Icarus Guild: The Renaissance Incident

LET'S PLAY WHACK-A-BOT!

Lanza spotted Elisa in her Commandant uniform, leaning over what he figured to be maps.
Avoiding the human traffic, he headed to the small podium in front of the glass planes.
The podium was pretty big and for one embarrassing moment, Lanza didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, Elisa gestured to him over the crowd. She cupped her hands and blew into it. Speak, Lanza realised
By now, almost every crew member had gathered round the podium. Maybe it was his natural charisma? ( It was probably because the guy had gathered the crew up, but hey, self inspiration never hurts.)
“ Good evening, crew of Valhalla. Thanks to your excellent support, we have managed to cover the one seventy miles between Arkansas and Memphis, in a mere forty minutes. However, it is time I clarify the objectives of the mission to you.”
Lanza paused for breath. He had managed to get their attention.
“ As you know, we are chasing after Sakyo Grimhart, the mastermind criminal of CERO. He has been heading towards Cairo......”
“ Why?”, a voice from the crowd interrupted.
Lanza glanced at the guy who had spoken. Spiky hair, tattooed arms. He knew his type. He was the one to cause trouble.
“ Initiate?”
“ Yes?”, the guy taunted him with sarcasm-dipped tones.
“ I can clearly see you have no discipline in your bones. You might as well hear me speak, because it would mean the difference between you and your death.”
“ You won’t kill me.”, he lashed back.
“ You are right.”, Lanza tapped his shoes on the wooden stage, “ Sakyo will.”
That shut him up effectively. At least for the moment.
Lanza began, “ With Sakyo, there is usually a trick beneath a trick. I would like all of you to stay alert for any changes in courses he makes. We can’t trace Sakyo, but we sure can trace the Renaissance’s CORE. I want a pair of ears maintaining contact with the guild.”
“ Why stop at Memphis then?”, a burly build squad technician asked, “ Shouldn’t we be running full steam ahead?”
“ According to our Intel, Sakyo made a stop at Memphis. The city has been named after the ancient Memphis, the capital of Old Egypt. Cairo and Memphis. With Sakyo, there aren’t many coincidents. He is going to screw big time with ancient weapon technology, if you pardon my language. Besides, there is something else I need to check.”
“ What?”
“ During World War II, this exact place was CERO'S base. We don’t know much about CERO, I was hoping to uncover some clues.”
“ Wait. What the hell is this CERO? “, a heal squad girl asked.
“ CERO. Co- ordinated Endeavour in Re-Organisation.  Despite the fancy name, what CERO wants is military control over every nation of the world. During the 1980s, they went quite far with this, signing military treaties with countries like Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Ceylon ,Pakistan. In the countries defence there wasn’t much they could do. CERO followed terror tactics. It usually sent minions out to capture the top- brass of the government, with their superior technology. However, once the United Nations were formed, thanks to the efforts of countries across the globe, CERO was forced to back- track. The Guild played quite a role in this, sealing away legendary weapons. Their existence was wiped out from every possible government records. Otherwise, with post- war tensions brewing, the situation would have turned disastrous. Finally, at the Geneva conference of the UNO, the Guild managed to win over countries to their side. CERO was forced to nullify its military treaties and was reduced to a business corporation. No wonder they want revenge on the Guild. After all, we haven’t been very kind to their purpose.”
Lanza paused, looking into the stunned eyes of his audience.
“ We have known, CERO has been keeping up its dirty work. They hire master criminals like Sakyo for their purpose. And that’s not the worst. Like the Guild, they have their own collection of legendary arms.”
“ The Guild has cooperated with the Scotland Yard. But somehow, they manage to erase every hint of their dirty work. Sakyo, is in fact, in the Red Book for eight suspected murders. “
“ So, now that we have got evidence, shouldn’t we gather all the global military and crush CERO?”, another young Scorch Squad guy spoke up.
“ No.”, it was Kai who answered for him.
“ It is exactly what CERO wants”, Elisa explained.” Information on CERO is closely guarded. By the time, an allied force could be formed, it would take months. Besides, it involves the risk of revealing the existence of legendary weapons. How would you feel when you feel that miniscule sense of security around you vanish? Trust me, mass panic isn’t something you would like to induce.”
“ That’s true.”, Lanza agreed, “ However none of us can rest in peace with the CORE in Sakyo’s hands. None of you have any idea how powerful CORE is. It can make the NEXUS server, the centre of the GlobNet , look like a baby in his crib. If Sakyo decides to leak out word on the CORE, an alliance would be impossible. You don’t know how complicated international politics is. Sakyo could very well bribe nations to his side, luring them with the power of the CORE.”
“ Then why is he heading to Cairo?”
“ That’s the elephant in the room we need to address. We could wait to hear from the Intel Division, but I doubt much could be found. Anyway, me and Kai would be going down into the city. As the build squad technicians know, Valhalla mimicks the OSPREY technology of the US Air Force. Despite technically being an airplane, it can hover in its place by shifting the angle of its propellers. We would be sending you the exact location of our landing. If we don’t return within an hour, go back to the Guild as fast as you can and inform Wallace. And if any one of you messes with the ship, I will have you face Arden when we be back. “
Lanza stopped to take a breath. The speech hadn’t been an exact morale booster. He could see the crestfallen faces, and the fear in their eyes. He needed to keep the team spirit up? What would have Wallace done?
He caught Elisa's eye in the front. She seemed to know exactly what was going on in his mind. Smile, she mouthed.
And Lanza smiled. Not for himself, but for the crew who had risked their lives to fulfil their duty.
“ Don’t worry. We will make it back. Do you think Wallace would let me rest in peace if I die on his chair? He would just hitch a ride to the underworld and I would be lectured for eternity. Besides, I don’t want Arden calling us ‘ losers'. “
That got a lot of the crew cracking. Lanza himself burst into laughter. It was idiotic to laugh at ones own joke, but he didn’t care. He would take every opportunity he had to relieve the stress.
Lanza stepped down from the podium and walked towards Kai. A silver chain glowed on his waist belt. The camouflage of his bow.
“ You ready?”
For the first time in the past day, Kai smiled, “ I have been itching to get out.”
“ Where is Elsa? “ , Lanza wondered.
“Polishing her shield. She is in bunk 2A.”, Kai answered.
Lanza groaned inwardly. Once she got down to polishing, she wasn’t going to budge for hours. She was pretty meticulous about it, cleaning every speck of dust with a spotless white cloth.
“ Boys, you need to see this.”, Elisa called them over.
She was leaning on some old map sketch in a diary.
“ I found this among Wallace’s old papers.”
Lanza looked at what she was pointing. It was an old sketch and the paper was frayed at the edges. But the drawing was sharp and clear.
“ This is the Mississippi, right?”, Lanza ran his hands down a pair of lines.
Elisa nodded.
“ Its from during the war. The Guild was mapping this area for prospective settlement on Mississippi’s banks. Guess what the black cross is?”, her finger pointed to a small cross on the riverside.”
“ You don’t say.”, Lanza felt adrenaline rush up his veins., “ CERO'S base?”
“ The old one.”, Elisa agreed.
“Where is this place now?”, Lanza was starting to tremble from excitement.
“ That is a bit of a problem.”
“ Why?”
Elisa pointed out of the glass plane. Lanza followed her gaze. The Memphis Pyramid stood silently on the city line, watching over like the Ancient Pharaohs.
“ Oh, that.”
“ The base should be somewhere below the thing. CERO handed it over to the private sector once they abandoned their old base.”, Elisa informed.
Lanza sighed. Nothing was ever easy for him.
“ Kai?”
“ Hm?”
“ It’s time to play tourist.”