For the second time that week, Arineth made his way into the hospital's waiting area, his left arm holding his detached right. There was no shock or awe when he made his way through people with other injuries or illnesses, sitting and huffing at their long wait while those clinging to life were rushed in ahead of them. Arineth went to the desk immediately, nodding to the bored-looking nurse staring at her paper for a moment before she looked up and raised a brow. "Here for another reattachment, Zerasel?" She asked, the boredom replaced by gentle amusement as she looked from his detached arm to his right side.

"Of course. Is Deerin free?" Arineth asked, holding up the malfunctioning prosthetic arm. It was steel coated in several layers of brass, and one of the main tubes was cut open and leaking an amber colored liquid.

"He is, in his office. Head on back." The nurse stifled a laugh with the back of her hand, watching as Arineth sighed and passed the desk, heading down the hallway, turning right, and going down the more narrow hall and stopping at a wooden door that was somewhat ajar. "Deerin?" Arineth stepped in, the shoulder missing his arm nudging the door open. Deerin was inside, and he barely glanced up when he recognized the voice.

"You break more than the airship test dummies." He said, standing and stepping forward. "Sit, sit." he ushered Arineth in and pushed him onto one of the leatherbound chairs in front of his desk, taking the injured prosthetic and unscrewing the affected bolt and setting it aside. "Do you never preserve your arm?"

"I do. I just prefer it to take the brunt of a beating than any soft, meaty parts." Arineth rubbed his hand over the metal that covered the otherwise smooth stump that was his shoulder. A ball joint stuck out just an inch. He watched Deerin choose another bolt from a shelving unit and screw it on again, using a soldering iron and screwdriver, then spraying it carefully. "Y'know, because metal is easier to replace and heal."

"And it leaves no scars." Deerin nodded his agreement and stepped over to where Arineth was. He hooked the socket onto the ball joint and twisted, and it was immediately hooked on. "There we go, all better. You gonna be back tomorrow, or what?"

"I'll be careful." Arineth stood, flexing his metal-plated prosthetic hand and rolling his shoulder. From around his waist he untucked his shirt and slipped it on, smiling. "Maybe make it another three days, but I'm not making promises."

"I can't expect that from you, can I?" Deerin laughed. "Get outta here, go do whatever evil things you do."

"I do no evil things." Arineth gestured with his remodeled arm and stepped to the door. "See you soon, man."

"And you." Deerin nodded. "And if you want that tattoo covered, I know a good plastic surgeon---!"

Arineth looked down to his left arm, his real arm, and studied his half-sleeve vine-and-rose tattoo. "Nope, I'm good!" He called over his shoulder, closing the door. He knew he should get back to his boss, but couldn't be bothered to walk very quickly.

Astra Fara strode confidently towards the edge of the cliff. Looking down, she grinned in anticipation. The breeze blowing back her tight ponytail. She pulled the board out from under her arm and set it down. Stepping onto it, it came to life beneath her. Her feet didn't need strapping in. Electrical impulses automatically connected her feet to the board. Compliments of the android technology she had stolen from an archaeologist. Her own feet were replaced below the ankles with this high tech stuff that predated and out-sophisticated their own technology. It looked and felt real. But she knew it was not and was glad. Made adventures like these more fun.

With that thought, she leaped into the air, bringing the board with her and flying forward. Then down. A straight drop, facing body parallel with the earth below, the wind tugging at her but not slowing her down at all. The adrenaline shot through her systems. Blood pumping and oxygen flowing, she let out a whoop of exhilarated joy. Then, almost reluctantly, she pulled one foot up and immediately she was flying straight out of the land. The ground still a distance below her.

Her name literally meant Star Traveler. Sighing, she wished she was. Instead she traveled atmospheres and surfed clouds for limited amounts a time. A tantalizing taste of a reality she couldn't afford. Someday though, she would. She knew every promising location of the technology that could get her there. The same technology her feet had come from. Remains buried deep with secrets of a more advanced age.

Feeling the board beneath her tiring, she cruised slowly down towards the ground. Letting it be a simple hover board, she balanced easily as she headed along the terrain. Perhaps someday she would reach her dream. Today though, she had to work. Work. At least it was a step in the right direction. She made sure of that before she had applied.

The Underground could be dangerous, which was why so few traveled alone. Arineth did, however, and people avoided him. The people that mattered did, anyway. People that dressed well gave him a passing glance, teenagers and kids got just close enough to get a good look at the mechanics of his metal arm, and others like him gave him a wide breadth. At least his reputation was very well known to the people down here. He turned a corner, coming to the train and stopping in front of the tunnel. Arineth glanced around, studying the people, then slipped off the edge of the platform and onto the thin walkway in the tunnel. The train would be late, as usual, so Arineth had time. He slid out of sight of the others on the platform and broke into a jog, jumping up to a ladder that was almost hidden in the shadows several feet above his head. He leapt up the metal rungs and to a vault-like lid, which he twisted and pushed up.

He emerged into a dank alley. All its entrances were gated and locked, and there was only one door into any of the buildings. Arineth jumped up, slammed the vault, and walked dutifully toward the door. It was locked, but a flap in the middle of the door fell forward and a light bathed him. A mechanical voice spoke: "Identify"

It was more technology in one place than he'd seen in quite a while. "Arineth." He said clearly. The light faded and the flap closed up, and after a moment, Arineth heard a click. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned, and it swung out easily. He slipped in quickly, shutting the door behind him and walking forward. He was met by a large man, who had sense enough not to touch him as he led Arineth down the dim, wood-panel hall and to the door at the end. He was let inside, and looked around the familiar area. It was a large office, with a large desk, large bookshelves and large chairs. Most things were large, giving the impression of being small when one was in front of the desk. "Report?" His boss studied him carefully from behind silver glasses.

Arineth stuck his tongue between his teeth, manipulating the barbell that was through its middle. "I found their main operation."

"Good. Goooood..." He drew the word out carefully, and nodded. "And no worse for wear? You're late."

Arineth flexed his right arm. "Nothing that couldn't be replaced was damaged."

"Ah." The older man nodded. "Very good. Go to the counting room, you'll be paid for your information. Come back to be briefed on your next course of action."

Reaching the edge of a gully, Astra slowed to a stop. Leaning against the side of the rock face, she peaked around the corner. In the distance she saw the mobile units that were set up in a U-shape. The base camp. She watched for a few minutes. Noting that the guards were rather lax and that all other activity was muted, she assumed they were not expecting her. A logical assumption really. Out here in the middle of nowhere, there just wasn't anything more dangerous than a few creatures who called this barren place home.

Planning out a route, noting the larger boulders and which guards would be easier to hit first, it wasn't long until a bloody trail led from the camp's perimeter to the inside of the mobile units. Astra gazed lazily over the consoles and checked the storage bins. Lots of useful and useless information. She held up her arm and used her omni-tool, a device attached to her arm that provided a few extra treats to life, to download the information in the consoles that were of interest. Then the real work began.

There was ruins in the side of the canyon rock walls. Large cylinder tubes had been carefully and painstakingly set up leading back into them. The doors allowing for human biometrics to trigger them only. Heading inside, Astra pulled out a gun and carefully walked deeper and deeper into the interior. It wasn't her cup of tea, but it had to be done. The stuff she had acquired so far were nice extras that her boss had wanted, but weren't the reason she was here. Deep inside was a chamber with scientist junk laying around. From there several corridors. Consulting the console in the chamber, she learned which corridor held what she wanted and headed in that direction.

The scientists didn't know what they had down here. Reaching the room, Astra quickly and efficiently found the random pieces of technology the scientists had failed to recognize. Carefully looking them over and checking out every angle, Astra attached them back together and soon had the implants in reasonable shape. Now she just needed a doctor to surgically attach them in her skull by her left eye. It would make analyzing so much easier. In the meantime, she had to get out of here. And incoming patrols would be waiting for her.

He was ready to go before they even finished explaining to him what he needed to do. But it was simple enough, and he didn't need the explicit details, which he could work out on his own. The organization was to be brought down. It had several encampments situated around areas people didn't normally travel. One in the desert, one near the swamp, and a third near the top of Mount Fenrir. Their exact locations were unknown, however, and he was supposed to figure it out and then kill the main consoles. Arineth took his pay and nodded his way through the briefing, then left the building and made his way back to the underground, then up to the main streets. He had been given an address but had also been told that he was going to have to bypass guards. A lot of guards. Climbing the fire escape to another building several across, he made it to the roof and ducked down, his metal arm reaching up and popping his left eye out of its socket. Turning it in his other hand, he pulled a small sliver of metal out and placed it onto a slot just above, then twisted it back into his head. Blinking a little to rearrange it in his head, he stood up straight and closed his real eye.

The world came at Arineth in a series of grids and spiderweb-like maps. He saw body signatures in buildings across the street but when he turned to his destination, they were grouped around very tightly. They had obviously picked an abandoned building nested around more abandoned buildings. Leaping over the narrow alley and onto the rooftop beside him, Arineth made his way closer. There were no scattered guards, perhaps because they had developed a reputation around this particular area that had people too scared to come by. He made his way down and into the back alley, watching the heat signatures move and mill about, and catching sight of a radio wave. It was weak, but there was only one signal, giving indication that there was only one person using his radio at the moment. Arineth slid to the back door and wrapped his metal hand around the knob. With a swift, hard turn, the lock broke and the door swung open easily. Arineth studied the inside, and slipped in quickly. He saw no distinguishable heat signature nearby, but the rounds were being made and someone was nearing him from a hallway to the left. He dodged right.

A large vent---like those that existed only in old buildings like this---was met with him halfway down the hall he had slid into. It was barely attached, and he managed to lever it open and slip in, then fit it back onto its rusted lip. He could see more radio waves now, but they were faint, as if something were dimming them. Shrouders. He saw no one in the console room but knew it wouldn't last long. He bent the worthless excuse for a vent covering and jumped out, running to the main console, the one in the center and painted white where the others were dark gray or black, and opened his mouth.

Unscrewing the bolt from in his tongue, he wiped it on his shirt and inserted the end into a red-rimmed port. Who would think that a body piercing was a massive information siphon? He stepped aside, pressing in the download button and waiting impatiently. When the bulb of the barbell glowed red and died down, he retracted it and slid it back through his tongue, then removed a small tube from his metal arm. He shook it until it glowed and shoved it into the port, the liquid drawing into the console. He laughed to himself, looking around with his left eye and gasping when he saw a signature just outside the door. Grabbing the tube, he shattered it on the ground and ran to the vent, clambering back up and sliding into shadow while the room was stormed. Smiling a little, Arineth slid quietly forward and kept glancing back to make sure the signatures were occupied with their crashing systems. They wouldn't be able to save any of the information, or get the computers to work after those nanos were finished. But he would have all their information.

It was late when Astra finally got back into the city. The patrols she had decimated to the best of her abilities. She didn't want the weapons used to be analyzed from the corpses. Reporting into the headquarters, she walked into an elevator. It hovered down until they were well below the surface and then stopped. Opening into a white hallway, she started walking down it. Scanners and small bots analyzed her as she walked. Reaching the end, she did a bio authentication with her eye, voice, hair, hand, and ear. A saliva sample was the last test which turned the door a glowing green. Walking through it, she went into her boss' outer office.

An hour later, she stormed out angrily. It was a quiet anger. Anything more she dared not unleash here. Slowly working her way back to the outside world, she waited until she was on the street to make any display of storming away. How dare... Astra prided herself on being good. Really good. Now she was tasked to ask for help with her next mission. It was disheartening. With very little information to go on, she had to go find someone who met the requirements. Someone who was more android than human. Yeah, right. Astra had a lot of cool technology, but to get someone like this meant going to an outside agency. There were few she could show her face to at this point and live. Mostly because she had broken in and stolen from them.

Halfway down the vent his eye had flashed with a red message: "Eradicate". It was a simple command from his current boss that meant, simply, kill the entire building. Sighing and rolling his eyes, Arineth had done so, using an compressed air weapon to do so. It was silent, but the projectiles they fired were very solid and very deadly. When the first man fell it was confusion, almost curiosity, then as more began collapsing, they started scattering as if a spirit were after them. Arineth blocked off the doors and when the last body fell, he started an electrical fire by tossing a glass of water onto one of the control panels. The fire started spreading rather quickly, the old building going up like a matchbox, and Arineth managed to get out and slam the back door closed before the flames could get near him.

Now he sat with crossed arms and a glare on both eyes outside the building his boss called home. He thought he'd be handling this job on his own but apparently not. Apparently the other bases were much, much larger than he had thought because he'd only captured the aerial view from satellites. But they both slipped deep underground various levels. The one in the mountains even made use of the enormous cave system in the mountain itself. They said he needed help to pull off collapsing these two, but Arineth had made it clear long ago he worked alone. He did his best work when he was alone, he hated putting his trust and faith into others and as far as he was concerned, he always had.

Now his boss was going to take him, personally, to an underground facility to meet his new 'partner'? Wonderful. Arineth ground his teeth and immediately stopped, cringing and reaching into rearrange the false tooth that was actually a communicator and locator. He'd had a bad teeth-grinding habit before it was put in and now it was a reminder not to.

Not liking the meeting that had been set up so last minute, Astra did her best to keep her cool. There was no way she was going into this without a little more back up so to speak. Arriving at a dark alleyway, she walked until she reached a certain door and simply stood outside. Soon it opened and a burly man let her in. In the back, a medical office was set up. "Doc, I got this device and I want it in before a meeting tonight. Can you do it." Used to her bluntness, he took the strange device and looked it over. "Same thing as your feet... and that storage dimension deal you have. I'll try. Lay down."

An hour later, she was standing back up and struggling to not show any pain. He handed her a new medical pack that she clipped piece by piece along her arm in a special holster he had made for her. Then she mentally shifted it out of this dimension into another where she kept a lot of stuff. Armors, suits, weapons, special items... all stored in another place that no one else could reach. When she wanted to put something there, she placed it where she wanted it to appear when she brought it back. A helmet always appeared on her head. This medical kit would appear on her arm. "Thanks Doc." She turned and silently slipped into the night.

Heading towards the address she was to meet at, she made sure only simply things that were easily replaced were on her person. Her new device circling the top and outer side of her left eye analyzing everything around her. Distance, substance, chemical levels, movements, possible routes. She would teach it her abilities later so the routes were more improved. Reaching the spot, she sighed and waited.

Rough hands grabbed her from behind. She was hooded and manhandled into a transportation device. It started up and they were going. She had no idea where. Only that eventually she was in a dark room that seemed damp and musty. Freed, she stood back and leaned casually against a wall. She would get her help. Help for help. That way no arguments over money or loot could ensure. A good thing too. Because what her boss wanted might be easy to get with a partner, what she was aiming for along the way wasn't.