Wave-Zero

Alright, so I finished off the first chapter of my clearly by now infamous-for-twenty-thousand-rewrites fiction, Legacy of Darkness, the first contribution on my end of the Exodus Saga, which is co-written with me by the esteemed Rabid Biscuit, whose personal site of stuff can be found here:

Rabid Biscuit Productions

Either way, click “more” for the first installment of Legacy of Darkness.

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One

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It was a rather strange night. An eerie silence drifted across the streets and alleyways of Sapphire City, amplifying the perpetual darkness of the morning. Essentially, it looked like a ghost town.

Under normal circumstances, the city was bustling even at night. Cars would pass every few seconds, and citizens – legally or not – walking passively along the sidewalks. For this reason, it made a certain silver wolf seem highly uncomfortable. The wolf, standing at five foot tall, sat warily on the roof of a seemingly pointless building. With that in mind, the building itself had absolutely no bearing on the mission the wolf was on. It was just a decent vantage point.

She rubbed her eyes silently. Just how long had she been out here? The question lingered as she continued polishing a metallic object in her right hand, perhaps subconsciously. Briefly, her eyes glanced to her left, focusing on a giant, digital clock that hung over the rest of the block. Two-thirty in the morning. With an exasperated sigh, the wolf returned to staring intently at the abode across from her.

A flash of golden to her right briefly faltered her attention, but it recovered. “Find anything?” she asked immediately.

“Not a single damn thing.” Came the reply. It was from what appeared to be a golden cat, with its hair and tail tipped a light purple. It stood an inch above the silver wolf. “I think Ghost sent us on a wild goose chase, Z.”

‘Z’ turned to face her partner. His ice-green eyes stared at her golden ones, full of irritation and boredom. The pair of golden ones adorned upon his head glinted in the moonlight, but it wasn’t enough to gather much attention. She made sure of that when she tried her own pair. “Goose chase or not, Zack, it’s an order…and you know how Ghost gets when we come back empty-handed.” She muttered to him, turning back to her objective.

The cat, Zack, raised an eyebrow and shoved his hands into his long, black coat. “Yeah, I do know, Zera. I’m just wondering how you do, since you never come back empty-handed.”

The wolf, now revealed to bear the name Zera, chuckled. “You tell me about it every time it happens. It’s hard not to know.” She said.

Zack grinned sheepishly. “Oh, heh, yeah. I kinda forgot about that.”

Silence passed over the two of them for a few minutes. The lack of speech, while unnerving, gave Zera a small chance to think. Obviously, something was going on tonight. If it were the contrary, the activity would be normal. However…

“Just where is everyone, anyway?” Zack chirped in. “These streets are usually exploding with activity. It’s…strange.”

Zera nodded. At least she wasn’t the only one to realize it. Perhaps she wasn’t going insane after all.

Again, silence hung over the entire block. Zack felt his left eye twitching rapidly, and his foot was tapping. He was used to waiting – he had to do it every day at G.H.O.S.T. Headquarters. He did it on every mission. But this? This was overkill. When he got back, he was either going to mouth off Ghost for a while and then sleep, or do the exact opposite and sleep, then mouth him off. The cat assumed the latter, because sleep was a godsend at this point.

“Christ, why won’t something just happen already?” he found himself saying. Zera turned to him, an understanding look plastered over a previously focused face. She herself was getting desperate for something to happen.

A moment later, they got their wish.

The distinct sound of an opening door caught the wolf’s attention. Zera’s head whipped around like lightning, silver locks flowing in the air. Zack seemed to snap to attention despite the obvious fatigue. “Got something?” He asked.

“Got something.”

—

Mezniach Sirocco was a careful man.

So careful, in fact, that he arranged for the entire city block to be evacuated before he tried to attempt this deal. Because of this, he wasn’t afraid to step outside. He wasn’t going to be noticed, after all.

“I assume you’ll want the whole package delivered to you, then?” the voice of his canine ‘partner’ rang out. Sirocco nodded, the canine quickly brushing dust off of his clothes and muzzle. The only things he despised about these deals were the locations. Always abandoned, always full of dust. The other dog chuckled slightly, baring a set of fangs that gleamed in the pale moonlight. “Not used to being dirty, Mezniach?”

The two dogs simply stared off in different directions. No reply came from Sirocco. There was no reason for there to be. The currently nameless canine whipped out a lighter, igniting his favorite brand of cigarettes.

Sirocco seemed to falter for a moment, his ice blue eyes suddenly taking a liking to the rooftops. “…Hey.” He called. The canines faced each other, a wary look on Mezniach’s face. “Are…you sure we’re alone?”

His partner let out a puff of smoke. “What, the great Mezniach Sirocco, scared? I never thought I’d see the day…” He was about to inhale more of his cigarette when a loud clanging noise sounded off to their right. “What the…?”

“I knew it! I fucking knew it!” Sirocco took a few steps towards the doorframe, but not any more.

Silence. Then, footsteps. Sirocco’s partner slowly reached inside his jacket, and stopped when he felt his fingers touch cold metal. Perhaps he’d need to use this tonight after all.

The sound of footsteps grew louder. The two canines, uneasy as they were, did not falter in the slightest. Eventually, a figure faded into existence. How they couldn’t see him until now was one of the greater mysteries of Sirocco’s life; it was a bright gold, male cat, with a long, jet-black coat which currently occupied the cat’s hands. Ice-green eyes stared at them, tailing along with a sheepish grin slightly obscured by a golden lock of hair, tipped in light purple. Orange-plated goggles adorned his forehead, practically shining in the moonlight.

“What the…how’d…” the other canine muttered, obviously at a loss for words. Sirocco furrowed his brow, continually sizing up the cat to figure out if here were threatening at all. By all accounts, he didn’t look it.

The cat kept walking. His eyes continued to stare at them, even as he passed the first canine completely. The ice-green eyes locked with Sirocco’s blue for only a moment before the golden wonder passed him.

And then, he froze. Turning, he gave them a sideways glance. Something silver was shining on his chest, but the two canines couldn’t make it out. “You know, you’d think a couple of dogs would be the ones being intimidating.” He said, breaking the silence.

The silence returned, however, as Sirocco processed what the cat just said. Finally, with a raised eyebrow and a confused expression, the canine asked, “What…the hell does that mean?”

The cat grinned. “I had to wait for three hours to get you people to show up.” He announced. A heavy sigh followed, accompanied by a quick movement with his right hand. Obviously, the cat was very, very bored. “But whatever. You’ve been caught, Mr. Sirocco. About time, too…Ghost’s been waiting for this.”

With that, the canines’ eyes widened beyond proportion. Sirocco, unarmed, ducked inside the doorway faster than the cat could blink. The other dog brandished a long, metallic object – a silenced handgun. The cat sighed once more. “Why do they always run?”

A loud ‘BANG’ rang out in the dead of the night. The sound had not originated from the canine’s weapon, as a few seconds later he was slumped against the wall of the building, screaming in agony as his shoulder exploded in crimson.

Through a string of obscenities, Zackary Exceleron couldn’t pick out much information from the wounded canine. Shrugging, Zack edged closer to the dog; so close, the screams probably would have shattered his eardrum had he not slammed his right leg in the canine’s unmentionables.

Now that he was too winded to speak much, the dog fell without much resolve to get back up. He still twitched, apparently still struggling with a bullet wound and a kick to the genitals, with eyes as wide as plates. Zack laughed slightly. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get the cops over here real soon. They’ll fix you up, and then you’ll probably suffer something a lot worse in a jail cell.” He taunted.

There was a flash of silver out of the corner of the cat’s eye. Soon enough, Zera Xepherix strode up to Zack’s side, her right hand carrying one of her signature Punisher magnums. The gun itself looked way too large for her, yet she didn’t seem to have much trouble lifting it…and from the looks of the writhing canine, she didn’t have any issues firing it, either. In contrast to her own color style – silver, green, and black for the most part – the gun was jet-black with streaks of bright red and solid white.

“Alright, one down, probably about twenty more or so to go.” Zera mused, reaching to grab her second Punisher from the holster on her left leg.

Zack glanced over at her briefly, and laughed to himself. She was an interesting woman, for sure. He slowly reached inside his long, black coat, and gripped the handle of his own sidearm – a SIG Sauer P239. Normally, he’d carry around two of these lightweight handguns, but considering how easy it was to fool Sirocco and the canine wonder, he figured he wouldn’t have to deal with much.

Zera, however, thought the opposite. As she usually did. There was nothing wrong with preparing for the worst, but sometimes, she came off as one to go in too heavy. Zack recalled a time when one of the new recruits, upon watching the ‘Silver Flame’ walk into a board meeting with both Punishers strapped to her legs, wondered what she was like on a mission. It was similar, but with more violence.

“Should we call this in now, or wait ‘till we nab Sirocco?” the golden cat asked in a whisper, preparing for a door breach maneuver. His question was answered, almost immediately, when he heard Zera begin to report back to headquarters. Zack grinned, and relaxed, waiting for the wolf to finish.

When Zack joined the military superpower of the United Naval Air Force and was given his job at GHOST (formally addressed as Global High-Operation Shock Troopers), society never would have thought he would get along so well with this spirited, yet calculated girl who now trusted him with her life if needed.

He was twenty then, raising through the ranks in record time according to his then-instructor (and still outranking superior), Commander-General Neo Exerik. Only after two or so months, he was ready for the promotion to Captain. “It’s a gift,” he had boasted. Commander Exerik was never too fond of Zack’s ego, however, and as such made the golden cat work even harder.

Zack was so sure he would make Captain, he didn’t even bat an eyelash when the ‘Silver Flame,’ a nickname infamous in the barracks, had been assigned to his squad at the last minute. According to his squad mates, the wolf had seemed to come out of nowhere and was rising through the ranks just as fast as Zack had been, and was also eligible for the position of Captain. The nickname, he’d learned, was a reference to how the wolf moved in battle – “A magnificent white fire, dancing to the beat of Catalyst’s drum,” Sergeant Regulus Katorias recalled.

The to-be Captain didn’t realize who the Silver Flame was until she walked into the briefing room. Obviously, Zack’s spastic reaction to Zera Xepherix raised confusion among his squad and the Commander-General. Zera responded by laughing, a hand on her forehead. She then proceeded with her introduction.

Zera was an amnesiac. To everyone’s great surprise, she had been taken in by Zack’s family when the golden cat found her unconscious on the beach at the age of nine. She was with them for quite some time, and left at the age of twelve. She needed some “time alone;” no one knew it meant she was leaving for good.

The wolf was more than just an asset to the exam that day. She was strategic, ruthless, cunning, and above all, performed actions that seemed too dangerous for most of the rest of the squad to do. The latter even managed to get a raised eyebrow from Neo.

Obviously, both Zera and Zack were promoted afterwards. To the Commander, they had “outperformed previous expectations” and “impressed the Grand Commander himself.” The second statement left them a little dumbfounded until Ryzell “Ghost” Extel, the current Grand Commander of the UNAF and GHOST, emerged from the control room with a congratulatory speech. Apparently, he liked to watch the final exams for his future Captains.

The two Captain weren’t alone, though. Arianna Erendas, a female tiger that Zack had often tried to win over using his less-than-sophisticated demeanor, also rose to the status. The three often combined to form a single, deadly force, along with two veteran Captains by the name of Slyv Sehguz and Blaze Jalero. This did not stop Zera and Zack from working on their own missions, however.

“The cavalry’s on their way.” The wolf announced, signing off of the radio.

Zack nodded, and as an afterthought muttered, “You know, we probably gave them enough time to prepare their counterattack.”

“Yes,” Zera responded. Quickly shutting the safety off for both of her Punishers, she added, “but this is why we have guns.”

“True that.”

With that, Zera smashed open the door and gave her welcoming hail.

—

End Chapter One

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