Two Sides of The Same Coin Volume 2: The New Dawn

Chapter 12 - Shadowfall

Abraham Villarreal/Azrael
Yama Projects Center

It seems Yama isn't playing around when it comes to guarding his secrets, the guards are all equipped with energy weapons and armor concealing their identity. There's multiple guards stationed around each area, all of them ever so vigilant of any sign that something might happen or any sign that someone might see something they aren't supposed to. The closer I get to the Digital Storage room, the more guards that walk around are seen as I pass by each of them under the pretense of cleaning the storage room. Only a couple of guards ask to see some form of identification while others allow me to pass by without any trouble.

Milo's advice comes back to ring in my mind, "You're essentially walking in blind. No comms, just you and your wits. Memorize the map to the storage center and after the alarm activates, then run and don't look back until you get to the rendezvous point".

There's two guards standing at the door, they check my badge and open the door into the storage facility. There's rows upon rows of computers all plugged into one massive server box in the middle. There's various scientists analyzing blueprints, schematics, and research documents all stored in one location. The wonders of technology never cease to amaze me, wandering down the aisles until I reach my destination, an aisle labeled Former Projects. There's alphabetized sections and look through each aisle, Row S-SL, there's what I'm looking for and the computer turns on revealing a login interface. "Bingo", I plug the USB device and random credentials fill the interface leading to a list of projects long abandoned or put on hold, "Now where's the Synthetic Crafting Machine...". No cameras around makes this a whole lot easier, the guards are on patrol but it should take them a while to come by this section, scrolling down I find the schematics and hover over the download button. There's another project that catches my attention, it's name foreboding yet enough to pique my curiosity, SHADOWFALL.

Plague Doctor
There's no place like home. Surrounded by computers with access to various security cameras and monitors which track any activity done on Yama Corp Servers. I'm the final line defense against y'all cyberattacks seeking to discover our many secrets and I pride myself in that each and every day. "This is the life", my short nap is interrupted by a small ring coming from one of the monitors. There's unauthorized activity on one of the servers, whoever got through the encryption must be interested in whatever the server holds. Scrolling down through the report all I can do is start to laugh, "Now this is interesting. Shadowfall huh?"

The phone is on the other side, pushing my chair towards the phone and picking it up to call Yama, the line rings for a bit before he picks up, "This better be important. You know how valuable my time is?"

"Pipe down Yama. Did you know someone is accessing the Shadowfall folder?"

He goes silent before yelling, "WHAT?! How?!"

"I'm as confused as you. Only one that knows how to bypass this type of encryption is me and...well you know".

Another round of silence, "Let the guards know. Is there anyone free to handle this little intruder".

"You're in luck...", one of the cameras shows Titan and his sister doing some sort of training, "I'll send Titan over there right away", the line cuts off. I click on the intercom button and clear my throat, "Aryana. You and your brother have a mission, I just sent you the coordinates. Head over there ASAP". I sit back in my chair and look upon my digital throne, "I love my job".

Abraham Villarreal/Azrael
Scrolling down the page I'm greeted by a summary regarding Project Shadowfall. The project which lay the foundation for Project Cyber Striker and Project [REDACTED]. The premise was simple, to craft a weapon capable of killing or incapacitating Shadowblade. Various weapons were proposed and the last of these was a pistol modeled after the high caliber Desert Eagle, the pistol was modified to shoot out energy infused rounds and handle a variety of bullet types ranging from elemental rounds or the destructive explosive tip rounds. Needless to say it's intentions were quite clear, to punch through any armor that Shadowblade could muster. The trials were all unsuccessful, no one could handle the recoil of the pistol without some sort of enhancement and even then it was insufficient to shoot off more than two rounds without peoples arms breaking due to the recoil. An alternative was suggested with lower caliber yet still using mercury tip rounds for armor penetration, it was deemed useless by the people overseeing the project and discarded. Attached are the schematics and specifications for both pistols and the schematics for the bullet types.