After being shot out of the sky, they landed near a residential area, while the helicopter crashed into a factory building just a few miles from them.
"…Is everyone good?" Michael asked as he stood up and took the parachute off.
"I never felt better." Kyle said as he wiped dirt off of him.
"Where's the other guy?" Drey said as he started sniffing the air. "I smell blood."
"He didn't make it." Michael said as he pointed to the street, where there was a car with the top caved in.
"Damn it…." Michael said as he started walking to the street.
"How are we supposed to get there now?" Melissa said as she saw multiple helicopters heading towards the crash.
"We can contact the base but it'll take some time for them to retrieve us. We can't stay here either, since the HPA is gonna swarm this area in a few minutes." Michael said as he pulled out an earpiece from his pocket.
"Where are we?" Kyle asked as he looked around the visible area.
"The tattoo took about 3 hours. So we should be in New Jersey. Probably somewhere between Atlantic City and Ocean City." Michael said as he pressed the earpiece three times.
*Ring ring ring.*
"Hello?" Christian answered almost immediately.
"The chopper is trashed and Lieutenant Brent has died as well." Michael said not even wasting a moment's time.
"What happened?! Is Kyle good?" Christian asked in a subtlety worried tone.
"Yeah but the HPA hit us out of the sky. We need another chopper immediately. Send one of the new choppers, this is a good time to test them out." Michael said as they started walking towards the residential district.
"Alright, I'll get one of the agents on it immediately. As you already know, stay out of sight for now." Christian said before he hung up.
"What's wrong ?" Urie asked as she sat on the chair looking at her bottle in boredom.
"It was Michael. They were attacked and needed another helicopter. Luckily we were smart enough to have some agents on stand by." Christian said as he stood up and walked towards the door.
"That sounds like something only they would survive…. We're stuck here unfortunately-" Urie said before he snatched her bottle as he walked past her.
"No more drinking. This is why you're bored, come on." Christian said as he threw the bottle in the trash and opened the door.
*Gasp* "You're a jackass." Urie said sarcastically as she jumped up from her chair. "We aren't going after them, even if you're worried about your baby brother." She said mockingly as she left the room.
"Don't be jealous. " Christian said jokingly as he closed the door behind them.
"Jealous? Me? You're a comedian." Urie said proudly. "Where are they at right now anyway?" She asked.
"When I checked they were in Ventnor City. We should have a team on standby ready to pick them up, around that area." Christian said as they stopped at a room, with a red light bulb just above the door. There were two key card slots on both sides of the door.
"We'll send only one pilot with them." Urie said as they simultaneously swipe their cards.
On the other side of the door, was a communications room with a large screen showing the locations of every ANM agent in the U.S. There were smaller screens on the side which were security cameras of the entire base, including every room besides the inside of the personal quarters.
Only the most trusted agents behind the Captains are allowed in this room.
*Crunch* "Helllooo, Ms. , Mr. Captain." 2nd Lieutenant Jaime said in between his chewing.
"We were just about to call you, one of the choppers we sent out earlier was destroyed in New Jersey by the HPA-" 2nd Lieutenant Daikahev said as he slurped his drink with a straw.
"We heard. Request a pickup/delivery for the New Jersey team in Ventnor city. The package is the Vampire squad and we need them delivered to Antarctica." Christian said as he looked at his watch.
"We're on it, is there anything else?" 2nd Lieutenant Jaime said as he continued.
"We also need a clean up, Michael's Lieutenant died. And we need this done right now." Urie said, as she took a shrimp from his plate.
" 'Gotchu Captain." He said as he offered her some more.
"Thanks~" Urie said as Christian opened the door.
While the 2nd lieutenants started contacting the New Jersey team, Michael and the Vampire agents had already changed their disguise to blend in with locals.
"Are we just going to leave him there?" Kyle said as the brim of his hat was covering his eyes.
"We can't drag him with us, moving his body would bring too much attention. There's a reason why we're in crowded spaces. Just leave it to the clean up crew who should be coming for his body." Michael said before he sipped coffee.
"…Despite how cruel it is, we have no choice." Drey chimed in as he tried to drink his mug of coffee.
"Stop trying to drink it, our body isn't going to accept something like this." Melissa said as her coffee was pushed to the side.
"Maybe it will, I haven't had any in too long." Drey said as the cup was near his lip but his hand wouldn't stop trembling.
"….There's something I've been wanting to ask you." Kyle said as he pushed his cup away.
"What?" Michael said as he looked at his watch.
"You this was the ANM's mark of the Captain. So does that mean all of the Captains have the same mark?" Kyle asked as he watched a police car drive by.
"Well everyone got a different variation of the mark. It's different depending on which branch you're in and how you're labeled." Michael explained before he took another sip of his coffee. "This is a special branch so all of the captains here only have a portion of one mark. Your branch is also a special one, so your mark is modified." He said as a *ding* came from his watch.
"Different variations? So is there only one captain in each branch?" Kyle asked as a strong gust of wind suddenly knocked his hat off.
"Come on, we need to meet the pilot." Michael said as he stood up.
"-You dropped this." A man said as he stood behind Michael.
Although his body didn't show it, Kyle saw how it startled Michael. It was as if he didn't hear him approach but that wasn't the only thing that threw them off. The thing that was most surprising was the fact that there was an HPA agent far from both of the investigative sites.
"….Thanks." Michael said as he took the hat.
"No problem. By the way did any of you happen to notice any suspicious people around here, or anything like that?" The HPA agent asked but his uniform was completely different from the other agents. In a way which seemed to be more detailed and slightly upgraded.
"I haven't, did you see anything?" Michael asked as he looked back.
"No I haven't." Drey said as he finally sipped his coffee.
"Neither have I." Melissa said as she twirled her hair.
"No." Kyle kept it short, trying not to make too much eye contact.
"You must think I'm some terrible gangster or whatever but I'm an HPA agent looking for the Vampire. You see we spotted them earlier." The agent explained as he pointed to the sky. "….You actually look awfully familiar. I'm struggling to put my finger on it exactly." He slowly walked around the table to get a look at him.
"We've never met if that is what you are wondering. Well I don't remember seeing you…. Ever." Kyle said, stressing the fact.
"Well, I'll leave my card with you just in case. So call me if you ever do spot. I won't answer, one of my many coworkers will." The HPA agent backed up as his phone started ringing. "Ciao~" he finished before he started walking away.
"…." They all sat in a moment of silence as they stared at the man's card.
"Oh my gosh…. It was like those times the police questioned me about some of my patients." Melissa said as she felt her heart beating quickly with her chest.
"I thought one of them was just gonna attack him…" Drey said as he sighed in relief.
"…Are you gonna take the card?" Kyle asked as he looked at Michael's smirk.
"Don't be stupid… we wasted enough time, let's go." Michael said almost as if his mood was lifted a bit. "Do you know who he is?" He asked as he walked away from the table.
"Not much… but he's the 99th ranked Soldier- Agent." Kyle said as he followed behind him.
"99th? The other one was in the 200s, the doctor was in the 100s and he was solely in charge of you- a completely different species for accurate research. That guy is dangerous, I don't think some of the second lieutenants can handle someone like him." Michael said aloud although he was lost in thought.
"Hopefully, this one isn't shot at." Drey said as he saw a helicopter similar to the one they were in earlier.
"Antarctica is barely a day away, we should be there before the sun rises tomorrow." Kyle said feeling impatient.
"Why are you in such a rush, what are we going to do, when we get there?" Melissa asked.
"Well… the first thing is getting to the Queen but I can do that alone. So you can head to Blutheim before me." Kyle said.
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"I don't care about your festival, it's months away from now anyway. Why did you come back?" Queen Aria asked as if she actually wanted to know.
"He's coming here isn't he." King Fusis said, the prison guards had already went upstairs.
"I don't know what you mean." Queen Aria said as she stretched.
"He must've figured that getting blood over there isn't how he should operate. I'll allow him passage to you if that's what you so please. Then maybe the balance will finally restore… unfortunately I can't warn him about the challenges he faces." King Fusis said with a creepy grin on his face.
"….You're too smart for your own good…. If you must know, he is coming and he will reclaim everything you stole from us." Queen Aria claimed as she continued to stretch.