Everyday Stresses of Kazuki - Sci-Fi Action/Intrigue Webserial

Elizabeth Mary Celeste-Delmara, a middle-class aristocrat. "My ass…" Archius knew she had her uses, but that still didn't mean he trusted her.

Eliza was outside, leaning against the bannister and speaking to Kaz. Someone gave Archius a beer can, and he took it right away. "Cheers," he said, turning to Zymuel, who was holding onto another beer can.

The whole condo was filled with guards, ten to be exact, including Kaz's retinue, the spears of his Phalanx. Their armour was the same, relatively light plate armour, with blood-red paint marking their unit.

Originally, they had no paint markings. Of course, after the first operations, they had painted their plates well enough.

Claire looked up to Zym, reading from a medical journal. Her navy blue wolf cut slightly swayed to the wind as it entered the apartment condo from the small balcony outside.

"Pass it," she said, holding her hand out. Zymuel merely sniggered through his techie-head, his synthetic laugh catching her attention. "You don't even have a mouth anymore, Zym."

Archius turned to Claire. "How'd you know? Maybe if we pry his helmet off, there'll be some teeth left, a tongue to go along with it?"

Zymuel chucked the beer can onto Claire's lap, flopping right in the middle of Claire and Archius, making himself fucking comfortable.

"Techie-heads are fed through tubes, you know?" said Claire, cracking the can open. "Alcohol and sticky substances can mess with the feeding tube."

"Aw, you didn't have to tell 'im that!" Zym chuckled, turning to Archius. "Pour beer down my neck nozzle, don't pour it down my windpipe, though!"

Claire furrowed her brow and smacked Zymuel across his steel technie-head. "You'll die if that happens."

"Good thing feeding you is above my pay grade," Archius said.

Zym snickered, "You get paid?"

Archius nodded, and Claire gave another annoyed look to Zymuel. Heimfall, Kazuki's executioners... Led by a caring medic and a techie-head, what a mess... Claire wasn't Kaz's first choice. Still, they won, so who'd care?

"He's a shareholder, of course, he gets paid," Claire explained. "It's like Clandestine—"

"—Except not really," Archius cut in. "Unlike Clandestine, we're not owned by private equity!"

All had suffered under Clandestine, but the AGENCY? The shareholders were Sato, Martinez, Kazuki, and, obviously, Archius himself. They were the original founding members of the organisation, the first that stood and fought.

Then again, everyone did, and everyone paid – so Kazuki paid them back tenfold.

A callous financial decision, Archius thought, but buying loyalty was much better than renting it out temporarily.

"Just don't talk about business," Archius grumbled, faking annoyance, at which both Zym and Claire calmed down. "I hate talking about numbers and paperwork when I'm trying to have a cold one with my favourite blood-thirsty mercenaries."

Zymuel chuckled at that last part.

Truth be told, Archius did like work. Though his work was far more brutal and secretive than the other shareholders' roles. Archius tapped his ICAPAD, briefly seeing the thousands of contacts and webs he had spun across the Republic, let alone Anagora. And the kicker to Archius' ego, unlike Sato, Archius wasn't a complete arsehole when it came to his work-life balance.

He had his fair share of life back in the Ball Palace. Everything was free, since Kaz paid for practically everything, and Archius had a role just collecting information and... launching people into outer space! The marbled screens get it wrong all the time...

At least now, if Archius was to ever go back into that industry again, he'd know much better than whichever dipshit writer wrote the older scripts and screenplays.

Archius could see it clearly in his memory, playing God against those slavers. How majestic Archius thought it was! He had to hold in a moment of joy and child-like whimsy when he airlocked all of them out into the abyss. Sadly, Kaz wasn't there to help him; Kaz's psychopathic reaction to everything would have made everything much better, even if it'd just been the slight curl on the edge of his lips.

Claire was anxiously shifting along the couch.

"You two make yourselves comfortable, alright? Just... Don't mess with any of Eliza's stuff, got it?" Archius said.

The walls were littered and covered with accolades, trophies and replicas. It was a whole arsenal of eccentric items that made even Archius have a hard time discerning what could be used to detail Eliza's personality. 'Course, that alone made it easy to know she wanted to prove herself in some way.
Zym shrugged. "If it isn't something we can gamble or drink, we don't care, right, Claire?!"

Claire sighed. "Just don't go touching things, we're guests here," she said, flipping through her medical journal's holographic interface, her blue eyes widening slightly on some... page about Handler's Fatigue. "Ooh... A new article?"

Zym looked over Claire's shoulder as Amyé trailed over, with two beer cans in both hands, taking four in total. Archius did NOT know that fingers could be that strong… and bent in that way.

Interesting food for an interrogator's thought, but… "Yeah..." Archius slowly stepped away, best to not get caught in the blast radius when Amyé's alcohol starts up the other way around – or when she gets a hand on any projectile dispensing doohickie.

"Handler's Fatigue, you ever get that?" Claire asked.

Archius chuckled and shook his head. "Fuck no!" he lied. "You need to be someone like Sato to get that," Archius said half-truthfully.

The lights around Zym's 'eyes' narrowed to look at Archius. "Ehhh... Well, at least I won't ever get it!"

"You're not a Handler!" Amyé shouted at him. "You're like... the fucking opposite of what a fucking handler is, got that, you little shit?"

Little? All three of them looked Amyé up and down, grinning with alcohol drooling from her lips. She was short, hell, she might even be shorter than Kaz's sister. It was very well known even in units that don't have her. Still, they visibly looked her up and down, as if to question who she was talking about.

She caught on quickly and started to brawl with Zymuel.

Archius peered at what Claire was reading. Seemed to be nothing new, Archius thought, just the same spiel about Uplink over usage, maybe Sato will suffer that one day?

Heh... He can only wish, but that'd be bad for the AGENCY, so he couldn't have that happening anytime soon, not until Sato's use for Kaz has all but dried up - shrivelled and disappeared.

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On the topic of useful... Archius walked out towards the balcony, exiting out into the beating summer heat of Anagora's surface. Even at night, it was hot, not as hot as his homeworld but 'hot' in the heatwave sense for Anagorans.

Walking past the numerous sets of plant pots and watering drones, Archius made it over to Eliza. He leant against the parapet before peering down the building.

She was talking to Kazuki; he could tell that much by how much she seemed to be both thinking and smiling. Eliza waved at him before pointing to her uplink. "Sorry... Archius... talking to Kaz right now," she said.

Unapologetic! Jeez, she could have at least offered him to join the conversation. Instead, Archius joined in anyway. "You know, he was supposed to have dinner around Yuki's place, I was cooking... When he left, he didn't look good for wares. When he came back… he looked much happier, not like anyone could tell, though."

Eliza turned back to Archius, her freckled face and red eyes squinted in confusion. "Pardon?"
"Vibes, you know? It's the only consistent way to measure Kazuki at all." Then, Archius shook his head. "Never mind it, it's probably not important."

Her face went pale as a lethal stare grabbed Archius' attention. Oh! So this was what Eliza was like before meeting them! Archius kept his face neutral, hiding the excitement and intrigue beneath. Possessive till the end... Not like that's a bad thing, per se - might give Kaz a reason to not throw himself onto grenades all the time...

Or accidentally fall off three-story buildings, on his back... Youch.

"Just saying," Archius continued. "It seemed that whatever you said… or did… got him feeling happier than normal – and let me tell you, that doesn't happen."

Archius chuckled to himself as Eliza's face slowly turned a shade of red, as she turned back towards the Anagoran skyline.

Even at night, Anagora was strangely beautiful, a lethal, cutthroat style of beauty, but still beautiful all the same. He turned and walked towards the two guards standing by the glass window.

If Kaz's capacity to kill isn't hindered by Eliza, Archius would be fine. She's a decent handler and a decent logistician, but they have the Gunrunners helping logistics, so Eliza's use is... debatable: when considering qualitative risks to Kazuki's efficiency.

Though maybe that was a good thing, Archius knew too well what might happen if a screw went a bit looser than normal in Kazuki's noggin.

Archius still had to be pragmatic. "Reasonable," Archius noted to himself. "Just be reasonable with all of this." Somewhat pissed beneath the facade of coolness he had, Archius waved at Nihara and Václavos.

It was weird not seeing Cyrus around, but that meant one less person taller than him. "Heh…" Archius scoffed at himself, having to rationalise and laugh off the death of a comrade.

"Heard you two got recalled right after entering the meeting room," Archius said. "Did you get a peek?"

He made his voice sound both scared and interested. It was the meeting of the Heptagia, after all, it'd be weird if he, some 'scrawny' intelligence officer, wasn't scared and interested.

Václavos nodded. "Just a bit, only a bit of Hartius, though, before Eliza wanted to leave."

Archius turned to the side, sighing and rolling his eyes, before returning his gaze. "Would have been a pretty bad reunion, right?" Archius continued.

The thoughts of Eliza's lack of willpower were bitterly fought off. Eliza had little conviction, then, Archius mumbled to himself... If she couldn't even handle a few seconds in there, what good can she do in the long run?

Gun-mastery wasn't Eliza's thing, nor was it killing. If push comes to shove, Eliza will fall... That'd be bad for everyone. Archius peered down at his ICA-PAD, attached to his wrist with its screen showing incoming information.

"I'm happy we didn't get to go in there," Nihara said abruptly. "Would have been weird."

Václavos pointed to Nihara and nodded, supporting her point.

"Freyja made us kill the weak ones… If we didn't, she'd do it herself… We had to make it a quick death for them." A moment of weakness and anxiety passed over the pale and stone-faced guard's eyes and cheeks.

"Good thing you didn't kill me, right?" Václavos said, leaning in to Nihara. "Right?"

She turned to face him, staring dead at his eyes with an emotionless glare. "Sadly."

"What... Wait? What do you mean 'sadly'?" Václavos sneered back.

Archius snorted at her retort. Short and simple, he liked it. "Well, must have been hard, having two mentors that wanted you guys dead," he said.

Despite not intentionally wanting it, he did kind of want a little more insight into what happened with Freyja and Hartius.

Their duel was legendary, at least the crackheads in the Sub-Levels that survived said it was. The sparks of footage supported that as well, from whatever drones were able to survive the molten lava that left the Sub-District in ashes.

An entire Sub-District was destroyed, three whole layers of the city gone, reduced, blown up. That was the power of when power and speed meet, Hazard & bullet.

This was the cost of what a battle waged by two of the deadliest wrought, Archius thought. "Thank fuck we have Kazuki…" Archius murmured to himself.

"We survived," Nihara said, but Archius could tell it was a sour statement. "One of us always survives..."

Václavos nervously chuckled. "Most of us... Well... some of us, the best of us! Some may say!"

"But not the funniest," Nihara remarked, jabbing Václavos in the side. "Nor the brightest." Ah, Kazuki and Kazuki? Or Václavos and Václavos? Either way, worked out well.

Archius nodded and walked off, having thoroughly ruined Václavos' chances of getting it with Nihara, for now at least. He pressed his ICA-PAD, projecting the image up to be viewed easily. An important update message from one of his eyes.

Walking back in, Archius felt a cool wave of air wash over him. Air conditioning, man's best invention since the advent of fire and sushi, Archius thought.

'What is it?' Archius asked, activating a voice scrambler on his uplink. He went to pick up a random exotic fruit Eliza had Kazuki buy, taking a large chunk out of it in one bite. Thank fuck Kazuki pays for everything, lest they'd truly be mid-class! 'You find anything?'

A voice returned, scrambled as well, 'Yes. Those shuttles are stolen, unmarked, but the plates weren't scrubbed. We also have a symbol, we're scrubbing it through CRIS databases right now.' Great... They'll be there forever, especially since they're just regular criminals.

Archius looked at what was sent through, an image of the symbol. He could see the faint lines of Kazuki's shuttle by the edge of the photo. It was a purple and black skull, dripping with red liquid in holographic paint.

Hmm.

Was it merc? Crims? Probably one of his mentors told him about it... Before he murdered them all, but this symbol was somehow triggering a warning in Archius' memory. 'That symbol... You still have visuals on the Shuttles?'

'Affirmative; good eyes, trailing them with cleaning drones, we found a... similar match. Blood Contract Cultists.'

Blood Contractors? On Anagora?! Archius raised an eyebrow in disbelief... No, it can't be them, they're... outcasts, outlaws... So close to Anagora? Well, if anything Archius had learnt running a damn insurgency, it's that hiding in plain sight works fucking well.

These Contractors were veterans turned to a life of crime after being abandoned, which makes sense; some would live or operate here. Not just that: they're Intergalactic Crisis veterans, all of them were seasoned and grizzly... Some in the intelligence community said that the Departmento Death Cults use them as hired muscle for their atrocities.

The last sighting of them ever on Anagora was... Hartius, 4921. "Oh shit."

Everything started to click together in Archius' mind. The Departmento was after Hartius! Of course they are... Why wouldn't a Death Cult want the Death Hazard?

"Oh fuck…"

Hartius is already gone, Archius thought. But Kazuki? He's just the student, what would the Departmento have for him? No, something wasn't adding up.

'Just who the hell bought those fuckers?' Archius asked.

The voice grumbled back, 'No clue. It's all we have.'

Fuck that thought. It was useless! He needed to act now.

Archius rushed to Eliza. "Liz! Uplink." his hurried words confused Eliza, seeing past the calm facade to one of worry. It was a truthful one, this was no regular threat...

"Huh?" Eliza was confused.

"Kaz's being tailed by Contractors, not criminals," Archius said with a firm grip on his voice. Activating Krystalink, Archius injected his voice into the uplink stream. 'Arbiter, you better get ready, those are Blood Contractors.' The chaos of the scenario contrasted with the calmness in Archius' voice.

Grimacing, Archius peered back at his ICA-PAD, seeing a live connection of the events unfolding: just as the unmarked shuttles reared close. Their doors opened, revealing rough and armoured contractors – men and women alike.

Rockets! Skidding through the air, they aimed launchers directly at Kazuki's transport.