"I love you too." I say back while closing my eyes and joining her in sleeping.
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"Just, don't get hurt okay?" Sora says holding my hand.
"I'll be fine, I have someone to fight for now afterall." I say while getting in the car.
"I know, just, it's nagging me that something will go wrong." Sora says.
"I'm just here to provide intel and nothing more, I won't even be in the line of combat." I reassure her.
...
"Alright then, good luck." She says trying to muster a smile.
"I love you Sora, I'll be back soon." I get into the car and close the door.
...
"You two actually got together, huh?" Texas says starting up the car.
"Mhmm." I agree, "And I've never been happier."
Texas subtlety smiles.
"took you long enough." She mumbles before slamming the gas.
The car bursts out of the parking lot, zooming towards the lower east side of Lungmen.
As expected, I was also asked by Emperor to join against the attack by Reunion.
But Rhodes Island only asked for two people, and they said that most of the fights will be in close-quarters alleyways and such.
And I seem to work best by myself in open spaces, so Emperor decided to put me into the observation and backup group.
Which is completely fine by me, it allows me to put in less effort.
The only issue is that I have no clue what happens to the backup group.
Do they get off scot-free? Are they attacked and barely make it out?
...
Whatever, I'll just stick to my job and go from there.
If grunts show up, I can just clear them out.
Just try to stay out of combat, and everything should be good.
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"Az, this is your drop-off spot." Texas says as the car goes from supersonic to completely still in less than a second.
"Alright." I say getting out of the car, "See you on the other side."
Texas nods, Exusiai gives a large thumbs up.
And they drive off.
...
I'm met with a large mix of Rhodes Island and L.G.D. personnel. Nobody recognizable.
Well, except for Hoshiguma, who seems to be the acting leader of the group.
I walk over to the area.
Hosiguma notices me immediately and waves me over, "You're the Penguin Logistics guy right? Azrael?"
I nod while taking a seat across from her.
"Good, you're vital to our operation." She says, "You'll be stationed on top of that building." She points to a decently high building with a big, flat roof, "And you'll be giving us intel on what you see up there."
"Should I tell you everything I see or just the important stuff?" I ask.
"Everything." She clarifies, "Everything is important here."
I nod and she smiles.
...
We take a seat across from eachother on random benches strewn about.
A fair amount of time passes.
"You know, It's rare to see someone taller than me." Hoshiguma says out of the blue.
I'm taller than her? Thinking about it, I am a lot taller than everyone else in Penguin Logistics.
"I just got lucky with the genetic lottery." I say after a bit, fiddling with my jackets zipper.
"People always say that I got the jackpot, but I think I know who actually did." Hoshiguma laughs, "How old are you?"
How old am I? Well, my ID said...
"24" I answer.
"Oh! You definitely won the genetic lottery then, I'm thirty-one."
"You're thirty-one?" I say half-shocked, "You look at younger than that."
"Thank you." She says, "I'm going to be thirty-two soon anyways..."
"Really? When's your birthday?" I ask.
"Janurary 20th" She says.
January 20th?
"We're only 10 days apart." I say, "I'll turn 25 on January 30th."
Hoshiguma smiles, "Well then, we could go drinking on the 25th for a little celebration." She jokingly proposes.
I smile a bit, "I'd be fine with that."
...
"Well... We gotta get into position soon." She says after a bit, "Here's a walkie-talkie, I don't think I have to explain whats its used for. You know what building you have to steak out on again?"
I point to the building.
"That's the one. I'll see you soon." She says before turning away, getting the attention of everyone else.
I begin heading towards the building.
After a couple of minutes, I begin up the stairs.
I fiddle with the walkie-talkie that she gave me the entire way through.
After however long of waking, I reach the top.
...
It's quiet.
It's calming.
Nothing is up here, but you get to see everything below.
It's an interesting feeling, given that the streets have become empty by now.
Everyone has thrown themselves into shelters or locked themselves inside their apartments.
The shelter we gave supplies to a couple days ago is easily seen from here.
The more I look at it, the more off-putting it gets.
...
*Bzz*
"Have you gotten a view of anything yet?" Hoshiguma asks me through the walkie-talkie.
"Nothing yet." I say, "Just a couple of civilians running to shelters at the last minute."
"Alright, good." She says.
...
A fire is started in the distance. I pick up the walkie-talkie again.
"A fire was just lit in the distance. I can't get anything else from-
*BOOM*
An explosion rocks the city, and even more fires start out as the city devolves into chaos.
"An explosion just happened but I have no clue where. Fires are all around the city now, and it just seems like chaos now." I say, looking for any Reunion soldiers.
"Thanks for the info, keep me posted, but I need to lead these guys now." Hoshiguma says.
The walkie-talkie goes silent as I watch the madness unfold from the best seat in the house.
...
...
...
Somehow the calming feeling has come back.
I'm watching a city burn, and I'm feeling calm.
What's wrong with me?
...
I pull out a cigarette and light it while scouting the horizon.
I check every alley, every side street, and pretty much every dark spot I can see.
Nothing comes of it.
...
A few minutes go by, and only the fires get brighter.
I puff while looking at the side street connecting 2nd street to the 4th.
And I spot them.
"Reunion soldiers are at the side street between the 2nd and 4th. It's a decently-small number of soldiers, they seem to be hunting for people."
"Roger." Hoshiguma says.
I see her and about half of the L.G.D. officers move to the side street.
They reach them in minutes, and clear them out in seconds.
Hoshiguma leads the charge with her shield, absolutely destroying everyone she comes into contact with.
The officers don't slack either, using a multitude of weapons to cut, slash, and mutilate the squad.
They're finished with them easily.
A couple are left alive and interrogated.
...
I go back to scouting out the area.
Nothing else.
No Reunion, no civilians, nothing.
Shouldn't there be way more soldiers? The group Hoshiguma just destroyed isn't large enough to count as a single force, but not small enough to be there just for scouting.
The only other thing they could have been placed there for is to act as a decoy.
...
Shit.
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"Did you get anything from the soldiers?" I say running down the building.
"They just laughed and said that we were going to die for 'what we did to the infected'." Hoshiguma says.
Damn it, "They have to be a decoy for something else, I didn't spot anything else up in my area and the group was way too easy to beat like that. Something or someone else has to be coming."
A silence ensues as I reach the final flight of stairs.
"You think it's a decoy? I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think the reason they were so easy to take out is because of our own strength, not-
*BOOM*
Another explosion is heard. The walkie-talkie cuts off.
I reach the ground floor.
*BOOM* *BOOM*
I open the door.
*Whoosh*
I'm met with smoke rushing me from both sides at high speed, when it clears, I see debris making a sort of barrier on the right side of me.
I turn to the left.
More debris scatters the street, making another pseudo-wall and effectively trapping me.
But that's the least of my worries.
Standing on top of that debris, completely unscathed, smiling from ear to ear.
"Hello!" She says jumping down, "My name's W, and your name is Azrael."
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What the fuck!
I get using people as a decoy to get the jump, but shouldn't she be clearing out the Rhode Island personnel right now?
Why is she focused on me? How does she even know me?
...
"Speechless huh?" She says walking around, "I get it. I am beautiful after all."
"You know, you're pretty handsome in your own right." She continues, "Why don't you join Reunion? I promise that'll we'll let you become a squad leader~"
...
"Okay fine! You saw through my bluff." She says twirling grenades across her fingers, "But I will still have to take you back to base camp, boss's order."
I form a sword behind my back and reveal it clearly to her.
"And there's your wonderful ice abilities that I've heard all about! Wow! You're good-looking and have a powerful ability. Ah... If only I could have met you earlier." She continues joking.
...I don't have the element of surprise anymore...
"You know, why don't you just come with me peacefully? Wouldn't that be easier for the both of us?"
I don't bother questioning why anymore. It's clear what I have to do.
Another ice sword forms in my second hand.
...
W pouts, "Playing hard to get huh." She suddenly flashes a crazy smile, "You're exactly my type."
She throws little pellets toward me and runs to the side.
I throw up a sheet of ice to block the exploding pellets and pivot towards W as fast as I can.
She's a ranged attacker, getting in close is the easiest way to defeat her.
But she isn't a infamous mercenary for nothing.
"Attacking me head-on? I knew I liked you from the moment I saw you." She says allowing however many bombs fall in front of her.
I jump and use ice to push me up high.
And I come down with velocity.
She challenges me with another show of bombs.
So I connect the ice I used to get up and push myself to the side.
"Fighting you will be fun." She says getting her grenade launcher out, "You try to act normal, but you have the eyes of a mercenary."
She casually fires a grenade right in front of my face.
I move out of the way.
Grenades that come from her gun have a set time to explode.
The bombs she throws can be detonated whenever she wants.
I can dodge her grenades and block her bombs.
She'll run out eventually.
...
"Are you really not going to say anything?" She teases, casually throwing her bombs up in the air, "Or are you just coming up with a plan?"
She laughs.
"We're on the same level, so I'd rather we get this goi-
I rush to her.
She dodges.
A bomb is left under me.
I cover it in ice and run after her.
She dodges again, and I block another one of her bombs again.
"An endurance battle?" She yells while we continue back and forth, "I always hated those."
She jumps up into a building's window.
She opens her mouth, but I don't let her talk.
I need to be relentless against ranged attackers.
"Gotcha!" She says throwing a bomb toward me.
She thinks I can't do anything because I'm mid-air?
I prove her wrong immediately.
Her bomb gets covered in a ball of ice.
I step on top of the ice while she explodes the bomb.
It propels me right to her.
She just jumps back down to the battlefield and flips a switch on the way down.
*BOOM*
The entire building face collapses, and I'm heading right into it.
But that doesn't mean anything to me.
I connect a pillar of ice to the building and grab onto it, killing my momentum.
I jump onto the falling building and cover every single opening with a thick sheet of ice.
It's now just a large sheet of concrete and ice, she'll need to vault over the debris in order to not get smashed by it.
As the building falls, it covers the entire "arena" the debris made for us.
Dust swarms the outer edges.
It's peaceful for a moment, no sounds, no movement.
Starting to breathe just a bit heavier, I give myself the high ground by making an ice pillar up under my feet.
...
But any moment, and any moment an explosion will go off and I'll be right back in the thick of it.
...
I check everything.
Nothing.
...
I don't see her under the ice sheets, so I didn't defeat her with that move.
Where is she?
...
I light up a cigarette while darting my eyes across the broken "battlefield" I find myself in.
Nothing but the sound of wind.
...
"There you ar-
*ZOOM*
*CLANG*
A shield?
Oh... It's just Hoshiguma.
I plant myself on the ground, the shield lowers a bit.
...
"You okay there?" She asks me, "I barely blocked you."
"Yeah I'm fine, I was just fighting someone and then they disappeared."
"And you mistook me for them?"
I nod my head.
...
"Well no problem then, just a mistake." She says resting her shield, "You were insanely fast though, I've never had to react like that before."
"Well, you were only a couple meters away."
"Yeah, but my point still stands." She takes a breath, "Anyways, I don't think whoever you were facing will show themselves now that me and my squad have shown up."
...
Is that why she left? She saw Hoshiguma and the 20 or so L.G.D. officers behind her and ran? She said herself that we were even, so I guess it makes sense.
I sigh.
"You're probably right." I puff the cigarette that's somehow still in my mouth, "What do we do now?"
"We need to help Ch'en and her group. They're in deep trouble right now."
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I have the eyes of a mercenary, huh?
Guess I know what I did before heading to the Guard Academy.
W also said that it was her "boss's orders" to take me back to their base camp.
Her boss is Talulah.
...
I know I had a dream where I was with Talulah all the way when Kashchey was her "father".
I'm pretty sure that dream consists of me being taken in by Kashchey for a while until Talulah had killed him.
Thats the only way she could know who I am, and the fact that I have ice arts.
If she knows that I have ice arts all the way back then, how early did I awaken them?
...
That'll be a fun question during the Rhodes Island interview.
"We're here." Hoshiguma says.
Ahead of us is a multitude of people.
Rhodes Island operators, L.G.D. people, even Exusiai and Texas found their way here.
They seem tired.
Have we missed the battle?
"It's about time you showed up Hoshiguma." Ch'en says looking over to the green oni.
"Any injuries?" Ch'en asks.
"No. This guy from Penguin Logistics fought off the threat." Hoshiguma says stepping over, singaling to me.
Ch'en dosent react for a second.
"Az! Why are you here?" She says after processing, taking a step back in surprise.
"I'm officially a part of Rhodes Island right now, so I'm helping out." I answer her.
"You two know each other?" Hoshiguma asks.
Ch'en sighs and takes a deep breath, "Yeah we do, but now isn't the time for pleasantries. I have to cut off Reunions escape route before they leave."
Hoshiguma gives a shrug and moves on. Ch'en rounds up a bunch of L.G.D. officers and begins moving, leaving me with two options.
Join Ch'en's group, or stay with Hoshiguma and Rhodes Island.
...
Doesn't W end up attacking Ch'en's group rather than Rhodes?
...
I sigh and run up to Ch'en.
"I'm joining you." I tell her.
She smiles for a second, not breaking stride, "Good. I was hoping you would."
...
She turns around and points to me, "Attention all officers! This tall guy with the white hair is more capable than all of you combined. If you tells you to do something, you do it. Understood?"
"Understood!" They yell back.
"Good." Ch'en quietly says before turning back and continuing the walk.
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"Reunion should be right here." Ch'en says, stopping in her tracks, "Where could they be?"
It's silent for a couple of second.
*Beep*
Shit!
I quickly throw a thick sheet of ice down on the ground.
Muffled explosions are heard under all our feet.
...
"Awww... Why'd you have to be here." W says revealing herself on a tree, "I thought for sure I wouldnt have to see you again for today."
Ch'en looks at me, "Do you know her?"
"You even got me a tiny bit with that whole 'covering the windows with ice' trick." She turns and reveals a medium-sized gash on her leg, "I was barely able to move out of the way."
Ch'en and I pull out our swords at the same time.
I can see her barely smile while we hold our swords toward W.
W sighs at the sight, "I wanted to absolutely clear you guys out..." She pouts, "But Azrael is just too much for me to handle right now..."
We have a stareoff for a second.
...
"Until next time then!" W says, throwing a multitude of bombs in out direction.
I throw up a thin wall of ice for them to explode on.
"Get her!" Ch'en says as I melt the ice, giving a clear path to W.
"Half the officers stay!" Ch'en manages to get out before we vault across the rocky terrain.
...
"Running away from a fight just because of a single person? And she calls herself a Reunion leader? Disgraceful." I hear Ch'en mumble as we run across the terrain.
We catch sight of W right as she stops moving.
She's in front of Rhodes Island right now, talking to them.
A few words get exchanged before we hear a shout of, "Ch'en, Hurry up!" from the mouths of Hoshiguma.
W looks over to us. Looks over to me.
She sighs before throwing Amiya a telephone and getting something else out of her pocket.
I get out my handgun as W throws something to the ground.
"AHH! FUC-" I hear as my shot connects with her left arm.
But its too late.
*RRIINNGG*
ACk-!
I cover my ears quickly.
...
"Dont let her get away!" I quietly hear Amiya scream.
"It's too late." I barely hear Ch'en answer.
...
The rigning stills going on as I find it in me to open my ears back up.
Goddam sensitive ears, flashbangs are just too much for me.
"Hello?" I hear Amyia say to the phone.
...
A monolouge ensues.
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"I'm not spacing out!" Exusiai says, firing her gun, "If your gonna get on someone for not paying attention, look at Az! He's just been watching us."
"Yeah but he just got hit with a flashbang pretty much head on, and do you remember how he always had an issue with sensitive ears and such?" Texas refutes Exusiai as she stabs another grunt.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Exusiai says, "Has the ringing stopped yet?"
She motions to me.
"Yeah, as long as it isn't completely silent then I don't hear it." I answer.
...
Texas kills another grunt, "I think we've done engough, lets go check on Rhodes Island."
Exusiai nods while I give her a thumbs up.
...
*BOOM*
"THEY'RE BACK! SKULLSHATTERER IS ALIVE!" We hear after an explosion.
We begin to run faster after that.
Reaching the scene, it's chaos.
Skullshatterer is back, Reunion grunts are practically jumping up and down seeing their leader back.
Amiya is scared, and Ch'en is telling her... something.
...
They dont see us. We have an golden opportunity.
"Exusiai, Texas, you guys handle the grunts behind the boss. I'll get them myself." I say.
"So just like old times!" Exusiai says while reloading.
"Just like old times." I say while adding to my sword with more ice.
"On three." I say.
...
"Three!" Exusiai says after a second.
We all run.
I head down, grab my sword and make steps of ice to push off of while heading to Skullshatterer.
I get faster and faster every centimeter.
Skullshatterer notices me quickly, and has enough time to shoot a single grenade.
It misses wide.
They try to throw up their blade as a last-ditch effort.
But it's too late.
A shank of ice gets lodged between their armor, and out the other side.
I aimed directly for their heart.
I hit it.
...
I plant my feet in the ground and wipe off a drop of blood on my face.
Gasps and screams echo through the Reunion grunts as they get cleared out by Exusiai and Texas.
Rhodes Island and the L.G.D. are frozen.
Amiya looks distraught beyond belief.
I nod towards Ch'en, giving her a cue to share some wisdom.
I may have only been in this world for a couple of months, but I have the memories of 24 years behind me.
Ah, thats why W says I have the eyes of a mercenary. I dont have remorse for killing people.
...I take out a cigarette...
Amiya is still young.
She needs to understand that killing people isn't something that you can avoid in Terra.
...
Heh, look at me acting so high and mighty.
How stupid.
(Well, here I am again, uploading a chapter on a random Tuesday. I don't have any explanation for why, my schedule is now just a suggestion. Putting that aside, this chapter was fun... Nothing else to say. Thanks for Reading :)
Uploaded on August 9, 2022. 3695 words.