[b]The Heroic Spy[/b] The steel skeletal remains of 21st century skyscrapers dot the landscape. Sidewalks, gas powered rusting automobiles, and old street lights sink into the thick bubbling muddy surface. The leafless branches and twigs of old rotting and twisting trees clatter against one another in the strong winds blowing in from the nearby sea. Thick mosses and vines cover old monuments and stones and old parks have become pools of toxic radiated water. A deep fog remains forever present in the thick air of this swampland. Gut wrenching calls of Fallen vandals and captains echo through the silent city streets. This now frightening barren wetlands was one of the largest cities from the Golden Age. This is all that remains of Chicago. A group of people cloaked in robes walks together down a desolate street. The charred skeletal remains of humans litter the ground around them. Soon the group comes to a stop, to their right the mechanic bones and scrap of a Fallen Walker protrudes from the murky and oily water and on their left stood a collapsed building that whistles as the wind blows through its silent halls. The group enters the ruins of the once grand steel structure. A tattered rug with a washed out elegant leaf like design leads up to a rotting reception desk. A large brass chandelier hangs from the ceiling and the powdering of dust covers the surrounding furniture. The cult moves past the reception desk and up a set of crumbling concrete stairs. They reach a large dark room, musty curtains block the already minimal amount of light from entering the room. A crudely drawn symbol resembling the Traveler, a skull, and a star is etched into the tile floor. The group gathers around the dark symbol forming a circle. One of the members, who appears to be the leader, places a strange device in the center of the room. It's a cold and metalic looking box with a long needle on one end. Pumps and hoses appear to be loosely connected on the other end. The leader connects one of the hoses to a clear capsule like device and then takes his place back in the circle. He starts to mumble an eerie sounding ancient language, which slowly becomes some kind of chant. The other members join in repeating small verses of the man's eulogy. He removes a Ghost from his cloak, it appears rusted and barely alive. The Ghost's light flickers and dims slightly. He raises it above his head and begins to move towards the device. He stops when he hears a door click open behind him. The entire cult turns their direction towards a man wearing black trousers, black leather shoes, a white button up collared shirt, a black tie, and a suit coat. "Uhhhh, room service?" He replies jokingly. He quickly tosses a concussion grenade into the group, they quickly cover their eyes from the blinding light. The man preforms a sliding kick into one of the member sending them face first into the tiles floor. Blood shoots out from their now broken nose leaving splash marks. The man then preformed a sweeping kick sending two other robed followers to the ground. The rest of the group started to regain their sight and move closer to the man in the suit. One robed woman takes a swing at the man who leans to one side to dodge the attack. He grabs her arm and flips her over, throwing her into two oncoming members knocking them down. The leader of the group stands back watching in fear as he cult is quickly taken down. He begins to run away by heading for a set of stars leading further up the skyscraper. A cloaked man tries to punch the man in the suit, who pushes his arm away resulting in him knocking out another robed member of the group. The unwelcomed guest smiles to the cult member, shocked by what he had just been forced to do, and punches him in the face. The man in the suit runs to the stairwell and peers around the corner, a ghost soon appears next to him. "Leon, I really wish you'd wear your Hunter armor." His Ghost says worryingly. "And lose the classic look of a spy in a suit, I don't think so." He replies removing his side arm from the holster under his suit coat. He cocks the barrel back and peers up the stair well once again. "Besides I got this under control." he replies as a shot rings out through the stairwell. A bullet whizzes past and grazes Leon's suit resulting in a tear. "Son of a Fallen spawn. He ruined my favorite suit." "I told you." His Ghost replied "I don't have time for your I-told-you-sos" Leon replies heading up the stairs, the clicking of his shoes echoes as he climbs the steps. He reaches a door with some cloth hanging from it. His Ghost scans the material. "This is the same material that the others were wearing." Leon places his hand quietly on the door and slowly pushes it open, the door doesn't even creak. He aims his sidearm into the room and scans the surroundings from the door way. The room was small due to debris blocking it off from any of the once connecting rooms. Several cabinets lined one side of the room and high tech lockers sat on the other. "Those lockers appear to require a hand print to be opened." His Ghost comments quietly. Leon lowers his sidearm and places it back in it's holster. He enters the room and makes his way to the set of cabinets examining the contents of their drawers. A lot of the drawers were empty or contained paper files that were slowly decaying away. Soon Leon is grappled from behind, the robe man wields a knife in his hand and tries to cut Leon's throat. Leon throws himself backwards slamming the assailant into the wall. The knife drops to the ground and Leon removes and empty drawer from one of the cabinets. The man lunges at Leon with his left hand extended. Leon holds the empty drawer in front of him like a shield and the robes leader is held at bay by the drawer. With his free hand Leon punches through the wooden drawer, his knuckles digging into the robed man's face, sending the leader down into the ground, unconscious. Leon takes a brief moment to catch his breath and then removes a thin transparent device from his pocket. He places the leaders hand on the device which scans his hand print. Leon removes the sheet from under his hand and move over the locker and places the print over the scanner. The locker beeps and clicks open, inside was a small device that looked similar to the one in the ritual hall. Leon snatches the device and places it in his pocket, his Ghost transmats the rest of the files. A ruckus of noise can be heard coming from the stairwell, Leon turns to his Ghost and the two are transmatted away as a group of cult members burst through the door. [b][u]-- Concordat Headquarters, The Last City on Earth --[/u][/b] Leon sits at a small table in a glass room, across from him is a Warlock going over the files he retrieved from his mission. "Excellent work, I'd expect nothing less from an agent with your skill." The Warlock says as she puts the papers aside. "Thanks." Leon replies uncaringly. He relaxes back in his chair. "What does it mean to be a member of the Concordat, to you?" "Well," Leon starts with a sigh and then leaning forward looking directly into the Warlocks eyes. "it means I'm the best of the best, a secret soldier picked by the Consensus itself to keep their interests safe." "It also means you've sworn your life to protecting the Last City on Earth from unseen threats." "Yea, yeah. So what's this all about?" "Testing you to see if you're fit for my team." A voice says from the shadows of the room. The figure approaches, and removes his weathered and beaten leather brown jacket. He tips his old brown fedora up and looks into Leon's eyes. "Congrats you passed." "Woah, woah woah, I don't do team." Leon says shooting up from his chair. "You do now." The man says slinging his old jacket over his shoulder and exiting from the room. "I'll need you to report to Hanger F for briefing on your next assignment." The warlock replies and follows the other man. Leon stands in a state of confusion alone in the room, his Ghost soon appears. "A team assignment, sounds interesting." His Ghost chimes in.