Shadows of Elysium (Prologue and Chapter 1.1)

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Salt...sea salt. It was in my hair, my eyes, my clothes, and my soul. Then again, anyone would be like this if they were at sea, both on it and in it, for as long as I have been.

"How long has it been, anyway?" He asked himself as he leaned over the deck of the ocean liner, the cigarette in his mouth slowly burning. Ashes that grew too heavy and could no longer defy gravity broke from the smoldering end and fell gracefully down toward the water. His nicotine craving met for the time being, he flicked away the cigarette and stretched in his white tank-top before running his fingers through his black hair, pushing it back against his head, where it stayed pressed to his scalp, thanks in no small part to the sea salt and the fact that he hadn't bathed in days.

"Hey, Atrios (pronounced uh-tree-is). You're needed on the bridge. I'll take your post." A man said from behind. Atrios turned casually and nodded, handing the man the AKS-74u 'Krinkov' that hung from a sling on his shoulder. The man took it with a nod and stepped to the side, allowing Atrios to leave.

"Any idea what I'm needed for?"

"What does anyone ever need you for on the bridge? You're no strategist."

"And you aren't very nice."

"Just get the fuck out of here." The man responded gruffly. Atrios smiled and chuckled a bit before turning on his heel and strolling toward the bridge, whistling a light-hearted tune.

"Atrios. Bridge. Now!" A voice boomed over the seldom-used intercom. Atrios jumped slightly at the ear-splitting noise and quickened his pace.

"I guess they actually need something this time." He muttered under his breath. He navigated his way to the bow of the ship and followed the signs from there, finally arriving on the bridge about five minutes later.

"You fucking take long enough, Atrios. You should be glad I actually need you for something."

"Uh, you know me, sir. Glad to be of service."

"Shut the hell up and sit down." The leader, known to Atrios and the rest of the men as 'Mintaka' instructed him. Atrios sat down quickly and with a wave of his hand brought up the holographic ops center display.

"So, what's the problem, sir?"

"We've been catching interference in our sono-buoy picket. The navy may have slipped some subs through. On top of that, our radar's been catching static wash all day. We keep getting phantom signatures.

"I'll see what I can do."

"No, you'll fix it."

"Sure." Atrios responded airily as he began typing.His fingers danced across the holographic display, but halted when he smelled garlic. He turned to Mintaka, who was hunched over his shoulder, and smiled. "Could you, uh. Give me some space? I've never done you guys wrong before. Just let me do what I'm getting my payment to do."

Mintaka looked at him critically, then to the fuzzy radar display on the main holo-panel.

"Alright, do whatever the hell it is you do."

"Thank you, sir." Atrios said with a small bow of his head, then smiled to the other three men on the bridge before going back to his work.

"That guy is fucking weird." One of them murmured. The man next to him nodded with a derisive smirk on his face.

Meanwhile, Atrios continued typing while he took a small flash drive from his pocket and smoothly inserted it into the terminal, then lightly tapped the holographic 'execute' key. The data in the drive unpacked itself and all systems on the ship crashed. The lights in the bridge went out and warning claxons blared.

"Who the fuck was that, the Navy?"

"No, no. That was me." Atrios responded calmly.

"What?"

Atrios took the silenced Five-Seven from his pants and put a hollow-point round into the heads of the two armed guards at the door to the bridge, then turned to face Mintaka while his pistol swept under his raised left arm and fired, catching the last man that still sat at the ops console three seats down in the chest. Bits of cartilage, bone, and flesh spattered on the display, shorting it out.

Mintaka took his own sidearm out as Atrios levelled his and he fired a shot. Atrios angled his body and fired two shots of his own. Mintaka's round punched through Atrios's shoulder and exited into the bullet-proof glass of the bridge. Atrios's shots, however, landed in Mintaka's left shoulder and right arm, the hollow-point rounds mutilating both of them. The only sound after the gunshots was each man grunting in pain and a pistol clattering to the floor.

Atrios walked over to the aid kit on the wall calmly, knowing Mintaka was going into premature shock, and couldn't go more than two steps without falling. He opened the kit and took a can of disinfectant foam from inside. He placed the nozzle of the canister directly against his wound and pulled the trigger. Pain shot through his shoulder and he ground his teeth to bear it while he felt the foam expand in the wound, sealing it. His neck angled and his eyes clamped shut as he finally overcame the pain, and he sighed when it passed. He scanned for other things that might help him, then looked back to Mintaka. He shook his head. The guy wasn't worth the meds. He closed the kit and picked it up before walking to Mintaka and slapping the droopy-eyed man awake.

"Hey, asshole. Hey!"

"Wha-Whuh?"

"Who are you?"

"I...I'm Mintaka, fuck-face."

"Alright, who am I?"

"A fuck-face." His words were slightly less slurred, but the difference was barely noticeable. At least the man was conscious.

"What color are my eyes?"

"Green, like baby shit."

"Colorful." He slapped the man again, the force of the blow bruising Mintaka's cheek. "Where are they?"

"Who?"

"The women you and your boys captured for your 'breaks' belowdecks. Where are they being held?"

"Heh, you, a stupid fuck on a boat full of men that will want to kill you, men who are probably headed here right now, and you want to get laid in the ballroom, where half of them are. Are you fucking crazy?"

The man was slipping. He should've known Atrios wasn't after what he and his men were in the women. That, or maybe he was just dumb. Atrios cursed that it wasn't the latter.

"Shit, guess I don't need you anymore."

"No, wait"

The Five-Seven hissed and grey matter ran slowly down the bulkhead behind Mintaka's body. Atrios stood and stowed the aid kit in a pack he stripped from one of the armed guard's backs. He also grabbed another Krinkov, but he didn't need everyone to know where he was just yet.

Instead, he smashed his own face against the corner of his console and roughed up his own hair, then ran out with blood running down his face.

"Hey, stop, fucker!" One of the group of men running up the stairs yelled. From what Atrios could see, four men besides the one that yelled had come to investigate. Fewer than he had expected. Mintaka must not have let them in on how dire their situation was. They were too laid back.

"It's alright, it's me. Atrios. Some fucker with I don't even know what just breached the bridge. Fucker had me do something on the console, then shot me and slammed my fucking face into the console, then he ran off. Guess he thought this was enough to do me in." He said, indicating the large gash on his head. When his finger touched the wound, he hissed. He had overdone it.

"Someone get him to the fucking infirmary. Everyone else, follow me. We've gotta find this fucker." The leader yelled. As instructed, one man approached Atrios and grabbed him by the arm while the rest of the men go in another direction.

"I'm surprised you aren't dead, annoying fucker like you." The man said. It was funny. He had barely done anything and already he garnered such a reputation. Maybe he was just naturally weird.

"Well trust me. Right now, I'd kinda prefer death."

"Yeah, yeah. Did he get Mintaka."

"Made sure to, the fucker was using hollow-points."

"Damn." The man stopped and looked at Atrios's clean wound, then the truth dawned on him as Atrios drew his pistol and double-tapped his chest.

"Ah, shit. I did not expect to fuck myself up that bad." Atrios whispered through gritted teeth as he ducked into a corner and opened the aid kit again. He shook the can of disinfectant and applied foam to the wound on his head, as was the extent of his first-aid knowledge. The disinfectant still stung, but not nearly as much as it did on the much deeper wound. He massaged the foam into the wound and shook his head to clear it, then packed up the aid kit again and looked to a stairway leading down, about twenty yards away. "The Ballroom, huh?"

Moans permeated the stairs leading down to the ballroom, both men and women. Atrios grimaced at the lewd acts that had been going on below for the past few days. He also felt a bite of regret at not being able to do anything about it until now. He continued down the stairs and entered the ballroom, which was converted to the point that 'brothel' was a better description.

Girls stared vacantly at walls, each of the groups guarded by two men. At regular intervals, a man would select a girl and bring her somewhere to rape and beat her. Yes, it was rape. These girls were in no shape to do anything, hell , they probably could barely talk with all the drugs pumped into their systems.

"Oh, hey! Little Atrios finally comes down for a visit, huh?" One of the guards jeered.

"Probably just took the chance since the lights went out. Though we wouldn't see him come down here and grab a girl. Good thing we got these flashlights while Nihal is opening the windows manually."

They were more right than they knew. Atrios was just glad they were kidding. He smiled and nodded as he continued down the stairs. He angled his body to cast a shadow on his right arm, which grasped the Five-Seven. He continued down to the bottom of the stairs and walked to the guard that was shining his flashlight on him. To his right, one of the many ballroom windows opened and sunlight streamed in. He had to act fast.

"Which ones are the newest?"

"Ah, that group we got to in the hold a couple days ago? Well you helped us get 'em out, so I guess you can have one. They're over there." He pointed with his left hand, which Atrios quickly grabbed an pulled behind his back, then put a shot into his elbow before putting an arm around the man's neck and using him as a human shield. The guard's partner began to stand before Atrios put three shots into his gut. The sound of the suppressed rounds reached the other guards, and two flashlight beams came his way, accompanied by another window opening, letting more light into the room.Atrios shot one of the men in the neck, but couldn't react fast enough for the last, who fired a burst into his shield. The four rounds buried themselves in his shield's gut, and the man yelled in pain before Atrios shot him in the back of the head and kicked his body into the last guard, who couldn't get out of the way fast enough and fell under his dead comrade. Atrios stomped on his windpipe as he briskly walked to the group the first guard had indicated. He picked up his Krinkov from the sling and turned on the flashlight. He quickly scanned the group of women until he saw her unmistakeable features: Blue-green eyes, auburn hair, and a delicate face. The only thing that was wrong was the far-off stare in her eyes. Even with all her training, enough of whatever they were using cracked her. He knelt down and cut the ropes on her wrist and then helped her up before reaching into his boot and taking out a small PDA, which flickered to life.

"This is Apollo. I've recovered Artemis. Terrorist defense net is down as well."

"Confirmed. Good to hear, Apollo. Move for exfil in the Constellation. It's silent-running just below the cruise ship."

"Interrogative: Are there any alternate exfil routes? Artemis is just about incapped. Terrorists drugged her, bad. I don't know if I could get her to the Constellation."

"Apollo, you're cleared to exfil via lifeboat. Discard all gear and allow the Navy to pick you up. When asked, use the alias Gavin Turner. Artemis is Cheryl Turner."

"Understood. Apollo out." Atrios put a hand around Artemis's shoulder and guided her back up the stairs to the top deck, and then the ten yards to the closest lifeboat. He helped her inside and then carefully worked the manual winch until he felt the boat's hull completely make contact with the water. He fired two shots into the cables before throwing the pistol, Krinkov, pack, and aid kit overboard and activating the small motor on the back of the boat. He silently guided them away from the ship before cutting the engine and letting them drift.

He looked to Artemis with worry plain on his face. He had fucked up, and she had to pay for it. he brushed her bangs out of her face and smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Aurica." He whispered her actual name, then leaned back and looked around.

"Wonder how long it'll take the Navy--"

"I can do it."

"Huh?" He looked back to Aurica, who still had a spaced stare, but was slowly moving toward him.

"I can do it." She mumbled again, her hands reaching for his pants. He felt his face flush and he bit his cheek while he mustered the courage to do something he knew he'd regret. He backhanded her with his right hand, and she immdiately fell unconscious, her frail form falling to the side in the boat. Atrios caught her body and rested it down slowly before sighing and apologizing.

"I'm sorry, Aurica." He repeated the phrase as he cupped her face in his hand. He ran his hands through her hair and pulled out small bits of caked blood. "What the fuck did they do you?" He murmured silently as the ebb and flow of the sea pitched the boat about.




"How is she?" Atrios asked the psychiatrist that had just left the infirmary.

"Mentally, she is going to be fine after we flush the drugs from her system. From what I heard from the physician, her body is a different story." The man trailed off, and Atrios squared his jaw in anger. "It wasn't your fault, Joshua." He assured Atrios, who didn't respond, but simply kept walking. He opened the dor to the infirmary and stepped in quietly.

"No visitors, please. Oh, Joshua. Come in." The physician said curtly. Atrios stepped in and looked down on Aurica with concern. Se was asleep on a bare bed, her chest barely rising and falling. She looked almost dead with her pallid skin and violet lips, but he knew that was all because he took so long.

"What did they do to her?" He asked, his tone low.

"Surprisingly, no tearing of any kind. If they did anything, none of it went below the waist. Her midsection, however, is heavily bruised. I can only theorize, but it's possible that she resisted and was beaten for it...heavily, until she became subserviant, in no small part thanks to the drugs.

Atrios's thoughts were dragged back to what she had nearly done to him on the boat, her thin, delicate fingers reaching for the zipper of his pants. The thought made him shiver.

"So how long will it take for the drugs to flush and you'll bring her out of the coma?"

"A couple of days. In the meantime, the Director wanted to speak to you.

"Why did she tell you?" Atrios asked suspiciously.

"I guess she knew you would come down here. She seems to know everything."

"Yeah, it's unsettling. Anyway, I guess I'll see you later, then." Atrios waved, gave Aurica one last glance, and left the infirmary.

He walked along the hallway before him for a few minutes before coming into a large atrium with a glass and steel staircase at its center, coiling on top of itself toward the top of the room. He made his way to the staircase and nimbly ascended it to an elaborately-decorated office, that seemed like a mix of crisp modern lines and the organic feel of a forest. It was hard to describe, but it set an overtly calm mood, the polar opposite of what most meetings with the director turned out to be.

"Apollo." A thirty year-old woman in a business jacket said from behind a desk. Her hazel eyes that always seemed years older than she was studied him critically from behid a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

"Ma'am." Atrios said, snapping to attention, which she waved away.

"At ease,or whatever they say in the military." She said airily. Atrios eased his stance and nodded to her.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I consulted your mission report."

"About that, ma'am. It's my fault, that Artemis was compromised."

"Why?"

"I opened the door to get to her for Mintaka."

"Which earned you their trust and let you finish the assignment. I didn't call you down here to reprimand you.I called you here for your next assignment. The Navy has requested our services for another black ops assignment for 'plausible deniability's' sake. Requested two operatives. I'm sending you and Artemis, this time in tandem."

"I really don't think she'll want to work with me after what happened."

"You're the only one that seems to think you did something wrong. If you hadn't done what you did Mintaka's terrorist cell would still be on that boat. I'm sure that even Artemis knows that."

"Y-Yes, ma'am."

"You have liberty for two days. Go get some rest. I'll contact you when Artemis reports in for debriefing. Dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am." Atrios replied tersely before bowing his head slightly and going back down the stairs. "What a world we live in, where the military goes to private companies to get the job done." He muttered under his breath as he swiped ID card at the front desk in the Atrium and walked out of Elysium and into the bustling heart of New York City.



The apartment directly overlooking Central Park was a trivial possession of Atrios's. The walls were barren and the living room beyond the entrance was a single Adirondack chair placed at a slight angle to a bookshelf and a nineteen-inch LED television that sat on a four-legged stand with an 'IKEA' sticker on one of the legs. Beyond the drab living room was a hallway that branched into four rooms: his own, a guest room, a bathroom, and a room with a reinforced steel door. He told his sparse company it was a panic room. Reality, however, is usually far from spoken word.

"All Under Heaven." Atrios lazily spoke in front of the door, which simply responded in a series of clicks. He pushed the door inward and it swung open to reveal a comparatively lavish armory. Racks on the walls displayed SOPMOD (Special OPerations MODification) rifles and a variety of pistols, each of them with the unmistakeable black tube of a suppressor resting under the gun itself. He sighed as he looked to the empty space where his Five-seveN used to be and walked past the empty slot to another door, which had a standard brass handle. He twisted it and stepped inside, then turned on a single bare lightbulb and squinted as his eyes adjusted to a walk-in closet of clothes that would rival any of his neighbors. Only differance was that he could outfit a militia and they could dress everyone at a cocktail party.

His clothes ranged from full CRYE Multi-cam battle rigs to standard assault kits from the main armies of any super-power country in the world. After what was obviously official military-grade equipment meant for open battle came the subdued colors an fabrics of what were, for lack of better terms, 'sneaking suits'. At the far end of the closet was a pair of Night Vision Goggles that he had spent more than he had wanted to streamline into a compact visor much akin to that of a flight mask. Only problem he ever had was the single large lens cracking easier than he had wanted to.

"Another assignement already, Josh?" A lilting voice echoed through the armory, causing Atrios's hair to stand on end. With a straight face, he turned wand walked out of the closet and armory, which sealed itself behind him. With steady paces he emerged back into his living room where a woman in a velvet-blue dress stood with a smile.

"Hera." He said in the no-bullshit tone he used with other Elysium operatives, save for the ones he felt he screwed over. Hera ignored his tone and stepped toward him with smooth, gliding movements, practiced often over the course of her 28-year life. As she finally closed the distance between the two, she grasped his hand tightly.

"I've told you, already, Josh. That's the kind of name reserved for people I'm trying to kill."

"I know, and thus the name fits, right?" He said, unfazed. He stepped away from her and took a book from the shelf as he walked toward his chair.

"You know, you take this whole thing too seriously. I only tried to kill you because you weren't with Elysium at the time. You were just..."

"I was 'just' US military. You killed the rest of my team. You nearly killed me. Only reason I haven't returned the favor is because the director asked me not to. You, I don't think are so loyal." He sat down and flipped the book open, his gaze skipping over the gaps in text where a USP Compact rested peacefully.

"I'm serious, though, Josh. We've operated together, and I've never left you twisting in the breeze. What about that night?"

"That night was a part of a deep-cover op. It was necessary." He shot back immediately. She recoiled, looking genuinely hurt. He felt a twinge of regret and caught himself. 'Might be a new approach. Be careful. Play along,' he thought to himself carefully as he closed the book, his only potential trump card in this play.

"Look, I'm sorry, but you know I have a valid point. You broke into my house, for starters. Couldn't you have knocked?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"You just made me think that much more whole-heartedly that you're trying to kill me."

That hurt look again. She was too good. That, or it was genuine. The operative that was still Atrios's main mindset ever since the mission kept whispering that it was the former.

"Josh, I really think something was there that night." She insisted. Atrios shook his head slowly.

"Aren't you the kind of girl that knows the difference between the fucked up world of black ops and the real one?"

"Well you must've like it too, or you're a VERY good actor." She replied with an impish smile. Atrios felt his cheeks burning. She was maneuvering around him rather well.

"Well, maybe. Maybe not. Could you just tell me what you came here for? I'm kind of distracted.

"It's Aurica, isn't it."

The name flipped a switch in Atrios's head. He put a hand on each of her shoulders and pressed Hera against the wall.

"It's Artemis, and you'll leave her out of this."

"Well well, Josh. Aren't you the kind of boy to know the difference between the world of black ops and the real one?" The tables were spun. Atrios unintentionally tipped his hand. He sighed and relaxed the grip on Hera.

"Just...what do you want?"

"Coffee, tomorrow. Meet me in the park at around Noon. Bye." She said in an uncharacteristically direct tone. Atrios made a mental note of it and nodded. "I'll see you there." She said deviously as she looked him up and down before leaving. The door clicked into place and Atrios promptly threw the deadbolt into the 'locked' position.

"She's crazy, I swear. Fuck me or kill me. She's just all over the place, isn't she?" He muttered to himself.

He thought for a second whether he should consult Helios on the subject, but decided against it. After all, his mentor was probably enjoying some well-deserved relaxation. That, or he was dead. It was a cutthroat world after all, and everybody knew something. Thus, someone always wanted someone dead. Information Age, indeed.

"I'm going to need my rest for whatever the fuck she's planning. Fuckin' Claudia." He used Hera's real name in a strange show of respect for how well she handled herself today. There once was a time that she would've over-played her hurt feelings and ruined everything. Today, however, she was completely on target. 'She's come a long way.' He thought as he sat in the adirondack and closed the blinds with a wave of his hand. Motion detectors caught the movement and small motors went to work, blocking the park from view and plunging the room into darkness. Finally comfortable, Atrios inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.



Atrios stood a good two hundred yards away from the coffee shop Hera was referring to yesterday. He brought a pair of binoculars to his eyes and scanned the area. No bugs, no oddly acting workers, no tails waiting there for him. Everything seemed fine. That was either very good or very bad, and with how ambivalent Hera was yesterday, Atrios couldn't decide which of the two it was. The inability to decipher the situation was a new feeling for Atrios, who had survived by being able to make what was once a shaky situation clear-cut.

"What're you doing?" An official-sounding voice asked from behind him, and he swore at himself as he calmly looked away from the binoculars. Behind him, a heavy-set police officer looked at him with suspicious eyes. "This is new, a pervert in the morning." He mused as he looked Atrios's small frame up and down. Atrios smiled and shook his head.

"Yellow-Bellied Warbler, over in those trees just above the cafe. I've been trying to get a shot of one for a while now." He explained calmly, indicating for the cop to see. The officer took the binoculars and squinted to look through the lenses with a frown.

"I don't see anything."

"What?! Where the hell did it go?" Atrios yelled in fright, causing the officer to jump. "Okay, are you happy? You just made me lose it. Thanks officer!" He said gruffly as he took the binoculars and stormed away from the cop, who stood in confusion.

Atrios holed himself up at a bench another hundred-thirty yards away from the police officer and brought the binoculars back to his eyes, continuing to scrutinize every square inch of the designated spot. The task at hand became so immersive that he actually ended up seeing Hera enter his view, her dishwater blond hair draped delicately over her thin shoulders, with her bangs straightened and pushed to the side. She looked even younger than usual with the style, and he toyed with ideas of why she chose it. Maybe it just went well with the 'Silversun Pickups' shirt and torn blue jeans she wore. Vintage low-rise Converse shoes complemented the old rock band shirt and completed the get-up. Was this how Hera really was, or was it all just an elaborate ploy?

"Shit, Josh. Get a grip. You're over-analyzing this shit." He attempted to reason with himself, even though he knew that it was that exact overtly-analytical personality that saved his life on more than one occasion though. Now, it just served to muddle up the playing field. With a glance at his watch, he stood up and stowed the binoculars in his messenger bag before fixing his unruly brown hair and dropping the green contacts he always wore into his eyes. He blinked rapidly as the lenses settled in and put away the container before he started calmly walking toward the cafe.

"Hi, Josh!" She said excitedly as she saw him approach. She flashed a genuine smile that he unknowingly returned in earnest. He approached the table and smoothly sat down.

"Hey, Claudia."



"You're pleased with the selected operatives, Rear Admiral?" Theresa asked with her calm, level tone. On the screen in front of her, a middle-aged man with a thick mustache bit his lip and flipped open a manila folder in front of him.

"One concern, ma'am. This operative, Apollo. He has no listed experience. We've operated with Artemis before and we have her dossier. I need to know what Apollo did before I can put the Navy's secrets in his head.

"Apollo is ex-combat rescue with AFSOC (Air Force Special Operations Command). Heavily decorated during his two service terms. I'll not name medals for the sake of the operator's anonymity, but I'll say that a number of operations in the Chinese theater four years ago didn't go belly-up beause of his team."

"Well how did he get involved with Elysium?"

"An op went south, his team was completely neutralized. We picked him up while he was between teams."

The Rear Admiral crossed his arms over his chest and looked to his desk in thought, unable to convince himself to trust in this completely unknown operative.

"I recommended him for a reason, Admiral. I sincerely hope that you can trust me, if not Apollo himself once you meet him."

The Admiral uncrossed his arms and leaned forward with a sigh. "Alright, ma'am. I'm putting a lot of faith in you right now. I trust you'll not let the Navy down."

"Have I ever before?"

"No, I guess not, heh." The Admiral smiled and scratched his mustache.

"Well I'm glad we've reached this agreement, Admiral Porter. I will contact you when Artemis is cleared for action."

"Very well. Take care of yourself, ma'am." The admiral said with a degree of respect rarely shown to civilians. Theresa smiled and nodded before ending the call and watching the screen in front of her fade to black.

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That's all of the first section of chapter one, so I'll stop here for now. Sorry I've taken so long to post so little, but stuff has come up