Arkangel Archives: Hybridization
There’s nothing like seeing the dead come back to life, especially when she’s the leader of your new squad.
I remember 8838—she goes by Eight now, since it’s easier— in the Boreas killing fields, taking out Geists like she was born to do it. Except it was Arkangel tech keeping her up and running; reinforced bones, synthetic eyes, dampened pain tolerance. When the lab was breached, I assumed Eight had been slaughtered in the crossfire. Everyone I worked with certainly was.
But she found her way back to the No-Pats, somehow. Her and the remnants of Unit 86 have a new mission: taking out the CENTRAL army created by A.O.S. through any means necessary. The Anti-Automaton Assault squadron takes anyone who is willing to become a saboteur and die for the cause, even if they used to be the enemy. EMPs, hacked drones, even frying entire power grids if it means destroying one of those bot printers so they can’t get back up.
I’m not a captain anymore. But I’m something better, I think.
–Campbell, A3 “Crash” Squad
Rogue Agents: The Most Dangerous Game
TO: Kimble “Irish” Graves
FROM: Navin Rao
Hey Irish,
I know you wanted my analysis of the new automatons we’ve encountered under A.O.S.’s control. This is a quick and dirty summary—I’m having to process so much tactical data that the servers need an ice pack and a raise, so I’ll deliver the hard numbers in a later report.
We know the Geists. Each variant printed out of the lab in Scotland ran off a similar blueprint, and they had limits on how much their behavior could adapt. They were slow, simple, not much different than Rangers assigned to guard a perimeter.
These CENTRAL units… think. They learn. It happens in microseconds, almost too fast to read, but between unloading one clip and the next, their behavior can change, zeroing in on a weakness in the enemy like—
Like us, Irish. They move in teams. They change weapons, they drive, they hack. The only difference is they don’t care if a limb gets blown off the bot next to them. These relentless chimera bastards will give up a hundred bodies, a thousand, if it can force a victory.
Because there’s always more of them. We have to reach the source and stop A.O.S., or eventually we’re going to be overrun.
I wish I had better news. Let’s do a deck walk on the Exodus next time I’m on the ship, yeah? It might almost be like old times.
Best,
Rao
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