The engine roars, resounding in every corner of the streets. There is still no light except from the vehicle, the sun hasn't gone up and in the skies and almost nothing yet can be seen by the bare eyes.
Kevin stares at the dark steel of his blade, from its body to the blue gem embedded at the guard. His reflection can be seen, his thumb roams around the orb, playing with it as he wipes his finger.
"Kevin." , a voice calls. The young man perked up in response, turned around to see who called him but to no avail found no one or atleast captured anyone playing a trick on him. Karen has her eyes closed, earphones on her ears and her phone playing the noise of a rain, one of her favorite to listen to. Georgia and Hannah are fiddling with their phone, checking the latest news and trends and chatting with their group of friends. Denise was also absorbed on her own, on her lap is her tablet which was connected to her equipments, showing a menu of settings to her gauntlets while she adjusts it.
He rolled up the sleeves on his right arm, revealing a bracer with a screen picking up his vitals. His eyes' wandered about and looked for any sign of online connections. There was none, so he sighed and shrugged.
(Perhaps it's just my imagination.)
Kevin thought to himself before resigning himself. Closing his eyes, he waits for the moment when they will depart. Few moments later the vehicle stopped, informing the passengers inside through the speakers the squad immediately sets off to their mission. As the reinforced doors opens, their earpiece rang and Dr. Lianne's voice went through.
"Listen up squad, as mentioned in the briefing yesterday you are to investigate the abnormal readings we picked up on S4A15. The area around there is infested with Animus, so expect to initiate combat as soon as you step out. However, don't attract attention unless needed, we don't need to have you all eliminated. Do you all copy?"
"Copied. Everyone, listen here. We will have to climb over those buildings and use that as our path, should provide us with good view around too. Should you see the target, do not engage it. We just need to get a clear vision of the target and let the intel do their work. You all got that?" Georgia commands. The four nodded and waited for her orders to move out. Her hand signalled them to follow before she jumps out of the vehicle.
"It seems awfully quiet." Kevin whispered through his comms. His eyes analyzed his surroundings. Everything he sees screams abandoned, dusty windows, worn out doors, unorganized shelves. Every single building seems to be decaying over time.
"Not until we go deeper that's for sure. Hey, wanna see if we can make them all go here? I bet it would be more fun if we just beat them all up instead?" Hannah replied, her halberd seemingly ready to crash through anything just to make noise.
"I bet it would be but not now, Hannah. We can't exactly have a party chasing us while we "investigate" now do we?" Denise rebuked back. Karen who was quiet till now added back as she finished taking care of her stuff, "That's right, dum-dum. Maybe you can go ahead and distract them away instead?" she said as she gently smiles.
"Waah! You don't have to be mean about it, Karen. You'll hurt your poor friend's heart y'know?" Hannah replied back, Georgia couldn't help herself but giggle.
"Good luck with that Miss Hannah. Miss Georgia might be considering it." Kevin said following Georgia at the back of a building. Georgia checked the map on her bracers, there were no signals of the enemy from the monitor.
"Hey! You're coming with me when that happens!" Hannah answered, then curled up her fists and playfully punches his back. Kevin laughed it off, but deep inside he was gritting his teeth from the onslaught of attacks.
Careful to not make any further noise, the group decided to slow down on their way to the marked location. Every step creaks a noise from the iron sheets they walk upon. At some point their minds screams to go faster as their feet seemingly dips onto the brittle and rusty sheet. Until finally, a fully concrete building was on their sights, they can finally take a breather.
"Ahh, I'm so glad I didn't ate too much dessert last night." Hannah said letting out a fit of laughter.
"I definitely heard the roof crack when you step onto it though." Georgia said after helping Karen up.
"Hey! it only sounded like that because you weakened it when you stepped over it!" Hannah exclaims, grasping her tumbler just after she finished drinking. The party rested for a while, taking shade under a tarpaulin.
"I think we should move, it's really getting hot in here.", fanning herself, Georgia slightly zipped down her suit revealing a fair bit of cleavage. Sweat running down and sliding in between.
"If only these fabric is cotton it would have been much cooler in these." Kevin replied, feeling the hems of his clothes. A light fabric that helps with mobility that offers adequate protection but one downside is how heat it is to wear, especially in tropical climates.
"This is the lightest material the Soul Reapers' could offer to be honest. Any less than this and we're pretty much naked in the eyes of the Animus." Denise said to Kevin.
Karen stood up, her eyes wandering around the area. Groups of Animus everywhere, scattered all around yet all the same is packing the roads full of their numbers. Even their sensors shows how dense the area is with their enemies.
"This mission should have been left to the scouts." Karen said, her tone is soft and small yet there was no sign of fear. Hannah pats her head and smiled when she turned to look to her.
"Surely there is a reason why the higher-ups chose us. I am certain that it's not a suicide mission." Georgia answered with the usual confident smile. Karen just nodded and looked into the skies then unto the lands yet again.
"Wait, Georgia come here. There's something strange over there." Karen suddenly said just as the party was about to move out. She points straight forward where their target is, a location which was strangely empty. It was as if the Animus is avoiding that place, the clusters only pack around a fairly large radius around their marked location.
"The Animus are avoiding it? No, they seem to be standing guard." Denise said as she looks into where Karen points. Georgia immediately turns to her bracer monitor and called Dr. Lianne to inform about the anomaly they see.
"Doctor, Karen saw something strange around the marked location. It seems that Animus groups are all scattered around the radius, but never inside of it. Yes, I'll be sending visuals on your side." Georgia tells to her comms.
"It seems clear, we've had no problems sneaking in there but it feels..." Hannah went quiet, weighing the benefits and consequences in her mind.
"Seems too easy, definitely a trap. It's as if whatever inside there is inviting us." Kevin said, Hannah nodded in response. Georgia after sending a picture of their sight to Dr. Lianne approached them.
"Our objective hasn't change, we are to sneak in and observe the anomaly inside that warehouse. Whether this happened or not we would still need to sneak in anyway." Georgia said.
Hannah crossed her arms and smiled at her thought. "An anomaly inside an anomaly, the anomaly-ception!"
"Hey Miss Hannah, still up for that distraction plan?" Kevin teasingly said, his smirk painted on his face. "I told you you're coming with me when that happens right? I will definitely drag you down with me!"
The group continued to move on. Karen's gazes towards them yet her stares goes too deep her eyes sees something else. Far far back than what she should see.