Wings of Freedom (Malik King, Seraphim) (06-07-2022)

==A Clue- Liberty Valley, Unified Frontier, Grail [06/07/2022 A.D.]==
The Seraph enters Liberty Valley from his wormhole. He looks around until he finds the Precocious Squadron and Here Lies Fate waiting for him. He walks towards them and they all kneel as he gets close. “It’s good to see you, dear Seraph,” Imperialist says. Here Lies Fate curtsies and greets, “It has been a while since I’ve seen you in person, High One. Never a sight for sore eyes.” Seraph rubs his neck and motions for them to stand up, to which they oblige. He looks at all of them and smiles. He sees Hellscream and gives him a noogie, to which he giggles in response. “Hey bro,” Hellscream says while escaping Seraph’s grasp. Volume 0 smiles gently and says in a low voice, “I’m glad you’re doing well, Seraph.”
“I hope this universe is treating you well, Cassandra.”
“Yes, it has. I’ve gotten more comfortable ever since I got here with the team.”
“That’s good. Very good. You were such a quiet one when you first joined. I love seeing growth. By the way, you guys said you have something for me?”
Bloodclaute dotingly reports, “With the help of Eden, we found a hint on where Agent B might be. We can bring him home finally.”
Seraph’s face brightens and he asks excitedly, “Agent B?! Oh man, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him!”
“I did miss his laughs. Also, we’re collaborating with the CACG on this.”
“Oh really? I thought they were dealing with the magical demon guy.”
“Yeah, the Roundtable is busy, but one of the Advisors insisted on helping us. His department of agents are all willing to help.”
“Cool, where are they?”
Hellscream responds by walking towards the Nazareth. He knocks on the side of it and in response, a person walks down from the hatch. Seraph smiles when he sees Malik King walk towards him. Instead of his usual lab coat attire, he’s now wearing a padded uniform with a Kevlar vest. On the front of it has the logo of the Group on it. Malik smiles back and says, “Hello sir, I look forward to collaborating with you.”
“Sup, Malik. How many people you got with you?”
“The agents I brought with me are called the In And Out Unit. There are about six of them.”
“How good are they?”
“Just like their name, they’re our best agents in infiltration and extraction.”
“Good, so what’s the plan?”
“Ms. Iridesca will make our footsteps silent and we’ll make the extraction as clean as possible.”
“Sounds good. We’ll make this the place to come back to.”
“Yes sir. We’ll start later tonight.”
The group talks more about the plan and then disband for the afternoon. They’ll be ready for the coming hours on the plan to rescue their favorite agent.
==The Operation- Camelot, Grail [06/07/2022 A.D.]==
Malik and the In and Out Unit move into position at the seemingly innocent confectionery. They had heard that the business is a front for the terrorist organization known as the Iron Front. They locate a window at the side of the building and rotate towards it. Malik says in his comm device, “Throne Volume 0, we are in position. Ready to enter.” They wait for a minute and then hear light footsteps coming their way. They direct their attention to the sound and see Volume 0 walking calmly towards them. The agents salute and she puts them at ease. “Please stand straight so I can have a good view of your shoes,” she requests, to which they oblige by standing still. 
Volume 0 kneels down and whispers, which creates visible sound waves from her mouth. The waves hit each of the agents’ shoes. She then turns towards the window and whispers at it as well. Instead of bouncing off the window, the soundwaves permeate it. Volume 0 turns towards the seven agents and confirms, “You should be able to enter now quietly. Go ahead and break it.” Malik reluctantly nods and gestures for an agent to break the window. The agent takes a breath and swings the stock of his rifle at the window. Everyone except Volume 0 grimaced at the action, waiting to hear the loud crash of glass breaking, but they heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. The glass falls to the floor but nothing is audible at all. The agents look at each other in disbelief, and then quickly regain their composure. One by one they enter the building, with Volume 0 following shortly after. 
Malik looks around to see if anyone is around and keeps his gun at the ready. “Agent Crown, can you see if there’s any special entrances?” One of the agents nods and puts on a special visor. He searches around until the visor beeps. He points in the direction and walks towards a wall covered by appliances. One of the agents asks, “It’s behind this wall?” Crown nods and looks around. The rest of the agents follow suit. Malik watches their backs as they search. Volume 0 crouches next to Malik and asks, “You’ve done operations like this before?” Malik while scanning the area responds, “Sometimes. I’m usually in the office all the time.”
“How does it feel?”
“Ma’am?”
“Doing missions.”
“Oh, I guess it’s pretty refreshing.”
“Gives you room to use your abilities.”
“Abilities?”
“Of course. Your abilities. You can actually use them.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Your employee files. You’re impressive Malik. You should do more field missions.”
“Thank you ma’am.”
Volume 0 smiles and watches the agents search the brick wall, They turn sink handles and open refrigerators. One of the agents says to Malik, “We can’t find anything. Crown’s visor says there’s something here but…we haven’t gotten any luck.” Malik says while scouting, “You scoured everything Agent Royal?” 
“Yes sir.”
“It has to be there. The visor was cleaned and repaired just today.”
Volume 0 raises her hand and says, “Move the fridge. Bet there’s an entrance there.” Agent Royal looks at Volume 0 and then nods. Volume 0 talks low at the refrigerator and the Agents quickly move the appliance. Behind it is a door that’s padlocked. Agent Royal smiles and pulls out a lockpick. She works at the padlock until she successfully unlocks it. The agents all stand around the door and ready each other to enter. Royal counts to three and enters the area with her gun pointed. The rest of the Unit spills in and scans the area stealthily as they walk down into what seems to be a basement. The stairs terminate into a large open space. There are mechanical parts moving, boxing up and labeling several metal parts as well as what seems to be samples of the Metal Plague.
Agent Crown says in his comms, “Got about 10 hostiles at five o’clock.” Agent Royal adds, “Got 15 more near another entrance northwest of our entryway. Possibly a place we need to check.” One agent that’s been quiet speaks up and says “Hell…they all have metal parts on their bodies.” Malik says, “Let’s move away from the entryway. At least find a safe place to regroup.” 
The agents and Volume 0 all regroup at a pocket in the room. They all recount the amount of guards and workers in the room. They recounted and found there were around 40 guards, with the majority of them being around the entrance Royal spotted. “That’s got to be where Agent B is,” Agent Crown deduces. “Royal, Tsar, what do you think?” Royal responds, “It’s either that, or they’re hiding something else important.” Tsar agrees, “Either way, we’ll get a lot of information. But how do we even get through?” Volume 0 smiles and enters something into her watch. Malik notices this and asks, “You have a plan ma’am?” Volume 0 looks at Malik and says, “Get ready to fight if we have to.” 
A crash is heard upstairs and then loud rumbling. The agents look around in confusion as the ground shakes under them. Malik looks at Volume 0 as she has a large grin on her face. The guards in the factory respond by going upstairs, while some stay to guard the entrance that was spotted by the Group agents. Shots are heard from above and yelling. Orders were being shouted followed by blood curdling screams. Volume 0 says to the Agents, “Now’s our chance.” She gets up and walks towards the heavily guarded entrance. The Agents quickly follow after with their guns at the ready. A guard spots them and shouts, “They made it down here! Fucking kill them!” The others don’t waste time and begin unloading their rifles at the direction of the agents. They find cover behind crates and shelves. 
Malik orders, “Give me covering fire!” The agents in unison say “Yes sir” and fire back at the guards. Malik vaults over the table he was hiding behind and charges towards the Iron Front guards. A few focus their aim on him and spray in his direction. Malik gracefully dodges each bullet and fires back, tagging a few. To him, each bullet was moving extremely slow. He evades each bullets’ path easily and runs at speeds faster than the guards can keep up with. He jumps around the area to and fro. The guards have trouble keeping up with him. “He’s like a fucking spider!” one of the guards shouted before getting domed by Malik’s handgun. He shoots another and shouts, “Volume 0, now!”  Volume 0 walks out into the open and screams at the remaining guards. The sound waves hit the guards and they instantly drop their guns. They grab at their chests and necks and collapse to the floor. The agents get out from cover and watch as the guards seem to be gasping for air, but they don’t hear anything at all from them. They are completely silent. They suffer in that silence before they finally stop moving. 
Crown, Royal, and Tsar look at each other and regroup with Malik, with the rest of the agents following behind. The shouting and noises from upstairs subside. “Guys? Why is there a shit ton of blood at our way out?” Tsar says as he stares at the stairs, now pooling up with copious amounts of the life essence of several people. Wet footsteps are heard and the agents raise their weapons. Volume 0 motions them to stand down and they slowly do. The wet footsteps get louder until Bloodclaute is visible walking down. Her blouse is completely clean, which contrasts her skin, which is stained with blood. Seraph follows after and trailing behind him is a cloud of smoke. The smoke reaches the group and reforms into Hellscream. He gives a big toothy smile. Volume 0 pats Hellscream’s head and kneels as the Seraph approaches. The Seraph pats Volume 0 on the back and helps her up. “So, this the room?” Seraph says as he nods his head towards the door with lifeless bodies littered around it. Malik responds, "Yes, sir."
They all walk towards the door and Royal picks open the lock. Inside is a barely furnished room. On the floor and under the covers is a person. Seraph walks forward and crouches by the person sleeping. He gently nudges the person and calls out, "B?" The person shifts a bit and takes off their covers and their face lights up as they realize who they're looking at. The person starts speaking in his Arabian accent, "Seraph?! That you?" Seraph smiles big and holds out his hand. Agent B grabs on and is assisted up. He looks around and sees Malik, the Agents, and the other members of the Seraphim. He hugs Seraph tight and exclaims, "You found me! All of you! Alhamdulillah!" Malik smiles and says, "It's good to see you again, B." Bloodclaute asks with concern, "Did they hurt you?" Agent B looks at Bloodclaute and explains, "Yeah, they poked me with many things. Not the Metal Plague I don't think. I would be synthetic by now. But, I think they were testing my abilities. It wasn't fun. They only fed me bread and some leftovers I got from the guards." Seraph comforts, "Well, we'll give you a big dinner when we get you back." Seraph looks at Malik and says, "Good job, guys. Sorry I came so late." Malik waves it off and says, "It's fine sir. We still got the results we wanted. I do think, however, that B should stay in your care for a while until the Roundtable finishes their mission. Then he can continue his duties afterwards."
"Sounds good. Alright guys, let's move out. Watch your step on the way upstairs. We kind of made a mess."
The agents and the Seraphim exit in single file, with the agents exiting first. The agents one by one gasp and say something under their breath. Crown can be heard saying "Oh...shit" as he walked out. Malik looks confused until he finally reaches the door. He walks out and sees the building has been completely leveled. There's at most debris on the ground where the confectionery used to be. He takes more steps and the wet squelching of viscera and blood can be heard under his boots. He looks down at Bloodclaute, to which she smiles sweetly in response. A pang of terror goes through him. He's reminded of how deadly the Seraphim is, and reminds himself never to get on their bad side. They all enter the Nazareth, which is parked a few yards away from the building and they exit the scene before Iron Front reinforcements came to assess the damage. 
==A Breath of Fresh Air- Liberty Valley, Unified Frontier, Grail [06/08/2022 A.D.]==
The Nazareth lands where they all met and they all exit the ship. Agent B runs out and takes a large breath of air. He exhales and laughs, "It's been so long since I've seen outside. And especially this view!" Seraph follows after and responds, "It never gets old does it?"
"Absolutely not. The sun hits so perfectly here."
"I sometimes go out here when I get tired of my own planet."
"Maybe your planet can make something like this?"
"Maybe, but it'll never match the natural beauty of this place. Anyways, you ready to go?"
"Yeah. One moment please."
Agent B walks toward Malik and his unit. He hugs them all and they all respond by hugging back. He laughs and says, "Thank you again for saving me. I will not forget this moment." Malik waves him off and says, "It's nothing. Of course we'll come for our agent. No man left behind." The Seraphim members add in to the group hug and comfort Agent B as they do. After a while, Agent B walks with Seraph and he opens a wormhole. A mess hall can be seen on the other side. Seraph says his good byes to the Precocious Squadron and leads Agent B into the portal. They all wave back and watch as Seraph and Agent B disappear into the wormhole. Malik King gives a sigh of relief and says to Volume 0, "Thank you for assisting us in this operation. We are extremely grateful." Volume 0 nods and responds, "We're a call away if you need us again." Malik smiles and he walks towards their Aerovehicle. The agents follow suit and all pack into the AV. The vehicle lifts off and heads back towards Camelot. Imperialist asks, "I assume it went well?" Volume 0 says in an excited voice, "I got to scream today." Hellscream gasps in shock and comments, "Yo?! Aw man I missed it!" The group giggles as they all enter the Nazareth and fly off back to Jericho.
Category:Parables
Category:Archfiend Arc Parable