In the depths of space... a large spaceship lurks about and approaches Earth. A red-haired woman sits at the helm while her alien staff man their stations... One pops his head up from his seat and looks over his shoulder. "Master! We have found them!" he exclaims.
"Excellent," says the strange woman. "I have them in my sights..."

~

On Earth, it's a chilly day in the state of Denver, Colorado. Terrorist cyborg groups are a public concern and it's up to a certain cyborg to stop them. Raiden, a powerful combat cyborg fights off these terrorist cyborgs... With a couple swings of his sword, several of the terrorist cyborgs go down. Raiden is known for his lightning speed and his deadly combat skills.
"Cyborgs down," Raiden announces. "On my way to the next checkpoint." Raiden's boss, Boris, is on the receiving end of that information.
"Affirmative. Good job, Raiden." Boris praises. Without hesitation, Raiden bolts down an alleyway. The cyborg terrorists have made hideouts everywhere and Raiden's mission is to eradicate them all.

In another part of town, there's a big facility called: Desperado. This building is home to two elite combat cyborgs: Monsoon and Jetstream Sam. They work for a very power-hungry politician named Steven Armstrong. Their job is to make sure no one gets in his way and stops him from becoming president of the United States. Right now, Monsoon and Jetstream spar with each other to keep their combat skills sharp. Monsoon strikes Jetstream's blade hard with his Sai and Jetstream skids backwards from the bow. Growing tired from sparring, Jetstream pauses to catch his breath. Monsoon notices the sweat on Jetstream's face and backs off.
"Gee Sam, what's the matter?" Monsoon asks. "Usually you're better than this..." His mouth stretches into a smirk as he eyes his tired partner.
Jetstream sighs. "Can we take a break already?" he complains. "We've been sparring for over an hour straight."
Monsoon approaches his partner and stops only inches from his sweat-stained face. "It's for our own good, Sam," taunts Monsoon. "We need to be prepared for anyone who tries to stop the senator. Failure is simply not an option..." He just ever so slightly brushes Jetstream's shoulder as he walks past him. Jetstream lets out another frustrating sigh.
"Come on," calls Monsoon. "We have much work left to do.." Jetstream reluctantly follows his partner as they head for a corridor.

Meanwhile, Raiden scouts another cyborg terrorist hideout from atop a tall building...
"Alright, I'm going in." Raiden informs. Instead of a response from one of his co-workers, Raiden gets an ear full of interference. He scrunches his brows in confusion. "Hello? It's Raiden, come in!" Suddenly, an unfamiliar face pops up on a holographic screen in front of him.
"Hello. Do you read me?" the woman asks.
Raiden instinctively jerks his head back before scrutinizing the face in front of him. "What the..? Who are you?" he demands.
"My name is Cassandra," the woman answers. "It's a pleasure to meet you.. Raiden."
Raiden's eyes widen in surprise. "How do you know my name?" he asks suspiciously.
"That... I will explain later," says Cassandra. "But first.. I need to ask a favor of you.."
Raiden's head tilts in curiosity. "Which is...?"
Cassandra starts typing on a console that isn't visible from Raiden's screen."I'm sending you the coordinates of a place I'd like you to take a look at," she explains. "I think you'll find it useful on your missions..."
Raiden squints his eyes at Cassandra. Just who is this woman and how does she know what he does for a living? Why is she contacting him? He feels like he's being lured into a trap. "I don't know about this," says Raiden. "Why me?"
"All of your questions.. and more.. will be answered if you do the simple task I gave you," says Cassandra. "You have nothing to lose.."
Raiden let's his head drop, contemplating whether he should do this or not. This woman must be reaching out to him for a better reason then scouting. Maybe she's in trouble. Maybe she's allied with a terrorist. There's definitely a lot of risk given how little he knows... But he'll never know the truth if he turns her down. "Alright.. I'll play along," Raiden says, his head finally rising. "You're not giving me much of a choice..."
"Excellent," says Cassandra. "Be there at midnight. We shall meet again..." With that, the screen disappears as she ends the call.
Raiden furrows his brows, second guessing himself on what he just agreed to. Raiden is snapped back to reality when he receives another call.
"Yo, Raiden!" hails his co-worker, Kevin. "You there? What happened, man?" Worry was heavy in Kevin's voice.
Raiden wasn't sure how to tell them about the strange call he received earlier. "Yeah, I'm here.. everything's fine," Raiden lies. "Uh, change of plans. During the interference.. this woman came up to me and told me about this place she thinks is suspicious... It might be a terrorist hideout. I'm gonna go check it out. You guys in?" Raiden could tell his co-workers didn't quite buy that because there was a dead silence that lasted a tad too long.
"Alright, Raiden," his co-worker, Courtney, finally spoke. "We're with you.."
"Good," said Raiden. "I'll give you an update later.." With no further discussion, Raiden leaps off the building and heads for his new destination.

End of chapter

*Note*: Cassandra was created by me and all characters I create are cherished. Please do not copy or claim the character as your own. Thank you.