Viper
Their briefing and departure would be in several hours. Wolf had made off to inform the others and leave instructions, while Viper was left to prepare their gear. There was usually more time for that, as they had a designated recovery time after they had been on a mission.
It was highly unusual for them to have to bounce from mission to mission on a moment's notice, but that did not mean it had never happened before.
Viper moved around the facility's armoury, restocking whatever he felt they would need, while taking notes for whoever would be put on tech support for the mission, so they would know any requests or missing gear.
Most of what he refilled was knives, though he considered bringing some of the heavier explosives. Given the nature of the mission, he wasn't sure they would be useful. No, he had to rephrase that, he wasn't sure that level of destruction was desirable for the mission.
And if destruction was required for some reason or other, their handler would just call for extermination protocols, meaning the explosives would most likely be unnecessary. He moved past them, making sure to instead note down for tech support to make sure that both he and his brother would have spare materials stored in their amulets.
After he had taken care of mission supplies and moved to the large, empty briefing room, he found himself in a rare situation: he truly had nothing better to do than wait and think. As he did, his mind conjured up scenarios from previous missions. It was something he had trained himself to do, always assessing his own actions, analysing them and improving his approach. It was something he could do even when his mind was occupied by other things.
He started moving, following the steps his mind told him he should have taken, while thinking about what had happened only hours earlier. Something about that mission had rubbed him the wrong way. He'd always believed that his kind's servitude was only temporary, but he'd always focussed on finding the ideal moment to strike, rather than the soonest. Yet now his mind was running in circles, arriving at the same conclusion at every given opportunity: he wanted out. Or rather, he wanted to turn all the skills and abilities they had so painfully ingrained into him, and turn them against those that fancied themselves his masters.
"Wolf is the problem in all that."
He'd barely noticed Greyhound approaching, until the old man had started talking. Viper did not stop moving, but his mind now focussed on the old man, rather than his own uneasy thoughts.
Greyhound continued after Viper remained quiet, though not without some input on the younger Warslave's technique.
"Keep your left elbow closer to your side. Wolf needs to be convinced before those thoughts go anywhere."
"What thoughts?"
It came out more aggressive than Viper had meant.
"Please, it's painted all over your face. And you're not the only one. Spider, Scorpion, Wildcat, Caracal, Bullshark and Fox have the exact same thoughts and want to put them into action. Some others would be harder to convince, Jackal, Bear and Tiger mainly. The others have thought about it, as far as I know, but thinking and doing are entirely different things."
"And you think I would act."
"I know you."
"Not without-"
"Not without your brother, I know. Having him on our side before we act would be best, given his position. We'd have a hard times convincing the doubters without him, and Spider and Bullshark would outright follow him, regardless of their own opinions."
Viper stopped, looking at the old Warslave.
"And what exactly do you expect me to do about it?"
"Just talk to him."
"... Have you talked to anyone else about this?"
"Not yet. You and Wolf first, the rest will either fall in line, or at least not get in the way."
"Give him time, he'll come around on his own."
Greyhound shook his head.
"Project's finished. They have a mass producible product, with all the useful telepathic resonances they could want. Sure, the commercial line is weaker than us, but can we fight three of them each? We'll need to strike before Warslaves become widespread, or we risk a prolonged war."
"We'll manage."
Wolf
"Gather round, children. I have a few words for the lot of you."
Wolf hadn't yelled, but everyone in the training hall had heard him either way, no matter how noisy their training. It took no time for them to gather around their commander, each of them waiting for what he had to say, though not all of them were as interested as others.
"Viper and I are going to be deployed again-"
Lion almost stumbled over his words.
"But-... but you just got back!"
"Thank you, I am fully aware of that. Now if you've nothing else to add, I will continue."
"Oh... sorry. Didn't mean to say that out loud."
"We'll be out for an indetermined amiunt of time, given that we are going to have to play bodyguards for a poli-"
Wildcat burst out in laughter, earning him several annoyed looks, which he ignored.
"How dead do they want the guy?"
"Are you done?"
"Sorry, I just... you? Playing a bodyguard? I have to see that."
"Right, if you're done with your little outburst, I can continue. I would appreciate it if I could finish without being interrupted after every sentence."
Caracal saw her chance as soon as he said that.
"Well, we can't promise anything."
"Okay, I want everyone to take their right hand and place it over their mouths. Now if you can all just shut the fuck up, I can continue. During our absence, Greyhound and Scorpion are in charge-"
"Yes sir, won't let you down."
"Scorpion, hand over mouth, now-... wait: sir really?"
She'd already placed her hand over her mouth, but even then Wolf could tell she was grinning as she nodded her head enthusiastically. He just decided to ignore it for now.
"Stormcrow, Swallow, I would have liked to oversee your initial training myself for a while, to see how far along you are at this point. Greyhound will take up your training as he normally would, but I also want Dragon and Bullshark to keep an eye on you two."
Both of the older Warslaves nodded at their commander, not taking their hand away from their mouth.
"Fox, I wanna talk to you in private once everyone goes back to training. Now, to close off: everyone make sure you behave. I don't want to hear anything about bad behaviour. Stick to your routines and execute your missions as they come up. That's all."
As the others left, he and Fox were left behind. The younger Warslave had never been the model of patience, but Wolf thought she was unusually jumpy that day.
"So, what's the deal, boss?"
"Once we're out of earshot. When I said in private, I meant the others weren't meant to hear it."
"As long as it's not anything weird-"
"I might tear your spine out depending on what you say next."
"That's really your favourite threat, isn't it?"
Wolf considered that question with more care than Fox had probably meant him to.
"I guess so. Because it's nice and messy, usually shuts people up. Especially because if you do it right, the victim can survive and be miserable for the rest of their life. Provided it's not the whole spine, of course."
"Morbid... but true. Might start using it."
"Can highly recommend."
They had to give up their amulets as soon as they left the training room, which made them feel smaller as they walked through the cold metal hallways of the facility. Still, they would have to bear with the discomfort, simply because the training hall always had people listening in, while the hallways were far less secure, thanks to a few well placed saboteurs amongst the technicians.
"Alright, that's far enough out."
Wolf turned around to look at his companion, shaking his head as he saw her grin.
"Wipe that smirk off your face."
"Oh please, you're gonna tell me to steal something. Spider's collection of trophies? Greyhound's knives? C'mon, tell me."
"Kid, you are way too happy about this."
"It's what I do best, and I don't get to do it a lot."
"I know, but this time you'll not be stealing from our own people."
"Oh? Do tell, what're you after, boss?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Security keys. Four or five. Steal 'em and drop 'em off with Stormcrow. Tell him to keep them hidden for me, just in case."
"Why him? He's just one of the newbies, didn't think you'd trust him that much yet."
"One: his Core is obedience, and something tells me he's a lot more willing to use that in our favour than for the benefit of the humans. Two: you'll be the first suspect if anything goes missing, given you're a known kleptomaniac. Three: he seems to be good at hiding stuff. I'd even go so far as to say it would appear to be his primary skill."
Fox shrugged with another grin.
"Well, shit, you actually put some thought into this. So what'd you need those security keys for?"
"Like I said, just in case. The project is complete, which means they will soon start disposing of the ones among us they think of as faulty in some way. I wanna be able to do something about that."
"So what? Sure they might rid us of Caracal, or hopefully Spider, and-"
"Kid, they're still our kin. That's all that matters."
The sudden anger in his voice made Fox fall silent for a moment. He recomposed himself before he continued.
"Besides, Spider's not likely to be on the list. Your brother is. They've no use for Lion, and I want to prevent them from killing off the few of us that are not complete assholes."
"Got it. I'll get some keycards and drop 'em off."
"Good. And keep an eye on the new ones. You and Lion are the only ones close to them in age, so talking to you might be easier for them."
"I know. Should I tell them how you all grew your hair out so I could braid it when I was younger?"
"I will braid your limbs if you do."
"Sure you will. Anything else?"
"Nah, get back to training, kid."
"Sure thing, boss."
The Wolf and The Viper
Viper was already sitting down when his brother finally joined him for their briefing.
"Took you long enough."
"Couldn't find Greyhound. Miss anything?"
"Just the personnel assignment, and not even all of it. Usuals are all there: Ashley as our handler, Max on tech support. We'll be getting a magic consultant on the job as well, given there's a high chance of mages showing up as either a threat or as part of the Bureau's detail-"
"Hold up, the Bureau is part of this operation?"
"Yeah. They've got their own security team assigned to this. We'll meet them on site, and then coordinate our mission with them."
"I take it the target is none too happy about that?"
"Mister Faheem is not to be designated as a target. We are to protect the client-"
"He paying us?"
"He's paying Swordpoint."
Wolf sighed.
"Continue."
"As I was saying, we are to protect the client from any threats that pop up. Expected is that some of the bolder mercenary groups and a supervillain or two might make an attempt on his life, or the lives of his family."
"Family?"
"Wife and son. Kid's five years old, not anywhere close to an age where self defence is an option."
"We'll try to get the Bureau and some of Swordpoint's private security to babysit them. Leaves us free to focus our efforts on the client."
"Thought you'd want it that way. Leaves the client to us. He's coming here. UN had the brilliant idea to consider Hellpit as neutral ground, so both mister Faheem and the Bureau could say their part freely, without a 'hostile environment'."
"... Are they stupid?"
"Probably. Means we'll have our hands full. We're instructed to wear civilian garb, though how they're gonna manage any of that, I'm not sure yet."
Viper was obviously referring to their fangs and claws. The eye colour was a little less obvious, but then their eyes had the unfortunate tendency to glow when their Cores acted up.
"The magic consultant is probably gonna be in charge of that. We got a name for them yet?"
"Nope. Probably either one of the witches of the Coven or some freelancer."
"I fucking hope it's a freelancer."
"As do I, but that's not up to us. If they get disguises lined up, we'll be good."
"That aside, anything to take note of?"
"Given the fact that the Bureau will be in town as well, we might wanna keep an eye on them too. Especially since it is highly likely that Aurora will be in Hellpit as well."
Wolf shook his head.
"I want that confirmed. That aside, she's too much of a moral busybody to make any kind of underhanded move. If anything, she'll keep the Bureau in check for us."
"You really believe that? I say it's an act she puts on for the public."
"I'm not saying we're letting our guard down, but yes, I do believe she means well. She might be a little naive, but if she really wanted to be an ass, she wouldn't need politics to fly into every world leader's house and kill them before anyone could react. The very fact that she's willing to put up with humans says she is at least somewhat good."
'Or just not as powerful as she says she is."
"Drop it and move on."
"That's it. That's all we got, until we know more about our magic consultant. Or until Ashley gets here."
After saying that, Viper leaned back into his chair, looking at his brother.
"You know, I'm still not used to the new scar you got. Mind being a little less careless on this one?"
Wolf rolled his eyes.
"For your convenience? Sure. Besides, I've no intention of making my face look worse than it already does. I'm quite sure children are already crying when they look at us."
Now it was Viper's turn to sigh.
"Ugh... that was one time. And it wasn't because I'm ugly, it was because I was holding his parents' heads in my hands."
"No, it was definitely your face."
"Brother dearest, might I remind you that we share the same features?"
"Hey, I never said I was good looking. If anything, I'm worse off."
Viper looked at his brother, considering those words for a moment.
"I'd say that, while you definitely have more scars, your scars are better placed than mine. Forehead is a bit of a... weird location for a long slash."
"Stop wearing a ponytail and just hide it. I'd have to hide my entire face at this point. Plus the metal in my neck."
Walking in on that conversation was something Ashley had never expected. Not because Warslaves weren't supposed to give a shit about how they looked, but because for once the two brothers didn't seem to take the piss out of each other, which they usually would when talking about their looks.
"... What the fuck did I walk in on?"
Wolf was the first to turn towards her. He would have heard her coming from quite a distance away, but out of politeness they always waited for someone to make their presence known, before they addressed them.
"What? We're just comparing scars. Normal thing, right?"
"... what kind of children did I raise?"
Viper shrugged.
"Murderers and superweapons? Well, and your biological child, but we never got to meet that one."
"How the fuck do you two know about my biological daughter?"
"You have only ever taken time off once since we met you. Which is when we were twelve, for several months. So we kidnapped a guy to find out you were on maternity leave."
"... what?"
Wolf just smiled as if he were innocence itself, though given his fangs even that managed to look like some sort of threat.
"In our defence, we thought the higher ups had gotten rid of you."
"That's not what I was surprised about. I just never thought that you two paid that much attention to other people, besides your team."
"Well... it's rare, I'll admit that. We also snuck out when we found out Max was bullied in high school."
"Ah... now I know why that stopped."
Max had come in without Ashley noticing, and was already laying out several devices on the table Wolf and Viper were sitting at.
She quickly sat down, deciding not to indulge the twins any further.
"I take it you went through your briefing?"
Wolf nodded.
"Viper just finished giving me the rundown. As for our part of it: we'll be looking after the client, so make sure the higher ups cover his family."
"Thought as much. Should I ask them to deploy other Subjects to these tasks?"
"No, you'll give the kid a heart attack. Plus, the Middle-East is a far more religious area than our little island. They might not react well to genetic abominations created from a supposed demigod."
"... Wait, is that some tact I hear?"
"Just a little. We're not trying to antagonise the world just yet."
"... You know, until the 'just yet' part, I was almost proud of you."
"Oh well. We got anything on our magic consultant yet?"
"He's a freelancer-"
Viper breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank fuck for that."
Ashley gave both brothers a moment to finish, before continuing.
"He's also a vampire, so keep that in mind. Considering a mutual bloodlust, you should get along swimmingly, but given the fact that vampires are generally very old and very proud, he might not be too happy about your disrespectful attitudes."
"... What kind of Vampire?"
"I don't know. A blood drinking kind."
"Well, that narrows it down to all of them. Are we talking the kind that always looks like a supermodel, the kind that looks like a shrivelled husk or something in between?"
Ashley needed a moment to process that question.
"Well... he looked like an old guy. Just a normal old guy. A bit younger looking than Greyhound, but marginally less athletic. No idea when he'll be here."
Wolf's smirk was suddenly back, catching Ashley by surprise,
"I'd say about thirty seconds ago."
"... motherfuckers..."
The vampire in question stood up from his seat, bowing slightly.
"Apologies, I wanted to see where the conversation was going."
Ashley's description had been apt. The man was definitely more fragile looking than any of the Warslaves, and what remained of his hair was grey. Though Wolf took immediate note of the intelligent spark in his eyes.
The man sat back down.
"I'll introduce myself properly. The name is Harkon, and I specialise in alchemy and magical artefacts. I will serve as a repertoire of knowledge and occasionally as healer for the duration of our mission."
Wolf measured him up quickly. He may have looked frail, but the two or three vampires Wolf had killed before had taught him that looks were deceiving when it came to their kind.
"We were told you might have some form of disguise for us?"
"Ah, yes. You are probab;y aware that fangs and claws are a feature your kind and my kind share, correct? We are more adept at hiding them through magical means-"
"You love talking a lot, don't you?"
"I'll get to the point. Enchanted rings. They'll reshape your hands and teeth into a more human shape until you need them."
"Do they work on machines?"
"Excuse me?"
Wolf took off his gloves to show the mechanical limbs.
"Do they work on machines?"
"Oh.. no. I recommend wearing the gloves instead."
"That's all I needed."
Viper had a little more to add.
"What I wanna know is why he's here. Aren't you supposed to be secretive and hard to catch? What could possess a vampire to seek out danger?"
"Oh, that? Morbid curiosity. You see." He pointed at Wolf. "I met his father-"
Wolf laughed.
"Greyhound? He doesn't get around much, so I doubt it."
"His biological father."
"We don't call him that. He's just the ability donor. Didn't lift a finger to raise me, or any of the others. That's not a father, that's just another person, I don't give a fuck how powerful or supposedly important he is."
"Noted. Be that as it may, when I heard there was... is offspring the right word, or should I just say similar beings?"
"We get the idea."
"Very well. I got curious about what you were like. Would you have Fenris' temper? How many of his abilities carried over, and how did they develop? Then I heard you were a fully artificially created species, created through highly advanced alchemy, and then I just had to meet you. Professional curiosity."
"Well, you've met us. Disappointed?"
"Not at all. As far as I've seen, you are moderately intelligent, rude and highly aggressive. I feel like we can most definitely be friends."
"That settles it: you're insane. Which is to say: we can definitely be friends."
"Hm, I look forward to working with you, young Wolf."
"Likewise."
The Wolf and The Viper
"Introductions are all well and good, but it's time to go over your arsenal."
Max had shoved Ashley and Harkon out of the room as soon as the Warslaves had settled down, and was now going over the devices on the table.
"Besides the usuals, we have some fun new stuff for setting traps and causing mischief."
Viper spotted two unfamiliar devices, both looking inconspicuous enough. Both were round metal discs, though one was a little bulkier than the other.
"Is that...?"
Max grinned.
"You asked, I managed." He picked up the bulkier device. "I call it a whirlwind. Once armed, it detects movements, and when it does, it fires thousands of little knives. Tears opponents to shreds in seconds. Initial testing shows it packs quite a punch, but this will be the first field test."
Wolf nodded, before looking at his brother.
"And you asked for this? Why?"
Max responded, not willing to give his presentation up to anyone.
"Psychological warfare. The knives hit with enough force to send chunks of your victims flying towards any of their friends. A gory shower is enough to discourage anyone from attacking, right?"
"Could one of our kind dodge these blades?"
"Wolf, I've seen you move. Aside from the fact that the right side of your body can function as a shield, you would be able to catch the things while they're flying at you."
"So that's a yes then. The other device?'
"A haywire. Fries tech or just delivers an incapacitating to lethal shock, depending in the settings. Keep them away from your limbs, Wolf. Throw them if you have to use 'em, but I advise leaving their use up to Viper, just to avoid the risk."
Viper could see his brother consider the outcomes for a moment, before he nodded.
"Copy. They're yours, Viper."
Viper couldn't hide a gleeful smile at the prospect of getting to play with the new toys. Something Max picked up on with a smug grin.
"For other tools: vacuum grenades. In case you need something dead so badly that you're willing to commit an act that's just a hop, skip and a fuck you away from a warcrime. Tranquillisers, in the form of throwing knives, because you had to make things difficult. Grapple hooks, fully retractable. More throwing knives than you could ever need. Combat knives. Just a whole lot of knives... oh, and this thing I made in my spare time."
He threw a metal bar at Wolf, who caught it and found an activation switch. Once he pushed it, a blade sprung forth from the thing, revealing a shortsword.
"Nice... definitely quicker than calling our own swords from our amulets. Any chance you can add a decent guard to the thing?"
"Knew you would say that. I'm working on it. Contain your excitement for a moment, I'm getting to the mercury shots now. There's enough here to keep you two running on full power for at least three years. And then I snuck in some extra."
Viper started to look like a child that got to play with its favourite toy as he inspected the mercury shots.
"They really want this guy alive, huh?"
"Enough so that they gave me free reign to break out all my prototypes. Might I direct your gaze to the other end of the table. Courtesy of our new vampire friend, there's some fancy runestones. Slot them into a whirlwind or frag grenade and the blades and shrapnell can be imbued with one of your abilities, same as you can do with your swords."
"Now you're just spoiling us."
"Someone has to. Next one is courtesy of Ashley. Given that you're not allowed to just run and/or teleport everywhere, you need vehicles. Now, given that I am keenly aware of your aversion to cars, I thought 'what vehicle isn't just another enclosed box on wheels?' The answer? Bikes. Ashley jumped high and low to get me the materials for this, but I was able to armour these babies and made them sturdy enough that you can actually beat someone to death with them and still drive away in style afterwards."
He threw a set of keys to each one of the brothers.
"Solid Black Gold, same as Wolf's limbs. Which is to say: virtually indestructible. Battery charged, so they can also use the same connection on Wolf's limbs to recharge if needed. I ran the calculations, and your body produces more than enough energy for that."
Wolf nodded. It was the most convenient part of his new limbs: he never needed to change the batteries. A Warslave's body produced way more energy than it used when functioning without using their powers. That meant that whenever he wasn't using his powers, his limbs were automatically recharging and storing excess energy for later use. Neither Wolf nor Viper were fully familiar with how that system worked, but Max had pulled it off.
Max gave them a moment to exchange nods, before continuing.
"Workphones. Made them myself. They use an internal network, meaning that without access to said network, no one can tap into your communications. And I mean no one. Not even the higher ups. And they don't have access. Just saying, in case that would ever be useful. And yes, the others will be set up with these phones as well. I'll leave it up to you how to use that."
Viper's grin grew even wider when he heard that.
"You know you're a damn treasure, right?"
"And I'll never let any of you forget that. Now the rings Harkon mentioned. They can be stored in your amulets and still work, so you don't have to walk around like a married couple from Alabama."
"... I take it back, you're an ass. But thanks, it's appreciated."
"You're welcome. That's all I got. Ready to meet the client?"
"Nope, but we'll finish packing and get to it anyways."
"That's the spirit."