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This has been one of my favorite illustrations and characters to ever work in! I hope you enjoy her as much as I did designing her!

The WASP is an original character who plays a role in my original story, the IN LAK'ECH Mythos. Details (and SPOILERS) of the story follow:
The Wasp is the tenth and latest member of the Insect Syndicate, a semi-official military group funded by the secret Saqraruna Organization with international actions but based in Chinchaysuyu (equivalent to the Northern Peruvian Coast), part of the State of Tahuantinsuyu (named after the Inca Empire) that wear customized versions from some of the super-powered symbiotic ALPHA-OMEGA armors salvaged by them from its original owner, the AXIS Institute, and following its dissolution in 2010, its eventual new owners, throughout the story's progress. The Insect Syndicate's customized design over pre-existent Alpha-Omega series armors can be noted for its biomimesis and inspiration from insects, arachnids and other arthropods (despite the name, Insect Syndicate, not all of its members are named after insects, though the majority is).

The Wasp's customized YPSILON armor allows her to instantly regenerate from virtually any harm. She was officially admitted into the Syndicate in December 2013, and like the other members of the Insect Syndicate, her identity is kept secret not only from public, but also from fellow members, as they're only allowed to refer to each other by their "insect names". The Insect Syndicate's discipline is arguably more reserved than AXIS' was, because it's by no means an educational center or even a military academy, it's a semi-official Intelligence, security & enforcement Agency. They don't bother hiding the fact they're bounty hunters, the truth is that most of its members were in first place on the radar of the secret Saqraruna organization, and from the beginning their lives were at stake.

CHECK OTHER INSECT SYNDICATE MEMBERS:
THE ICHNEUMON | THE FIREFLY | THE HORNET

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In December 2013, Nina Roux was keeping up the life she's been into for two years now in Berlin, Germany. Studying literature at a the Free University of Berlin and working part-time on its library, she managed to rent a comfy apartment to stay, and was making new friends. It was a little more than two years since she didn't have to carry a gun to make sure she was safe, and no secret agent from a secret organization nested within a radical wing of a christian church led by a demon-hunting vampire would just come and attack her. Her suit, Ypsilon, was collecting dust, and she only thought about using it when she really needed to fly again, as she missed flying, not as much as she missed her friend Ann G, who not only was her most welcoming, supportive and best friend in AXIS, she also helped her to get back to a more normal life following AXIS' dissolution.

If you want a better context of all she went through, read the following. If you just want to know how she became the Insect Syndicate's WASP jump to the next text box.

PREVIOUSLY
      Nina has lived in the AXIS Institute's campus on Avignon from January 2009 up to its closure in June 2010. Before that, she was living in Lyon with her aunt and uncle from her mother's side since 2004. They didn't treat her very well anyway, and she preferred not to return to them, a likely mutual feeling. It was Ann that took her to Montreal, Canada, where she would live in 2010, before she used a part of the resources she legally acquired from AXIS and ABEL Inc - one of the Alpha Omega series armors' original developers and owners, as well a sponsor of AXIS - and searched for a place in Europe to stay. Between AXIS' end and the return to the life of a simpleton (work, consume and die, not before pretend you're important by the choices you're allowed to make merely because you can afford or pay for it, possibly because of pre-established economical conditions), Nina still had used her armor to fight different beligerents who seemed to want it back - even though ABEL Inc's representative, ex-AXIS member and current CIA agent Lana Bridges (ex-agent NI) has used monetary and legal resources under authorization of ABEL to grant ownership of certain armors to certain agents after AXIS' dissolution, what also included some armors originally developed by the german enterprise Ulhaden for after the crisis it faced in 2010 it wouldn't be able to afford it. Nina's Ypsilon and Anna's Lambda were some of these, and while they believed they really wouldn't need those (Nina didn't even think of pursuing a military career, she believe she was invited into AXIS when she was going to be 18 by chance, and it just happen she apparently made a name out of it), they were trusted with those armors, but still often observed by Lana and her allegiance - the CIA.
      As long as they didn't get involved with a major issue, it would seem fine for most, however Nina started to be persecuted by vampire figures related to a secret organization within the Church. After the plot thickened, she had to reccur to anyone who knew about this occult party, and was helplessly dragged into a conflict between international, informal paramilitary anarchism-oriented free associations (or affinity groups of militants & activists) popularly called the Necoc Yaotl (from the nahuatl "Enemy of both sides", one of the many names used to refer to the pre-hispanic deity Tezcatlipoca) after a speech by one of its "members" (it's more like an international network of information, most people don't know those from other countries, even though part of the effort was joining an international struggle), the influential inhuman "demon" lizard-man, animal liberation militant, indigenous autonomy advocate and "serial-killer" Cuetzpalin Paynal, who was himself targeted several times by Nina while she worked for AXIS, but in her last mission under that institution, became a temporary ally (stranded on an island full of shadow demons and more lizardmen, she had no choice. She managed, though, to find out Paynal was actually a young human boy whose identity and private life she preferred not to interfere with, as she had a life debt for him).
      Nina didn't regard herself as part of an international struggle like the many distinct groups which were popularly referred to as Necoc Yaotl cells (mass media likes turning independent, spontaneous and sporadic groups into organized terror and crime, eh?), neither did she even regard herself an anarchist (like Paynal did from the beginning), she only wanted to get rid of those trying to assassinate her - the Church's vampires, whom she believed wanted her armor - and also answers. Soon enough, after Paynal has killed the current Pope, a new one, Pope Leo XIV, has risen, and with him, the wrath of a conservative wing of the church, as he openly launched resources of an international Inquisition Office spread through several countries, in some cases with direct support from the local bourgeois government apparel, in order "to fight terror". Because some of the independent activists Paynal knew of wore Alpha-Omega armors they stole, in some cases with Paynal's direct intervention, the sighted presence of Ypsilon in some occasions let Lana concerned about Nina, as if she was assaulted and stripped of her armor, what wasn't the case. To avoid further suspicions, she played along, and helped in slowing down progress of CIA investigations.
The stolen armors' distribution was supposed to be international, but those Paynal got his hands into became reserved to trusted militants in Brazil, and were planned to be distributed sporadically to other trusted anarchists from time to time, something that didn't happen as some of them, even some Paynal never heard of before, had just kept it for their own as personal possessions. As long as they used that to provoke damage to government and the global economy it would be fine for Paynal, even though it would be better if its members weren't too centralized on nearby physical spots. It's worth mentioning that at least four armors were present in South-Southeastern Brazilian states, what Jacob Mills, one of Paynal's longtime allies due to the indigenous struggle for autonomy and anti-corporatism, and himself current user of the stolen Gamma armor, pointed out as a waste. Because Paynal was unable to reasonably argue with his "allies" about it, he let that happen and didn't want to enforce his or anyone else's wills over those who were already making use of the armors, for they were responsible enough to know these armors demanded usage, what means if they failed to use it to support protesters or to cause damage to the State and capital by their own then they wouldn't even have these armors in first place. Nina's role and allegiance was equally questioned by some allies of Paynal, including Cuauhtemoc, so she explained her situation and motivation to stand against her prosecutors, in the proccess causing damage to an international corporation (the church) and thus helping in the international struggle for freedom.

"ROYAL BLOOD"
  During her latest conflicts as the Ypsilon, when she borrowed some equipment from allies, and when some of Paynal's visceral decisions (like destroying historical cathedrals, statues and attacking metro stations, railways, crowded public centers, getting attention from the military) put his allies, including her, at the brink of death, she found out she wasn't being persecuted by her armor, but rather because of "her royal blood", considered something sacred by the former principal of AXIS, the polish priest Sebastian Bartosz, who has carried out the fake identity of Ephraim Frére for years, living in Avignon, at an estate he acquired with part of the fortune he inherited from his demonic bounty hunter father. Sebastian Bartosz was a close ally to the polish catholic bishop Venceslav who rose to become Leo XIV, who had put him in charge of AXIS since its foundation in 2000, and who named him, after its dissolution in June 2010, as the Grand Inquisitor of Gallia (France). To be persecuted by the mere twisted mind of a decaying old man and his own delusions kinda disturbed Nina, however the only way to stop that was likely killing him - again, as he was supposed to have died in Avignon on june 2010. His return was still a mystery, but could be related to his usage of the secret Sampi armor project.
    On the trail looking for the Gallian Inquisitor, that has left France for the eastern battlefields of his homeland, Nina found out Klaus Neumann, the legal owner of the Delta armor, was allied to an antifascist street gang based in eastern Germany, and was using it against the Teutonic Knights (the official german military during Inquisition) and unofficial supporters of the right-wing that was trying to dominate the apparel created by the European Union through each of its members' nationalist parties and agendas, however keeping the network of exploitation that all harbor through global capitalism. Nina was surprised to see Klaus would affiliate himself with something other than bounty-hunting (for if he kept that career, he'd likely stand in the enemy lines - they're richer than the Necoc Yaotl). Paynal, however, doubted Klaus had got socially conscious, he just didn't want to interfere with this yet because as he could see Klaus still fought the Teutonic knights.
      Klaus would be labeled a criminal by INTERPOL (that despite claiming a neutral stand in the inquisitorial conflict, supported the Inquisition on the countries it was allowed by their puppets in the government, not necessarily through "democratic" means), and once again Lana would meet Nina, this time to make sure she wasn't the one behind the Ypsilon suit during the footage they collected (on an attack in Spain, allegedly orchestrated by the Basque separatist movement, directly supported by Cuauhtemoc's secret human identity Iñaki, a rogue agent who defected from INTERPOL in May 2009). As Nina could no longer hide her association, she pointed out to Lana and Klaus that she was still being persecuted, not for her armor, but for "her blood", by Bartosz, who used his authorization and resources within the church, as a direct ally to the Pope, to persecute her and those close to her, claiming her usage of the armor is still justifiable, if not by law, by her own right to defend herself, what have Lana remind her that she had the power of regeneration before she used the armor. In fact, it may be that mysterious power what got the attention of an AXIS officer who may have indicated her to Frére, who would readily arrange her invitation and admission into AXIS, where she passed the exams for the authorization of usage of the Ypsilon armor with no problem at the time. Apparently, there was much more about Nina's past she didn't know, and Bartosz wasn't as mad as he sounded like (whether or not Nina's regenerative abilities were because of her blood remained to be seen. All she knew was that her armor somehow symbiotically adapted the mysterious Teyoliatl substance into several of its functions, and it's possible that the regeneration process is only functioning because of Teyoliatl's own properties). Upon the truth concerning Bartosz, Lana decided to leave the Ypsilon & Delta cases, following the Sampi - the armor, which legally belonged to ABEL, was still functioning and reportedly possessed by the Inquisitor.
    Before a last conflict against the Inquisitor, in July 2011, Nina and other anarchists (including the Triton) helped William Mattoni (the human boy who's Paynal, but who at the time was in a time of deep mentality and crisis after facing the recently exposed truth that his extensive usage of Cuetzpalin powers could turn him unable to return to his human form, something that wouldn't bother him years ago, but now, a time he was in love with a girl, and was planning to go to college after finishing high school, was troublesome) to avoid death at the hands of Pope Leo XIV's forces, rescuing him shortly following his capture. Leo became one of Paynal's first mortal enemies to discover his true identity, and promised to hunt him down throughout the earth, under each of the seven ever watchful eyes of God! After that, Nina's debt was paid, just like Paynal saved her in Nahui-Atl on May 2010 she had been crucial to saving him then, and they parted ways, as Nina believed that after ending the Inquisition, she rather wouldn't want to meet Paynal or the Necoc Yaotl ever again, she didn't want to get in trouble. In the same month, in a fortress not so far from the Pope's own, Nina faced and defeated Bartosz, not before getting answers about her - according to him, she was observed by AXIS' staff to possess genuine regenerative abilities, because she was previously mentioned by a bounty hunter once hired to capture Bartosz to be this bounty hunter's daughter and heir. Nina was confused, for her father Lucien was a pharmacist, and while after some years her mother suspected he was involved with drug production and dealing, she didn't want to think he was a bounty hunter, as Bartosz claimed Bartosz has always been a vampire, even though he always kept a human shell, and this fact was known by Venceslav (Pope Leo XIV) from the beginning, as it was allowed (to remain a priest while also being a vampire). It was when the Soviet Union annexed some regions east from Poland that al changed, they parted ways and while Venceslav would seek to increase an anti-communism offensive in Poland, as well as his rank within the church, Bartosz left for his missing father's estate into Romania, where he lost control of himself for years, and became a trouble for locals. Years later, Venceslav realized the sightings of a vampire on the place were Frére, so he hired a bounty hunter to capture him and bring him to Venceslav - Bartosz was still useful to him, as broken as he was, because he was still crucial to the plan of creating AXIS as something directly linked to the church, but never publicly explict, and still make its campus in a privately owned area, so that the church wouldn't face accusations or more taxes. This link between the Church and AXIS also exposed the church's old role in managing the populations of slaves and demons in the slave-pits known as "hells" (Inferno, underneath Lake Victoria, Africa; Jahanam underneath the Black Sea and Hel under a series of caves in the Northern Arctic Sea), breeding grounds for inhuman laborers overseen by representatives of their own that prevented their populations from breaking into the "civilized world" as long as the church kept capturing and sending them some people (often minorities. And you can see why, through history, they've become minorities). All the "demons" the AXIS faced came from such a contract, most of the missions were arranged, and all, even Nina's titles was only a fraud. But still, Bartosz continued to explain he was captured because the bounty hunter hired by Venceslav was a demon himself, not a human. He was dragon-like and regenerated from any wound (just like Omepaynal, which means his Tonalcoatl symbiote and ancient Cuetzpalin, Axayacatl), making it impossible for Bartosz to win. Years after, when Bartosz was reintroduced to public life as Ephraim Frére, as a priest from Avignon, he would search for how Venceslav knew such a creature, and would come to learn that Venceslav, as a member of secret societies within the church's highest ranks, knew of the existence of demons and where to find them - he reminded Bartosz about the demons of darkness who attacked them in Poland, before the soviets arrived. During his years as AXIS' principal, Frére believed the dragon-like hunter who captured him, whose existence was known by the church under the name of "Iguantus", held the secrets to immortality, and in his mind he came to believe that this dragon-man has the blood of christ in his veins, as he used his influence in AXIS to lead agents into unofficial missions searching for this "Iguantus demon". Actually, when the first sightings of a Cuetzpalin (Paynal) have surfaced, in September/October 2008 on Brazil, he believed this one was Iguantus, and hurried to schedule an operation, what had agents Sigma, Digamma and Delta sent to attack him in an indigenous community on the Brazilian state of Pará. The agents were defeated, and while Paynal was really a Cuetzpalin, he wasn't the one Frére was looking for - he didn't tell Nina, but he sent three other agents, on the same time, to another place, in Europe, and that's where they met "Iguantus" (as Lucien) once again, just days before he was about to get rid of his current ixiptla (host) for he had been assigned a fortune for a mission which included taking over someone involved with the struggle for land reform in Brazil from a secret client. Iguantus surprisingly spared the lives of two agents, as long as they kept watch and care for his heir, his daughter and a future host he would take, promising them payment in their bank accounts after certain amounts of time, when he got to supervise her himself. It took him a lot longer to get hold of his last ixiptla's consciousness, he only did it around April 2011. Nina, however, was left misinformed on how AXIS approached her, or what connection Iguantus had to her or her family, as Frére seemingly died among the collapsing fortress. Nina fled back to safety, and Lana once again promised her legal security, as the inquisition collapsed and Leo XIV died only a month later, changing much of the warring countries' settings, including Nina's own life - to avoid suspicions, she decided to stay in Berlin, where she started life anew, hoping never have to use that armor again. The questions about her past were left unanswered, but she preferred to leave them as such.

THE HUMAN ENHANCEMENT
    Just another day, in November 2013, Nina was getting back to her home, when she believed to have sighted longtime ex-AXIS agent Marvin Chad (agent Alpha), whom she saw dying during her mission on the paradoxical archipelago of Nahui-Atl, linking Earth and Aztlán through the Bermuda Triangle in April-May 2010. Trying to turn around from him, he approached and introduced himself to her in a calm demeanor, albeit in a serious tone. Shocked to see he's alive, she rapidly mentioned she has no interest in danger, yet she also asked him how he's doing - afterall, in the time of AXIS he seemed to care about her welfare and security, sometimes more than she liked to - for him to tell a little about his life in the last three years, and get to the point: Alongside the biologist and geneticist Jacob Mills (whom Nina met as the user of the Gamma armor, who stole it in 2009, and who was an ally to Paynal on several occasions, opposing AXIS and many more faces of global capitalism, environmental destruction, dictatorships and so on, until his reported death in December 2010 on another solar system), Marvin has infiltrated a security agency of Tahuantinsuyu, the same which existence was hinted in the mission she, Marvin and Klaus led during September 2009, during the public riots that happened in Moche, Tahuantinsuyu's capital, and that was later made clear to her and other AXIS agents of Mission: Atlantis, including Marvin, through the appearance of high ranking members of Tahuantinsuyu's public security among the shadow demons that attacked them and the Cuetzpalin lizardfolks native to Nahui-Atl. The same which AXIS' traitors, Ryder and Garrett, were leaking information to. Nina was amused, however uninterested in taking part of this, unaware of what Marvin has been through and finding it difficult that he and Jacob were alive after all this time (something Marvin tried to answer as a security measure, for their own and others they care about), as Marvin revealed her he wouldn't come to her like this, but Jacob has been assigned to recover Nina's armor, with her on it, either alive, or dead. According to Marvin, he wasn't infiltrated on the security, but was rather living as a citizen in a city of Chinchaysuyu, while he gathered information that Jacob, the one double agent, leaked to him, including this recent pursuit for Nina. Nina didn't believe, at first, but in the same day, she has been informed by Kai Taylor, another ex-AXIS member involved in Mission: Atlantis, who retained a friendship with Nina during the "Necoc Yaotl years" (when he acted as a hacker), that his armor has just been confiscated by someone using a modified armor that looked like Epsilon. According to Marvin, it's one of them that confiscated Kai's armor, and if he was still alive, he would still be possibly persecuted. Kai was just released from prison after serving some time for his association with the Necoc Yaotl. Nina asked how Marvin got into this, if he has no armor, and he says he linked the dots, and one day faced the Scorpion - Jacob's new secret alias while working for the Insect Syndicate. He realized the Scorpion was the same man they met as Jacob, and just like then, now he was fighting the shadow government which Tahuantinsuyu and many other countries are part of. Nina tried to tell him all the demon stuff and pretty much AXIS itself was a fraud, what had Marvin agreeing, and adding but the Saqraruna is no fraud. After Jacob realized Marvin survived Nahui-Atl and the Saqraruna didn't notice it, he got a moment out of duty to approach him, while in Chinchaysuyu, and asked him to help him in his quest, for it could save billions of lives. Despite Nina was still somewhat skeptical, it was undeniable Kai had just been threatened, and according to Marvin so would she.
    Asking if she really had no chance, Marvin answered that she has, even though a slight one, that is accepting the Saqraruna's deal and joining the Insect Syndicate, like Jacob did to become the "Scorpion", and playing it cool, but on a specified date meeting Marvin and Jacob to discuss their next moves. Marvin explained her things that Jacob explained him, things about the Insect Syndicate's organization, such as the secrecy which the members have to keep from each other (something Nina should constantly remind herself, if she already knows Scorpion is Jacob, and that Firefly is Ryder). About Ryder, Marvin also told Nina that he can see why he left AXIS for the IS, as according to Jacob they pay fees for its members to live in Chinchaysuyu's metropolis, and also lend them visits to the technological, energetic and industrial pole of Chinchaysuyu, one of the world's top-notch, to repair their armors. There, they also claim the armors were upgraded, so won't show the side-effects they used to during its ownership by ABEL Inc; the Ulhaden Corporation or AXIS. This was the main reason Ryder switched sides back then, other than his mentor Howard Fang being directly involved with it, in secrecy. At least, back then, as recently, in 2013's second half, Fang has "stepped down as a member of the once secret technology council and publicly exposed Tupaq's corruption schemes within this technological complex", what has instigated an increase in public disapproval of his government and intended continuation of his political career, leading to yet another series of protests, organized and designed by distinct purposes, ranging from freedom of speech to "liberalization", from "actual collectivization of the Tahuantinsuyuan means of production" to "a more trasparent government". As Nina saw it, the recruitment of more IS agents coincided with a time of increasing public unrest - that could only mean they would become executioners, prosecutors, riot police, official bounty hunters, that kind of thing. Marvin couldn't hide it, Nina would possibly die if she refused, and if she accepted, she would possibly kill. But for nations and peoples that aren't even known to her? How would they recruit someone as Jacob, in first place? for Marvin to answer the criteria of recruitment evaluate initially one's affinity to the armor. Second, it's military prowess, discipline and obedience. Jacob has scored perfectly the first. The second, he's doing well, but we don't know how we can keep this for long. You could perform better than me, as I'm not part of the IS, or perhaps you'd just make it more risky, as being part of the IS you could get much closer to them. Anyway, we know Firefly is Ryder, and he doesn't know Jacob is Gamma. You think he could tell you're Nina? for her to answer he likely couldn't by her way of being, for they weren't even close friends at AXIS and she changed a lot after that, but that if he reasoned more about the criteria he could come to think Jacob was the last user of Gamma and still kept it, and she was the last user of Ypsilon and kept it. This way of thinking led Nina to ask Marvin if the Epsilon that attacked Kai is Drake, and if Kai was invited, why would he deny - or if he wasn't invited, how would someone have more affinity than him? She also asked for more members, for Marvin to answer That Epsilon is Moth, she's not Drake, but like him she's not completely human. It's just that she has a tail. I don't know where she comes from, neither does Jacob, and possibly Ryder. Jacob don't know anyone but Ryder, but there's a Delta there - what led Nina to wonder, why didn't Marvin tell someone like Klaus, or even Kai? For him to answer Klaus has been victimized before Marvin got in touch with Jacob, and Kai's capture was scheduled too close to Nina's. It was likely that Klaus has refused the "offer" and killed, and Kai soon enough would share the same fate. Marvin, then, told Nina the Kappa and Lambda are next in schedule, what had Nina desperate for the life of her friends Ann and Melissa, and Marvin convincing her to join Jacob when he comes asking for her armor and her allegiance. On a darker note, Marvin told the agents of IS can't leave Tahuantinsuyuan territory in their private lives or secret identities. This is a price Jacob is paying, and it was fortunate for me to meet him. This means Nina should just quit the life she struggled so hard to build, as she asked more time to think about whether or not joining - sincerely, she didn't want, but if Anna's life was at stake, she'd do anything. Marvin also clarified her that they have been leaking information about each armor's specs since Garrett's leaking of information from AXIS, and their schedules are based on which armor's upgrades they manage to finish first. It's incredible, they can simulate the upgrades before even owning the armors, but need them in order to fulfill their project - which is? Nina asks, for Marvin to answer the Human Enhancement project. The Alpha Omega were but prototypes of a new generation, and the genes of those that have developed more affinity with the armors' powers will be isolated and reproduced in the next generations, so that people will be born with many abilities, though at the risk of predetermined social roles, like it's in the race of the aliens that founded the Saqraruna. This is too much for Nina to bear, but she fathoms a part of it - she had to become a new bounty hunter and a guinea pig but at least she could tell Ann beforehand to leave as far as she could. She forcibly asked Marvin to get away, asking for a moment to think, and for a while she wanted to think it was just a nightmare, when she saw a dead Klaus just before her - how could that?! Confused, Nina returned home, wrote letters to her friends, and fell asleep. On the next morning, a masked figure, with a dark armor, broke in her apartment for an abduction, and apparently, no one but her noticed - was it the Scorpion, pretending he didn't know Marvin told her? It demanded her to surrender with the armor, to which she, lacking the strength, and believing it was friendly, complied. Only in the way, she noticed the masked one wasn't much taller than her own, it carried a golden spear that looked a little familiar to her, and had a feminine figure and despite its distorted voice, it didn't sound or looked like the Gamma armor. Was it a new armor? She had tentacles coming from her back, what insect or arthropod was she supposed to represent? These questions only came after a long time, Nina was worried about her friends, she couldn't even tell them goodbye. If her friends were ever to find her, they would find her letters, but wouldn't really know where she was in. In one of these letters, she declared feelings for Ann. She hoped things could happen another way, but she was afraid of dying, or worse, losing her free will.

ENTER: THE WASP
    Nina followed the instructions from the voice she heard in the darkness, a voice she supposed to come from the saqraruna. Her armor was upgraded and delivered back to her, whom they called wise, for complying, as her genes perfectly match those needed by the Wasp armor, stating that everytime a suitable user denies the armor, they need to find a new host in the world, or create another one (create another person? Can they do that?!) what would take more time and resources (that's what people are to the Saqraruna? "Resources"?). Nina was introduced to the guidelines, which she was a little familiarized with - not only because Marvin told her, but because some of them reminded her of AXIS. The way all of it sounded, it just confirmed the Alpha-Omega armors are symbiotic in nature, something she could hint based in her own feelings after all these years using the Ypsilon, and that has been materializing after more revelations, but for the first time she felt it was taking the next step - was the armor developing a consciousness of its own? The voices referred her as "host", was this what she was fated to be? The Cuetzpalin can do that to humans, would they do it? Then she remembered her last meeting with the vampire inquisitor Bartosz, when he revealed her blood was sacred and someone from AXIS learned she was indeed "Iguantus' heir". Who Iguantus really is, and who from AXIS was sent by Frére to meet Iguantus, in first place? Who was this bridge between her and Iguantus, and what actually linked Iguantus to her? How could she be Iguantus' heir? Did Iguantus have anything to do with her father? Perhaps her father was a host, like Ian R (Omepaynal)?! Then he ruined her family, but what about her? How could she be born with this ability of fast regeneration? Questions abounded more than answers, yet now she was getting close to the faceless danger and the answers, both those she wanted to hear and those she preferred not to. All of that seemed liked a Suicide Squad.
  So began Nina's new career - what also means engaging in battle against ABEL Inc's brand new tech - the BIOCHRON Mechs, according to its CEO, Joseph Bridges, "More effective than human agents wearing armor" (even though his stepdaughter, Lana, still uses the Ni armor, and alongside ex-AXIS Nicholas McKinley, the current user of Mi, is part of a special squad led by US soldier Bradley Kyle, the current user of the Alpha armor, forcibly taken by Lana from a Brazilian anarchist in October 2012). The US may haven't declared war against Tahuantinsuyu, but it did against Tupaq Amaru III and its supporters, and while the Saqraruna, an ancient ally to Tupaq's goals, secretly controls most of the public power in tahuantinsuyu, it doesn't control all of it. The Insect Syndicate, as Nina can tell, are there to make this difference. Unavoidably, she would face Lana and Nicholas once again. She just hope she don't have to kill Lana.
    Eventually, after some missions, Nina would finally have the chance to meet Marvin and Jacob, as civilians, in Chinchaysuyu. Marvin just came to introduce them and make sure Nina made it safe, afraid he was under surveillance he was fast to go, while Nina and Jacob discussed Jacob's discoveries about the saqraruna, as well questions about her past - afterall, Jacob was specialized in studying the mysterious "Teyoliatl substance" which the Ypsilon armor rather seemed to be composed of. Jacob told her he knows the armor's leading developer, Morgan Schneider, and believes the Ypsilon didn't use Teyoliatl, but another substance in a mineral state that can isolate it, though. The hidden element called by the mayans as Yaxchilán and by some other peoples as Serapel, it was also used in several other armors able to fly. The Teyoliatl likely came from Nina, and like the armor is symbiotic, it reproduced its properties, as they could tell when Nina, using the Ypsilon, killed a shadow demon, that's only vulnerable to Teyoliatl, back in late July 2009, on Mexico, in the mission she was sent to recover the Gamma armor from Jacob. It implied, once again, that Nina has Teyoliatl in her organism since birth, and she asked if there was a possibility she descended from an inhuman, for Jacob to affirm, and that it could also be a human host of a Cuetzpalin, what bothered Nina - for how long Lucien has been Nina's father, and for how long "Iguantus" has been? She was also bothered with the entire host talk by the voices of the saqraruna, to which Jacob replied The aliens that command this organization are from a species called the Yakuruna, that have followed steps very similar to those we humans are taking, they reshaped their entire habitats and have a great deal of resources able to control and reshape nature. If we're able to take it into responsible hands, drones that can prevent diseases before they happen, technology that can grant us sustenance and food without killing, just imagine how we would save not only the lives of billions, but make it better! This sounded a little too off into the future for Nina, but it made her question: what are Jacob's actual goals in all this espionage thing? Is there a way the Human Enhacement can be a good thing? Then why its designers have a suicide death squad like the IS at their service? The Pentagon would stop at nothing to own this. Greedy bastards like Joseph Bridges and Ephraim Frére. The worst kind of politicians, these bloodsucker parasites that thrive upon misery, instead of using their vast resources to help. Are the Yakuruna any better? If not, we, here, have higher chances of making it than alongside some people that will have no future but poverty anyway - answers Jacob, before they leave.

      Are Marvin and Jacob trustworthy? Are they hiding information? It's too late to turn back now. All she knows, is that she must discover what's going behind the secret organization Saqraruna, that has seemingly been pulling the strings of most things in the world for a while. And if they're - or at least, it's head, the alien SPECTRO is - allied to Tupaq, she might end up facing off Lana and her squad. She may also face yet another figure from her past, the Cuetzpalin Nagual - a figure that has saved humanity from certain destruction a couple of times, yet has been hated and banished from it, one who left his own humanity and either in civilization and nature has struggled against the ruling misery.
Nina sees a dark future ahead, when mankind definetely loses the war to machine. But if she can save Ann and see her just one more time before the end, would that be worth it?
For her, it's AXIS all over again. No, it's worse than AXIS, but that's the career she's been helplessly put into. Are the Yakuruna wrong, anyway? Aren't there social castes already, even if they're defined for economical factors? The Wasp may look like a hero for some people in Tahuantinsuyu, but she knows better - she's a bounty hunter, just like she's meant to be. The difference, perhaps, is that she has answers to find.

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Description
This has been one of my favorite illustrations and characters to ever work in! I hope you enjoy her as much as I did designing her!

The WASP is an original character who plays a role in my original story, the IN LAK'ECH Mythos. Details (and SPOILERS) of the story follow:
The Wasp is the tenth and latest member of the Insect Syndicate, a semi-official military group funded by the secret Saqraruna Organization with international actions but based in Chinchaysuyu (equivalent to the Northern Peruvian Coast), part of the State of Tahuantinsuyu (named after the Inca Empire) that wear customized versions from some of the super-powered symbiotic ALPHA-OMEGA armors salvaged by them from its original owner, the AXIS Institute, and following its dissolution in 2010, its eventual new owners, throughout the story's progress. The Insect Syndicate's customized design over pre-existent Alpha-Omega series armors can be noted for its biomimesis and inspiration from insects, arachnids and other arthropods (despite the name, Insect Syndicate, not all of its members are named after insects, though the majority is).

The Wasp's customized YPSILON armor allows her to instantly regenerate from virtually any harm. She was officially admitted into the Syndicate in December 2013, and like the other members of the Insect Syndicate, her identity is kept secret not only from public, but also from fellow members, as they're only allowed to refer to each other by their "insect names". The Insect Syndicate's discipline is arguably more reserved than AXIS' was, because it's by no means an educational center or even a military academy, it's a semi-official Intelligence, security & enforcement Agency. They don't bother hiding the fact they're bounty hunters, the truth is that most of its members were in first place on the radar of the secret Saqraruna organization, and from the beginning their lives were at stake.

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In December 2013, Nina Roux was keeping up the life she's been into for two years now in Berlin, Germany. Studying literature at a the Free University of Berlin and working part-time on its library, she managed to rent a comfy apartment to stay, and was making new friends. It was a little more than two years since she didn't have to carry a gun to make sure she was safe, and no secret agent from a secret organization nested within a radical wing of a christian church led by a demon-hunting vampire would just come and attack her. Her suit, Ypsilon, was collecting dust, and she only thought about using it when she really needed to fly again, as she missed flying, not as much as she missed her friend Ann G, who not only was her most welcoming, supportive and best friend in AXIS, she also helped her to get back to a more normal life following AXIS' dissolution.

If you want a better context of all she went through, read the following. If you just want to know how she became the Insect Syndicate's WASP jump to the next text box.

PREVIOUSLY
      Nina has lived in the AXIS Institute's campus on Avignon from January 2009 up to its closure in June 2010. Before that, she was living in Lyon with her aunt and uncle from her mother's side since 2004. They didn't treat her very well anyway, and she preferred not to return to them, a likely mutual feeling. It was Ann that took her to Montreal, Canada, where she would live in 2010, before she used a part of the resources she legally acquired from AXIS and ABEL Inc - one of the Alpha Omega series armors' original developers and owners, as well a sponsor of AXIS - and searched for a place in Europe to stay. Between AXIS' end and the return to the life of a simpleton (work, consume and die, not before pretend you're important by the choices you're allowed to make merely because you can afford or pay for it, possibly because of pre-established economical conditions), Nina still had used her armor to fight different beligerents who seemed to want it back - even though ABEL Inc's representative, ex-AXIS member and current CIA agent Lana Bridges (ex-agent NI) has used monetary and legal resources under authorization of ABEL to grant ownership of certain armors to certain agents after AXIS' dissolution, what also included some armors originally developed by the german enterprise Ulhaden for after the crisis it faced in 2010 it wouldn't be able to afford it. Nina's Ypsilon and Anna's Lambda were some of these, and while they believed they really wouldn't need those (Nina didn't even think of pursuing a military career, she believe she was invited into AXIS when she was going to be 18 by chance, and it just happen she apparently made a name out of it), they were trusted with those armors, but still often observed by Lana and her allegiance - the CIA.
      As long as they didn't get involved with a major issue, it would seem fine for most, however Nina started to be persecuted by vampire figures related to a secret organization within the Church. After the plot thickened, she had to reccur to anyone who knew about this occult party, and was helplessly dragged into a conflict between international, informal paramilitary anarchism-oriented free associations (or affinity groups of militants & activists) popularly called the Necoc Yaotl (from the nahuatl "Enemy of both sides", one of the many names used to refer to the pre-hispanic deity Tezcatlipoca) after a speech by one of its "members" (it's more like an international network of information, most people don't know those from other countries, even though part of the effort was joining an international struggle), the influential inhuman "demon" lizard-man, animal liberation militant, indigenous autonomy advocate and "serial-killer" Cuetzpalin Paynal, who was himself targeted several times by Nina while she worked for AXIS, but in her last mission under that institution, became a temporary ally (stranded on an island full of shadow demons and more lizardmen, she had no choice. She managed, though, to find out Paynal was actually a young human boy whose identity and private life she preferred not to interfere with, as she had a life debt for him).
      Nina didn't regard herself as part of an international struggle like the many distinct groups which were popularly referred to as Necoc Yaotl cells (mass media likes turning independent, spontaneous and sporadic groups into organized terror and crime, eh?), neither did she even regard herself an anarchist (like Paynal did from the beginning), she only wanted to get rid of those trying to assassinate her - the Church's vampires, whom she believed wanted her armor - and also answers. Soon enough, after Paynal has killed the current Pope, a new one, Pope Leo XIV, has risen, and with him, the wrath of a conservative wing of the church, as he openly launched resources of an international Inquisition Office spread through several countries, in some cases with direct support from the local bourgeois government apparel, in order "to fight terror". Because some of the independent activists Paynal knew of wore Alpha-Omega armors they stole, in some cases with Paynal's direct intervention, the sighted presence of Ypsilon in some occasions let Lana concerned about Nina, as if she was assaulted and stripped of her armor, what wasn't the case. To avoid further suspicions, she played along, and helped in slowing down progress of CIA investigations.
The stolen armors' distribution was supposed to be international, but those Paynal got his hands into became reserved to trusted militants in Brazil, and were planned to be distributed sporadically to other trusted anarchists from time to time, something that didn't happen as some of them, even some Paynal never heard of before, had just kept it for their own as personal possessions. As long as they used that to provoke damage to government and the global economy it would be fine for Paynal, even though it would be better if its members weren't too centralized on nearby physical spots. It's worth mentioning that at least four armors were present in South-Southeastern Brazilian states, what Jacob Mills, one of Paynal's longtime allies due to the indigenous struggle for autonomy and anti-corporatism, and himself current user of the stolen Gamma armor, pointed out as a waste. Because Paynal was unable to reasonably argue with his "allies" about it, he let that happen and didn't want to enforce his or anyone else's wills over those who were already making use of the armors, for they were responsible enough to know these armors demanded usage, what means if they failed to use it to support protesters or to cause damage to the State and capital by their own then they wouldn't even have these armors in first place. Nina's role and allegiance was equally questioned by some allies of Paynal, including Cuauhtemoc, so she explained her situation and motivation to stand against her prosecutors, in the proccess causing damage to an international corporation (the church) and thus helping in the international struggle for freedom.

"ROYAL BLOOD"
  During her latest conflicts as the Ypsilon, when she borrowed some equipment from allies, and when some of Paynal's visceral decisions (like destroying historical cathedrals, statues and attacking metro stations, railways, crowded public centers, getting attention from the military) put his allies, including her, at the brink of death, she found out she wasn't being persecuted by her armor, but rather because of "her royal blood", considered something sacred by the former principal of AXIS, the polish priest Sebastian Bartosz, who has carried out the fake identity of Ephraim Frére for years, living in Avignon, at an estate he acquired with part of the fortune he inherited from his demonic bounty hunter father. Sebastian Bartosz was a close ally to the polish catholic bishop Venceslav who rose to become Leo XIV, who had put him in charge of AXIS since its foundation in 2000, and who named him, after its dissolution in June 2010, as the Grand Inquisitor of Gallia (France). To be persecuted by the mere twisted mind of a decaying old man and his own delusions kinda disturbed Nina, however the only way to stop that was likely killing him - again, as he was supposed to have died in Avignon on june 2010. His return was still a mystery, but could be related to his usage of the secret Sampi armor project.
    On the trail looking for the Gallian Inquisitor, that has left France for the eastern battlefields of his homeland, Nina found out Klaus Neumann, the legal owner of the Delta armor, was allied to an antifascist street gang based in eastern Germany, and was using it against the Teutonic Knights (the official german military during Inquisition) and unofficial supporters of the right-wing that was trying to dominate the apparel created by the European Union through each of its members' nationalist parties and agendas, however keeping the network of exploitation that all harbor through global capitalism. Nina was surprised to see Klaus would affiliate himself with something other than bounty-hunting (for if he kept that career, he'd likely stand in the enemy lines - they're richer than the Necoc Yaotl). Paynal, however, doubted Klaus had got socially conscious, he just didn't want to interfere with this yet because as he could see Klaus still fought the Teutonic knights.
      Klaus would be labeled a criminal by INTERPOL (that despite claiming a neutral stand in the inquisitorial conflict, supported the Inquisition on the countries it was allowed by their puppets in the government, not necessarily through "democratic" means), and once again Lana would meet Nina, this time to make sure she wasn't the one behind the Ypsilon suit during the footage they collected (on an attack in Spain, allegedly orchestrated by the Basque separatist movement, directly supported by Cuauhtemoc's secret human identity Iñaki, a rogue agent who defected from INTERPOL in May 2009). As Nina could no longer hide her association, she pointed out to Lana and Klaus that she was still being persecuted, not for her armor, but for "her blood", by Bartosz, who used his authorization and resources within the church, as a direct ally to the Pope, to persecute her and those close to her, claiming her usage of the armor is still justifiable, if not by law, by her own right to defend herself, what have Lana remind her that she had the power of regeneration before she used the armor. In fact, it may be that mysterious power what got the attention of an AXIS officer who may have indicated her to Frére, who would readily arrange her invitation and admission into AXIS, where she passed the exams for the authorization of usage of the Ypsilon armor with no problem at the time. Apparently, there was much more about Nina's past she didn't know, and Bartosz wasn't as mad as he sounded like (whether or not Nina's regenerative abilities were because of her blood remained to be seen. All she knew was that her armor somehow symbiotically adapted the mysterious Teyoliatl substance into several of its functions, and it's possible that the regeneration process is only functioning because of Teyoliatl's own properties). Upon the truth concerning Bartosz, Lana decided to leave the Ypsilon & Delta cases, following the Sampi - the armor, which legally belonged to ABEL, was still functioning and reportedly possessed by the Inquisitor.
    Before a last conflict against the Inquisitor, in July 2011, Nina and other anarchists (including the Triton) helped William Mattoni (the human boy who's Paynal, but who at the time was in a time of deep mentality and crisis after facing the recently exposed truth that his extensive usage of Cuetzpalin powers could turn him unable to return to his human form, something that wouldn't bother him years ago, but now, a time he was in love with a girl, and was planning to go to college after finishing high school, was troublesome) to avoid death at the hands of Pope Leo XIV's forces, rescuing him shortly following his capture. Leo became one of Paynal's first mortal enemies to discover his true identity, and promised to hunt him down throughout the earth, under each of the seven ever watchful eyes of God! After that, Nina's debt was paid, just like Paynal saved her in Nahui-Atl on May 2010 she had been crucial to saving him then, and they parted ways, as Nina believed that after ending the Inquisition, she rather wouldn't want to meet Paynal or the Necoc Yaotl ever again, she didn't want to get in trouble. In the same month, in a fortress not so far from the Pope's own, Nina faced and defeated Bartosz, not before getting answers about her - according to him, she was observed by AXIS' staff to possess genuine regenerative abilities, because she was previously mentioned by a bounty hunter once hired to capture Bartosz to be this bounty hunter's daughter and heir. Nina was confused, for her father Lucien was a pharmacist, and while after some years her mother suspected he was involved with drug production and dealing, she didn't want to think he was a bounty hunter, as Bartosz claimed Bartosz has always been a vampire, even though he always kept a human shell, and this fact was known by Venceslav (Pope Leo XIV) from the beginning, as it was allowed (to remain a priest while also being a vampire). It was when the Soviet Union annexed some regions east from Poland that al changed, they parted ways and while Venceslav would seek to increase an anti-communism offensive in Poland, as well as his rank within the church, Bartosz left for his missing father's estate into Romania, where he lost control of himself for years, and became a trouble for locals. Years later, Venceslav realized the sightings of a vampire on the place were Frére, so he hired a bounty hunter to capture him and bring him to Venceslav - Bartosz was still useful to him, as broken as he was, because he was still crucial to the plan of creating AXIS as something directly linked to the church, but never publicly explict, and still make its campus in a privately owned area, so that the church wouldn't face accusations or more taxes. This link between the Church and AXIS also exposed the church's old role in managing the populations of slaves and demons in the slave-pits known as "hells" (Inferno, underneath Lake Victoria, Africa; Jahanam underneath the Black Sea and Hel under a series of caves in the Northern Arctic Sea), breeding grounds for inhuman laborers overseen by representatives of their own that prevented their populations from breaking into the "civilized world" as long as the church kept capturing and sending them some people (often minorities. And you can see why, through history, they've become minorities). All the "demons" the AXIS faced came from such a contract, most of the missions were arranged, and all, even Nina's titles was only a fraud. But still, Bartosz continued to explain he was captured because the bounty hunter hired by Venceslav was a demon himself, not a human. He was dragon-like and regenerated from any wound (just like Omepaynal, which means his Tonalcoatl symbiote and ancient Cuetzpalin, Axayacatl), making it impossible for Bartosz to win. Years after, when Bartosz was reintroduced to public life as Ephraim Frére, as a priest from Avignon, he would search for how Venceslav knew such a creature, and would come to learn that Venceslav, as a member of secret societies within the church's highest ranks, knew of the existence of demons and where to find them - he reminded Bartosz about the demons of darkness who attacked them in Poland, before the soviets arrived. During his years as AXIS' principal, Frére believed the dragon-like hunter who captured him, whose existence was known by the church under the name of "Iguantus", held the secrets to immortality, and in his mind he came to believe that this dragon-man has the blood of christ in his veins, as he used his influence in AXIS to lead agents into unofficial missions searching for this "Iguantus demon". Actually, when the first sightings of a Cuetzpalin (Paynal) have surfaced, in September/October 2008 on Brazil, he believed this one was Iguantus, and hurried to schedule an operation, what had agents Sigma, Digamma and Delta sent to attack him in an indigenous community on the Brazilian state of Pará. The agents were defeated, and while Paynal was really a Cuetzpalin, he wasn't the one Frére was looking for - he didn't tell Nina, but he sent three other agents, on the same time, to another place, in Europe, and that's where they met "Iguantus" (as Lucien) once again, just days before he was about to get rid of his current ixiptla (host) for he had been assigned a fortune for a mission which included taking over someone involved with the struggle for land reform in Brazil from a secret client. Iguantus surprisingly spared the lives of two agents, as long as they kept watch and care for his heir, his daughter and a future host he would take, promising them payment in their bank accounts after certain amounts of time, when he got to supervise her himself. It took him a lot longer to get hold of his last ixiptla's consciousness, he only did it around April 2011. Nina, however, was left misinformed on how AXIS approached her, or what connection Iguantus had to her or her family, as Frére seemingly died among the collapsing fortress. Nina fled back to safety, and Lana once again promised her legal security, as the inquisition collapsed and Leo XIV died only a month later, changing much of the warring countries' settings, including Nina's own life - to avoid suspicions, she decided to stay in Berlin, where she started life anew, hoping never have to use that armor again. The questions about her past were left unanswered, but she preferred to leave them as such.

THE HUMAN ENHANCEMENT
    Just another day, in November 2013, Nina was getting back to her home, when she believed to have sighted longtime ex-AXIS agent Marvin Chad (agent Alpha), whom she saw dying during her mission on the paradoxical archipelago of Nahui-Atl, linking Earth and Aztlán through the Bermuda Triangle in April-May 2010. Trying to turn around from him, he approached and introduced himself to her in a calm demeanor, albeit in a serious tone. Shocked to see he's alive, she rapidly mentioned she has no interest in danger, yet she also asked him how he's doing - afterall, in the time of AXIS he seemed to care about her welfare and security, sometimes more than she liked to - for him to tell a little about his life in the last three years, and get to the point: Alongside the biologist and geneticist Jacob Mills (whom Nina met as the user of the Gamma armor, who stole it in 2009, and who was an ally to Paynal on several occasions, opposing AXIS and many more faces of global capitalism, environmental destruction, dictatorships and so on, until his reported death in December 2010 on another solar system), Marvin has infiltrated a security agency of Tahuantinsuyu, the same which existence was hinted in the mission she, Marvin and Klaus led during September 2009, during the public riots that happened in Moche, Tahuantinsuyu's capital, and that was later made clear to her and other AXIS agents of Mission: Atlantis, including Marvin, through the appearance of high ranking members of Tahuantinsuyu's public security among the shadow demons that attacked them and the Cuetzpalin lizardfolks native to Nahui-Atl. The same which AXIS' traitors, Ryder and Garrett, were leaking information to. Nina was amused, however uninterested in taking part of this, unaware of what Marvin has been through and finding it difficult that he and Jacob were alive after all this time (something Marvin tried to answer as a security measure, for their own and others they care about), as Marvin revealed her he wouldn't come to her like this, but Jacob has been assigned to recover Nina's armor, with her on it, either alive, or dead. According to Marvin, he wasn't infiltrated on the security, but was rather living as a citizen in a city of Chinchaysuyu, while he gathered information that Jacob, the one double agent, leaked to him, including this recent pursuit for Nina. Nina didn't believe, at first, but in the same day, she has been informed by Kai Taylor, another ex-AXIS member involved in Mission: Atlantis, who retained a friendship with Nina during the "Necoc Yaotl years" (when he acted as a hacker), that his armor has just been confiscated by someone using a modified armor that looked like Epsilon. According to Marvin, it's one of them that confiscated Kai's armor, and if he was still alive, he would still be possibly persecuted. Kai was just released from prison after serving some time for his association with the Necoc Yaotl. Nina asked how Marvin got into this, if he has no armor, and he says he linked the dots, and one day faced the Scorpion - Jacob's new secret alias while working for the Insect Syndicate. He realized the Scorpion was the same man they met as Jacob, and just like then, now he was fighting the shadow government which Tahuantinsuyu and many other countries are part of. Nina tried to tell him all the demon stuff and pretty much AXIS itself was a fraud, what had Marvin agreeing, and adding but the Saqraruna is no fraud. After Jacob realized Marvin survived Nahui-Atl and the Saqraruna didn't notice it, he got a moment out of duty to approach him, while in Chinchaysuyu, and asked him to help him in his quest, for it could save billions of lives. Despite Nina was still somewhat skeptical, it was undeniable Kai had just been threatened, and according to Marvin so would she.
    Asking if she really had no chance, Marvin answered that she has, even though a slight one, that is accepting the Saqraruna's deal and joining the Insect Syndicate, like Jacob did to become the "Scorpion", and playing it cool, but on a specified date meeting Marvin and Jacob to discuss their next moves. Marvin explained her things that Jacob explained him, things about the Insect Syndicate's organization, such as the secrecy which the members have to keep from each other (something Nina should constantly remind herself, if she already knows Scorpion is Jacob, and that Firefly is Ryder). About Ryder, Marvin also told Nina that he can see why he left AXIS for the IS, as according to Jacob they pay fees for its members to live in Chinchaysuyu's metropolis, and also lend them visits to the technological, energetic and industrial pole of Chinchaysuyu, one of the world's top-notch, to repair their armors. There, they also claim the armors were upgraded, so won't show the side-effects they used to during its ownership by ABEL Inc; the Ulhaden Corporation or AXIS. This was the main reason Ryder switched sides back then, other than his mentor Howard Fang being directly involved with it, in secrecy. At least, back then, as recently, in 2013's second half, Fang has "stepped down as a member of the once secret technology council and publicly exposed Tupaq's corruption schemes within this technological complex", what has instigated an increase in public disapproval of his government and intended continuation of his political career, leading to yet another series of protests, organized and designed by distinct purposes, ranging from freedom of speech to "liberalization", from "actual collectivization of the Tahuantinsuyuan means of production" to "a more trasparent government". As Nina saw it, the recruitment of more IS agents coincided with a time of increasing public unrest - that could only mean they would become executioners, prosecutors, riot police, official bounty hunters, that kind of thing. Marvin couldn't hide it, Nina would possibly die if she refused, and if she accepted, she would possibly kill. But for nations and peoples that aren't even known to her? How would they recruit someone as Jacob, in first place? for Marvin to answer the criteria of recruitment evaluate initially one's affinity to the armor. Second, it's military prowess, discipline and obedience. Jacob has scored perfectly the first. The second, he's doing well, but we don't know how we can keep this for long. You could perform better than me, as I'm not part of the IS, or perhaps you'd just make it more risky, as being part of the IS you could get much closer to them. Anyway, we know Firefly is Ryder, and he doesn't know Jacob is Gamma. You think he could tell you're Nina? for her to answer he likely couldn't by her way of being, for they weren't even close friends at AXIS and she changed a lot after that, but that if he reasoned more about the criteria he could come to think Jacob was the last user of Gamma and still kept it, and she was the last user of Ypsilon and kept it. This way of thinking led Nina to ask Marvin if the Epsilon that attacked Kai is Drake, and if Kai was invited, why would he deny - or if he wasn't invited, how would someone have more affinity than him? She also asked for more members, for Marvin to answer That Epsilon is Moth, she's not Drake, but like him she's not completely human. It's just that she has a tail. I don't know where she comes from, neither does Jacob, and possibly Ryder. Jacob don't know anyone but Ryder, but there's a Delta there - what led Nina to wonder, why didn't Marvin tell someone like Klaus, or even Kai? For him to answer Klaus has been victimized before Marvin got in touch with Jacob, and Kai's capture was scheduled too close to Nina's. It was likely that Klaus has refused the "offer" and killed, and Kai soon enough would share the same fate. Marvin, then, told Nina the Kappa and Lambda are next in schedule, what had Nina desperate for the life of her friends Ann and Melissa, and Marvin convincing her to join Jacob when he comes asking for her armor and her allegiance. On a darker note, Marvin told the agents of IS can't leave Tahuantinsuyuan territory in their private lives or secret identities. This is a price Jacob is paying, and it was fortunate for me to meet him. This means Nina should just quit the life she struggled so hard to build, as she asked more time to think about whether or not joining - sincerely, she didn't want, but if Anna's life was at stake, she'd do anything. Marvin also clarified her that they have been leaking information about each armor's specs since Garrett's leaking of information from AXIS, and their schedules are based on which armor's upgrades they manage to finish first. It's incredible, they can simulate the upgrades before even owning the armors, but need them in order to fulfill their project - which is? Nina asks, for Marvin to answer the Human Enhancement project. The Alpha Omega were but prototypes of a new generation, and the genes of those that have developed more affinity with the armors' powers will be isolated and reproduced in the next generations, so that people will be born with many abilities, though at the risk of predetermined social roles, like it's in the race of the aliens that founded the Saqraruna. This is too much for Nina to bear, but she fathoms a part of it - she had to become a new bounty hunter and a guinea pig but at least she could tell Ann beforehand to leave as far as she could. She forcibly asked Marvin to get away, asking for a moment to think, and for a while she wanted to think it was just a nightmare, when she saw a dead Klaus just before her - how could that?! Confused, Nina returned home, wrote letters to her friends, and fell asleep. On the next morning, a masked figure, with a dark armor, broke in her apartment for an abduction, and apparently, no one but her noticed - was it the Scorpion, pretending he didn't know Marvin told her? It demanded her to surrender with the armor, to which she, lacking the strength, and believing it was friendly, complied. Only in the way, she noticed the masked one wasn't much taller than her own, it carried a golden spear that looked a little familiar to her, and had a feminine figure and despite its distorted voice, it didn't sound or looked like the Gamma armor. Was it a new armor? She had tentacles coming from her back, what insect or arthropod was she supposed to represent? These questions only came after a long time, Nina was worried about her friends, she couldn't even tell them goodbye. If her friends were ever to find her, they would find her letters, but wouldn't really know where she was in. In one of these letters, she declared feelings for Ann. She hoped things could happen another way, but she was afraid of dying, or worse, losing her free will.

ENTER: THE WASP
    Nina followed the instructions from the voice she heard in the darkness, a voice she supposed to come from the saqraruna. Her armor was upgraded and delivered back to her, whom they called wise, for complying, as her genes perfectly match those needed by the Wasp armor, stating that everytime a suitable user denies the armor, they need to find a new host in the world, or create another one (create another person? Can they do that?!) what would take more time and resources (that's what people are to the Saqraruna? "Resources"?). Nina was introduced to the guidelines, which she was a little familiarized with - not only because Marvin told her, but because some of them reminded her of AXIS. The way all of it sounded, it just confirmed the Alpha-Omega armors are symbiotic in nature, something she could hint based in her own feelings after all these years using the Ypsilon, and that has been materializing after more revelations, but for the first time she felt it was taking the next step - was the armor developing a consciousness of its own? The voices referred her as "host", was this what she was fated to be? The Cuetzpalin can do that to humans, would they do it? Then she remembered her last meeting with the vampire inquisitor Bartosz, when he revealed her blood was sacred and someone from AXIS learned she was indeed "Iguantus' heir". Who Iguantus really is, and who from AXIS was sent by Frére to meet Iguantus, in first place? Who was this bridge between her and Iguantus, and what actually linked Iguantus to her? How could she be Iguantus' heir? Did Iguantus have anything to do with her father? Perhaps her father was a host, like Ian R (Omepaynal)?! Then he ruined her family, but what about her? How could she be born with this ability of fast regeneration? Questions abounded more than answers, yet now she was getting close to the faceless danger and the answers, both those she wanted to hear and those she preferred not to. All of that seemed liked a Suicide Squad.
  So began Nina's new career - what also means engaging in battle against ABEL Inc's brand new tech - the BIOCHRON Mechs, according to its CEO, Joseph Bridges, "More effective than human agents wearing armor" (even though his stepdaughter, Lana, still uses the Ni armor, and alongside ex-AXIS Nicholas McKinley, the current user of Mi, is part of a special squad led by US soldier Bradley Kyle, the current user of the Alpha armor, forcibly taken by Lana from a Brazilian anarchist in October 2012). The US may haven't declared war against Tahuantinsuyu, but it did against Tupaq Amaru III and its supporters, and while the Saqraruna, an ancient ally to Tupaq's goals, secretly controls most of the public power in tahuantinsuyu, it doesn't control all of it. The Insect Syndicate, as Nina can tell, are there to make this difference. Unavoidably, she would face Lana and Nicholas once again. She just hope she don't have to kill Lana.
    Eventually, after some missions, Nina would finally have the chance to meet Marvin and Jacob, as civilians, in Chinchaysuyu. Marvin just came to introduce them and make sure Nina made it safe, afraid he was under surveillance he was fast to go, while Nina and Jacob discussed Jacob's discoveries about the saqraruna, as well questions about her past - afterall, Jacob was specialized in studying the mysterious "Teyoliatl substance" which the Ypsilon armor rather seemed to be composed of. Jacob told her he knows the armor's leading developer, Morgan Schneider, and believes the Ypsilon didn't use Teyoliatl, but another substance in a mineral state that can isolate it, though. The hidden element called by the mayans as Yaxchilán and by some other peoples as Serapel, it was also used in several other armors able to fly. The Teyoliatl likely came from Nina, and like the armor is symbiotic, it reproduced its properties, as they could tell when Nina, using the Ypsilon, killed a shadow demon, that's only vulnerable to Teyoliatl, back in late July 2009, on Mexico, in the mission she was sent to recover the Gamma armor from Jacob. It implied, once again, that Nina has Teyoliatl in her organism since birth, and she asked if there was a possibility she descended from an inhuman, for Jacob to affirm, and that it could also be a human host of a Cuetzpalin, what bothered Nina - for how long Lucien has been Nina's father, and for how long "Iguantus" has been? She was also bothered with the entire host talk by the voices of the saqraruna, to which Jacob replied The aliens that command this organization are from a species called the Yakuruna, that have followed steps very similar to those we humans are taking, they reshaped their entire habitats and have a great deal of resources able to control and reshape nature. If we're able to take it into responsible hands, drones that can prevent diseases before they happen, technology that can grant us sustenance and food without killing, just imagine how we would save not only the lives of billions, but make it better! This sounded a little too off into the future for Nina, but it made her question: what are Jacob's actual goals in all this espionage thing? Is there a way the Human Enhacement can be a good thing? Then why its designers have a suicide death squad like the IS at their service? The Pentagon would stop at nothing to own this. Greedy bastards like Joseph Bridges and Ephraim Frére. The worst kind of politicians, these bloodsucker parasites that thrive upon misery, instead of using their vast resources to help. Are the Yakuruna any better? If not, we, here, have higher chances of making it than alongside some people that will have no future but poverty anyway - answers Jacob, before they leave.

      Are Marvin and Jacob trustworthy? Are they hiding information? It's too late to turn back now. All she knows, is that she must discover what's going behind the secret organization Saqraruna, that has seemingly been pulling the strings of most things in the world for a while. And if they're - or at least, it's head, the alien SPECTRO is - allied to Tupaq, she might end up facing off Lana and her squad. She may also face yet another figure from her past, the Cuetzpalin Nagual - a figure that has saved humanity from certain destruction a couple of times, yet has been hated and banished from it, one who left his own humanity and either in civilization and nature has struggled against the ruling misery.
Nina sees a dark future ahead, when mankind definetely loses the war to machine. But if she can save Ann and see her just one more time before the end, would that be worth it?
For her, it's AXIS all over again. No, it's worse than AXIS, but that's the career she's been helplessly put into. Are the Yakuruna wrong, anyway? Aren't there social castes already, even if they're defined for economical factors? The Wasp may look like a hero for some people in Tahuantinsuyu, but she knows better - she's a bounty hunter, just like she's meant to be. The difference, perhaps, is that she has answers to find.

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