Planet Curacao, 13JAN828 A.S. 0000 CEST.
It was a smooth return for the old fossil of a pilot touching down on Curacao in the middle of the night, evading any chance of being halted again. Anna had a long period of uncertainty ahead of her, Lucien was gone for how long nobody could figure, and Isaak had just been promoted to Commander. Both of her family members were high-profile figures in their respective communities, with no time to risk staining their images in the company of an inter-colony fugitive.
Some time alone after an extremely dramatic year could probably be fun though, more accurately: some alone time from Lucien's stressful thinking.
"Alright girl, don't rust on me. We won't be flying again for a while, at least I hope we won't for the wrong reasons." After a bit of button pressing, switch flicking and engine killing; Anna finally climbed out of the cockpit of the old Odin. Looking for the warm and fluffy comfort of the rack upstairs, she wasted no time taking off the helmet, flight suit, and body armor; stowing them without any thought over in her locker near the exit.
"Come to mama bear." She said, collapsing on the bed shortly after. All that followed was a bit of tossing over blankets, turning side to side - and she was catching Zs like a sloth.
-8 hours later-
Baby-sleep was the best kind, Anna was finally getting used to an 8-hour sleep cycle again as opposed to the 8-hours-of-stasis. Stretching here and there, it took her a minute to work her way out of bed. The first order of business once she was up though - water, and a peak out the window overlooking the horizon. Anna leaned against the countertop sipping bits of water from the glass before walking over towards the window. Her attention was quickly stolen by one particular object out of place - another ship parked down on the beach. It was a sabre; armed to the teeth and parked almost right outside the front door - as if it was there to make a statement. Some people knew about this region of Curacao, but no one had deliberately taken a ship and parked outside that close to her home before. Wasting no time she bolted back into her room, looking for her spare sidearm. "You're not the Hessian I remember." Another voice said out loud, from where she couldn't determine. Chills went down her spine as she drew the gun out, pointing it past the edge of the door threshold. The voice was deep, Hispanic sounding, but not Cretan. "Maybe that's because I'm not a Hessian at all." She said out loud, still scanning the room with the Naked eye to try and spot where he might be. "Those tattoos tell a different story." The voice replied. "What do you want then?" Anna said, pulling back the handgun inside the door threshold slowly.
"You can either come out here and talk to me face to face, or I can drag subject five back to her rightful owner as my client stated." He was a bounty hunter, boasting his position. Even so, she wasn't in any position to refuse right now, her best chance of taking him down -if at all- was face to face. "Fine." She said as she left the bedroom and entered the living room. "What do you want?" She took a seat at the counter where she was prior and put down her weapon there, hoping it would be enough for the bounty hunter to approach.
"I think you need my help, and I think I need yours." The man said as he walked out from behind the blinds against her balcony window. He was armed to the teeth and wearing a survival suit similar to her own, the only distinguishing feature was a small tube feed from his body armor to his nose, he was Maltesian.
Seeing her weapon on the counter, he decided to holster his and walk over towards the table where she was sitting. "Why do I need your help?" Anna said. "Because I'm not the only one these people have sent after you. I might be a better tracker, but sooner or later more of them will find you." His tone sounded sincere, but he was also an Outcast, Anna needed more convincing. "Why are you helping me then? Bounty's easy enough now isn't it?" There was a bit of a shiver behind her words, her whole charisma wasn't what the Outcast had anticipated. "I'm a Maltese Sicario, not a common bounty hunter. Even we have standards." Well, that pretty much certified his sincerity. His appearance and demeanor weren't entirely for show. "Only if I choose to help you." Anna said.
The snarky remark didn't do much to him, instead, he dug deeper into her situation. "You can help me even against your own will, but after what they've told me. I think you'd want at the very least - to poke back at them." Anna took a moment to process what she was hearing. She'd worked so hard to get away from all of that for the past year, but it seemed like there wasn't much of an option anyway. "You think Lyngvi won't anticipate you stabbing them in the back?" She said. "I don't think they'll anticipate us both shooting them in the back." He replied.
"Who are you?" She asked. "My name is Ezio. Get dressed and meet me at Barrier Gate. We'll talk about the rest there." He said.
Barrier Gate Station A, 14JAN828 A.S. 2000 CST
Anna followed up on Ezio's request voluntarily, figuring it would put any sense of confusion or hesitation on the matter to rest. Maybe this was the opportunity she'd been waiting for, or maybe not. A bit of her conscience rang as she threw the survival suit & helmet on; the engines of the Odin revving so loud the hangar shook. Perhaps the most reminiscent moment of it all, the moment that really reminded her of the Hessian she was - was the old weapon systems being reused. The STORMBREAKERs were put to rest for a long time, done so on the premise that they were - like her past life - cruel and unusual.
But cruel and unusual were what these monsters deserved, and this time she had no obstacles between her and revenge - or so it seemed.
Ezio waited and waited for his new partner to arrive in the hangar bay, standing still with the same creepy charisma that shook Anna when they first "met". Some of the flight mechs muttered to each other about him, but no one dared approach him to ask or say anything. Outcasts were as common as anyone else in that part of Sirius, his demeanor was all that separated him from the collective.
*Sniff* Ezio stood up, stretching a bit the moment Anna's fighter pulled into the Hangar bay. The flight mechs scurried out of the Hangar like mice, thinking the Outcast had some quarrel with the new guest. Little did they know the reality was quite the opposite for the time being. "That ship looks like it's been places, maybe there's some merit to the stories I've heard." Ezio aloud said as Anna approached him. "What's our next move?" Anna said, dodging the conversation. "Over a drink, si?" Ezio responded as he turned around, putting his helmet back on. "Si." Anna replied.
The bar was in its usual state, a whole series of pilots, outlaws, and "good people" living polar in the same room for a few moments or a few hours.
Ezio and Anna walked in, side by side still fully suited in gear. Their presence paused a few heads and turned others, the S.O.A logo embedded on a survival suit next to the Sicario icon on another - the whole room felt the two's presence within seconds. Ezio and Anna reacted the same, scanning the room with their eyes from side to side before walking towards their seat at the end of the bar. "You want something?" Ezio said as they took off their helmets. "Water's fine, they don't make good rum here."
Ezio returned after a few moments, the bar seemed to get over the two's presence. A few eyes kept poking in their direction here and there, but it wasn't enough to bother Ezio at least. "Why do you want to talk here and not underway?" Anna asked. "Needed to make sure you were really on board to help me." He said as he took a sip from his drink. "We also want anyone else looking for you to be on our tail, away from your home. Si?" Ezio finished after putting his drink down. *Sniff* He laid back against the wall, flicking the bail on his holster up and down. Anna didn't seem to care in that case, no reason to dawn whatever he was trying to do if it would take care of itself. "Well, are you going to lay out the plan then?" Anna asked. Ezio and Anna exchanged facial expressions, mostly Anna mocking the curiosity in his expressions. Finally, after a few moments of silence between the two Ezio spoke up. "Every time I look at you, I look for the woman they told me about. The mass murderer, ruthless leader, reckless fighter; but all I see is the face of someone like my daughter. What happened to you?" Ezio said. Anna avoided eye contact and gazed into her glass. Her story wasn't his to know at all, and his sidetracking just made her more suspicious of his intentions.
"Look." Anna said still focused on the glass of water. "You came across the stars to look for me. You took this contract and you made the choice to do whatever this is. I agreed to help you, I could've very well flown off to somewhere where you wouldn't be able to walk into my house. Why? I want to kill them." She said, now making eye contact with him before she continued. "I didn't agree to share my life secrets with you, and I won't. So you can either help me get revenge or leave empty-handed. I know they want me alive, and I know why. You don't hold as many cards in this situation as you think." Anna's tone didn't change at all, but her words still made him focus enough to stop flicking his bail up and down. *Sniff* He started fiddling with the bail again.
"What do you know about TESLA weapons?" Ezio asked.
Cerro La Punta, Puerto Rico, 16JAN 828 A.S. 0300 PST
Ezio's supposed intentions became clear over the next day. Lyngvi was using outcast weapon models to power a new sort of ship-to-ship EMP cannon called "TESLA". No one had any copies aside from Lyngvi, or so Ezio had assured Anna. It had him spooked though, in exchange for Anna's return to them, Ezio would walk away with all the copies. But that wouldn't be enough for the old Outcast though, he took a conservative approach to the whole thing; he didn't trust Lyngvi after being handed Anna's file. He wanted to put down the entire operation once and for all to ensure no one else had any chance of grabbing any copies. Helping Ezio was a bit more comfortable to Anna afterward, both from his determination and some sort of weird soft spot for her situation. She was a bit worried about what he'd think after seeing revenge first hand, but that feeling was slowly starting to be overruled by that very lust for revenge.
The two approached the moon where Lyngvi were stowing and developing the TESLA cannons. "Worried?" Ezio said over the commlink to Anna. "What makes you think I'm worried?" She replied, gazing into the Neutron star beyond the moon. "Just what they did, and you still haven't convinced me to change my mind." "What they did to me has run its course, just think of me as your daughter and forget what you see down there." Anna cut him off, the adrenaline was slowly building up, she was too agitated to dawn on anything at this point. There was a bit of awkward silence for a moment, Ezio knew he was in for a surprise. "The gravity well surrounding the neutron star has a bit of gap in this sector, be careful not to accelerate too fast or the Gs will send you unconscious." Ezio said finally.
"I thought you read everything there was to know about me?" Anna replied. "What do you mean?" Ezio asked. "Don't worry, as soon as you give the ok I'll make my approach." Anna said.
-1 Hour later-
Dozens of Lyngvi scientists and others alike stood in the Command center, all of them watching the Maltesian sabre land inside the hangar bay. Two men approached the ship as he finished climbing down from the cockpit. "The bounty?" One of them said. "Stasis pod's inside." Ezio replied. "Your reputation proceeds you, Sicario." Another man said walking up to him. He appeared more like a businessman than a scientist, definitely the leader - or one of them. "DNA readings from inside match subject 5's, moving for visual confirmation." The man in the suit nodded at them as they moved the pod out of the hangar bay. "Your weapons are here, and as promised we will arrange for Malta to make highly discounted purchases." The man said to Ezio. "What's so special about her then?" Ezio asked. "She possesses certain... qualities, qualities that have the potential for us to bring about change where it is needed. I take it you apprehended her planetside? Where was she hiding?." The man asked. "Yuma... And you didn't completely answer my question. Usually, when people want change brought about, they call a Maltesian - as you did." Ezio replied. The man took a deep breath, bringing his hands together and folding them at his chest. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, there's a reason I stressed you detaining her in person. Tell me, did she have a ship or anything personal for transportation to Yuma?" He asked Ezio.
"She did." Ezio replied. Just before the man could ask the obvious question, the two men that took in the pod came storming into the cargo bay. "It's not her." They said aloud to the man. Just as all eyes could begin to turn towards Ezio, a pair of gunshots went off killing the two that examined the pod. "You'll get to see it in a moment, and maybe even her." Ezio said.
Cerro La Punta, Puerto Rico, 18JAN 828 A.S. 0400 PST
Within a matter of minutes, Ezio had seen a display unlike any in the past 70 years of his life, Anna made quick work of the response wing and base defenses. As she made a final approach to land; the man held hostage by Ezio spoke up in desperation. "If you let her kill me, you gain nothing. But if you follow up with your deal, we can reward you handsomely. There's an active bounty of 3 billion credits on her head. We have some associates that might be very interested in it if you don't take it first." The thought crossed his mind, but his stubborn character ultimately held him to his original plan. He knew if he turned on Anna now there would be no way he'd escape the place by ship alive. "I think I'll take my chances with her." Ezio responded.
Having just landed, Anna hopped out of the cockpit of the Odin, a bit cinematic landing just beyond the exit of the now burning hangar bay. As she approached Ezio she immediately ripped off her helmet and grabbed his hostage by the throat. "Miss me?" She said, anticipating he would make some sort of snarky remark. The man maintained a silent gaze. "Nothing to say? Fine." She pulled out her sidearm and shot him right then and there. "Come on, let's go get your guns." Anna said to Ezio. Even for someone like Ezio, the ruthless display caught him a bit off guard. A little bit of bloodthirsty attitude was still buried in her personality.
There were a few stragglers along the way, but nothing too serious for the pair to handle. The TESLA weapons were being stowed away in a general storage space just a few hallways from the hangar bay, they probably anticipated everything going much more smoothly. The weapon design was definitely unique to anything the two had seen, Ezio became a bit anxious as they both examined the guns. "My people's design, stolen and defiled." Ezio said aloud. Anna looked more impressed, the guns were fascinating despite their means of creation. "You sound like a Zealot, I'd take these guns and use them. They belong to your people and given the way you live - you need every advantage." Anna replied. Ezio took another moment to examine them, he knew deep down Anna was right.
"You're right." Ezio said. "Let's load up these guns and get out of here, then our deal's finished."
"Let's not waste any time then." Anna replied.
-Hours later back on Curacao.-
Ezio had spilled the beans about the bounty on Anna's head, 3 billion. It was certainly a bit to take in, knowing she'd likely never see the end of people like Ezio -or worse than him- coming after her.
The two touched back down on the beach near Anna & Lucien's place. The scenery was as clear and beautiful as ever, Anna starred off into space as Ezio walked over to her. "Feel better?" He asked. "A bit, but there are so many more just like them that will keep hunting me." Anna replied. "If I found you - so will they. You can't stay like this." Ezio said. "I know." Anna replied.
"I think as much as you want to run away from who you were, you need that part of you to help you stay alive." Ezio said. "You think I should go back to killing?" Anna snapped back at him. She wasn't pleased in the slightest to hear what Ezio was hinting at. Still, he continued. "Bounty hunting always keeps you sharp, and an alias with it will keep you safe." Ezio said. Anna just stood there with her arms crossed for a bit, she could bring herself to respond or accept what he was saying - but she knew he was right. "Think about it, and grazie. I won't forget this." Ezio said as he walked away. Anna walked back over, sitting down on the wing of the parked Odin on the beach. She looked through the reflection of her helmet for a moment zoning out. "Bounty hunting..." She muttered to herself.