Azrael. Don’t think you won’t be getting out of there without any heat on your tail. I have more of my puppets on their way there now to snuff out you and your pathetic group.”

“Ah, but my men have nothing to do with this, Assassin. After all, I am sure that there is something you don’t want discovered in this server that would shut you down indefinitely. And once I have the info. I will be the only one you are after. It would be quite a large hiccup in your plans should I get this information to Gray. And if you want it back, send your puppets after me. Or risk being destroyed sooner than you’d hoped.”

“I will make you pay for this…”

“Remember, Assassin, you can’t catch a ghost.”

He clicks his phone closed and places it in his coat. He then turns his attention to Twilight.

“How much longer?”

“Almost there...and...done!”

She said as she watches the screen glitch out and the server spark and explode, handing Azrael the USB stick that had all she could gather. He nods and gets on his coms.

“Everyone, withdrawn now, we have what we came here for! Get your asses out of here and get to a safe place!”

He then takes his gun from his coat and shoots the glass out from the window.

“Come on everyone, we are taking the flashy way out!”

They all jumped from the window just as the room was starting to flood with enemies, each landing on the ground with a recovering roll. Azrael looked around quickly, spotting the perfect getaway vehicle. A '67 Firebird.

“Twilight, Lightning, Shy! With me! The rest of you follow the orders I gave to the rest!”

“But, sir we-”

“GO! Get somewhere safe and stay there! Jack out if you need to!”

They reluctantly nod and make there own escape. Azrael and his crew make their way to the firebird.

“Shy, you take the front passenger seat, I am going to need your excellent sharpshooting for this.”

“You got it!”

--A few Moments later--

Azrael comes turning the corner of a large bank, the tires screeching as he drifted a little and the roaring of the powerful muscle car's engine could be heard He was being followed by police vehicles driven by corrupt law enforcement members. Azrael weaved in and out of traffic the best he could to break off from the chase. He handed Gunshy a simple submachine gun, nodding to her.

“Come on Shy, you are my best gunner. I know you can do this. You don’t have to shoot them, just shoot out their tires. Get them off our tail.”

She nods and takes the gun. Azrael places extra clips in the console beside her as he continues driving.

“Lightning, Twilight, you two keep your heads down, it’s gonna get hot…”

Azrael continued to drive through the traffic which eventually lead him on the interstate, trying his best to lose the cops that were chasing him down and trying to shoot him. She was keeping them at bay though with her expert shooting. But little did Azrael know that more back up for him was on the way. The sound of high-speed sports bikes could be heard coming up behind him. He couldn’t see who it was for they were wearing full helmets. Though the ones riding on the back of the bikes were opening fire on the cop units while weaving through traffic.

“What the..?”

He asked as he sped through the other car, the bikes pulling up alongside him on both sides.

“You didn’t think we’d let you have all the fun, did you, darling?”

“That’s right! You ain't gettin’ all the glory for yourself, mister!”

Yep, his two other branch leaders defied his orders it seemed.

“I told the rest of you to get out of here! This is dangerous!”

He lets out a sigh of frustration but then smiles.

“But...thank you for coming along anyways. She is getting low on clips and we could use the extra ammo I suppose. Just watch your backs! We aren’t out of this till we get back to Richland!”

Azrael floors the gas as the road becomes a bit more clear to maneuver on, the ones on the bikes matching his speed as well and the shooters do their thing and take out either the drivers or the tires. Eventually leaving them in the dust. They finally pull up to machine HQ, Azrael turning and sliding into a parking spot on near perfection, but lightly tapping one of the other cars there, making it’s alarm go off. They got out of the car and ran inside. The others split off with them a while off once they made it back. Once inside, they met up with agent Gray and handed the info they got off to him.

“Very well done, Azrael. My compliments to you, and your colleagues. This will no doubt help us with putting the Assassin down once and for all.”

“What of the other agents?”

They have returned to the source and are back to normal. We have all our agents back again.”

Azrael lets out a sigh of relief and falls back into a chair that was behind him.

“That was quite a ride...reminded me of that time when Morpheus and Trinity had to escape the ghost twins. I trust that is all you need from us, bossman?”

“Indeed. Thank you again, Mr. Schwarzwald. We will...speak again soon.”

He stands up and nods to him.

“In that case, we are jacking out for the day. Take care bossman.”

And with that, they head out to the hardline out front and log out, completely exhausted from everything that happened.

Author's Note

This one was actually pretty fun to write, made me think of all the good times I had back when the game was thriving x3

May the darkness grant you peace.