They looked the same as the Ares models, perhaps a shade or two sleeker, but otherwise, I couldn't tell the difference. Unlike the Ares Hardsuits, the Athenas were colored black. Most hardsuits in urban environments were white, better to reflect the sun, but all the Athena Hardsuits were pitch black.

"These are going to be hell to wear in the summer," Jac said. For once, I agreed with her.

"The Athena Hardsuits has built-in climate control," Inspector Sparks said. "Or so I'm told. I haven't worn a hardsuit since my time at the institute. For all I know, every hardsuit comes with built-in climate control."

"Believe me, that's not the case," I said. I walked over to the first suit and ran my hand across the old metal. "Have these been registered to our IDs?"

"Before they were even shipped out," Inspector Sparks said.

The armor was in three pieces: the helmets, the torso, and the waist. We had come here to try the armor out, so I picked up the waist and slid one leg in at a time. Each piece was heavier than its Ares piece counterpart, and I wondered if that might slow down the operator. When dealing with the infected, speed was of the essence. If these suits slowed the user down and became a burden... I didn't finish the thought. After all the money Sword sank into them, it wouldn't be too happy to learn that they weren't usable.

I took off my linker and set it down next to me on the desk. Then I heaved the chest piece over my body and felt it latch onto the waist. Because of this body's augmentation and implants, I was stronger than a regular human, but even for me, it was a struggle.

Inspector Sparks whistled. "I don't believe it. I have to say I'm impressed, Evelyn Lescheres. Sword recommends putting the hardsuit on while sitting down."

"I can see why. I'm not going to do this again." It was getting increasingly harder to stand up. How did they expect us to move in this, much less fight? I wanted to sit down, but now that the armor was latched, I wouldn't move my lower body.

I could still move my armors, so I put on the helmet. It latched on, sending me into a world of darkness. Inside the helmet, I couldn't see anything.

In the corner of my vision, a light flickered. "Activating Athena Hardsuit suppression system: now online. User Authentication: Hunter Evelyn Lescheres, Sword, Infection Subjugation Division. Athena Hardsuit usage: Approved. You are a valid user. Please take care to suppress or eliminate the targets."

The hardsuit direction voice was still the same cool female voice the Ares suits had used. Maybe the designers liked it. I heard that the older Prometheus model used a deeper voice that many hunters of the era didn't seem to care for.

The darkness in my helmet began to vanish. It must have directional camera's all over, because the darkness faded in flickers of light, and then I could see everything around me. If I couldn't feel the helmet on my face, I wouldn't know I was wearing it. I could see everything, though no doubt that my vision was even better with the helmet on.

My hardsuit connected to the Augmented Reality Network, and just speaking the word HUD brought up the interface. The suit was connected to my ID because I had full access to everything that I did with my linker.

I began to scroll through my work messages, it clicked: I could move. It was incredibly easy to move. If anything, this suit felt a little bit lighter than the Ares Hardsuits.

"These hardsuits augment your physical capabilities beyond what even the Ares Hardsuits do. Moving in them should prove to be no challenge once they're online."

Inspector Sparks was right. The suit felt so light.

As the rest of my team began to suit up, I began to investigate this suit. I had access to some of its functions, though as a mere user I wasn't authorized to access its core functions. I could read about them and Inspector Sparks wasn't lying, there was inbuilt climate control. We wouldn't be roasted alive on a hot day. Hell, we could wear these in Deseret and not notice the heat. Which was more than could be said for the Aries Hardsuits.

"I'm impressed," Shinya said. "The boys in R&D really did their jobs right. I think I could grow to like this."

He wasn't the only one. I wasn't going to go back to the Ares model if given a choice.

Shinya was the first to have the suit on and running. It didn't look any bulkier than the Ares Hardsuit, so how could it be so much heavier? Anyone reasonably strong could lift the Ares Hardsuits and put them on easily. Athena weighed a lot more.

"Okay, this is cool," Jac said, jumping up and down. She looked so light on her feet. "I say we go out on patrol. Scare away some infected."

"That isn't our job," I reminded her. "Patrol and locating infected are the inspector's job."

"Princess, you know you're a buzz kill, right?"

"Stop calling me princess."

"While I don't agree with her, I do want to test the hardsuit out," Glen admitted. He was pumping his arm.

So did I. "I'm sure we will get the chance to. In time." As the leader, I had to maintain an air of professionalism, so I couldn't have fun with the hardsuit in front of my team.

"Shinya, you're my second in command."

"Roger."

"How, how are they? The brace wants me to report back on the first use."

"Light," I told him. "Maybe a little too light. It almost feels like I'm wearing clothes."

"That's good. The boys in R&D were afraid the weight might carry over even once the enhancements were activated. They can rest easy."

"Well, I wouldn't say clothes," Glen said. "But it is about as light as the Ares Hardsuits."

I guess my augmentations were in full effect because they felt lighter to me. Even if slightly.

Red lights began to flash, as a shrill alarm blared. The hardsuit directional voice began to speak: "Inspector Kaito Ito has engaged striges at 213 Elmer Street. The Inspector requests immediate aid."

I didn't think we were going to be given our first case so soon, but I guess Jac would get her playtime after all. Inspector Sparks was grinning. "I've just put our team on that case and called for a patty wagon. It'll be waiting for us on Base Level One. Get down there."

Jac turned her helmet to look at him. "You're not coming?"

She sounded accusatory.

"I'll be coming alright, but as an inspector, you know it isn't my job to engage the infected."

"So what, you're going to stay nice and snug in the patty wagon?"

"My body is. I'll see about giving you some special coverage."

"Let's move! We have an inspector that's in trouble." Kaito Ito wasn't going to die on my watch.

The patty wagon was waiting for us on Base Level One, the back open. As we climbed inside, it closed and the patty wagon began to move.

"Shouldn't a second one come with us?" Jac asked.

"Another one will be dispatched if we need it, but we're only aware of striges. There's no point in capturing a striges."

Jac sighed. "I guess you got a point. The mindless monsters aren't going to hand over any useful information."

No, they weren't. But where striges were, progenitors and knights weren't far behind.

214 Elmer Street was located on the outskirts of Neptune, right at the border of the forest. Elmer Street was part of the old projects, low-income housing that had at one point fallen into dilapidation. The city authorities had begun renovating the area for habitation, and though it looked a little shabby, Elmer Street was far from unlivable like it had been.

As soon as we turned down Elmer Street, the holoscreen appeared above us, showing us the camera image from the front of the patty wagon. It looked like a scene from an old Earth zombie movie. The striges were lumbering out of the basement of an old building, looking like how we imagined zombies would have.

"Damn, those are striges?" Jac asked, the disgust clear in her voice.

"You didn't learn about striges in the institute?" Glen asked.

"Of course I said, but I never got to see what they look like. Still, pictures don't do them justice," Jac said, her helmet pointing at the holoscreen. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Shinya asked.

"How they're made."

I nodded. "When a progenitor or a knight drinks a human dry and kills them that way, their bodies are reanimated." It was sickening. The striges lumbering into the street used to be living humans and now their bodies were violated and turned into weapons.

"Do you think there's a knight around?"

"If they're moving, someone is giving them orders," I said. Striges didn't move without orders. I could see an inspector on the other side of the street, but since the striges weren't attacking him, they weren't programmed to mindlessly attack anyone.

Elmer Street was a cul-de-sac, so we stopped the patty wagon blocked the mouth of the street. All the striges turned to look at us as the wagon door opened.

Jac was the first one out, grabbing a pistol from the wall and a heat saber, which she activated, the blade began to slow red. As soon as the striges saw her, they began to sprint, mouths wide open. Shinya grabbed an assault rifle from the wall and Glen grabbed two large knives. I grabbed two heat sabers, activating both of them as I stepped out.

With the Athena Hardsuit, it was easier than taking candy from a baby. Okay, not as easy, but pretty close. one of the striges broke off from its position with the others and charged me. I held my armored arm up and let it bite me. Its teeth broke. These weren't full strix, so we didn't need heated weapons, but that didn't mean a knight or a progenitor weren't lurking around here somewhere.

I cut the striges biting my arm down. Then I decapitated the next one. On and on it went, until the street was littered with bodies from the first crowd. I say the first crowd because more climbed up out of the basement.

Neptune was a huge city, with over ten million people, but there had to be over one hundred striges here. Just how big was the basement in that building? And how many people did the progenitor or its knights kill? Even in a city this large, one hundred people going missing in a short time would raise some red flags. Unless this flock had been slowly amassed.

Or they were brought in from another part of the country. It would be hard to transport striges, but not impossibly. Especially for an old and powerful organization like one of the courts.

"Ma'am?" Inspector Sparks opened a channel with us. "There's someone in the building."

"So?"

"After the striges first appeared, the inspector began clearing apartment block in that building. The people have been evacuated to another street. That building should be empty of everything but the striges. Oh, and more are coming up from the basement."

That wasn't going to be a problem. Killing them wasn't hard, but it was turning into a crunch. Just how many of them were there?

"The target is a male... And he's wearing a mask."

Mask? That pretty much meant that he wasn't a progenitor. They would just shapeshift into a different form. Knights couldn't take other shapes. "You think he's a knight?"

"I'm sure of it. His mask is specially made so my astral form can't see his face."

That pretty much clinched it.

As the third group of striges appeared, I gave my orders: "Eliminate them all!"

"Where are you going?" Shinya yelled after me.

"I'm investigating a lead!" I yelled, breaking through the apartment building's front door. Sword would have to pay for that.

"He's on the third floor! By the stairwell!" Inspector Sparks said.

With the Athena Hardsuit, it took me less than twenty seconds to run up three stories. When the male turned to face me, he was wearing a red Oni mask. My suit scanned the mask and registered it against the database of known masks. A match came up immediately and the hardsuit displayed the knight's profile. Because of the mask, he was given the code name Oni, and his progenitor had even taken to calling him that.

His hair was black and his eyes were blue. He was one of Catherine's knights, making him a member of the Blue Court. As if to prove it, his eyes started glowing a dark eerie blue, before turning to their lighter shade. "Were your eyes always blue, or did they change when Catherine turned you into a monster?"

"Monster?" Oni asked, testing the word slowly. He spoke with a Parisian accent. "You're wrong. We're gods, the next stage of evolution. You should bow and erect a temple in our honor."

"Do you fancy yourself Zeus?"

"Catherine is Zeus. I am merely Apollo, her humble servant, yet so far above your mortal existence that I might as well be a star. As for your question, my eyes were always blue. A Sword Hunter should know that our eye color doesn't change unless we do this."

His eyes began to glow that dark eerie blue. "Catherine likes my eyes. They match hers."

"Is she here? In this city?"

"Perhaps."

"Where is she?"

"Like I would ever tell you that."

I held up both heat sabers. "If you don't tell me, I'll have to rip it out of you."

Oni didn't appear worried. "Don't you normally dress in white?"

"This is your last chance."

"Last chance?" A red tendril erupted from his back, covering his arm. Blue electricity surged across it. "Come at me, hunter."

A bolt of lightning shot off the tendril. The suit made me faster than any human had the right to be, but I was still glad it wasn't a real lightning bolt. Strix lightning was slower than the real thing and I dodge out of the way. I closed the distance in no time, swinging my saber.

Oni sharpened his tendril and blocked the saber, though I was slowly starting to cut into the blood creation. I swung my other saber at his head. He must have been well fed because a second creation burst out of his shoulder. It blocked the saber, though I was slowly cutting through it. Quickly, smaller tendrils struck from it, aiming for my helmet.

I didn't know if the tendrils would have pierced it, but I wasn't going to take any chances, so I disengaged.

"Where are you going, hunter?" Oni practically purred. "You might not get this chance again."

"What chance would that be?"

"Why, to kill me of course. This could be your only chance."

"We have reason to suspect that two or three progenitors are in this city," I told him. I could only see his eyes, but they widened. "I don't think you're going anywhere. I think Catherine is here for something."

"I suppose she might be."

"But don't worry, I'm not leaving."

"Ma'am, all the striges are down. Jac and Glen are checking the basement."

"Then come back me up, Shinya. Glen, Jac, if there are no more striges, move to my position. I'm facing a knight."

Two sets of roger and one "on my way" echoed over my coms.

"You're not? That's a shame. It looks like I'll have to leave?"

I put on my softest, more attractive voice. "No, don't go yet. Stay awhile."

Oni laughed. "I'm afraid I cannot. You see, I only took a few our of striges and I've learned everything I need to know."

"Which is?"

"That Sword has new hardsuits, though most likely not in mass production. That isn't all I know, but I'm sure she will be satisfied with that."

"Catherine?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Shinya burst up from the stairwell, and I switched over to coms. "Pincer!"

Oni was too fast. He used his tendril to rocket himself out of the way, moving so fast it might have looked like a blur to human eyes, but my hardsuit tracked every movement. He broke through the wall and fell, landing right on Jac as she came out. I loved over the side to see Glen attack him, but he used his tendril again to rocket himself into the air.

Shinya pointed his assault rifle and fired. Some of the heat bullets hit him, but Oni dipped over another building, vanishing from sight. "Should we go after him?" Glen asked. Jac didn't wait for my orders, sprinting down the road.

"Go after her, Shinya and I are coming!"

When we got to the other side of the building, Oni was gone.

"That was Oni, wasn't it?" Glen asked as we returned to the patty wagon. "He was listed in the database. A dangerous knight. The last time he was seen was over in Deseret. What the hell was he doing here?"

"I think Catherine might be one of the progenitors here," I told him, leaning against the patty wagon. "I didn't get a confirmation, but why else would he be here?"

"Any number of reasons?" Jac suggested.

"I agree," Shinya said. I imagined that Jac was glaring at him. "We still don't know why the progenitors have flocked here, but I think there's a good chance that Catherine is here. We should put alerts out for all of her knights and see if we can capture any in a net."

***

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