Playing The Victims [BL]

Chapter Ninety | Third World

Everyone's immediate reaction to the news was the sudden desire to run out of the room and spread the brutal truth to anyone with ears, but as was usually the case with the military, there were moves and countermoves. Ones which the Supreme Commander was smart to reveal shortly after, "They have drawn the line between themselves and us, and knowing what we do now, it's not something I can forgive. The public need to know and be given the right to decide, but ultimately we cannot stay here. The Hydro-City has superior facilities and so by claiming it we have the upper-hand. We need to take it before they do."

"So we can't tell anyone?"

The Supreme Commander looked around the room, identifying the similar hesitant expressions on everyone's faces. "We need to plan this out right down to the smallest of details. We're getting there, which is why we have been able to bring it forward by over a month, but there's still complications in our way of definitive success. We need to deal with the Advanced Rotters in the city, as well as transport the civilians after the news comes to light about the death-toll due to the experiments. All while keeping Andrei and his legion of supporters within the walls of this base right up until we leave. So what we intend to do, is use the knowledge to our benefit. We will use it to create chaos, from there it will act like a smoke-screen for the first stage of the mission."

"But what about those who want to sign up in the meantime?"

"We'll be implementing a curfew. As you know, curfew's are periodically set in order to keep tabs on the population and in some cases, when it's medically necessary. We'll use this so we can set up teams to intercept those trying to take part in the experiment." The other high-ranking official helped out by answering.

That seemed to get rid of some of the doubts. Mathias nodded his head, "This is by no means our last meeting, and you will all be kept well-informed on anything and everything we have planned. For now, be vigilant. Andrei has his spies, and we're currently still filtering them out."

With the meeting adjourned, people began to leave the room. Only a handful of familiar faces remained behind, and when they saw the outer-section's chief of medicine, they knew what question was going to be shot their way. "It's been a week; seven whole days! Please tell me you have some knowledge of his whereabouts." Dr. Aksel stressed, his hands gripping the table as he stood opposite the soldier's in charge.

He had been patient, and he wasn't a patient man. There was no other place that he could have been taken to, other than somewhere else within the base, so for Aksel to have received no news was beyond unbearable.

"He's with Andrei." Mathias suddenly revealed and Dr. Aksel went completely still. The middle-aged man tried to come up with some words but found himself opening and closing his mouth with nothing to share. He tried to think of any reason why the scientist would select Hansel.

"That— why.. no, that doesn't make sense. Why would Andrei even know about Hansel?"

"When we returned from our last mission," Niklas, who had been standing silently to one side of the room, finally spoke. "We reported as normal, but Andrei was present. He wanted to know about any potential sightings of Advanced Rotters, but he also seemed to have an interest in Hansel. From information we gathered, that was the same day that he went missing; along with the rest of the old Scavenger team."

"Their disappearance was too orchestrated to have been a spur of the moment. Our guess is that Andrei was interested in the whole team long before they left on mission. As for the reason why, we're not sure, but we can surmise where Andrei had likely gathered more intel about the three men from."

Dr. Aksel tried to connect the dots, he thought of the since-disbanded Scavenger team. Thinking of their faces, and their relationship with Hansel. And eventually, something was outlined in his mind. "That Valentin guy, I signed a doctor's note for him to be absent from that exact mission. Hansel didn't say anything to dispute his injury, so I signed it without a second thought."