New Management.

Another day, another massacre.

It was a summer night in Höllvania. A Scaldra recovery team was en route to Solstice Square. Aiming to salvage whatever equipment they could from fallen troops and recover rank badges. Among other things. All because Lieutenant Viktor was desperately trying to stop another one of Flare's concerts. Only to once again lose hundreds of men to the Hex's deadliest that were defending him the entire time. Some wonder why he still even tries.

The crew arrived on the scene. They had their weapons at the ready in case they were ambushed by Techrot or more of the Hex. If any of them decided to stay behind and hide, for whatever reason. They took a look around at the carnage that had taken place. The first thing they noticed being the massive hole where the Rippers' stage used to be. Sol only knew how many more dead were down in those sewers. As for what was on the surface, there were corpses just about everywhere. Some with missing chunks, missing limbs, sliced in half across and down the middle, just about any brutal form of death there was. Others were barely even distinguishable.

"Shit..." One of the Jaegers muttered as he knelt down next to a trio of bodies. One of them with a massive hole blown through its chest. "I knew it would be bad, but..." He trailed off and shivered a little. Quickly standing back up. "The whole area's littered with us."

"I keep saying that fighting these "Hex" is a dumb idea, but the lieutenant doesn't seem to understand that. He thinks we grow on trees." A Flayer responded. Crossing her arms and leaning up against a nearby building. The wall having slight blood splatters. "I can't even begin to tell you what I think of the stuff he makes us do when we aren't deployed. Like the prayers..."

"Careful about having things like common sense and rationality. Those aren't usually allowed." The Jaeger replied with a soft laugh. Nearby, an Eradicator officer spoke up in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Cut the chatter. We need this done by sunrise." He pointed his club at the Flayer leaned against the wall. "You. Stop standing around and get to work. Lazing about with your free thinking is the last thing the lieutenant need to find out about."

The Flayer let out a slight groan and stepped away from the wall. Going about to help with collecting salvageable items. About two hours or so ed since that small conversation, and the truck they arrived in was filled with decent amounts of mostly intact weapons, badges and identification tags. Before anyone else could pick anything more up, a distressed scream coming from the team's Barbican rang out in the empty night.

The officer, including the Flayers and Jaegers rushed over to the alley they heard him scream from, ready for a fight. Though, when they got there, all they saw was him on the ground. Breathing in and out heavily. When he saw his squad standing at the entrance of the alleyway, he quickly got to his feet. Grabbing his gun off of the ground and sighing.

"I... I can explai–" He started. However, he was cut off by the officer.

"Explain what? That a soldier of Scaldra pissed his pants from seeing some rat in a back alley? Get yourself together before–" The officer too was interrupted. But not by the Barbican or anyone else in his squad. No, he was interrupted by a loud crash of rocks down from within the massive hole. Almost everyone instinctively trained their weapons towards it, and the officer slowly pulled a gas grenade from his belt. "...keep that pit in your sights." He said in a quiet, yet urgent voice.

The group kept their weapons pointed at the hole for what felt like hours. Their hearts all in their throats. They were armed, yes, but who really knew what caused a ruckus like that? No one, and no one was going to be ballsy enough to walk over and take a peek down there. Not even for a billion Höllars.

"...you guys think whatever was down there moved on or something?" A trooper spoke up in a whisper. He got his answer when a figure leapt out of the hole and several feet over them. With how fast it was moving, they couldn't decipher any proper details, but they did see that the blur it moved as was orange with a bright, glowing green tint. Could it... could it be one of theirs? That's what prevented them from opening fire. Aside from the fact that none of their shots probably would've hit.

The figure landed on the ground behind the group. Slowly rising to their feet and turning around to face the soldiers. It was wearing one of their uniforms, that much was apparent, but it was one that belonged to Chymerist engineers stationed at their Efervon chemical plants. And they leapt that high into the air out of that hole? Last they checked, all of Scaldra was non augmented for the most part. The squad nervously trained their guns on the figure despite the uniform they wore. The figure saw this... and chuckled.

"Do you not recognize one of your own?"

They asked. Their voice sounded feminine despite the muffling and slight distortion from the full mask they wore. One of the Jaegers tried to say something, but before he could even open his mouth, he was quickly shut up by the figure pressing a button on the side of their head. Releasing the pressure that tightly held the mask onto their face. Steam fumed out from the opening creases, and the figure placed a hand on it. Fully taking it off and revealing their face.

Just as the voice had foreshadowed, it was a woman. It wasn't seen due to the secondary rebreather over her mouth, but she had a smug smile engraved into her lips. Anyone from the present would recognize her in a heartbeat. But to those from 1999, they had no clue who she was. The first thing the soldiers noticed about her though, was the fact that her eyes unnaturally glowed a bright purple.

"You don't resemble any of our known troops. Who are you?" The officer demanded. The Jaegers further back aiming their guns at her.

"Let's just say... your soon-to-be new commander." The woman chuckled. Putting a hand on her hip. Her voice was less muffled now that her face wasn't completely covered, but still not entirely clear. "Getting here alone wasn't easy, trust me, but now that I am... I want to change how you boys, and girls, operate."

The squad was definitely surprised by this answer. This told them that she wasn't from here, although that could easily be narrowed down. Considering the feeling they got from just being near this girl, they knew not to engage her. The ones with guns lowered them, albeit hesitantly, while the Flayers and Eradicator put away their melee weapons. They were willing to hear what she had to say, despite the suspicion they felt about the whole thing.

The woman took note of them lowering their weapons and cleared her throat. "I'll start with the most simple thing. Are you tired of being sent to die against those that rightfully outmatch you? Being neglected because your current overseer has no sense of care or preservation due to his insatiable grudge against... well, let's be honest, those who want to eliminate the Techrot just as much as he does? As 𝘺𝘰𝘶 do? Are you sick of his weird practices and whatever else he may do that worsens work conditions? Well, it can all go away. All you need to do... is tell me where he is."

The squad thought about what the woman said for a good minute. They had to it, the proposition was promising. Even for the officer. Viktor's practices, tactics and overall leadership were far from the best. Rusalka was more tolerable, despite not being much better, but that could just be ed off to her... "unorthodox" approach, when it came to how she got her way. Despite that, her currently being missing didn't make her an option. So, this unknown figure was their best shot at a better work experience.

"How... do you know all of that, and how do we know that we can trust you?" One of the Flayers finally asked. Albeit in a nervous tone of voice. Still mostly unsure about the proposal considering they didn't know where this woman came from. Nor how she knew what the situation with Scaldra was.

"Let's just say I've done my research. Also, I'm not one to lie." The woman replied vaguely. "I'll let my actions speak louder than my words. Now, I'll know if we have a deal if you give me the lieutenant's location."

Once more, the squad thought things over. They had more than a few doubts, but knew better than to provoke this woman by turning her down. Plus what she proposed was genuinely captivating. So, when the squad finished whispering to one another in a huddle, the officer stepped forward towards the woman. Pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to her. It was a document that had a large handful of information about Viktor. Including the base he was residing at. The woman smiled when she read over the paper, and rolled it up. Slipping it into her pocket.

"I appreciate your willingness to cooperate. You won't be disappointed with what's to come." She said, turning around to start walking away. Stopping when she heard one of the soldiers call out to her.

"Wait!" He shouted. "Aren't you at least going to give us your name?"

The woman sighed and replied to him without facing him. "You'll know it soon enough."

With that having been said, she began to walk away from the scene. Disappearing off into the night, and leaving the recovery team to themselves. Despite what just happened, they continued with their work. Although, they couldn't stop thinking about the woman. About what she said and how she looked. Both of those factors causing unease to surface in their minds.

Despite this, they were a little hopeful. To all of them... being under new management didn't sound so bad.