It was the next day, and 7:00 PM was approaching. At that time, I'd be attending a conference in the debrief hall. Just the night before, as I was falling asleep, General Michael called me to inform me he had a mission for me to participate in. My hopes had finally been answered after waiting for over a month.
After getting ready and commuting to the proper building, I waited patiently outside the meeting room in the minutes approaching 7:00 PM.
"Klyson," I heard my name called out behind me. Turning around, I was face-to-face with First.
"Enzo?"
"You're here for the debrief, aren't you?"
I nodded. "Did the General call on you for the mission too?"
"Of course."
I was shocked. This would be the first time I'd ever worked with an Upper Four.
Enzo sighed with disappointment. "Pretty sure we'll be working with some ants though…"
I caught-on that he was referring to people with Fractals. "Really? Who else?"
I could suddenly hear footsteps leading from the hall around the corner, revealing Second, Seventh, and Eighth.
"Fifth?" Seventh saw me.
"Woah. Long time no see." Eighth waved.
"Klyson!" Second said excitedly, followed by a not-so-excited "Enzo…"
The three of them joined us in front of the meeting room.
"Seventh, Eighth… It feels like it's been forever. How have you guys been?" I asked.
"It's been pretty good."
"Yeah, it's been pretty busy."
"Busy? What have you guys been up to?"
They looked at each other. "The General's been calling us on a few missions here and there. We've been on maybe three together?" Seventh said.
"There was one I did without her too," Eighth added on.
I was speechless. "You guys have done missions already…?"
"Yeah, you haven't?" Eighth asked me.
I fell quiet, partly out of shame and partly out of embarrassment. "I haven't…"
"Oh… I thought you would have done some by now."
"I guess not," I shrugged it off. Under my skin, I felt a form of sorrow. It felt like Seventh and Eighth had gotten so far ahead of me since the last time we'd spoken.
"By the way, we're all out of the Tenfold now. Why don't we start referring to each other by our real names from now on?" Seventh made the suggestion.
"Sure! My name's Klyson."
"Unique name!" Eighth said. "Mine's Emanuel."
Lastly, Seventh introduced herself. "I'm Cynthia. Emanuel, I'm gonna call you 'Em.' And Klyson, I'm going to call you 'Kly.' I'd rather stick to one-syllable names."
"What the… 'Em'? That sounds like a girl's name!"
Cynthia laughed. "It's easier to say than Emanuel. That's like… three or four syllables."
"But your name is three syllables you hypocrite," I joked back.
"Yeah, whatever. It could even count as two if you tried hard enough."
We all laughed together at simply revealing our names to one another. It felt surprisingly refreshing to be around the people I'd worked the longest with, and to be around people who were closer to my level. I felt comfortable.
"Hey, Klyson. Hey guys." Second suddenly butt-in. "You can call me by my name too! I'm Kyra!"
It surprised the other two. Especially Seventh who looked at her like an idol. "But you're Upper Four! We should be calling you by your status!"
"I have enough people who call me 'Second.' I won't need it from the ones I'm directly working with. So just call me Kyra, please!" She then pointed to Enzo. "And you can call him Enzo!"
He shot back a look of disgust. "No. Absolutely not. Only Klyson gets that privilege."
Emanuel and Cynthia looked at me with surprise. "Whoa, First knows you?"
I laughed nervously. "Yeah… I've actually been to Upper Four HQ a lot in the last month. I've got to meet all of them."
"What!?" Emanuel grabbed my shoulders. "So that's what you've been doing!?"
I nodded. "It's a bit complicated."
We all suddenly heard heavy footsteps in the distance, and quickly, we all got quiet and lined-up in order. Everyone here could tell exactly who it was.
"You're all here on time, surprisingly." General Michael had arrived. He walked up to the door in front of us and unlocked it using his keycard. "Enter, everyone."
We all began to file into the room one by one, sitting along the sides of the table. As we sat, we all directly faced forwards as the General stood at the front, ready to debrief us on this new and upcoming mission.
"I've grouped up all five of you to fulfill very specific roles, so listen closely. First off, we're dealing with another international conflict, but the scale is much smaller than the Invidan War. Rather than be the defenders, this time, we are instead the ones attacking. First will be the commander in charge of the assault. He will be responsible for leading Angels into conflict with our opponent's frontline at their border. But this is all a distraction. While this happens, the rest of you will be on a covert operation. The distraction is meant to make it easy for you all to sneak into the enemy's backline base, where you will retrieve a specific item that we need."
"What is the item, sir?" Emanuel asked.
"That information is classified for ranks lower than the Upper Four. Your comrades, First and Second will know, but will have no right to disclose it to you."
"Yes sir."
I wondered why we weren't allowed to know even though we were all on the mission together. Was it a sign of mistrust? Or was it truly something not meant for us to know? I chose not to press my curiosity against the General.
"For those of you in the covert operation, Second will be your leader. She'll be in charge of leading the movement forwards and navigating all of you throughout the base. Since her Fractal is more tuned to observing the closer surroundings, Emanuel, you will be in charge of watching the further observations. You will be the group's overwatch, in charge of seeing further ahead than everyone else to alert if someone approaches. The stealth of the mission depends on the both of you." General Michael then turned to me and Cynthia. "You two will be the primary breachers. This means upon scouting a room, if there are guards that absolutely cannot be snuck-past by, and the only option is to eliminate them, you two will be tasked with this. But the eliminations must be done in silence, or else every one may be alerted. You all can't have your cover being blown."
"I assume we will all be provided with weapons, and not just the breachers?" Kyra had raised her hand.
"Correct. In the worst case scenario, you will need to defend yourselves. But I expect you four will keep the covert operation under control."
"Yes sir!" We all said.
"Good. The operation is two days from now, early in the morning when the sun hasn't even breached the horizon yet. The darkness of dawn will benefit both parties: First will be able to launch a surprise attack using the absence of light to his advantage, and the covert operators will be less noticeable in the absence of light. You four will be deployed later after First has already begun his onslaught. This is to ensure that all their attention is on him."
"Sir," I raised my hand, realizing a missing crucial piece of information. "You haven't told us yet where this is taking place."
"I was just getting there." The General pointed at Asia on a map. "New Zina. As advanced as the technology is here in Melysia, New Zina's developed a piece of equipment that piques our interest and that we see to benefit our aspirations. That is what you are going to retrieve, understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"Then the plan is set. I will see you all at the main hangar before you set off for your flight for one last debrief. Until then, polish your knowledge of the operation and prepare. This can either be clean, or get messy. Let's not make any further ruckus after what happened with Invidan."
We were all dismissed.