Chapter Text
A sudden outage of the Hydro-reactor within the Western Districts was causing widespread problems.
And so...
- [OBJECTIVE: INVESTIGATE THE POWER OUTAGE]
A simple mission, right? Just in and out.
Well, it seems the agents have some company...
But first, the grouping.
Ali and Bakar will go to the main reactor, Alicia will scout the control room.
While it was meant for Ali, Comot (Ali's cat he got during MISSION:COMOT a few days ago, creative title I know) to go together, the lack of Comot (he left her at school), Ali went with Bakar instead.
While walking to the reactor, Ali recalls Alicia's mention of "Protocol Gegas" in an earlier mission, and I quote:
"Kau kena berhenti perangai kanak-kanak kalau kau taknak sampai aktivasi Protokol Gegas, tau tak?"
Bakar nearly coughed up a lung from that. "Mana kau tau pasal tu???" He asks
"Alicia ada cakap haritu" He answers
So Bakar gives an explanation. His tone lowered as to give the explanation a bigger impact.
"Ada masa keadaan misi terlalu teruk. Mungkin sebab tersilap atau berlaku sesuatu yang tidak dijangka. Protokol "Gegas" Itu adalah tindakan untuk fokus dapatkan objektif utama misi, dan tinggalkan semua yang lain."
Then Ali asks. "Tinggalkan apa? Gadget? Tempat?"
"...Ahli pasukan"
Ali gasps. "T-tapi maksudnya... memang... pernah jadi ke sebelum ni?" He questions
Bakar sighs. And then he explains about the first and (so far) only use of Protocol Gegas.
"Misi yang paling gelap dalam sejarah MATA..."
"Dalam 5 tahun lepas, Menara Beta baru menemui "Azurium", sejenis unsur logam yang boleh menghasilkan tenaga yang amat kuat! Tetapi masa tu, tiada lagi cara untuk menstabilkan Azurium itu. Belum sempat habis kaji, tiba-tiba ada kumpulan pengganas datang merampas Azurium itu. Mereka menggunakan Azurium untuk menghasilkan senjata-senjata berbahaya dan mengancam untuk memusnahkan Cyberaya"
He continues. "MATA ditugaskan untuk menghalang mereka dan merampas semula Azurium. Untuk memastikan misi tidak gagal, Keempat-empat Ketua teras sendiri yang turun padang."
"Ketua teras?" Ali asks
Bakar answers. "Merekalah yang mengasaskan MATA. Empat individu dengan kepakaran masing-masing, dari sini terbentuknya teras Neuro, Tekno, Inviso dan Kombat."
Ali is astonished. "Oh... jadi diorang ni hebat lah, eh?"
Bakar mentions. "Uuh... kalau nak cerita sehari pun tak cukup!"
"Wow... pastu?" He asks
Bakar continues the story. "Dengan rancangan yang teliti, mereka menyerbu kubu pengganas itu. Musuh langsung takda peluang! Bila dah terdesak, ketua mereka mengambil keputusan untuk musnahkan sendiri kubu itu, Inviso cuba menghalang, tetapi cedera parah dan bangunan itu mula runtuh."
"Kalau lambat, bukan sahaja Ketua teras akan terkorban, tindak balas letupan dengan Azurium akan menghasilkan letupan yang akan menghapuskan keseluruhan Cyberaya"
"Masa terlalu suntuk untuk menyelamatkan Inviso dan membawa keluar Azurium. Jadi... mereka terpaksa jalankan Protokol Gegas... tinggalkan Inviso untuk selamatkan Cyberaya..."
[[REACTOR ROOM - HYDRO FACILITY]]
"Kadang-kadang, pengorbanan harus dilakukan demi menjamin masa depan..."
Ali asks. "Kenapa tak pernah dengar semua ni?"
Bakar answers. "MATA memang beroperasi dalam rahsia"
"Kenapa kena rahsia?" He questions
Bakar struggle to find an answer until...
"Korang, cepat! Saya dah jumpa punca!" Alicia, on the other side of the comms, orders them
"Ok, kita orang datang."
Meanwhile, Trez and Dos are still working on their Azurium extraction, the outdated tech taking longer than needed.
"Kau takboleh cepat lagi?" Dos asks
"Aku cepat, benda ni yang lembab! Sistem bila punya dia pakai..." Trez answers, frustrated.
"Alasan..." Dos murmurs
"Eh, kenapa stres sangat ni? Lelaki ni ganggu cik, ke?" Bakar appears out of nowhere, trying to flirt Dos... again... jesus how many times does he want to do this???
Dos pulls out her arm-blades, laced with electric energy as usual. Striking the Kombat agent and starting the fight.
"Eh-eh... ada upgrade lah!" Bakar mentions
Dos continues her assault. Ali an Alicia are both sitting behind a control panel, strategizing.
"Uncle cakap biar dia yang tarik perhatian Dos." Ali says
"Betul-lah tu -_-" she replies, knowing Bakar's lack of fighting skill against Dos specifically and how he won't be able to hold for long.
"Kita kena halang Trez- huh?" Ali orders Alicia, finding out she's already speeding towards Dos.
">:[" He grumbles
Bakar and Dos are still locked in a clash, Bakar clearly losing to this more agility combatant.
"Eh-eh, bawak bertenang, cik!"
Then... [BANG!] Alicia fires, the shot bouncing off of her arm-blades and denting the wall just next to Bakar.
She cocks the hammer once more, ready to fire the next shot.
"Lama lagi ke, Trez???" Dos asks as she's locked in a 2v1 against a tank and a marksman.
Trez looks back... [POWER CUT OFF]
He looks to his side, and there stands Ali, with a disconnected wire in his hands.
"SIUT KAU!" Trez shouts before initiating a tussle against Ali. With the help of IRIS, he barely dodges Trez's punches. Trez was about to land another hit but Bakar tackles him into a console.
Dos is locked into a dodge-fight against Alicia. Seeing Trez knocked out, she throws a flashbang and books it with him, knowing the fight was one they were losing.
"Kau dah dapat masuk?" She asks
"Tak dapat! Budak tu dah batalkan, aku kena buat balik!" He answers, frustrated
"Ish... dah tak sempat sekarang, kita berundur..." She orders
Alicia, dazed, takes aim and fires another shot. It hits the closing door before it could hit the numbered duo.
Bakar sighs. "Report ke MATA, kita perlu tahan tempat ni"
[THE NEXT DAY - HYDRO-FACILITY]
"Ejen Rizwan!" Ali shouts as he and Alicia races to the two men (Rizwan and Bakar).
"Apa status?" Alicia asks them.
Rizwan drops a hologram projector onto the floor. It projects the 3 facilities, all knocked out. "Sekarang ini, gangguan dijana dari kesemua pusat yang lain"
"Uih, macam mana tu? Bukan 2 orang je ke?" Bakar asks
Rizwan states. "Mungkin mereka menghasilkan alat yang menjalankan gangguan untuk mengelirukan kita?"
"Jadi... mana satu yang kita perlu pergi?" Ali asks.
"Kita kena berpecah." Alicia suggest. Ali is bewildered but Rizwan replies
"Tepat sekali, itu cara yang paling cepat. Masing-masing pergi ke satu lokasi, siapa yang jumpa musuh dulu, teras lapurkan kepakaran yang lain. Tetapi paling penting, jangan bertindak sendiri "
He then orders them. "Aku pergi ke stesen Solar, Bakar, kau ke stesen Angin. Alicia, Ali, kamu berdua pergi ke stesen Hydro"
"Kalau saya nak pergi dengan Bakar, boleh tak?" Ali asks
Rizwan objects. "Bakar dah cukup kuat, lebih baik kau dengan Alicia, lagi seimbang"
"Tapi dia-" Ali tries to defend himself
"Cukup. Baik kau ikut arahan kalau tak nak menjawab dengan General nanti." Rizwan replies
"Okay, kita ber-"
"Bertindak segera!"
"...bersurai..."
And so their mission begins. Ali and Alicia split off, mainly cuz Alicia prefer being alone rather than babysit Ali. Not saying she out-right hates him... but you can't convince lone wolf to socialize that easily.
[LATER]
Ali return to their splitting point, now going for Alicia since he found jack-shit where he went, Comot accompanying him as usual.
But this time Comot heads for the control room. Right after that, IRIS beeps, alerting that the two are back.
Ali arrives there, hiding behind a console. He alerts Bakar but gets no response from the other side.
Trying to show-off as usual, he jumps out, yo-yo armed, he aims for Dos first, but she knocks it away.
"Tak serik-serik kau ni"
The fight starts once more. Ali was mostly on the defensive, dodging Dos' slashes and stabs. Ali counters Dos' overhead-cut with a yo-yo block + rocket kick. It missed...
"Boleh tahan" Dos admits.
"Iye?!" He replies.
Then Dos continues her offense, only for a bullet to knock her away. That bullet was from none other than Alicia (and Comot :D )
"Ha!? Kau panggil dia? Uncle Bakar takde?" He questions the cat.
"Dah lah, tepi sikit" Alicia orders him, switching to her shotgun for close-range combat.
"Ah takde, kau jangan sibuk!" Ali angrily tells her. "Aku yang lawan dia dulu!"
"Memang terang kau dah nak kalah tadi :|"
"Mana ada! Belum habis lagi!"
"Habistu? Habiskan lah!"
"Dah habis da- ow ow ow ow ow"
Their little arguement earned a shoulder pinch from Rizwan. Congrats lmao
"Tolong jangan buat benda yang memalukan..." he suggest them
"ni semua kau punya pasal >:(" He grumbles
[SYSTEM OFFLINE]
"Dah, kau ada 2 minit, biar AKU pulak main!" Trez orders Dos. Dos obliges and runs for the Azurium store in the arms of the reactor
"Pergi halang Dos, cepat!" Rizwan orders the Cadets as he engages Trez.
Dos was already ahead of them by the time the two got there. Alicia mad either first move with a revolver shot aimed at the woman.
"Jangan bagi dia keluar!" Alicia orders Ali, who's coming from the other side of the reactor. Ali locks the door and starts running to Dos.
Dos, cornered from front and back, throws an EMP bomb, knocking out the lights and giving her an advantage.
Due to her dark-coloured suit, she's basically invisible in the dark. The IRIS wasn't giving much since Ali couldn't properly tell where Dos was. (Another case of "It's the user, not the gadget")
Alicia, using her old marksmanship skills from even before she officially became an agent to locate Dos, using her hearing, one of the oldest senses in the book. Pinpointing her exact location using her footsteps, she lands a direct projectile-hit on Dos.
"Tengok, takda IRIS pun boleh." She shrugs.
"JAGA-JAGA!" Ali warna her
Before she could react, she was stabbed in the back by Dos' shot stix. Knocking her out. Then the power comes back on, and with that, the reactor...
Dos puts Alicia onto the central plate of the reactor, over the railing, right in ghe middle of the reactor arms.
"ALICIA!!"
The plate rises, the arms come on to life, glowing a sick blue glow.
"Ali! Status!" Rizwan, through comms, asks Ali.
"Dos sedang lari dengan Azurium, tapi Alicia terjatuh dalam reaktor!" Ali answers, distressed
"Kau kena halang Dos! Jika dia dapat lari dengan Azurium, Cyberaya akan musnah!" Rizwan orders him.
"Tapi... Alicia?" He asks
With a sigh, he says that dreaded sentence...
"Jalankan Protokol Gegas"
Ali is forced to choose either to disobey and save Alicia, potentially putting the lives of millions in danger. Or obey and chase after Dos, leaving Alicia to a horrifying demise.
The reactor arms light up one by one
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
The central plate glowing a bright blue hue, a warning to what's to come. For the first time ever since that incident, she looked horrified.
With one final look at Ali, she closes her eyes, waiting to be incinerated
"what a way to die, huh?" She thought to herself
1
REACTOR ACTIVATING
[[BOOM]]
The reactors activates, the blue hue blinding as ever.
Alicia redone her eyes, expecting to see the afterlife. But what she sees melted her core.
Ali had disobeyed Rizwan's order and jumped in to save her, jumping out right as the reactor blast onto the center where Alicia would've been.
The landing was rough. Ali smacked into a wall with Alicia slammed into the floor.
Ali looked at the door, Dos was gone.
Alicia sat upright, wiping away some tears that were coming out of her eyes.
"Eh? Kau nangis ke?"
Alicia forcefully grabs his shoulders. "Kau pasal selamatkan aku???"
Ali wanted to argue, but she sees her face. A mix of joy and sadness. Before he could say anything back (like "sama-sama :)" ), Bakar came in through the door, shouting his name.
Then came Rizwan, he took a glance at the 3 agents, then the missing Azurium taken from one of the reactor arms. He furrows his eyebrows in acknowledgement and slight annoyance.