3 Months Before Beacon.

We never see ourselves as others do, only when we look in a mirror will we who we really are.

“I don’t see why you need to do this. I mean, you’ve already been accepted into Beacon Academy.” Gizmo said, his voice barely coming through the Scroll in the young woman’s hand.

“Giz… Have you seen the amount of zeroes this job has attached to it? I would be stupid not to take it up.” The girl said.

She wore a copper colored leather jacket over a black hoodie, the jacket was zipped up and the hood was drawn over her black hair which she tied neatly back into a ponytail. The tip of her hair brightened with a soft green, verdigris.

“Vee, I know you’d like the money but if this goes south? We’re talking expensive Atlas property, not just some caravan travelling between kingdoms.” Gizmo asked, concern layered on top of his voice.

Snow fell at a steady pace, slowly burying the woman in a white blanket.

“Hey, I know what I’m doing… It isn’t the first time they’ve been robbed by Verdi Maze.” Verdi bragged, “And besides, with the information the contact provided, there supposed to have light security. They don’t want the black site to stand out. Standing force of like… ten, maybe eleven tops.”

“Yeah… Like ten or eleven trained, and fully armed, soldiers who are ready to defend Atlas secrets. And considering you don’t like to use weapons like a sane person does…” Gizmo said, obviously flustered, “I’m just looking out for you… I don’t know what I’d do without you constantly messing with my work. I’d probably finish something for a change.”

Verdi chuckled, “You know the tonfa wasn’t my fault. It’s not on me that someone forgot to insulate the wiring.”

Verdi rolled around, looking up at the night sky. The stars were bright and Remnant’s Shattered Moon hung proudly in the darkness. Verdi looked at it and frowned, she knew her childhood friend was right. That she should be more careful. The woman sighed, slowly being drawn back into reality by the sound of Gizmo’s voice.

“Once you’re in I can’t speak to you, you’ll be on your own.” Gizmo said, Verdi could hear the sound of a keyboard as he spoke, “Now, are there any modifications you’d like to make to your last will and testament?”

“You found my last will and testament?” Verdi asked, raising an eyebrow as snow fell lightly on her face.

“I found a lot more, I didn’t know you drew.” Gizmo answered, and after a pause continued, “And also what’s this folder? Titled: When I’m Gone.”

Verdi sat up straight, “Please don’t open that. You don’t want to see it.” She said with a panicked voice.

“Oh really? I think I found your secret folder.” Gizmo teased.

“Amir… Don’t.” Verdi said, closing her eyes as she heard Gizmo click the folder open.

After a short pause Gizmo spoke, “Oh… I- I didn’t know. Verdi, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Verdi? Verdi?”

Gizmo’s words fell on deaf ears. Verdi’s eyes were shut tight, desperately trying to keep the tears from flowing.

“Verdi, is this why you need the money? For the trea-” Gizmo never finished the words, the young woman had closed her Scroll, terminating the call.

Verdi breathed in, counting to ten before exhaling. She reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew a pair of earbuds, she attached the cord to her Scroll and tapped a button to queue the playlist she had setup. Music flooded into her ears as she slowly got to her knees, scanning her environment after wiping the tears that had welled in her eyes.

The land was barren, white snow covered most of it. A small, dimly lit, road snaked its way through the tundra. Verdi saw what she was looking for, saying a small thanks that she hadn’t missed it, a small truck. It chugged along the road, rather conspicuously, before stopping. Verdi moved carefully towards it, barely twenty feet away.

She could hear voices as two Atlesian soldiers exited the truck.

“This is Sergeant Astra, requesting entry. Verification code 1. 1. 3. 6. 4. 6. 2. 1. 0. 4. Copy?” One of the soldiers said into earpiece.

Verdi crept closer as the sergeant spoke. She reached the back of the truck and peeked in the canvas cover. She saw weapon crates stacked to the roof of the vehicle. She placed her foot on the bumper, and as quiet as possible, climbed inside, nestling between two of the large crates.

“This is Sergeant Astra confirming last transmission, requesting entry to the facility. Verification code 1. 1. 3. 6. 4. 6. 2. 1. 0. 4. Copy?” Sergeant Astra repeated.

The ground beneath the truck and the two soldiers lurched, the snow scattered as a platform revealed itself below them, lowering into the earth. It descended for quite a ways before Verdi felt the truck move once more, only a little bit though. The truck was off the platform and it was raised to cover the hole in the facility’s ceiling. Verdi waited, listening carefully for movement heading her way.

A minute passed, Verdi heard the driver and passenger of the truck exit the vehicle and walk off, chatting between themselves. The black haired girl sat up, peeking out of the canvas cover that hid her from the secret facility. The white and grey walls stretched for quite a distance in this underground vehicle depot she found herself in. Her truck was parked next to two others which had two more trucks flanking them. The vehicle depot was filled with identical trucks.

Making sure her surroundings were clear, Verdi reached into her pocket. Resting beside her Scroll was a small orb with a button. She carefully pulled it out of her pocket and clicked the button. Something inside the orb whirred and the orb lit up, shaking lightly. Verdi rolled it out of the truck and onto the depot’s floor. She stepped out gracefully, her boots barely making a sound as they connected with the floor. She crouched low and walked carefully towards the exit of the depot.

Halfway to the door, Verdi stooped low to pick up the orb. She clicked the button and the lights dimmed low and the whirring stopped.

“Thanks Giz.” She murmured to herself, pocketing the orb.

She heard her music through her headphones start to fuzz and grow with static. She frowned and reached into her pocket and clicked the orb again, the sound once again flooded her ears. She smiled as the comforting violins filled the silence. She reached the automatic doors that led to the large room’s exit and they slid open.

Carefully she walked out, into the long, white walled, hallway. Verdi was nervous, if someone turned into the hallway she would stick out like a sore thumb and she would have nowhere to go. She froze in place as the intercom blared.

“Today’s meal will be in thirty minutes, today’s meal is provided by Arean Food Group.” The announcer said.

Verdi relaxed, taking a deep breath before continuing on. The white hallway felt like it stretched on forever to the girl. The orchestra breathed music, comforting her as she went. She rounded corner after corner, becoming ever so shocked at the sheer lack of people she had run into. Outside of the two guards that let her into the base, she had not seen or heard anyone.

Verdi tried visualising the layout that the job had provided. Another left and she’d be at her destination. One hundred thousand Lien would be hers. She hugged the wall as she reached the end of the hallway, peeking her hooded head around the corner. A lone guard stood at the end of the other hallway, his back turned to Verdi as he reached for a keypad along the wall.

Verdi closed her eyes, felt the world around her. She could hear the breathing the soldier made and matched its speed. She felt connected to the guard and raised her hand as a mirror to him. The guard moved his fingers quickly across the keyboard, Verdi’s fingers moved in sync to the guard. She tapped an invisible keyboard in front of her, mimicking the keystrokes the guard made like a mirror. Verdi opened her eyes when she heard the door open and the guard pass through.

Verdi moved quickly, sprinting quietly up to the door and inputting the code that opened it. With a quiet hiss, the door opened and Verdi passed through, diving out of sight as the guard turned around to see the reason why.

Written on the white walls were the words Research and Development in large blue letters. This is where Verdi needed to be. Her job was to steal a prototype weapon in development by the engineers and scientists of this facility, all of whom were at a board meeting off site. Verdi waited for the guard to leave before moving on with her mission. She knelt low beneath the lab windows, staying out of sight.

Eventually she reached the main lab, where the weapon was being made. The sign on the door she opened read Experimental Lab 13, XP-31 “Endo”. The lab was an assortment of computers and other items that Verdi could make neither heads or tails of. But on the center table was her goal. A small box with two holes. She made sure no one was in the hallway before going up to the table. She looked at the box and saw writing above the two cavities.

“Left arm and right arm huh?” Verdi spoke to herself, picking up the bundle and strapping it to her waist.

The young woman quickly left the room, hurrying down the way she came. She moved quick, she needed to get out before someone saw that a prototype was missing. Verdi reached the door she had used to enter the wing and quickly typed the passcode. The door opened with a hiss and she sprinted through. As she passed through the door an alarm sounded, blaring throughout the facility.

“Prototype theft in progress, all units respond. Repeat, prototype theft in progress, all units respond.” The alarm repeated over and over as Verdi now moved with an urgent haste towards the vehicle depot. Every turn she made, she could hear the sound of soldiers running in her direction.

Verdi reached the depot, throwing open the door and sprinting in. She was forced to slow down when she was greeted by two gun wielding soldiers.

“Stop right there! You have two seconds to comply before your termination!” One of the soldiers shouted, raising his gun towards Verdi.

“Hold your fire, you’ll risk damaging the prototype.” A voice said behind Verdi, it was calm and sinister to the girl’s ears.

Verdi spun to face the man who spoke. He walked through the open door dressed in a white trench coat. His hands were gloved by black leather. His short white hair was tied back in a knot.

“Come now girl, don’t be stupid. Hand over the prototype and we’ll settle the matter like civilized souls.” The man said, flanked by two soldiers.

“And how would civilized souls settle this Mr…?” Verdi asked, trying to keep all of her perceived enemies in her line of sight.

“Mr. Finlay. You’ll be put down in peace, and the prototype will be returned to its lab. None outside this facility will be the wiser.” Finlay said, taking a step closer towards Verdi who took a step back.

“I don’t think so Mr. Finlay.” Verdi said.

Verdi dove behind one of the cars as gunfire ripped through the air.

“I said hold your fire!” Finlay shouted, the bullets stopped and descended upon the depot a sudden silence.

Verdi made her move, she reached into her pocket and clicked the button on the orb. Extending her hand around the truck she tossed it out. It rolled in the center of the room and Verdi tapped a button on her scroll. The orb shot exploded in a ball of electricity, shocking two of the guards and downing them. Finlay raised his arm, shielding his face from the blast. The two soldiers flanking Finlay rushed forward, batons in their hands.

Verdi rolled out of cover and stood with her gloved fists raised. The first soldier approached and swung his baton. Verdi dodged underneath the baton and jabbed her right fist into the soldier’s rib, she reached up with her left fist and connected it with the soldier’s neck. The soldier Verdi was fighting stumbled back.

The young fighter dropped low and kicked away the legs of the stumbling soldier, knocking him to the ground. The second soldier jumped at Verdi, wildly swinging the baton. Without looking, Verdi reached behind her, grabbing the baton and thrusting it into the downed soldier. She clicked the button on the baton and a surge of electrical energy flowed through the weapon and into the downed soldier, rendering him unconscious. She brought a swift elbow backwards into the remaining soldiers gut. The soldier doubled over as Verdi swiftly stood. She raised her fists once more and slammed them into each side of the soldier’s helmeted face. She finished him off with a knee to the chin as she slammed his head down with both hands.

Finlay smiled, removing the trench coat from his body and letting it fall to the floor of the depot. Underneath he wore a black tank top, revealing his muscular frame. The unconscious bodies littered the ground around Verdi and Finlay. Verdi stood in the center of the depot, moving her foot and tossing the baton she held in her hand at a nearby console. The electricity rippled through it and an alarm sounded. The platform that covered the roof, and allowed the vehicles to enter the facility lowered.

“Good, let’s make this more interesting.” Finlay said, cracking his knuckles and stepping onto the platform.

Verdi saw it as her only way out, stepping on the other end of the circular platform. The frigid air gripped the two fighters as they stood still. Soon, the platform was flush with the ground overhead and Verdi and Finlay stood underneath Remnant’s Shattered Moon.

“I’m impressed. Where’d you learn how to fight?” Finlay said, rolling his shoulders.

“I watched some impressive videos online.” Verdi joked, keeping her guard up.

“Well. Let’s see how your videos will help you now.” Finlay smiled and took a step forward.

His movement was mirrored by Verdi’s own step back, keeping the distance between the two even. Verdi focused, she felt her enemies aura and matched his breathing. Her movements were now in sync with the fighter. Finlay stepped forward and punched, Verdi mirrored his movements, connecting their fists together. Finlay raised his knee but it collided with Verdi’s knee.

Verdi smirked, spinning around the outside of Finlay’s reach and shouldering him, knocking him off balance. Verdi pressed this small advantage but was thrown off when a flash of light blinded her temporarily. She covered her eyes as vision returned, but Finlay had already taken advantage of the momentary delay that affected Verdi. The fighter reached forward, slamming a precise strike into Verdi’s arm. The girl felt it go limp as it fell to her side. She blinked and opened her eyes and saw Finlay’s fist slam into her shoulder, causing her to spin around. With her back turned to her enemy, Finlay kicked her square in the back.

Verdi fell to the ground, she could feel her aura draining. She crawled away from the skilled fighter and received a swift kick to the rib cage. Verdi coughed blood and barely managed a standing posture. She felt her arm again.

“Enough of this, hand over the prototype.” Finlay shouted.

“You want it so bad? Come and take it!” Verdi retorted, gripping the small box with her hands and inserting her hands in the corresponding sockets.

The pain was unimaginable, Verdi felt needles bury into her skin and electricity wracked her body. Verdi doubled over in pain as her skin burned. Her vision went bright and blue as she saw the world brighten. Her green eyes turned blue when she opened them.

“Scroll link identified. XP-31 online. Running diagnostics,” Verdi heard through the headphones that remained in her ears, “Aura reserves at thirteen point four percent, estimated time for recharge: forty five minutes and thirty six seconds.”

The pain lightened as Verdi stood, the box was gone and all that remained in its place were burn marks on Verdi’s wrists. Finlay stood stunned but regained his composure momentarily. He surged forward with newfound aggression, swinging his fist at Verdi who matched it with her own.

“Kinetic energy stored, transferring to output.” The voice in Verdi’s ear said.

Verdi could feel a bolster in strength as she threw a punch, Finlay blocked but was knocked back. He quickly rose to his feet and began an onslaught of punches and kicks. Verdi blocked them but the impacts were getting to her.

“Kinetic energy stored, transferring to output. Warning. Aura reserves less than five percent. Caution is advised.” The voice warned Verdi.

Finlay spun, raising his foot to connect with Verdi’s head. The girl raised her hand to block it, which she did successfully but she felt the last of her aura drain. Her breathing fell out of sync with Finlay, who advanced on the weakened fighter. He gripped her left arm and broke it at the elbow. Verdi howled in pain as the voice repeated itself.

“Kinetic energy stored, transferring to output. Warning. Aura reserves are depleted. Extreme caution is advised.”

Verdi, in one final attempt to fight back, threw her fist forward. It caught Finlay off guard as it hit him square in the chest. The impact depleted the remainder of his aura and sent him flying into a snow dune, burying him.. Verdi took this opportunity to flee, she limped off into the horizon, with the damned voice telling her to be cautious.

Verdi walked for an hour before she got to any kind of civilization, she clutched her broken arm in her hand as she limped towards the pier. A small ship was getting ready to cast off when Verdi shouted.

“Wait! Please!” Verdi pleaded to the captain.

The captain turned to her, seeing a bloodied and broken child begging for help.

“V-Vale… please.” She said, barely getting the words out of her mouth before she collapses in the captain’s arms.

…

When Finlay came too, he managed to crawl out of the snow dune. He scanned the horizon but Verdi was long gone. Finlay huffed as he called for the platform to be lowered, by now the soldiers had returned to consciousness and were busy securing the rest of the prototypes. Finlay walked, picking up his trench coat and putting it back on, towards the main command center. Upon entering, he tapped a couple buttons on the center console and a face popped up on the screen.

“Finlay, I understand you had a situation. I trust it is resolved.” The woman said, he was middle aged, showing a small amount of lines under her eyes. Her black hair fell over her shoulders.

“No ma’am, XP-31 was stolen and used. It is now bound to whomever our intruder was.” Finlay answered, giving a quick bow of his head.

The woman clicked her tongue, “And the intruder slipped away?”

Finlay nodded, “Yes ma’am, with the assistance of XP-31, she was able to defeat me and escape.”

The woman considered the situation for a moment before speaking, “I must speak to the rest of the triumvirate. Burn the blacksite, kill all personnel. We’ve no use for it anymore.”

“Yes ma’am.” Finlay bowed once more before terminating the call. He grabbed a pistol out of a drawer and cocked it before leaving to go about the instructions he was given.

By morning, the facility was gone. The platform was welded shut and swallowed by the consistent snowfall. Finlay drove away in one of the trucks, humming a tune as he left.