[Kagerou]

A little random something I typed up to practice my skills, yet relevant to the OFM. Tell me what you guys think, please!

Spoiler for One-shot... sorta.:

Entropy Through Order: Case Files of the Order of Freelance Mages
Prologue: Elevation

Administered World 14 - MC066- Dawn
He stood atop a skyscraper overlooking the city - the tallest one. It was the main HQ for the TSAB presence in this city, a monument to the civilians who lives here. "Peace with us," it proclaimed boldly for all to see. "Under our rule, no war will come to you. No poverty will hurt your people. Peace will reign supreme as long as you are ruled by us." At least, that's what it seemed to be, as tall as it was; a defiance against gravity. So high up, people looked like mere insects, to be crushed under a heel.

The man standing on top of the building - on top of its primary spire, to be exact - looked down as he balanced easily on one boot. His tired eyes stared down at the city's ants squirmed, moved about, and lived comfortably. They did not see what he saw, blinded by the skyscraper's loud proclaimation. Up here, all was visible to him; that there was poverty, and that peace was merely a passing dream of this sorry world. Violence reigned supreme as whoever was in charge let unhappiness reign on this world... and yet...

And yet, the citizens were convinced, totally convinced, that the man could do no wrong. They had not seen what he had been doing. Hell, the red tape covering his misdeeds would be enough to deter most anyone looking for something against the man who ran this place. But the man atop the skyscraper had seen the evidence with his own eyes when the report was laid out on his desk a week ago. He knew of the man's illegal slave trade of the homeless, the exortion he ran upon the various businesses within the city, the too-cruel police force and the lack of proper TSAB staff, the budget cuts to things like education and security with the missing money going to the man's pocket. Payoffs, bribes, "protection" in the worst sense.

A gust of wind nearly knocked the man off balance as he contemplated atop the building. He grabbed his hat as it threatened to fly off of his head while his longcoat billowed wildly behind him. The man winced as all of the wind hit him full force, then died down, as if to let him regain his balance. He wasn't ready to fall yet. It wasn't time. Dawn had just approached, and though it was his custom to complete his mission before daybreak, he needed time... time to think. Time to prepare for this mission. Time to kill a guilty man.

"Another one..." he mused to himself as he watched the city far below. "Always another one..."

Problems, sir? someone asked him. A calm, collected voice, reflecting his inner melancholy as he thought about his mission.

No problems, XO. the man responded. Just thinking is all.
I see. The ship is ready to transport you back upon successful completion of the mission. Should you require assistance, I will be there in 5 seconds.

Don't worry about it. thought the man as he unbuckled a holster on his side. I got this, XO.

Yes, sir.

The other voice went silent. The man in a longcoat pulled a weapon out of the holster on his side; a revolver - well, it resembled one. It was a gun in every way, save for where the revolving cylinder would be - instead, a green gem was mounted, suspended in the center by a series of metal rods that went from the sphere to the gun.

"Maverick," the man muttered.
[Yes, Gunslinger?]

"Default Shot, low power," the man said. "Shoot ta stun,"
[Okay.]

The man took a step forward and dropped off the spire of the building, falling to the ground below.

-

Meanwhile, less than a mile away, another man, watching the first with image enhancers, sighed and leaned back in his seat. The man, or rather, the teenager, put a hand over his eyes. "He jumped off the building. He just jumped off the building."

"Relax, Kanchou, he's got Glider Wing," someone behind 'Kanchou' said. "He'll slow his fall before the ground stops it for him." This didn't stop the young man from sighing.

"The Colonel is going to be the death of me one day," Kanchou decided. "Yare, yare..." The second man just laughed and resumed doing whatever he was doing, the soft light of the safe room glinting off of his glasses. "What's so funny, Franz?"

"Oh, nothing," the man identified as Franz said. "You're just getting flustered, is all. It's starting to amuse me,"

"...I'm glad I can amuse you so easily," Kanchou fired back. "Remind me to make a report of it for you to fill." The young man suppressed a smile as he heard his compatriot groan in despair. "It's the Law of Equal Exchange, Franz. You of all people should know that you give what you get."

"Fair enough, sir," Franz moaned. "Fair enough..."

This is Erick. A voice echoed in their minds. About to commence my mission.

Good luck. Kanchou and Franz replied simultaneously.
All right, fuckers! Say hello to my little friend!

"..." The Kanchou wondered if beating his head against the nearest wall was a viable tactical option.

-

The two Bureau mages standing guard at the front door of the TSAB building never understood how one of them went down without a sound before the other followed suit.

Erick landed hard, his Glider Wing arching out of his back in a flared position. It retracted as soon as his feet touched the ground, and before a third and fourth guard could react, he fired off two green bolts of light from his weapon, knocking them out cold. This was the low-power setting of his Device; a beam of energy more akin to a violent taser shot than a beam of energy, meant to keep a guy down for at least thirty minutes.

It would be more than ample time to worm his way to the target floor. Erick grinned as he kicked open the front door to the building with a steel-toed boot, the glass in the doors shattering as they flung on their hinges to smash violently against the wall they were connected to. Erick stepped in slowly, his clothes jingling and his hands on the gun/device itself; one hand on the hammer, the other holding it with a finger on the trigger.

"Now y'all listen here!" He shouted to the shocked onlookers in the lobby. "Y'all got five seconds to get outta here afore I start shootin'!"

No one moved.

"One!"

The lobby burst into motion as civilians and some guards bolted for the door behind Erick, brushing past him and each other in an effort to run out before the madman with the gun began to shoot. In truth, Erick had never planned on shooting the civvies - however, seeing the priceless look of sheer terror on their faces was enough to give him a small amount of amusement in an otherwise diabolical mission. Stoning his countenance, Erick started his way forward.

Erick slowly made his way to the elevators, keeping an eye out for sudden movement. He was, after all, an invader, and it wouldn't surprise him if the leader of this fine planet was already preparing to pack his stuff and leave, assuming Erick wasn't killed first. O' course... he thought. They ain't never encountered an Order mage.

The room to his immediate right opened; the stairwell door. Swinging to match the motion of the door, Erick had his Device pointed in the room before the door had finished opening, revealing a shocked and confused secretary. Erick calmed his racing heart and waved his gun toward the door, indicating that she should leave. The scared girl nodded compliance and quickly ran out of the stairwell. Taking the opposite path, Erick walked into the stairwell, coming up with a plan as he took the steps up 2 at a time.

Erick reasoned that the enemy had used his lackey guards to set up a defensive position at the elevator doors, and perhaps the stairwell. By figuring that each guard had some sort of cover, Erick figured that he would have to react extremely quickly in order to shoot all the guards and react fast enough to dodge or use his Barrier Jacket to deflect oncoming attacks. Likewise, the average Bureau guard's Barrier Jacket would probably be sufficient to deflect his low-powered shots, so he would have to use high kinetic energy to knock them out from impact or go for headshots. Assuming that there were twenty men up there, not counting if he had any Enforcers, Erick was looking at a really low chance of surviving an intial conflict.

So he'd have to find a way to subvert that and make it a winning condition.

Erick stopped on the 44th floor. One floor up would lead him to his destination, and his opponent. He grinned as something came to mind. Perfect.

Erick opened the door to the 44th floor. Being just after dawn, the upper floors had not been occupied with civilians, only guards. As there were no men on this floor (and assuming there was at least one to a floor), Erick assumed that all guards quickly moved to cover his target. A viable choice, but one that allowed for Erick's surprise attack.

Glen. he thought. Whereabouts would da guy's office be at?
Toward the north end... why?

I gotta surprise present for 'em, that's why!
Didn't we agree on holding up on the wanton destruction?!
I lied.

Erick made his way to the north side of the floor and put away his Device. As he walked, he began to concentrate and direct the flow of mana in his body to his right hand. The results were immediate; his hand began to glow with emerald power as he stopped in what he deemed a suitable position. Looking up at the ceiling, Erick couldn't help but tip his hat and grin.

Sir-

Erick cut off Glen's thought message to him as he stared at the ceiling. "Maverick, set up!"

[Sonic Move. Burst Jump.]
"Jet Magnum!" With a scream of primal fury, Erick leaped into the air and punched the ceiling. The resultant kinetic energy from his sudden speed burst plus the explosive effect of the Jet Magnum caused the ceiling to cave and burst upward, blowing apart the floor above. Erick's leap took him through the hole and right where he wanted; the main office of his target.

Without hesitating and still in mid-leap, Erick reached onto his back and unbuckled a second holster. A handle slid into his expectant hand, and from underneath his coat Erick pulled out a 12-gauge shotgun. Cocking it by rapidly moving the gun down, then up, Erick flattened his body in the air and fired a close-range blast at the shocked mage standing next to him. As expected, the Barrier Jacket took the brunt of the shot, leaving only the kinetic burst of energy from the blast and sending him backward into the wall. Cocking the gun one-handed again, Erick fell toward the hole he created and stretched out his legs and free hand, catching the edge of the hole as he fired a second blast at the other mage - an Enforcer, if Erick saw correctly - sending him head over heels into the Plexiglas wall behind him.

Erick flexed his muscles and burst out of his position in the hole, landing on the desk kneeling while pulling out his Device and pointing it at his target's head. Dropping the shotgun, Erick unholstered a standard six-shot revolver and pointed it at the door.

"Wh-what the hell?!" was all the target could think of to say. Erick grinned.
"Call off yer dogs," he drawled as rapid beating began to sound from the door; Erick had guessed the door would be locked. When the man didn't respond, he pushed the Device against the man's temple. "Now!"

"S-stop it!" The panicked man shouted toward the door. "We've got it covered!"

The beating stopped, leaving the TSAB man to shake in his seat as Erick dug the gun-Device in his temple (while keeping the revolver pointed at the door). The Order mage instantly recognized the smell of piss as the man wet himself. "Lieutenant Lanning," Erick spat the name.

"Wh-what?! What do you want from me?!" the TSAB man said, the fear in his eyes apparent.
"Yer under arrest by orders of the Time-Space Administration Bureau," Erick stated as he pulled the Device around to point at Lanning's chest as he hopped off the desk to a standing position, bringing his revolver to bear. "For exotortin' the people of this planet, to illegal slave tradin', to royally pissin' me off. Now..." Erick took a step back and pulled back the hammer on his gun. "Yeh can either go to 'Pound Me in the Ass' prison for maybe 15 years, or I can send yeh to a more permanent Hell. Make a choice, Lanning!"

Erick's stare and smirk never faltered as Lanning shook in his seat. "You... you have no proof!" He declared.

"I got all the proof right here!" Erick shouted, leveling his guns. "I'll present the evidence in court, should ya choose to come along peaceably. Otherwise, I'll be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner!"

"No! I refuse to go!" With his sudden terrified screech, Lanning pulled a Storage Device from behind the desk and fired it as he swung it to bear, sending a Stinger Ray right at Erick. The shot was dead on.

Too bad for him it missed.

"So that's how it's gunna be," Erick grumbled... from behind Lanning. "Yeh almost injured my gun." Erick twirled Maverick in his hand before holstering it. "Looks like I'll have to do this the ol' fashioned way!" Lanning was too terrified to move, as Erick had his other revolver in his neck the whole time. He almost relaxed as Erick pulled the gun back, but then screamed in pain as Erick kicked him in the back, knocking him into the desk. Erick grabbed Lanning from the collar and shoved him into the Plexiglas. "Ya just had ta fight, didn't ya?!"

Erick forced Lanning to turn around, punching him furiously in the gut and sending the TSAB official to the ground. Erick forced him to stand up and pulled out a second revolver, backing up two steps and pointing both guns at the man.

"See ya in hell, partner,"

Lanning looked up in time, dazed, to see Erick pull the trigger on both guns once. He didn't see the other ten shots as they pierced each vital organ on his body they could, killing him in the span of less than 5 seconds and crumpling his body to the floor.

Erick's guns smoked with powder as he grunted and reholstered them. "Pathetic," he muttered. Behind him, rampant beating on the door to the office began again, presumably to get in and see what had happened. Erick snorted and turned back to the body before him. "I need a drink..."

Erick saw a flash of white before his eyes, then red as a blazing lance of fire cut through the Plexiglas before slicing a large man-sized hole in it, kicking it in. Erick blinked and realized that his XO, Glen, was floating where the hole was, an impatient look on his face.

"Are we done?" He asked Erick.
"...yeah. We're done. Let's get outta here."

Glen nodded and sheathed the sword he had just used. Pushing his hands together then pulling them apart, he produced a length of fire, which he hurled at Erick. Erick caught the non-burning flame and tied it around his waist. "Let's go, XO. Oh, wait!"

Erick bent down and picked up his 12-gauge. "Now let's go."

Glen nodded again and flew backwards slowly until Erick was outside the building with his Glider Wing deployed. Erick took one last look back at the damage he had done, looked back at the 15-year old boy who had him suspended 400 feet in the air, and resigned himself to fate.

"I need a drink..." he repeated.

Lieutenant Jim Lanning of the Time-Space Administration Bureau was found guilty of extortion, illegal slave trade, and corruption. His sentence was death, which occured at an unspecified time and date. Despite rumors of a man wearing a longcoat and hat over a TSAB uniform, these reports were deemed void and erased by certain officials within the TSAB. All people involved with Lanning have since been transfered, and as of today, the case has never been discussed again.

Case Closed