TOKYO, JAPAN
Countessa watched from a tall rooftop. Far below a red car turned into the parking structure across the street from her. “Blast it!” she had picked the wrong building. The twin corporate office buildings of Arasaka Corp were the target of a COIL operation tonight. Interpol had decrypted a big enough chunk of the data that Countessa recovered a few weeks back to know that they were targeting this site. If they had a better idea of what or who the target was, they might have been able to predict which tower they were going after.
Over her comm came some chatter. “Targets approaching east tower” “Strike team two moving in” “Strike team one, abandon west tower and move into perimeter positions” “positive identification, four COIL agents” “move in to apprehend…” Countessa sighed and placed her binoculars on the ledge. Looks like she and her strike team on the west tower would miss out on the action of capturing the four snakes.
She could have stayed behind in Metrocity after all. Ursa Mega was asking for a rematch in the ring. And Commissioner X was definitely sad to see her go. Apparently she was very popular with the elderly veterans. Perhaps after this she would take a flight back to…
“Freeze! Federal agents!” “Hands where we can see them!” “Do not move!” “AAAAGGGHHH!!!”
Countessa snapped out of her reverie at the shriek of pain from one of the agents on comm. The tone of the radio chatter instantly changed. “Vasquez is down!” “Jesus, my arm!” “Watch your fire!” several windows on one of the floors across from her flashed with silent gunfire. “Hudson is down! What did she do to him!” “Back off! Retreat!” “She’s still coming! Look out!” “I can’t see! I can’t see! Who’s there?” “Strike team one, come in! We are under heavy-!” BBBZZZTT!
Countessa took four steps away from the ledge. Paused for an instant. Then with a few sprinting steps leapt across the street, trying not to think about the hundred story drop if she messed this up. She sailed across the street, tucked into a shoulder roll and came up running on the opposite roof. She kicked her way through the access door and stood at the top of the steps, looking down the fire escape.
Over her comm came a weak voice. “…this is Frost. Can’t feel my legs. COIL agents, four of them, fast, well-trained. All women, all identical. Clones maybe. *cough* They took the elevator, stopped at floor 28.”
“Never mind that, Frost! What’s your location? We’re coming to get you.” “Frost?” “Frost!” Countessa looked down the narrow gap in the stairwell and vaulted over the railing. With her hands over her head she allowed herself to fall for several seconds before grabbing the concrete steps and stopping herself. Floor 33. Miscalculated slightly. She bounded down several more flights then crept carefully through the fire door on 28.
She listened for footfalls and could barely make them out. They were trained, moving silently. Middle management offices. She ducked low and darted stealthily in towards an adjoining room. She caught a glimpse of one woman off a window reflection in one of the offices. She was rifling through physical files in a cabinet with lightning speed. Countessa moved up behind her. She wanted to take her out quietly. She jabbed two knuckles at a pressure point in the side of the blonde woman’s neck. Instead of crumpling to the ground, she spun around with a blinding left that caught Countessa on the cheek and knocked her back.
OK, they are definitely enhanced. Countessa dropped into a fighting stance. The COIL agent yelled over her shoulder, “Get out of here! I’ll cover your escape!”
The other three agents, all blonde women that looked exactly like the one facing Countessa sprinted towards the elevator bank. The one in the lead carried several hard drives and some kind of strange canister. “I have the package, you two stay behind to cover my escape.”