The glowing white Aegis crystals blinded my vision. But once our group got inside the military HQ, the scenery changed, revealing walls of metal and a polished white floor. Fluorescent lights dotted the ceiling across the many hallways.
"...Phew."
That was Eugene, breathing a sigh of relief as we all sat ducked on the floor— except for Aya who was sprawling. In my arms, of course, was my daughter, Elle.
She stared at me with puppy eyes, and tears started to well up. I was practically holding myself from crying at that moment. This daughter of mine just had to put herself in danger like that.
"...I—"
Elle hugged me tight and let out a restrained sob, mucus and drool covered my jacket. I returned her hug with a wide smile painted on my face.
"...I won't ask why you ran away, Elle. I can just guess it..."
She buried her face deeper into my jacket and said some words, though I couldn't make out what it was due to it being muffled. She must have compunction over what she did. Be that as it may, it was not like I didn't know what she wanted to convey. My hand brushed her hair as I waited for her to calm down.
"...I'm sorry, Derrick," said Eugene as he bowed deeply at me. He even pulled out a knife (where did he get that!) and pointed it at his neck.
"Woah, woah, Eugene!"
Miranda yanked the knife away from him and proceeded to send a chop to his head. She threw the knife to the side with her gaze still at Eugene.
"What are you trying to do?" she asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?! I failed to hold Elle in place... and she ran away because of how incompetent I was!" Eugene looked at me with a grim expression. He was really dejected from it. "If Elle got hurt, or even worse... then the one to blame must be me, right?!"
"Eugene..." I scratched my head. "Look. It's not..."
"It's not entirely your fault. It's my fault as well because I failed to educate Elle properly. She should have stayed at the orphanage quietly. Now, the kid only brings trouble to those around her."
Every one of us looked at Miranda, who had continued my sentence, and ended it with a bitter tone— while imitating my voice. She shrugged and pointed in my direction.
"This wouldn't have happened if you had drilled some manners into your daughter's thick skull. Despite everything that had transpired, this damn little girl escaped the orphanage... but for what?! Just to be with her oh-so-kind-and-loving father? She almost ruined our chance of getting on this... HQ!"
"Miranda, that's rude!" said Aya as she stood up. "She just missed Derrick, you know."
"Don't be sentimental on me, Aya. Our mission takes utmost priority. I'm sure he knows that as well, being a former soldier and whatnot."
"Why do you have to act so repulsive?! This is why I never get along with you!"
Miranda grinned and Aya, with blazing hatred in her eyes, stepped closer to her. This sight was not uncommon, but I didn't like it nonetheless. We were in the enemy's headquarters, so it was not the time to bicker among each other. As dubious as I was, right then, at least I knew what we should and should not be doing.
"Miranda... and Aya," I called.
Those two looked at me, and after a moment, their eyes opened wide. Well, it was expected, since I literally bowed in front of them.
"D-Derrick..." mumbled Eugene.
"You are right. It's my fault for involving Elle in this mess. I'm not going to justify her actions by throwing the fact that 'she's just a kid'. Everyone can do that... Any parents can do that."
Elle looked up at me, her sobs had stopped. Everything until now was foisted on her, and she couldn't go against it. As her father, I failed in doing what I should have been from the very start.
And that was to bring her to Neo Africa— away from the corruption and bloodshed in Sweden.
"What I'm trying to say is that... if you want to blame someone, blame me. Blame this incompetent father of hers." I bowed again at both of them, and Miranda quickly flailed her hands in panic.
"W-Wait! Stop this!"
I insisted on keep bowing my head, but Aya reached out to me. I thought she was about to say the same thing as well, but instead, she pointed towards a secluded corner in the hallway.
Immediately, I knew what she meant, and hastily brought Elle as we hid inside there.
"I realize we have made quite some noise..." said Aya. "So I thought maybe the Anciles stationed nearby caught wind of us."
"...Yeah. We can wait here for a bit before making our way further inside."
We did just that, and after about fifteen minutes, there was no sign of anyone coming after us— which was weird since I was certain we made quite a ruckus before.
I also found out that no security cameras were placed in that particular hallway.
"Wait... this is the—"
Aya and I looked at each other. "The east wing."
The east wing, specifically on the first floor of the military HQ, served little to no purpose. What I meant by that is, aside from being used to connect to various routes leading towards other places— such as the armory and supply area— no soldiers would go to this area. And the fact that Amathelia had replaced most of them with Anciles, I couldn't really see any enemy passing through here.
Anciles didn't need to go to the armory since they were weapons themselves, and as for supplies, again, they were robots. Now, I didn't know if Amathelia actually knew how to plan or handle the eclectic 'procedures' entailed in a military HQ's operation, but it seemed like most of the stuff back then didn't change— even after when she took over. So, it was safe to assume that woman wasn't bothered by this trivial matter, and just let it stayed the same.
"This is one lucky stroke of luck," said Miranda.
"You don't have to put 'lucky' in it..." commented Eugene.
Convinced the enemy hadn't been alerted of our infiltration, we sneaked deeper into the HQ, hoping it would remain that way as we did our thing.
♢
♢
Despite the white Aegis crystals outside of this HQ—the inside— was pretty much the same. Not that I found it odd or anything, but I figured beforehand Amathelia would at least, made some changes since she already replaced almost an entire Sweden's military forces with Anciles. Excluding the irrevocable infrastructure of the base, there could have been changes she could make to better the defenses, and all that.
"Oh, here we are!"
Aya proceeded to open the wooden door that led to her old room— the room where she stayed back when she was still affiliated with the C.U.
This was also the very room that Alicia and Bart had given her, a place where she had stayed most throughout her life. A wry smile flitted across my face. When I thought about it, this girl languished under the pressure of being a kid soldier, and also the expectation a surreptitious human weapon of the C.U's Aegis squad.
"We can use my place as a temporary base..." said Aya as she tidied her own bed. "But wow... it has been a year since I've been here..."
"Since our presence is not made known yet, I don't see why not."
"Yeah... For once, I agree with you, Miranda," Eugene said.
Elle trotted to Aya's bed and lied down... and after a minute or so, she soundlessly fell asleep. She must have been tired. I mean, so much had happened in one day so it was expected.
"We'll take shifts... rotate the order who will be on watch," I said. "Is that alright?"
"Sure."
"Mommy might be nearby, so might as well be on the lookout for any trace of her."
"I don't see why not."
Starting from me, we rotated shifts as a measure to watch for any suspicious movement outside of the room. There was only one, long hallway spread left and right from the room's entrance. With the layout like this, it would be easy to spot any sort of enemy approaching us.
Of course, sitting idly by was not why we were all there. First, to make sure the civilians—namely Eugene and Elle— were safe, Aya stayed behind just in case. And then, Miranda and I surreptitiously made our way across the snaking hallways. This was our second objective— to search for Alicia or Alexander while doing our best to avoid enemy contact.
Since this very mission was to rescue those two, we made it clear that, if any Pillars showed up, we would make a run for it. Even with Miranda and Aya's combat prowess combined, there was still a very low chance for them to defeat the Pillars.
If Ivar or Kian was to show up, then the chance would be practically zero. These two Pillars were that powerful, and our numbers alone couldn't hope to match up against those abominations.
Elle and Eugene were here with us, so it added another reason why I couldn't risk engaging the Pillars.
But so far...