Infiltration

Ryo guided his allies outside of the Aries Station. A wide opening followed by escalator stairs with neon lights surging from below them was their exit out. While moving towards their destination, Ryo's first sight of an actual alien was to his left. A maroon-colored three-eyed tentacle beast carried its offspring, rocking it back and forth. Another blue-colored cyclops alien had pet the alien child, laughing in response to its cuteness. Human security guards wearing police caps stationed around every corner, scoping the area during nighttime to make sure criminal activity managed with great force. They weren't phased at all by the aliens, which Ryo thought was strange.

The climb up the escalator was short. As they made their way towards the exit, a large animated billboard for a soda commercial played, showcasing a slim young woman model holding and pressing the soda can close to her sweaty face. "Aries Branded Soda Fuel. The drink for your soul." The woman stated. Ryo paused momentarily, letting the other Yakuza pass him. He examined another machine near the entrance of the station and spoke out with a female mechanical voice; "This is Aries Station X8. Pods are closing now! Have a nice night in Aries. Indulge yourself to paradise."

The five of them, including Ryo, made it towards the street section of Station X8. Aliens and humans were walking together in pairs, conversing with each other. The humans dressed in an excessively funky and over-the-top way, mimicking the dazzling fashion sense that Aries was popular for. One individual had spiked up and gelled lightning blue hair with groovy tinted shades. Shades during the night, Ryo wondered. "Wow." He muttered.

"Your ride's here, Ryo," Sez's voice entered through Ryo's earbud. "Get moving."

A black truck docked on the side of the street, opening up with the Asahikawa Yakuza inside wearing their nanotech suits. They also wore protective slim helmets that hid their identities and muffled their voices on the outside, keeping it close and personal with the earbud-only communication. Ryo removed his gym clothes, revealing his nanotech fiber suit. He entered the truck along with the others, shrouding and blending in beautifully with the night.

"Buckle up, boys," The driver warned, starting the engine of the vehicle. "Time to move."

The truck followed a narrow path out of the street and onto a highway. Fireworks blasted in the distance near the oceans of Aries, catching everyone's attention.

"Man this city is loaded to fuck," One of Ryo's allies stated. "Man, fuck Hokkaido. Living here would be a real banger, huh? Look at all this shit! Wonder how the women are here, too."

"Man, fuck you," Someone else replied. "If the Boss heard you, he'd cut your head off. He's been brutal lately. Let's pull this mission off and get the fuck outta here."

"Brutal?" Ryo was curious. "What do you mean?"

"Boss ain't screwing around when it comes to betrayal, man," The Yakuza member replied. "Earlier last week, one of our members got caught communicating with another one of our rival gangs, the Dragon Fangs. Sez dragged him from that gang back to our hideout and snapped his neck. Then he left him as food for the rats. Pretty fucking scary if you ask me, but that guy fucking deserved it. Goes to show you don't turn your back on the Yakuza. Say, that's the kind of shit you did, huh? Except for Boss and you are like buddy-buddy now."

"We always were," Ryo corrected, gazing out the window again. Brutal, huh? Ryo thought. He remembered Sez had his moments where he relied on Ryo for everything. It was rare for Ryo to see Sez taking initiative or action to prove a point. Ryo was always the one in the front. Now that Sez had murdered his gang member, he knew his best friend wasn't messing around anymore. But the strength and initiative that Sez had taken was cold-blooded murder; Ryo wasn't sure if it was the right way to attain power. "Let's just focus on the mission."

"Whatever you say, Romeo." The Yakuza member replied.

The truck attained high speeds as other exotic cars sped past them. As Ryo looked outside, a motorcycle that looked much like his sister Sumire sped by as well. When he caught a glimpse of the cat-themed helmet, Ryo's eyes widened, and pressed his face against the window.

"I mean, the boss had hella methods to get us the cash, but he had to pick this place out of all?" The Yakuza member tapped on Ryo's shoulder, distracting him. The moment he tapped, Ryo lost sight of the motorcyclist. "Goes to show you he's on some high ass shit. Pass me whatever the fuck he's having, haha."

"Ay, I know right?" The passenger seat Yakuza agreed. He seemed to be polishing an object in his arms, but it was out of Ryo's sight. "The Boss has his methods. He'll get what he wants, and so will we."

The trip to the Genesis Laboratories was short and simple. By the time they had passed through the midnight vistas, the Asahikawa Yakuzas had found themselves surrounded by artificial blooming cyan plants and trees, bunched up together to create a small forest. All five trucks opened up, with Sez rounding up the entire gang and stratifying them into many squadrons. With the nanosuits, their identities were concealed, so Ryo couldn't even tell who was who. He had to rely on simple body structure to tell, but even that was difficult enough.

Each of the squad leaders opened their briefcases to equip their infiltration gear. Ryo equipped the shield on his left hand, the zipline deployer on his right arm, and Chiaki's handgun holstered on a pouch by his hip. Sez grabbed Ryo and pulled him into his squadron with four others, masked up and ready to roll. The other squadrons would stay outside and operate from a safe distance to ensure Ryo and Sez's squad was safe from harm.

"Are we all ready?" Sez silently asked. "For our brothers. Let's do this. Follow me!"

Ryo activated his nanotech suit to shroud his face. He followed Sez and the other four into the forest while transmission signals through their earbuds played, stating from each squadron that they were ready for action. The specific Yakuza members that Sez had sent to Aries a month before their mission had already deactivated the drones, leaving their rooftops exposed. Ryo attached the zipline deployer to his hand, arming and priming it to fire. Sez followed a trail through the forest that led to a narrow dirt path to more forest shrubs. At last, after trailing the path for half a minute, Sez signaled with his hand for everyone behind him to stop.

"Zipline deployers," Sez ordered. "Get ready."

Sez pushed back the shrubs, revealing the Genesis Laboratory outskirts. A pure white-colored dome-shaped building spanned across for half a mile. The windows were tinted well enough so people couldn't witness what was happening within its sheltered state. The specific machine-like guards patrolled the entrance with powerful electric rifles holstered on their arms. Ryo and Sez circled the laboratory to remain out of their line of sight. They caught their eyes on the rooftop, priming their zipline deployer.

Six deployers fired at once, colliding with the dome's roof. Ryo, Sez, and the squadron activated their cloaking devices, zooming past through the zipline at full speed with the help of their wrist attachments propelling them automatically. They slammed against the top of the laboratory, deactivating their ziplines and holstering them into their pockets.

"Team 2, send us coordinates to the right area," Sez ordered through his earbud.

"Yes, boss," A voice from Squad 2 replied. "Coordinates scanned are twenty feet west and twelve feet north. The drones are off."

"Thank you, Squad 2," Sez acknowledged, beckoning Ryo and the others to follow. "Let's move."

Ryo followed Sez towards the specific coordinates, catching an exposed plexiglass part of the rooftop. Underneath was the break room of the laboratory. Sez signaled with his fingers towards one of the other Yakuza in Ryo's squadron, arming a laser device and priming it on the plexiglass part of the roof. Using pinpoint accuracy, a laser emitted from the device and cut through without dropping the glass down to the break room below. Sez grabbed the body-sized circle and tossed it aside, leaving them enough room for the dropdown.

Sez entered first, followed by Ryo and the others. "Shields up, don't activate them," Sez ordered.

"I'm up for a nice snack right now," One of the Yakuza members quipped while their shields near their chests. "I'd kill for that sexy lady's soda from that advertisement we saw earlier."

"Knock it off, dickhead," Another member shut him down. "Boss, will you lead?"

Sez shook his head. "We'll split up into two groups. Ryo, you take two and scope out the area."

"Okay." Ryo acknowledged.

The two of them gently pressed against the break room's door, revealing a narrow hallway like a hospital's wing. Ryo watched as Sez kneeled down and stealthily moved away from sight into a different sector of the laboratory. Two other lesser Yakuza followed Ryo into a neon blue-lit hallway, catching a patrolling guard standing in front of a yellow vinyl door. Before Ryo could signal for them to stop, the other two Yakuza moved ahead of him, priming their zipline deployers.

"What are you doing?" Ryo asked.

"Check this out. We ain't no amateurs," One of them insisted. He had fired his zipline deployer accurately enough to strike the guard on the head at full force, denting its helmet and striking it down to the ground. The Yakuza member swiftly retracted his zipline, using it successfully as a weapon. "Let's hurry up. That place looks sus."

Ryo led the squad towards the yellow door, watching the guard's helmet spaz in electric jolts. He picked up the guard's energy rifle, holstering it behind his back in case of emergency. One of the Yakuza members stood up and unlocked the door by breaking the lock with his zipline deployer. They opened it successfully, revealing a peculiarly yellow-lit area. Vacuum sealed pods filled with unusual fluids surrounded the area, with four at each specific wall. Ryo stood up and closed the door behind them while the others inspected the area.

"The hell is this shit?" One of his squadron members asked.

Ryo moved closer to one of the fluid-filled pods. A specially designed and labeled control panel was on each pod, signaling the pod number and pod type. All of them were considered "damaged" according to the pod's tag and number. One specific turquoise button labeled "Clear" struck Ryo's attention. Underneath the button's description, it wrote "Clears the fluid and makes the pod visible." With a deep inhaled breath, Ryo gently pushed the "Clear" button, causing the pod he activated it on to steam out the steam clouds from within.

A nude human body appeared inside. But this was no ordinary human. Its face was missing the upper half of its head, opened up with no brain attached inside. Ryo lost his breath and kicked himself back, terrified at the implausible sight of human test subjects.

"What the fuck?" Ryo's squadron member expressed his shock.

"Those aliens… I knew they were up to some shit." Another one of Ryo's members added.

Ryo couldn't believe what he was witnessing as well. He held his breath after being exposed to such torture regarding a brainless deceased human. Vomit surged through his esophagus that he had to forcefully keep down. He had wondered, what kind of insane lunatic would construct a nightmare of an experiment while being heartless? Were aliens behind this? Was this a natural excuse now to blame them for what they had done? The sheer brutality of watching a brainless human ruptured unimaginable thoughts within Ryo's head. He had felt brainless as well. He had felt exposed to such lies. Sumire's message about trusting the aliens didn't seem so promising anymore.

"Keep it together…" Ryo whispered to himself. "Let's get out of here."

The three of them followed the path out, but the bizarre image didn't leave Ryo's mentality. They suddenly stopped as a guard descended a rotating elevator. Ryo and his squadmates activated their temporary cloaking devices once more, surrounding the guard. Ryo watched as his squad member struck the guard in the back of the neck, then snapped it with full force. Ryo didn't accept such brutality, but there was no choice; otherwise, the guard would have seen his fallen comrade.

"Let's board that elevator." Ryo insisted.

"Are you fucking insane? We're gonna lose signal."

Ryo was determined to know the truth. He didn't want to lose the opportunity to understand what the aliens were doing to the humans. "Fine, you two stay here and I'll go by myself." Without their approval, Ryo entered the elevator and descended to the lowest level, A13. He readied his cloaking device the moment the elevator door opened, pressing it the moment it landed. A guard immediately noticed the elevator door opening without anyone pressing it. Ryo slipped past him, cloaked and out of sight.

"We've got an unusual reading down on Level A13," The muffled voice of the guard signaled through its communications system. "Elevator reached the floor with no one inside. Everyone, check for anomalies."

Shit. Ryo thought, slipping through A13. Two more guards stood by a heavily guarded metallic door with orange energy emitting a field of aura across iron bars acting as windows. Ryo, who was still cloaked, realized that he had to use force to break through them. As soon as the suspecting guard boarded the elevator, Ryo lunged towards the guard on the left while activating his laser shield, knocking the guard unconscious.

"Hey, what the-" The other guard began, raising its energy rifle. Ryo's cloaking device expired, revealing himself. Ryo yelled and grabbed the guard's energy rifle, holding it away as it fired in many directions. Ryo yanked the rifle out of the guard's clutches and delivered a powerful swipe to its face, knocking it out immediately.

Without hesitation, Ryo approached the metallic door and fired energy rounds into the door's lock to snap it off. He opened the door gently and caught a rotating orange crystal surrounded by protective plexiglass. There was only one in the sector, and signs around had warned the guards to not harm it. Ryo fired a round into the control panel, deactivating the plexiglass. The orange crystal's energies reentered its structure as Ryo caught it. While gazing inside, a small blue particle floated through the orange structure.

A blaring alarm sounded off in the distance. A13 was compromised. Sez's voice hounded through the communications system, asking what had happened. Ryo cloaked himself while the elevator to A13 lowered again. Two guards approached the area while Ryo placed the orange crystal in his pocket.

"A13 was compromised! There are intruders! Call for backup surrounding the area!"

He snuck past the guards and entered the elevator again to return to his prior floor. As soon as the elevator door closed, the guards fired energy rounds inside. It was too late, however. The elevator had already made its ascent back to the ground level with Ryo successfully obtaining the mysterious orange crystal. He believed it was enough to pawn off for Sez's sake.

"Sez, I..." Ryo spoke through his earbud, but he chose not to disclose his retrieval. "I'm coming back."

"Very well," Sez replied. "You better come back alive."

Ryo returned to A1, and his Yakuza squadron had vanished. He moved out into the hallway and noticed that the guard's body was missing as well. After taking a step forward into the yellow room, the muffled thumping sound of footsteps rattled the ground on the opposite side of the room. He entered a ventilation shaft down, regrouping with the Yakuza.

"Finally," Ryo said, standing up and dusting his nanotech suit. "We can get out of here."

"Yeah," One of the Yakuza members pulled out a handgun, along with the others behind him. All of them had it pointed at Ryo's back. He heard the cocking of the pistols together, feeling death knocking on his door. "You're gonna have to give us the crystal, man. Boss's orders."

Ryo turned around slowly. He was wondering why they had brought pistols, considering none of them would work against the guards. He had then realized that one of them had been polishing the guns in the car, hoping to betray Ryo anyway in the end. "You're making a mistake." He said.

"The only mistake was you-"

A sniper bullet struck the Yakuza directly in the temple, killing him instantly. Ryo kicked himself away behind cover as the Yakuza all aimed and fired in the sniper's direction. The sniper eventually revealed itself, wearing the same cat-themed biker helmet hiding behind cover. Ryo caught sight of the sniper and instantly knew who it was.

"Sumire!?" Ryo called.

"RUN! Get the fuck outta here!" Sumire yelled back, picking off the other Yakuza members.

Ryo nodded and darted towards another open garage door. A side door of the laboratory indicated an exit path. As he sprinted through the grass as fast as possible, one of the members of the Yakuza collided with Ryo to stop him. The orange crystal dropped out of his pocket and landed on the grass. The Yakuza lackey stood up and readied in a fighting position, rushing towards Ryo.

"Wait. Wait!" Ryo called. But the helmeted Yakuza member had no intention of letting him leave. He slammed Ryo to the ground and grabbed the orange crystal, making a run for it. Ryo remembered that he had Chiaki's M1911 in his possession. With a fast trigger finger, Ryo shot the Yakuza member down, instantly killing him.

Ryo retrieved the crystal while snatching the earpiece on his ear off. He stepped on it, noticing Sez and the Yakuza's betrayal to Ryo. He knew he was right, and Sumire was there to save him. He knew he would hear an earful if he were to make it out alive. He turned around and followed a grassy path away from where the other Yakuza members assembled. While moving, one of the drones above the rooftop of the laboratory fired a missile-like bullet at Ryo, blowing up the terrain underneath him. Ryo clutched the orange crystal tightly and flopped off of a hill and onto a highway, sustaining minor injuries.

"F...Fuck…" Ryo felt his elbow gashed on the concrete.

Sumire's motorcycle rushed to Ryo's rescue. She stopped immediately. "Fucking get on!" She yelled.

"Sumire, what are you doing here? Why are you-"

From behind, additional Yakuza motorcycle lights flashed in the darkness. More than six of them were speeding towards their position. Sumire grabbed Ryo's collar, yanking him onto the passenger's seat and speeding off through the highway. Through a high-speed chase, Ryo clutched the crystal in his pocket. He reloaded his pistol with one of Chiaki's custom magazines and held the laser shield in his left hand.

Sumire leaped off of one of the highways and landed on another to attempt to lose the Yakuza's trail. But all of them fearlessly leaped off with her, armed with submachine guns. They unloaded a rapid succession of bullets at Sumire's motorcycle. Luckily, Ryo activated the laser shield to deflect them off. Ryo couldn't believe that the Yakuza was betraying him. After all those sympathetic moments, Ryo knew Sez was using him. Now that the Yakuza and the rest of Genesis wanted his orange crystal, he wanted to ensure that no one but him would retrieve it in his hand.

"Fuckers, they're trying to scratch my bike!" Sumire shouted.

After running out of ammunition, the Yakuzas armed themselves with knives and collided with Sumire's motorcycle. Ryo ducked a swift knife slash and slammed his shield against one of the Yakuza's bikes wheels, toppling it over to take out one. He then fired Chiaki's pistol at another one speeding behind, toppling that against another Yakuza member. Ryo could hear the screams of them falling at top speed. Two more Yakuza members remained.

Sumire shifted directions on the highway, landing into the city section of Aries. Alien and human pedestrians backed off the moment they caught the pursuit at high speed. Sumire sped through the intersections while the Yakuza kept up the chase.

"They want me," Ryo noticed. "They want what I have."

"W-What are you talking about!?" Sumire called.

Ryo didn't answer. Instead, when one of the Yakuza members stormed forward with his knife, Ryo slammed the shield against his helmet and kicked him off. He then leaped off of Sumire's motorcycle and onto the other motorcycle, switching directions to prevent the final Yakuza member from chasing Sumire.

"RYO!?" Sumire's voice cut off as Ryo cut through another section of one of Aries's streets. Traffic was rampant, and Ryo couldn't slow down to maneuver through. He kicked the motorcycle up and landed on the sidewalk, shouting at the pedestrians to move away while the final Yakuza member chased after him. As soon as traffic finished, the last member sped up next to Ryo, stabbing him directly in the shoulder with the knife.

Ryo's arm fell back, but he used this as an opportunity to take out the last member. With the knife stuck directly in him, Ryo pulled him close, yanking out the knife and throwing it at the thug's hands to force a shift of direction. His motorcycle lost control, falling over and colliding against another car in traffic. With blood gushing out of Ryo's shoulder and elbow, he didn't have much control over his life for long. As he sped through a darkened area surrounded by more forest areas. The midnight made it difficult to view the mansion-like houses nearby, but Ryo caught a glimpse of them before striking against one of the curbs, toppling over entirely. He landed on the grass while his left arm went limp, feeling the blood gushing out of his shoulder.

A black iron gated fence was the barricade between Ryo and his safety. He used his right arm and clenched his teeth tightly, enduring the pain while climbing over. At the very top, the orange crystal slipped out of his pockets and landed on one of the bushes underneath him. Ryo gave up the climb and fell directly on the grass where the crystal landed. He quickly removed his nanotech suit, revealing his dark gym sweater. He took that off as well, transforming it into a wrap. The wound on his shoulder was not as deep as he expected; still, he wrapped his gym clothes around his shoulder to place pressure upon it.

"S...Shit… goddamn it… FUCK!" Ryo cried, grabbing the orange crystal and placing it back into his pocket. Hundreds of thoughts raced through his head: Sez's betrayal (whether it was an actuality or not), Sumire's arrival to Aries, and possibly Genesis Laboratories hunting him to retrieve what was stolen. He knew it was a mistake to follow Sez, yet he did it anyway. The situation was made only worse, and now, Ryo was stuck on Aries without any proper way to escape.

Ryo aggressively yanked grass near him to unleash his anger, flopping down on his back after his wounds started to ache tremendously. His head rested upon the bushy grass, raising his right hand into the air. It had started snowing, leaving small flakes resting on his palm. Ryo's mind didn't have the energy to comprehend everything. The mission was a failure, and in the end, he wanted to be out of the mix.

"What… what was Sumire doing here…?" Ryo asked himself, powering up his smartphone. "And how did she find me…?"

While he closed his eyes into a deep slumber, the orange crystal sparkled radiantly on the grass by his side. The microscopic blue particle within floated like a mystical butterfly trapped in a cage, waiting to burst.