"Three more terrorist bombings in New York City today. What has now become known as the "City of War" is slowly becoming hell for it's citizens. Police units and Terrorists continue the standoff at the Empire State Building, which has been severly damaged. Dozens of smaller buildings around it are gone, and I don't know how much longer it's going to hold. The S.F.U. has been seen....."

Zero turned the television off, and lit up another cigarette. He glanced quickly over at the clock as he put back his lighter. 2:00 am was earlier than any human should be up, he thought. Without anything good on television, and not wanting to waste his special Cigs in boredom, he picked up "trophies", and began to polish them. He only had two trophies. One was the badge of a drunken Cop who had been beating on two children, and the other was the bronzed head of what Zero believed was partially responsible for his family's death.

He was rudely awakened from his polishing when a knock came at his door.

"Oi! Zero! Mission time!"

Sighing, he left his old, squeaky chair, and walked to the door. The floorboards creaked under his weight as he picked up the envelope. In it were orders. He sat down and read it to himself. He had spent many years learning English, and prided himself on his ability to speak it with any accent.

The letter read as follows:

"Shadow Codename Zero,

You're being assigned to the Empire State. You have two weeks to take down the major leaders there. No restrictions on means, including use of explosives. Civilian casualties are to be ignored. Whoever controls that building has a formidable bunker, and it must be removed.

- Section 13"

Zero immediatly forgot the trophies and polish, and rushed into his kitchen. He removed all the plates and cups from the cabinet, revealing two hinges. He found the small grip to the side, and pulled. Both his weapons were there, except his knife. His knife was already strapped to his boot. Grabbing both, Zero headed out.

He could almost smile as he left.

"Ah....The night is clear and young. Just like home. Tonight is a beautiful night for freedom."

Pollution. Oh how I despise these men who brought it and still bring it upon the world. Thought Vincent as he gazed through the sixty-ninth floor’s window of the Empire State Building. But to rid the world of this pest, you need to use the means which will pollute it even further. How ironic. Not to mention how hypocritical of me. But I can bare with my own hypocrisy for it is made of my ideals. Then he took a deep breath inhaling the air through his nose. What atrocious air. How malevolent can these creatures, to which I too belong, be. How I long for the freshness and freedom of Alaska. But I had to leave. The temptation to see a different scenery was a bit too strong, and I succumbed to it. Now, when I want to go back, I can not.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. It was a voice of profanity which preached of religion. A paradox. These men, not all but some, find reason for their misdeeds in the marrow of religion, but do not care if religion prohibits certain actions. Conceited were these men, and ignorant as well. Ignorant of their leader’s thoughts, ideals and plans. Just pawns, expendable pawns. Vincent too was one of them. Just another pawn.

“Hey Mortis, the boss said you should go a dozen or so floors down to watch for any attempted attacks.” The voice said. It had an air of uneasiness about it. Weren’t all of these barely organized terrorists oblivious of what is about to happen the next moment or the next day or the next week? That is what poured fear inside their minds. The uncertainty.

“I told you not to call me that anymore.” He said still looking through the window.

“Yeah? Well I don’t remember. Go down as you are told.” The man started to get a bit vexed.

“I can see properly with these binoculars.”

The man grabbed Vincent’s shoulder and turned him around with such force that, Vincent thought, could, if a bit more abruptly it happened, dislocate his shoulder. “Listen to me ‘boy’, I will not waste another second on a ragtag like yourself! If you will not listen to what I tell you, then your body would be better off flying off of this building.” His sanguine, bloodstained eyes told of his impregnable seriousness.

For a moment Vincent looked at him without interest and then, with a casual gait, left for the elevator.

The stone floor was cold and damp, puddles littered amongst the piles of rubble and debris from shards of glass to the bodies of humans and animals alike. The first thing Sayuri noticed was the smell. It flooded his nostrils and made his stomach churn and it took most of his willpower to stop him from vomiting. It didnt matter what he was told as a young army recruit, by the soldiers that served with him, or even the Shadow Guard. He could never get used to the smell of death, and it often followed behind him, like a shadow.

His long brown trenchcoat floated in the breeze as he walked up the stairwell and finally onto the 30th floor of the building closest the the Empire State. The windows were shattered, and what had obviously been an office block now lay in ruins.
"Okay," he muttered, sitting down on the wet floor. He'd have liked to have had a cigarette but unfortunately, had run out. Upon entering the city his car was attacked by a mob and overturned, and though he got away with nothing more than scratches, he'd lost his extra bag. Now he carried only his sniper rifle and his sidebag. But it only had a few extra rounds, rations, toilet roll, and a few bottles of water. His knife and pistol was inside as he rarely used them.

The wet floor was now seeping through his black combat trousers and made him uncomfortable but he'd suffered much worse. He looked at his right arm for a few seconds, staring blankly at it. Upon joining the Shadow Guard he had had bionics forced upon him. He didnt know how other people would feel being in the same situation, but with a bionic eye and arm he felt less than human.
He sighed and checked his ammo, the rifle was fully loaded. He put the barrel of the rifle on the window ledge and slowly lowered his eye to the scope.

"So, what can we see?" He asked himself aloud. He scanned the windows of the Empire State building slowly, checking each room as he went. But eventually he came to a stop. Two men were attacking a young woman in the room he was looking at. They ripped at her shirt and one of them sank their hand into her jeans. Rape? He thought. Perhaps there are worse things than metal that make you less than humans, and more than just monsters.
He took aim, adjusted his scope for the light wind coming from the west and steadied himself. He held his breath for a moment, cursed God for not taking these things into his own hands, and fired. The vigilante's surprised expression lessened so as he hit the ground, a bullet wound in his neck. The other man drew his pistol and started looking for the gunman that had killed his friend, but he was searching inside the room. Sayuri decided that some people just deserved to go to hell and pulled the trigger for a second time, hitting the man in the back of his head, spraying the room with a red fog. The woman screamed and ran from the room and he pulled himself back and sat back on the floor, drained of the energy that he had not minutes ago.

[OOC: Remeber to turn off Signatures here. And Agent, use a different talking format. It's still a story, not a play.]

[IC]

Zero climbed silently up maintenance stairs of the Empire State Building. The deep black of night engulfed him, rendering him an invisible black shadow against the buildings wall. No creak gave warning to the sound of him, to the sound of approaching death. He screwed on the silencer, and leaned cautiously over towards the window. There was several terrorists in the room, but none ranked high enough for him to consider killing them. He wasn't a fighter, he was silent death.

A crackle of his radio almost gave away his position. He quickly ducked back into the stairs, and saw the light from the room outline a Terrorist on the nearby wall. He talked quietly into his microphone.

"What! I'm in the middle of a mission here!"

The voice crackled back, and Zero turned down the headset. After a slight adjustment to the frequency, the voice came through clear.

"....there is another Shadow in your area. A sniper. I'm sending the information into your H.U.D. now, including the frequency. He could help."

Zero checked the information quickly, formulating a plan in his head. He changed the frequency on his headset to the one given to him.

"Hello! This is Codename Zero of the Shadow Guard. Do you read me! I repeat, do you read me?"

[OOC: He's talkin to your character Val]

Agent, this is NOT the OOC thread. You don't post stuff like this here. Please do so in the correct thread next time.

--

Valkyrie had been stalking them since she spotted them on the corner of Broadway and East 23rd street after making her way out of the subway station nearby. A small group of terrorist commandos, probably 3 or 4 men, making their way north toward the Empire State Building. They were so focused on their tasks that they didn't even notice her pursuit. By the time they crossed West 30th, she had caught up. The straggler with the RPG was the first one to get his throat cut. She stowed his body beneath a slab of broken concrete. Pulling out her silenced SOCOM, she picks off the leader, who was apparently wearing a suicide vest. With his last muscle spasm, he manages to set the vest off, much to the displeasure of his comrade, who ended up full of holes. Valkyrie, able to deflect some of the shrapnel that reached her with her sword, takes aim at the last terrorist, who leveled his AK at her. Before he could pull the trigger, her sword was sticking out of his chest, lodged cleanly in his heart.

After cleaning her weapon, she gets on her radio.

"Agent, codename Valkyrie. Approaching Empire State via Broadway. Four hostiles down, one wearing a vest. Proceeding to Empire State to await further instruction. Over."

OOC: Well, duh, Vlad. Lol. *pokes*
==============================

The static crackle of Sayuri's headphone radio came from his bag, he wiped a bead of sweat from the end of his nose and flicked it away and took the headset from his bag.
"This is Pharaoh, Sniper division, first class." He took a deep breath and pulled the headset off and threw it across the ground. For the first time he noticed that his left hand was shaking, he clenched his fist and tried to slow his breathing.
"Smoke?" He muttered to himself, smelling the air suspiciously.

He stood and grabbed his bag and headset, shouldering his rifle. Smoke doesnt just come from nowhere, smoke leads to fire and if there's a fire in the building it could all collapse. He quickly ran into the stairwell and looked over the railing. Already flames were snaking their way up the steps.
"#####." He wiped some of the brown hair out of his eyes and thought quickly. But if the flames were already in the stairwell was that it? Was he dead? There was no way he could grapple down the building, he had no rope. Walking through flames didnt seem like the best solution to the problem either.

He ran back into the office block and started to hun through the cubicles for a map or blueprint of the building, yet he felt his luck was running out, as there didnt seem to be any. Not that he could find. Next floor.
The stairwell was engulfed in flame now, the heat almost unbearable, he charged up the stairs and opened the door to the next floor. There, at the far end of the room, was a map. He ran up to it, short of breath and dehydrated. Sayuri yanked it from the wall and put it on the floor and knelt over it.
The map showed a second stairwell, he could get to the ground floor from there but he would have to pass the stairwell he'd just run up. He opened the door and found the flames were now only a few floors down. He licked his lips, and closed his eyes. He was glad he'd brought water. He grabbed two of the bottles from his bag and poured the first over his head, soaking himself, then he started to run down the steps. Hot and cold, it made him feel strange, and as the heat began to burn he threw the second bottle of water over his head and finally reached the right floor and smashed the door open with a shoulder barge. Closing it behind him. Now he only had to get to the bottom floor and out in one piece.

Alferei inhaled deeply but steadily, keeping his finger out of the trigger guard as he lay prone, his body curled over a pile of fallen concrete. His dark grey ghillie suit he had designed to catch dirt from the surroundings, so that he would blend in easier. His cheek rested on the buttstock of the sniper rifle, and he looked through the scope at the Empire State building from over 500 metres away.

"See anything?" asked Brandon with his machinegun in hand, leaning against the pile of debris, behind Alferei, who was on top of it and sandwiched between the wall and the debris pile. The man had camouflaged himself well.

"Stop asking," he hissed as he blinked and focused once more on the building. The radio strapped to his skeleton battle order crackled to life.

"Nikita, 20th Floor, centre from your side," said Wilhelm. Alferei heeded the stern voice, and brought his weapon to bear. The windows had all been shattered, and he saw vigorous movement. He followed it, and saw that a man had been taken hostage. The left-handed terrorist brought a pistol to the man's neck, and seemed to be shouting at several people. He inhaled deeply as he calculated and estimated mentally where his rifle should be pointing to compensate for the wind and gravity. He exhaled, and his aim was steadied.

He heard his own heart beating, and it seemed to drown out everything else as he tugged on the trigger.



The bullet left the rifle, speeding towards its intended target. He observed as the terrorist's head split in half, the bullet punching through and launching blood into the air.

"Confirmed, Tango is down. Good shot," said Wilhelm. Alferei breathed and slowly slithered backwards down the debris pile.

"We're moving already?" asked Brandon.

"That's right. Movement is usually one minute after the first shot, or after the third shot, whichever is quicker. But I'm not sticking around here. Let's go," he said as he slithered more while Brandon crouched and walked forward, towards the damaged door. He spoke into the radio, saying, "Victor Three."

"Roger," confirmed Wilhelm, speaking into the microphone. He let go of the button, and turned to Katrine. "Nikita's moving to the next vantage point." Katrine nodded, and noted the time, location and target on her notepad.

Brandon and Alferei snuck their way into another room on a different floor in the building...

Zero didn't have time to wait for a confirmation. He had to act now, before his chance was gone.

He started moving back up the side of the Empire State, until he had to break from exhaustion. He pulled his knife from his boot, and smashed the nearby window in. A small group of terrorists, about three, walked into the room. Zero pulled out a Flashbang, and chucked it in. There were screams as the grenade exploded, but Zero was quick to end them.

The next terrorist who came in only saw the three dead bodies, and blood splattered on the walls. There were bullet holes in each of their heads, but no trace of who had killed them. Zero was content to let it stay that way.

A handful down, an army to go....he thought bitterly. He hoped his objective was close, because the building was crawling with heavily armed terrorists.

He slowly let himself down from the open ceiling, but only after a quick check of the ventilation system. This level had been completely blocked off, with several bodies of both police and terrorist forces clogging the vents. Zero would have to make it on foot, a prospect that somehow held very little appeal to him.

Tommy sat there watching the rich man cower in the corner. "Just give you damned keys moron, or I'll blow your head off." The man yelled, and drew out a desert eagle. His head was gone in no time. "Yay for me." HE danced in a little circle, "I have a new gun." He took the keys off of the dead mans body, and the desert eagle. He dug through the rest of the house, and after a thorough search, he left with pletiful ammo, and a 74 corvette stingray.

While he was flying down the road towards the emipre state building. Soon he was close. Seeing a flipped car he takes advantage and uses it like a ramp. Flying through the air he lands on what appeared to be several cops. He quickly leaves the vehicle, grabbing a SPAS off of the ground, and lots of ammo, stuffing it into a backpack. HE runs for the building killing several people on his way. He enters the building and heads directlky for the elavator shaft.

"Time for BOOM, AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" He pulls out a home made bomb, and blows open the elavator door. He enters the shaft and climbs down into the basement stroage room. Running around until he heard someone reloading a shotgun. He creeps towards the sound intending to surprise whoever it was. He swings around the corner, and blows the handle with his Semi-auto shotgun. And carges in, just to find some grumpy looking man drinking a beer. He swings around pulling out his recently stolen desert eagle, and puts to the mans head. Offering a handshake with his other hand. "Why hello there, Who might you be." Tommy asks very blankly. He puts the gun away and smiles at the man. "I am Tommy."

ooc: HI THERE AGENT RETROSPECT!!! SURPIIISE!!!!

Tommy grabs the barrel of the shotgun and pushes it down, "No need to get violent here, by the way, I think we should take the stairwell. I set off a bomb by the elavator. It probally didn't work before hand, but it don't work now." He smiled and picked up his SPAS12. Pulling ammo out of bag, he threw some to Joseph.

"Sounds ridiculous." He smiles and then, "But fun, lets do it." He pumps his shotgun and looks at it. "Wow, this should be fun." he stares at the gun blankly for a second. Then looks up. He suddenly begins to laugh histerically, and runs out the door, "Lets get this show on the road." He fires a few rounds pointlessly, and then he stops. "Hurry up, we ain't got all day."

"These damn Police have got the entire building surrounded. If it wasn't so valuable, then I guess we could just blow it up, and be done with it. I hate being trapped in large spaces like this."

The terrorist's partner nodded. A slight clanging noise drew both of their attention, and the talkative one went looking over by the piping. He picked up a small piece of metal.

"Bah. One of the screws came loose. This place freaks me out. It's all quiet and empty, and there's thick rugs everywhere. You know what I'm saying?"

He checked his AK-74, and blew a bit of ash off it. As he held it up to the light, he heard a muffled cry coming from behind, followed by a soft thump.

"Hey? You alright there buddy?"

As he looked around the corner, a bullet pierced his brain before he could react. Zero walked quickly to the body, and checked the pulse. Nothing. He placed his pistol back in it's holster. Seven shots so far. Six kills. And even better, he found a clear ventilation shaft, meaning he didn't have to walk around in the open so much.

He ducked down, and picked up the mans gun. He had kept it very clean. The paint had been chipped off enough so that the metal showed, and it was polished enough to act as a crude mirror. It was distracting enough for Zero to almost miss the high pitched squeal of a tank shell. He ducked quickly under a heavy desk, as the shell exploded two floors above him. Debris and dust covered the desk when he got out from under it, but he was unharmed. Unharmed, for the moment. He knew that it wouldn't last long, especially if who he thought would be there was. And they were. He heard the megafone, confirming his fears.

"Attention Combatants! This is the S.F.U.! Surrender now or die! This is your only warning!"

Zero knew that time was of the essence. He climbed atop the pile of rubble, and got into the Vent. This one wouldn't be dented, but two levels up would be impassable. He made his way as fast as he could, knowning that the sound of feet know could mean death.

Tommy slides over the hood, killing a pretty much dead man by smashing his head into the concrete as he lands on the other side. Swinging open the door Tommy jumps into the vehicle. He climbs into the back and opens the doors. Laying on the ground, he sets up a heavy machine gun he had pulled off of the wall in the back. "Lets go!!!"

Tiffiny Runs around the corner, and heads down the stairs. Knowing she is not being followed, she heads around the corner and opens the bathroom door. Walking inside she quickly closes it, and locks it. "Were the bloody hell is Tommy at this time, Late again I presume."

"Wait, I'M LATE!!!!" Tommy jumps out of the back of the vehicle and high jacks the nearest vehicle. Quickly he drives out of town in the all terrain millitary hummer. Soon he is out of site and near the train station that was abandoned several years ago. He ditches the hummer in an ally way, and runs the next 5 blocks to the train station. Running down the stairs he swings around the corner and pulls out his key. HE unlocks the door to the bathroom and burst in.

"I am so sorry ma'am," he sits down and begins to polish his gun.

Laying down on his stomach behind a vehicle, Chrome aimed his sniper rifle at a soldier running down the street in the opposite direction as him. Pulling the trigger, he watched as a few moments later the man collapsed to the ground. Quickly getting up and hanging close to the edge of the building, he approached the corpse. Checking the body for possible weapons, he kept glancing up to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. Finding on the body a shotgun, he inspected it. There was only one round left in it, but that would do. Seeing nothing else that he could take, he quickly left the area.

Running along the street with the sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and the shotgun in his hand, Chrome stopped as he reached the corner of a building. Peering around the corner he saw the Empire State Building surrounded by soldiers. From this far away he couldn’t make out whether they were friend or foe. Most likely they were an enemy.

At any rate, it would be impossible for him to get inside there now. What was he to do? He couldn’t possibly dream of even taking one of them out without the whole lot of them seeing him. Heading back the way he came while checking over his shoulder every once in a while, Chrome tried to think. He could always just pick off the stray terrorist soldiers that he came across, but what if he found other individuals that would join up with him to try and take back the Empire State Building?

{OOC: Hope this is okay. Also, sorry it’s short, I just wanted to get my character into this.}

Alferei breathed deep and observed the Empire State Building.

"Anything of interest?" he asked Brandon, who relayed it to the team with his radio.

"Anything of interest?"

"Nothing worth your bullet yet," reported Wilhelm. "There'll be something soon enough. Just keep yourself alert." The German man kept his hands on his pistol, observing with binoculars the building. A small file full of range cards drawn by Alferei to mark out ranges, target areas and line of sight and fire in relation to various vantage points sat before him. when they changed areas, Wilhelm would flip to the appropriate one and work with him from there. "Katrine, anything new?"

"Nothing from any of my contacts other than that there's total chaos inside the structure," she reported flatly as she cleaned the submachine gun in her hands.

"Hold on," hissed Alferei. "Hostile sniper sighted. 30th floor, my side. First window from the left."

"Whiskey Kilo, hostile sniper. 30th floor, my side. First window from left. Confirm, over," relayed Brandon as Alferei steadied his aim on the man.

"Roger that. Sniper spotted."

"Get down!" hissed Alferei.

"Take cover!" relayed Brandon. Wilhelm and Katrine ducked down low just as an anti-tank rocket blasted the wall of a building next to theirs.

"Shift location," commanded Alferei.

"Shift location immediately, over."

"I read you, I read you. Shut up and let me run!" shouted the German man as he pulled Katrine away from the hide. "Move it!"

"So he was directing rockets?"

"Yes..." said Alferei as he breathed out, steadying his aim for the shot. In... Out...

BANG.

A spray of red filled the window for a moment, and the sniper crumpled to the ground.

Running back down West 31st Street to West 30th Street, away from the Empire State Building, Chrome kept an eye on his surroundings. It would be fatal if he came into close contact with an enemy, as he only had one shot in the shotgun. Before he found other vigilantes in the city, he would need to make sure he found more ammunition.

Looking around, he tried to find a store. Of course, since this was a warzone it was unlikely anyone would be inside the shops. He would have to steal everything, unless his concious became unbearable and he left a charitable donation...But that would most likely be stolen by somebody else in turn. It would be a pointless gesture. Then again, he realized he didn’t know that there would be any gunshops nearby. He would simply have to keep looking around for soldiers and their spoils they carried with them. Or, he could find others like him who could share...But he was starting to think everybody was inside the State Building.

A sudden sound of feet came to him from the right. Ducking down behind a dumpster in an alleyway, he put the shotgun in his belt and took out his sniper rifle. Glancing past the dumpster to the left, he saw a group of three soldiers coming at him from the Madison Square Garden. None of them carried rifles, so if he was going to stand a chance against them, he’d have to shoot now. Unless he made a run for it down a different street, got into one of the houses, and shot from there. It was risky, but he’d be shot if he stayed where he was. They were too close now, almost to the beginning of the alley on the opposite end.

Edging away from the dumpster while keeping an eye on the approaching soldiers, Chrome cut through a yard to enter the house that was on the edge of the alley. He tried to use a lock pick to open the door, but he couldn’t get it to budge. The sound of feet was louder now, seeming to come almost from the middle of the alley. If he didn’t hurry up, they would no doubt find him. He didn’t know if they were going to take a right and run into him, or if they would be taking a left. He prayed it would be a left down the way to West 32, but he couldn’t be sure. He stood there, fumbling with the door, praying they would not take a right turn.

{OOC: Sorry for the double post.}

IC:

As the soldiers took a left down 6th Avenue to go to West 32nd Street, Chrome gave a sigh of relief, then berrated himself for doing so. It was likely they would still be able to hear him, so it would be better off for him if he remained as silent as possible. For him to have a face-to-face confrontation now would be devastating. Armed with two throwing knives, one bullet in a shotgun, and a sniper rifle that would do no good up close, he wouldn’t stand much of a chance. However, if they got far enough down the street, and if he could find a quiet way to get into the house, he could try sniping them. Though since there were three, he’d have to duck down fast after he shot the first, otherwise the others would know his exact location, if not his estimated location. He needed the element of surprise on his side for this to work.

Or, he could let them go unharmed... It would certainly reduce the risk factor for him...But he couldn’t do that. These men are a part of an even beigger organization that prides itself in destruction of others lives and instilling fear in their victims. They claim a rightous reason for this, but for Chrome, he could only see it as the brutal murder of innocents for the pleasures of insane men.

Chrome could not simply let these men just walk away. He was fighting for his county, fighting to protect his city from these men. They came to destroy it, so he had no choice but to destroy them. Carefully and as quietly as possible, he peered around the corner of the house. The soldiers were well on their way to West 31st Street now.

Immediately turning his attention to the door, Chrome searched his pockets. His hand closed around a pin and he took it out. I had forgotten this...Fumbling with his fingers, he tried to unlock the door. He began to grow nervous. When was the last time he had checked his surroundings? was anybody behind him? Finally he heard a small click and the door opened slightly. Pushing it open all the way, he quickly ran up the stairs. Finding a room with a balcony facing 6th Avenue, he opened it.

He aimed the rifle at the unsuspecting targets, but his finger hesitated on the trigger. The three soldiers were already to the corner of West 34th Street, close to the State Building and its soldiers. Had it really taken him so long that they were that far away? Should he fire on them now or let them go? Bringing his rifle back in, he ducked away from the window went back downstairs. It hadn’t been worth it, this whole fiasco. Exiting the home, he walked back out onto West 30th Street and continued skulking in the shadows. He search until he found another Vigilante, or until he found a lone terrorist he could take out and retrieve ammo from.