"Is this it? Did we do it?"
Tania "I mean it's about time we got a mission."
Hugo "True, we've been at it for more than five weeks now. At least me and Tania."
"Hey, I've been keeping up with you two quite well if I do say so myself."
Hugo "More like being mediocre at both."
"And that's all I need to be considered as an equal to you."
Tania "He's right you know. You're still a sad sight in physical practice and he has me beat in academics."
Hugo "I guess so…"
I've been with these two for two weeks now and I was right, they made us an official trio so we'll be doing our missions together from now on.
And I've gotten pretty close with them too, I mean we have been in each other's faces constantly for the past two weeks. I can't really say we hang out together because we just go to practice and classes together, me and Hugo get wiped out by the end of the day so we both opt to stay in our rooms sometimes playing an online game together but Tania usually uses all the free time she has in the mall or in a random coffee shop around town taking pictures and sending them my way all the while. I did accompany her once on a shopping trip when we had the evening off but I ended up carrying all the stuff she bought, the usual friendship stuff you could say that I'm an expert on the topic…
Anyways, we've been called to Mr Markus' office today and he's the guy that gives out assignments so it's safe to say we will be getting our first official mission as Preservation members.
Tania "We're here."
Tania knocked on the door and waited for it to open then she went inside and we followed suit.
Markus was sitting at his desk, his office was unremarkable, actually it was remarkably bland. He took a look at us and stopped scrolling through the panel he had up, he looked… Unkempt to say the least, his patchy beard doesn't help his double chin and the dark circles under his eyelids makes his lazy eye look worse, he wasn't fat per say, he probably weighs around me but his height doesn't help him at all…
Markus "So you're the rookies, I see…"
Hugo "You called for us Mr Markus?"
Markus "Yes I did. You see, I have a matter that needs to be solved as soon as possible."
"Got it, what can we do for you?"
Markus "You're the willing types huh? I take this as you accepting my assignment?"
Tania "Sure but we'll need to know what it is."
Markus "Great. I will send you the details later. You can take your leave."
"Okay…?"
Is he kicking us out? I looked at the other two but they were as confused as I am, so I decided to take the initiative and leave as Markus said and they left with me.
"Well that was weird…"
Hugo "Weird is right, he didn't give us any info. How are we supposed to do this 'as soon as possible' as he instructed?"
Tania "Yeah, and we accepted it with no resistance."
"I hope I'm wrong but I get the feeling that as rookies we don't really get a say in the missions we're assigned to…"
Hugo "I think you're right, we don't really have a reason to refuse his assignment because we're eager to start working unless that's the reason he didn't give us any info about it…"
Tania "So you're saying that he didn't give us information deliberately so we don't refuse to take part in his assignment?"
"That pretty much sums it up, yeah…"
Hugo "I hope we're wrong…"
And wrong we were, it was even worse than we anticipated…
Our first "mission" as Preservation members is to clean up a street where a riot happened. The street was a mess with obscene amounts of trash and destruction, there was an entire car that ran through a store, burnt tires, broken light trees, fires…
I get why he needed this to be dealt with ASAP but assigning three rookies for this is a bit cruel… We were looking forward to our first mission for a while now and this just gives disappointment another synonym…
Tania "Hey! Get back to cleaning E. What are you doing daydreaming there?"
Hugo "Yeah! This is going to take us two days at this rate."
"Sorry! I'm just a bit dumbfounded with the situation we're in right now."
Tania & Hugo "Me too…"
"*sigh* I can—huh?"
What was that?
Tania "What's up E?"
"It felt like someone was watching me for a second…"
Hugo "Really? Maybe it's a bystander?"
"Maybe. I don't know…"
That felt too malicious to be a random bystander… I didn't get to go outside of the Preservation building that much so maybe I'm just not used to people's looks on me?
Who knows…
"Come on, let's finish this today! We have to lock in."
Hugo "But how are we going to move the car from there..?"
"We'll think about it when we get to it, for now let's clear out the trash and debris from the street."
Tania & Hugo "Sure…"
With a plan in mind we started working to try and finish this mess as soon as we can.
"What the hell happened here?"
Tania "They said a riot right?"
Hugo "According to the report we got, people were rioting against the government officially giving androids rights."
"I mean it's about time they did. Androids have been pretty much indistinguishable from humans for a while; their AI can be considered consciousness."
Tania "Sure but not really. Their 'feelings' are being actively dampened by their code so they can't harm humans, they can't taste, cry or truly feel anything because they don't understand it. All they do is replicate what we do and they're getting pretty damn good at doing it…"
"I know that but if they look human and act like humans can't we call them human? To be completely honest with you, I don't understand my feelings, my preferences nor the way I act… I even understand having to replicate how someone else acts because I recognize that they're better than me in some way or another. So how different am I from an android? If these laws are passed and I'm pretty certain they will, androids or at least the child models will be able to get legally adopted by humans giving them parents, something that I don't have Tania."
Tania "..."
Hugo "Didn't realise you were an android rights activist."
"Haha I'm not. I gave it some thought before and I had no reason to refuse them getting rights, if they're smart enough to want them so why not."
Tania "It's not that simple E."
"I know. It's hard for humans to see something they created surpass them, the only things we have that they don't are all abstract and conceptual and if we lift the restrictions we put on them they might even surpass us in those and eventually turn on us. That's what humans fear most, that kind of scenario is quite overdone in the media so our version of androids are built on the basis of morals and the laws of robotics."
Tania "..."
"Tania? Don't tell me you're scared of that scenario."
Tania "...And what if I was?"
"Haha don't worry. I didn't tell you this but every android has an instant kill trigger multiple actually so if they one day turn on us I'll be able to show you how to do it."
Tania "Really?"
"Yeah really."
Hugo "Wait, how do you know this?"
"I have my ways. We should focus on cleaning. Wow this place is rough… Is that blood? What the hell happened here."
Hugo "Most of the people involved were detained and are being held on trial, the rest well…"
Tania "They were 'dealt with' on the spot… That's the blood you're looking at."
"That's sick…"
Tania "Let's finish this quickly."
And after six hours straight we were done, the car was taken into police custody by an APD by the way.
We were positively knackered by the end of that so we stopped at a nearby restaurant to eat and take a much needed break.
Tania "That was exhausting… I can't believe that was our first job."
Hugo "And it was a job well done."
"You're actually proud of it?"
Hugo "We shouldn't really call it our first mission because that one needs to be a bit special but what we did was good we helped the city recover."
"You know that a riot-mess-cleaner android exists right?"
Tania "Well, it's not called that but yeah that thing would have done the job quicker and more precisely."
Hugo "We still did a good job you downers can't I be happy about it?"
"Bro you can be happy all you like but I will judge you for it."
Hugo "I hate you so much…"
Tania "Hahahaha."
Waiter "Here's your food."
Tania, Hugo & I "Thank you."
"What's that you got there Hugo?"
Hugo "It's a beef lasagna."
"You sure that's beef?"
Hugo "Well no… They have it as meat lasagna in the menu actually but why are you asking?"
"Because it doesn't really look promising and you don't know what they put in that mystery meat they sell."
Tania "It's the only affordable meat though."
"I still don't wanna touch it…"
Hugo "What are secretly rich or are you a vegetarian?"
"Neither, The chicken they provide in The Preservation is good enough and before I joined I used to have a separate fund for meat."
Tania "Makes sense. I get it that meat is really suspicious, it doesn't really taste like any other meat and the fact that it's by the government and they don't want to give us any sources of the meat makes it harder to defend but people won't bat an eye because they don't cost nearly as much as actual meat."
Hugo "Who cares. It doesn't taste horrible to me and it's affordable so I have no complaints. Anyway it's none of your business what I eat, focus on your own food."
"Fine. I was just concerned for your health."
Hugo "Oh, don't give me that."
Tania "I'm concerned too, if you get yourself killed by eating bad food it's gonna be embarrassing for us."
"Yeah, and it's gonna be a pain to find a replacement for you…"
Hugo "..."
"Hahaha we're kidding, you don't need to stare that hard."
Tania "Yeah let's stop before he starts crying."
Hugo "You two really like pestering me…"
We laughed and started devouring our launch. Then went back to report an assignment done.
Makus "Nicely done. You were faster than I thought."
"Well it was a clean up job, not that complicated."
Hugo "Sir, why didn't you give us any details about the assignment before you gave it to us?"
Markus "I didn't see a need to. You need assignments, that was your first if I'm not mistaken and if you happened to refuse that one you might have waited even longer for another because you were too picky."
Tania "You're not wrong but we thought our first mission would've been special."
Markus "Don't be too hasty, no team can reach the top without starting with clean up and fetch quest assignments. Everyone has a starting point."
"True, don't hesitate to assign anything to us Mr Markus."
Markus "Sure. See you around."
We left Markus' office and headed for the evening classes.
"I forgot we had classes today…"
Tania "Me too…"
Hugo "Don't act like children and let's hurry."
We hurried to the classroom as Hugo instructed and attended as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. Today's lesson was about body modifications and how useful they can be to Preservation members, I don't doubt it but I don't like altering my body like that so this lesson was a miss for me. I didn't really care while Tania was the most intrigued out of the three of us, which is something I thought would never happen.
After the class was over we said our goodbyes to each other like usual and went our separate ways. In the two weeks I've been here I memorised quite a bit of these complicated hallways so I don't get lost anywhere close to how much I did the first days I was here.
However…
"*sigh* I'm lost aren't I?"
…I jinxed it. I'm a professional at getting lost at this point so I wasn't too concerned, it's just a waste of time, all I need to do is wander around for awhile until I recognise something. And I get to discover some new places on the way.
? "...and what are we going to do about it?"
Huh? I think I know that voice.
? "The higher ups think it better for us to get rid of him. He poses too much of a threat."
Two people? This one is a man though. There was a semi-opened door in the hallway that the voices leaked from. I usually don't stick my nose in stuff like this but I don't know why but I feel like I should for some reason. So I approached the door slowly and listened in on their conversation.
Wait, that's Wynter and a man? I don't recognise him.
Wynter "Why do they always choose the nuclear option? He can be useful to us."
Old man "You might have a point but are ready to take responsibility if he betrays us after learning more?"
Wynter "..."
Old man "Look, I won't deny him as being an important asset yet the danger he poses to only the Preservation but for our entire timeline outweighs any positive."
Wynter "I think that's quite hyperbolic, if we approach him with the truth and explain our reasoning and goals he will agree to help us. I mean Ely did, even if he was already a part of another Preservation, when we explained he joined our cause."
Old man "Your 'Ely' is under heavy surveillance too, he can't be fully trusted either."
Ely? What are they talking about?
Wynter "Mr Wulfric you have to convince the higher ups to change their mind on E or we'll be at a clear disadvantage."
Me? What?
Wulfric "Why did the Shapers decide to get involved now of all times, they make things all the more complicated for us…"
Wynter "They aim to kill him, just as the higher ups do and if we're really enemies don't you think that we shouldn't be doing the same things?"
Wulfric "Do we still have no information about how they identified him?"
Wynter "Not really, but I would think that his name is a big hint."
Wulfric "I hoped he would forget about that too but I guess the memory erasing tech is still in need of improvement."
"Huh??"
Wulfric "Hm? Who's there? Stop where you are."
Hearing those words touched on a part of my brain that was hidden, I froze in place unable to move an inch. Something similar happened to me before in the hallway before his voice matches that one, last time Tania's phone call snapped me out of it but now I wouldn't be able to move on my own before he comes to check, damn it!
His steps were getting closer to the door and I wasn–
"Wh–*mnhm*"
Someone closed my mouth from behind me and quickly took me away from the door, and after getting away from that room he finally put me down from his shoulder.
? "What were you doing standing there?"
"Thanks, you saved me there I couldn't mo– wait, Ely?"
Ely "Yeah, why are you surprised? weren't you listening in too?"
"I was but I didn't see you around."
Ely "I was on top of you."
"Stuck to the roof?"
Ely "Neat trick isn't it. And if it wasn't for a certain someone I would've been able to listen to the entire conversation."
"Sorry…"
Ely "Does that guy have some kind of commanding power over you? What happened to you?"
"I don't know, it's not the first time I felt like that but after I hear an order he gives I lose all senses and freeze like that for some reason…"
Ely "...Hmm. Anyway, how much did you hear from the conversation?"
"Something about me and you being dangerous to the Preservation."
Ely "That's pretty much all that I heard too. But why would Wynter be speaking about something like that with him?"
"I mean she had our backs and she is the chief in command so she probably needs to know if one of her agents is set to be executed."
Ely "That would be beyond stupid."
"What will?"
Ely "Killing us. It won't solve anything, maybe even the opposite."
"...wait, can we even talk about this here?"
Ely "What do you mean?"
"Don't they have some kind of surveillance mic or something? Or wouldn't they be able to see us eavesdropping on them from a security camera?"
Ely "You know that cameras aren't allowed and don't even work in here."
"Those are our cameras. If they have security cameras that can surpass the restrictions then they can see everything while keeping the no cameras misconception."
Ely "Sure, even if they had those I have a frequency that my clothes constantly emit against any cameras and before you say 'what if they have ones that could surpass that too' my clothes are also reflective so all a camera can see is a ball of light, yours should be the same it's made by the Preservation for that purpose. You're winning in a paranoid competition against me."
"Wait, the Preservation made my clothes? Yours too?"
Ely "Mine are custom made by me but why do you sound surprised? Your clothes were a mess after the incident with Yuta Kaiser so the Preservation took care to restore and improve them for you. Don't tell me you didn't realise this till now…"
"..."
Ely "Oh my god and here I actually had faith and thought you at least did your due diligence and checked your own clothes and room for any suspicious trackers, mics, cameras or anything but you never cease to disappoint me…"
"I can't believe that I've been out matched in overthinking by someone else…"
I usually overthink things to a worrying degree until everything is well thought through so I'm prepared for anything thrown my way, I've always been a little paranoid.
Ely "Well, if any of our fears come true we probably won't make it to tomorrow so if you don't see me I'm dead and I would assume the same for you. We should split up for now. I can't believe this…"
Ely having faith in me and him getting rightfully disappointed in me hit me hard for some reason, he obviously doesn't like me but he still had faith in my paranoia?
Why though, I don't know. But I'm disappointed in myself too, even if it's an unfounded fear checking wouldn't hurt…
I then spent the entire night checking, double checking and triple checking everything I had and every inch of the room…
The next morning…
Tania "You look like a zombie."
"..."
Hugo "We had an entire night long gaming session and you didn't look half as tired, what happened to you?"
"*yawn*"
Tania "Are you even listening to us…"
"... I… was… yeah…"
Hugo "Wow he sounds as dead as he looks."
Armstrong "Are you read– huh? What happened to him?"
Tania & Hugo "No idea."
Armstrong "This is the most tired I've seen you, what kind of exercise did you do?"
"...None sir."
Armstrong "Hmm… I'm concerned he might die if he trains today."
Tania "True, I mean he looks the part."
Armstrong "*sigh* You can sit this one out."
Hugo "What? That's not fair, you always comment that I look like that too. Why can't I sit out any sessions?"
Armstrong "That's how you look everyday but E never looks completely out of it like this. So, E take today off."
"Okay, thank you."
I was wiped out. Pulling an all nighter is not something I can't handle, it's just the constant stress of someone coming for me and the manic search for some kind of device in my walls took its on me.
I left the training section for my room so I could take a small break but was stopped by none other than…
Ely "Found you. And you're… alive?"
"...yeah."
Ely "Oh? Did you spend last night waiting for an ambush?"
"That's half of it."
Ely "You felt stupid after our conversation so you spent the entire night searching the room to find nothing?"
"..."
Ely "I guess it was in vain completely, my room didn't have anything in it but that doesn't guarantee yours doesn't. Good job I guess."
Why does he know what I would do and why is he so sure about it? I hate this guy.
"You weren't ambushed either so we weren't found out."
Ely "Who knows, I can make up an infinite number of possibilities but they won't help us with anything. Let's just assume we're fine for now—wait, yes? Got it. I will be there shortly."
"Who was it?"
Ely "The chief, she told me about a chaos point."
"I'll go with you."
Ely "Why?"
"She was with the other guy yesterday, remember? Maybe this isn't only about the chaos point."
Ely "...Do whatever you want but don't get in my way if things go south."
"Fine."
I was still tired but that didn't really matter for now, I followed behind Ely towards Wynter's office.
Greeted by the same huge door I stayed behind while Ely opened it.
The same beautiful office caught my eye and we went inside. I haven't stepped foot here since my first day, this time around Wynter wasn't alone, Markus was discussing something with her.
Ely "I'm here chief Wynter."
Wynter "Ely and oh? E? It's been a while."
"Hello chief."
Wynter "What are you doing here?"
"I was with Ely when he received your call so I decided to tang along."
Wynter "You and Ely? Together? I never thought I would see the day."
Ely "I can throw him out if you want."
Wynter "No no, I think his presence is fortunate."
"Really?"
Wynter "Yes, it was a false alarm Ely. The chaos point is just an E rank."
Markus "The first test returned an A rank so we decided to call you immediately but not long after it changed into an E rank."
"And how is my presence fortunate?"
Wynter "Well Markus."
Markus "We were discussing sending some rookies to handle it."
"Oh, so you want me and the others to take the job?"
Wynter "Right."
"Sure. I accept."
Markus "Okay then I will send you the details later. It's still early so take your time and prepare."
"Got it."
Ely "There is no need for me then?"
Wynter "No, sorry for the inconvenience."
Ely "Don't apologise chief, it's my job. I'll be leaving."
"Me as well."
Wynter "and E."
"Yes?"
Wynter "Be careful."
The look she gave me was one of genuine worry.
"Of course."
The door closed behind us.
"We were worried for nothing I guess."
Ely "Don't drop your guard. You heard what they said."
"I know."
We shared a glance and each of us went his own way.
I took my phone out of my pocket.
— "Guys you won't believe this."
—Tania "What?"
—Hugo "?"
— "We're going to an E rank chaos point."
—Tania "Really?"
—Hugo "yeah, I just got the Email."
—Tania "How did you get it?"
— "I went with Ely to see the chief and she thought it would be a good idea for us to go."
—Tania "Don't you and that guy hate each other?"
— "If all I had to do was hang out with him to get a decent assignment I would've done it."
—Hugo "We need to start preparing for this, the deadline is a week."
—Tania "There's a deadline?"
— "If you paid attention in class you would've known."
—Hugo "Of course there is. The chaos points can become higher rated after no intervention from the Preservation."
— "Why are you explaining it to her over text? She's right there with you."
—Hugo "Oh yeah…"
— Tania "LMAO"
— "Anyway, I'm gonna have a break in my room and we'll figure something out at night."
—Tania "Sure."
—Hugo "Got it."
After telling them the news I hurried to my room and took the best nap of my life And then night came.
"Why are we having this meeting in my room?"
Tania "It has the biggest spare space out of the three of us."
Hugo "No kidding. If you remove the goliath PC build he has there it would've been an empty room."
Tania "Reminds me of those psychopath rooms."
Hugo "What do you even do with the empty space?"
"At least it's not so messy with books that you can't see the floor or so full of random things that you can barely move inside it."
Hugo "At least I read."
Tania "At least I'm not socially awkward."
"*sigh* Let's get onto topic. What are we going to do about the preparations?"
Tania "What do we even need?"
Hugo "Our weapons and the needed equipment to stabilise the chaos zone."
"Yeah, they gave us our guns and a run down about the stabiliser and the locator not long ago, we should be set after acquiring them."
Hugo "I asked Mr Markus and he said they will give us the stabiliser and locator when we're ready to go."
Tania "So all we need now is to be mentally prepared…"
"Before that, let's come up with a game plan. Here's the map of the place."
Hugo "It's on the outskirts of the city not that far from here, about an hour by car."
"This chaos point is round a football field in size. The reports say it's some kind of no gravity zone and nothing, I guess that's why it's an E rank."
Tania "That sounds rather fun actually."
Hugo "Until an alien comes out of nowhere."
Tania "So what do we do?"
"Like our training, this shouldn't be complicated. Reach the destination, search for the origin with the locator, activate the stabiliser and wait until it finishes."
Hugo "I hope it's as easy as that."
"No need to worry too much about it, let's focus on preparing our stuff. I'll go ask Julie for some advice, maybe she has some tips. Other than that we should be ready to go the day after tomorrow."
Hugo "Right."
Tania "Is that your excuse to go and talk to Julie?"
"..."
Hugo "Wait yeah, why don't I or Tania go ask her?"
"...I already checked my stuff and I'm pretty much ready to go so I thought I'll do something else while you do your own thing."
Tania & Hugo "Sure…"
"Come on guys…"
Tania "Well, we'll leave that to you. Have fun."
And with that they left my room. Were my intentions that obvious? No, Tania just knows me too well…
I somehow managed to get Julie's number so I'll try sending her a text.
— "Julie?"
—Julie "What's up?"
Instant reply? I didn't expect that.
— "Are you free right now?"
—Julie "Yeah, why?"
— "I wanted to ask you something."
—Julie "No, I'm not in a relationship."
Huh? Where did that come from?!
— "Not that…"
—Julie "Oh sorry, can you be more specific? Actually, just come to the coffee shop, we can speak in person."
— "Sure."
I guess I better hurry to the coffee shop now…
I reached the food section of the Preservation, the first time I came here I was surprised at just how much this place can offer. I literally live the rest of my life inside of the Preservation building without needing to go outside once. There is a shopping section, an entertainment section, the training section all big and offer everything that's why Tania can go shopping so often.
The food section is a place full of restaurants unique or franchise alike, the coffee shop Julie frequents is a cosy classic style shop that I happen to like a lot. I almost always run into her here, that's how I got her number if you're wondering.
Julie was sitting alone in a corner away from the other customers sipping on her expresso, she noticed me going inside and waved to get my attention.
"Good evening Julie."
Julie "Hey E. What did you want to ask?"
With the same warm smile she always has, she pointed at the chair opposite to her and welcomed me to speak my mind. I sat down as she instructed.
"I actually wanted some advice."
Julie "Advice? On what? Women?"
"Not quite. We're going on our first mission to a chaos point so I thought I would ask someone with more experience on how it's done."
Julie "Oh…"
Why does she sound disappointed?
Julie "Look at you, getting a chaos point assignment in two weeks. That's pretty good."
"Really? I thought it was about time they gave us actual assignments."
Julie "Most new recruits never get the chance to go to a chaos point, they would have to settle on clean up duty and the like. Anyways, what did you want advice on specifically?"
"I think we have a good idea about the preparations, the part that I'm not too sure of is the mission itself. It sounds way too simple."
Julie "The chaos point is an E rank right? So it probably is as easy as you think it is. It depends on the chaos point but if it's ranked E there is nothing dangerous about it, nothing will try to harm you at least. The complications you might face are all due to the effects the chaos point had on the environment. What's the one you got like?"
"The reports say it's a zero gravity zone."
Julie "Yeah, that's all there is to it. As long as you don't go over your deadline it's child's play."
"Huh, I thought I had the wrong idea about it. Thank you Julie."
I got up to leave—
Julie "Where are you going?"
"Huh? To my room."
Julie "That's it? you came to ask me just that?"
"Well yeah, That's why I tried asking you over text."
Julie "No. You have to stay with me longer if you make me come all the way here."
"It was you that called me here you know."
Julie "That's besides the point, now that we're here let's stay for longer."
"Sure, I don't mind."
Julie "Really?"
"Why are you surprised? You made it sound like I had no other options."
She made a sad face when hearing that.
Julie "No, I was kidding, you can go back to your room if you don't want to."
"No. I think I'll stay for a bit."
Her eyes lit up, the sad face she had a moment ago turned into a big smile, I guess that was the right option. I spent the rest of that evening chatting with Julie, and slept like a log when I went home.
I needed the rest. Now, I'm at tip top shape and raring to go, this mission is going to be easy. After the usual morning routine and classes, we went back to my room for one last meeting
"So? Are you two ready?"
Tania "I did everything you told me to."
Hugo "I should be set. I don't think this meeting was even necessary."
"Well, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Especially when it is our first actual mission."
Tania "True, we can't be messing up our debut."
Hugo "By the way, didn't you say you were going to ask for advice?"
"I did yeah. Julie basically said that we have nothing to worry about, E rank chaos points don't have anything that can harm you, the only difficulties we might face are navigational ones. Maybe the origin is in a tough place to reach, or the environment isn't friendly…"
Hugo "That's it?"
"That's the jist of what she said yeah."
Tania "Really? Then why were you chatting for so long?"
"Huh? How do you know that?"
Tania "Mr Armstrong sent me to get him some coffee, so I stopped at the coffee shop and saw you there but I guess you were too focused on the conversation that you didn't see me come in… I had more things to take care of so I spent like three hours out, when I was going back to my room I passed the coffee shop to find you there still."
"It's nothing. She thought I had more to talk about so she invited me to the coffee shop. I felt bad to bail after just asking for advice hence I stuck around for a bit."
Tania & Hugo "Sure…"
"*sigh* Anyway, if you're certain that we're ready I'll go inform Mr Markus of our departure tomorrow, he will give us the car and the equipment we need."
Tania "We basically get tomorrow off right?"
Hugo "If we finish it early then we'll have the rest of the day for ourselves."
"Sounds good to me. I'll see tomorrow then."
Hugo "See ya."
Tania "Good night."
They left and I soon followed to inform Mr Markus, but on the way there I encountered him again…
Ely "Why am I seeing your face more often now?"
"I don't like it either, you know…"
Ely "Well it doesn't matter. You're going tomorrow right?"
"Yeah."
Ely "Take this."
He threw me a button of some sort.
"And what's this?"
Ely "I'm leaving my schedule open tomorrow. If you press that button it's going to send a distress signal directly to me."
"..."
Ely "No smartass comment? Well not that I'm complaining. Just don't get the wrong idea. Bye."
He waved his hand and continued walking down the corridor. Why would he give me this? He's concerned about my safety all of a sudden? Or does he think something will go wrong? Urgh, this only makes me more anxious… No need to worry about it now. I'll just accept it as him being nice to me for once, Julie did say that he was nice to her.
I wrapped up the deal with Mr Markus, and gave my equipment one last look over. My gun and armour were in pique shape, I mean I didn't use them even once so that makes sense and both the stabiliser and locator should be good as well seeing that the Preservation handles those. All I need to do now is get a good night's rest and wake up on time.
VIA "Sleeping mode has been activated."
"VIA, you read my mind."
VIA "It is your bedtime E, I did no such thing."
"It's a joke VIA, I meant that your timing was great."
VIA "Of course, at 11 PM sleeping mode gets activated automatically."
"You know what? Forget it VIA but thank you anyway."
VIA "You're welcome."
I miss my old room man… This room isn't bad. It has pretty much everything that the one had but it doesn't have the most important thing. The windows, the one thing that I look forward to every day, is to lay on my bed and look out of my big windows.
And that's basically impossible here, what I theorised about the public Preservation building being a decoy was right on the mark with the actual building being directly under it. The place is so big that I genuinely think it's the entire city's size just underground. And with the entire building being underground there are zero windows here. So I feel quite empty with nothing to stare at until I sleep…
Ugh, why am I acting like a child. Just go to sleep like any normal person…
"*sigh* Hey VIA?"
VIA "Yes?"
"Is it possible for you to display a replica of my old room's windows on the empty walls?"
VIA "Sure thing, wait a moment."
After some time the empty walls of my room turned to exactly how my old room was.
The display feature VIA has is something useful but it never occurred to me to use it like this before… I honestly can't tell the difference.
"Thank you, VIA."
VIA "You're welcome."
With the walls becoming familiar came a feeling of safety and comfort that I haven't been able to feel for a while.
And sleep was as easy as breathing.
A scene that I became too familiar with. A white room from floor to ceiling, a burning house, the restrictions on my hands and feet as I was operated on, not a single window in sight. Run, run, run with nowhere to go. A maze of never ending hallways, a burning feeling in bones. Ely? Wynter? Julie? Tania? Hugo? Armstrong? Why aren't they ignoring me? Why is Wulfric screaming at me? There shouldn't be an exit here.
My head hurts, my body aches, my muscles scream in pain as I… teleport?
Opening that door I find a stairway, all I can see is darkness.Where am I going?
The stairs are too long, my legs are starting to give out.
Wulfric "Just stay in place boy, this won't take a minute, we will just put this over your head."
I can see another door.
Wulfric " Why don't you listen to me Eliana? You will never learn how to control your abilities at this pace."
The lights are aggressive, I tap my chest for my mask but I can't find it, the air is going to knock me out, the rain is black, I continue running down the street, why am I doing this? I can't feel my legs anymore, my head is heavy, I'm blacking out, help me, please, why am I asking for help? no matter how loud I scream no one looks at me. Why am I expecting them to? No one should get involved with something that doesn't concern them.
They won't look at me, help me or save me. So I won't beg any of them.
I can't walk anymore, I collapsed. My headache is unbearable as if my head is getting split open, rearranged and forcibly put back together, I can't stay awake anymore. As my mind starts to shut down, I can hear faint sirens in the distance, damn it this won't be good for my bank account. At least the rain is still calming.
*RING**RING*
VIA "It is time for you to wake up E;"
"Urghh…"
That dream again… Not a good sign.
Having that dream is an instant red flag if not a death flag considering last time's experience.
It was different though… A lot of my current knowledge carried over to the dream, a lot of people that I know now took part in it. The dream took place in The Preservation building of that I'm 100% sure, and the shadowy man that was experimenting on me before appeared as Wulfric.
If my theory about that dream being a jumbled mess of my memories before I lost them all then that means the place I ran from was the Preservation and the person constantly ordering me to do things for him is Wulfric, but can I be sure of that? It is a dream and I doubt Tania or Hugo looked the same all those years ago.
I don't know…
"Oh well, I don't have the luxury to stress about it now."
Okay then, one last look over before then I will meet up with the other two, it won't hurt to be completely sure. I shouldn't leave what he gave me behind…
"Good morning."
Tania & Hugo "Morning."
"Sorry to have kept you two waiting."
Tania "I just came too."
Hugo "Yeah, you two took your time waking up."
"I looked over things one last time."
Tania "Really? I did so too."
Hugo "I did too but I did it after I got here."
"Well don't stress we're still an hour away from the time we agreed to start on."
Hugo "Not if you deduct the way there. That will leave us at less than 15 minutes."
Tania "That's plenty. Let's go, unless you want us to be late for our first mission."
Hugo & I "Let's."
With that we loaded all that we prepared onto the vehicle, and started our journey to the chaos point.
The road there was dull, I'm not one for car rides, I just zone out looking at the rain outside. Hugo was driving, Tania next to him and me in the back.
There were some short conversations here and there, and Hugo tries to remind us of the dangers we might face (none of which are possible in an E rank) every five minutes with Tania playing along with whatever he says, I however was daydreaming how things might go down, going through all the possibilities yet all of them point to the endeavour being borderline uneventful which I don't mind but something feels off about this for some reason…
"Finally."
We reached the now empty old part of the city square, a shade of purple submerged it entirely and a bunch of small debris were floating around aimlessly.
When we got out of the car we were met by a sudden gust of cold air and a feeling of submersion.
Hugo "We haven't even stepped foot inside the chaos point and I'm already feeling weird…"
Tania "No kidding, I feel a bit groggy for some reason."
"It wouldn't make sense if the chaos point didn't bleed into the surroundings, but at least gravity is still at play here."
Hugo "That probably happens exclusively inside of the chaos point for now at least."
Hugo then pointed to the clear difference between the ground we stood over and the one a few metres away from us.
While the one we stood on was basic concrete, the one Hugo pointed at looked more wild, extraterrestrial even, something akin to the moon's surface.
Tania "You think the world this chaos point connects to is one where earth wasn't struck by another planet to form the moon?"
Hugo "I don't even see how your reasoning got you there…"
Tania "You give a theory then!"
Hugo "Can't it be just an earth that doesn't have gravity?"
"I don't think it has zero gravity. Look."
I picked up a rook from the ground and threw as hard as I could at the sky over the chaos point. The rook did float for a long time longer than I would be able to make it fly but eventually it started losing its momentum and coming down.
"See? The gravity is weak but it's still there."
Hugo "you mean the reports got it wrong?"
Tania "Well honestly that's what I imagined would happen, I thought it might be close to how the moon operates, I kind of forgot even the moon has gravity…"
"Haha well it doesn't matter because this is ideal for us."
Hugo "I guess you mean we wouldn't fly into space if we jumped."
"Yup. Tania, did you get what I asked you to?"
Tania "Huh? Oh, you asked for suction boots right?"
"With these we'll have an easier time moving around."
Hugo "How do we turn the suction on and off to walk?"
"It should be simple for you, it connects to your chip and automatically does it for you. I, on the other hand, have to do it manually."
We each put on our pair of suction boots, the other two started interacting with an interface I couldn't see and I was stuck figuring out the pressing pattern on the boots.
I have to press the sole twice on the front and twice on the back to on/off its functionality. It's a pain but I can manage.
All of us with our locators in hand then headed straight towards the chaos point.
Setting foot inside, I felt all of my body weight disappear in an instant and I almost lost my balance if it weren't for my feet being planted tightly on the ground.
Tania "Wow, this feels awesome!"
Hugo "Urgh…"
While Tania was having the time of her life floating with her boots turned off, Hugo was on the verge of vomiting and he's not even fully inside the chaos point…
"Tania, what's the point of the boots if you're not gonna use them?"
Tania "I'll cover more ground this way, don't mind me."
"And you Hugo, I brought the boots so you won't feel motion sickness. Why are you going to puke already?"
Hugo "Go… Ahead… ugh… I'll catch up later…"
"Fine."
Each one of us headed into a different direction to find the origin as soon as possible. Tania was flying all over the place with a huge smile on her face, Hugo looked like a zombie down to the limp and I walked at an awkward pace hindered by the annoying manual controls of this thing.
The locator doesn't give the exact location of the origin it just shows if I'm close to it or not, so it's like a game of hot and cold the closer I get the louder the sounds it makes become. And following this pattern I reached a place where it was ringing nonstop but I couldn't see the origin point… It's supposed to be a black hole shaped thing that distorts the air around it, it should be obvious. I tried to search further but if I moved anywhere from that place the sounds got weaker… Oh don't tell me it's underground. I looked up and I saw it, oh thank god I do not want to dig for an unforeseen amount of time.
But this is a problem in its own right, the stabiliser doesn't work unless a few metres away from the origin point and it's way overhead. How can I reach it?
While I was trying to figure something out Tania and Hugo made it to where I was.
Tania "Aww, I wanted to find it first…"
Hugo "Well… where is it? I can't see it."
I pointed at it.
Tania "What? I didn't know it could be in the air like that."
"Apparently it can."
Hugo "And how are we supposed to stabilise it?"
"I might have an idea."
Tania & Hugo "What is it…"
"We take turns jumping and holding the stabiliser as close as we can to the origin point."
Tania "Oh! You mean, you jump, leave it there and before it can fall out of reach I take it closer?"
"That's it."
Hugo "Urgh…"
Tania "Come on Hugo grow a pair! Don't you want to do good on your first mission?"
Hugo "But it's not a practical idea…"
"If you have another one I'm all ears."
Hugo "..."
Hugo looked defeated, he looked down at his feet, then looked back up at me.
Hugo "Fine…"
"Alright! So as soon as I let go of the stabiliser Tania jumps a bit higher, Hugo follows and we repeat until it does its job. But before we actually start let's practise jumping a bit."
We choreographed what we had to do, Hugo was too scared to even jump at first but after some tries got it. Tania went back to the car to get the stabiliser and we started.
I turned off my boots and jumped high pressing the activation button on the stabiliser and letting go, Tania got the sign and jumped catching it before it could fall down too much, setting it higher in the process, Hugo then bravely followed her lead and did the same. We had to repeat this process several times before the stabiliser finished and luckily for me the gravity changing back to normal was gradual, the fall would've hurt otherwise.
"Mission complete I guess."
Tania, Hugo & I "Yeah!"
We high fived to that and started going back to the car.
Tania "That was fun!"
Hugo "It was hell!"
"I can finally take these things off."
I was more concerned about the boots than the other two arguing.
"For real though. You did great, both of you."
Hugo "Where is this coming from?"
Tania "Just take the compliment. You did good too, E."
Hugo "Yeah, You're not a bad leader, I guess…"
"Thanks, you tw—argh!"
A terrible pain struck through my brain, my ears rang, my eyes blurred and my head got heavier as the pain got worse.
Tania "E!?"
Hugo "Hey! What's gotten into you?"
"I—Ahkk… Don't know…"
As I said that the pain started to fade away, the ringing stopped and my eyes regained clarety.
"I think I'm fine now…"
Tania "What's wrong?"
"My head was killing me."
Hugo "You're having random migraines now?"
"That never happened to me before… Actually it did but that was long ago."
Tania "Well if you're feeling better let's get back and you get that checked ou—"
*BANG* *SPLAT*
The sound of a bullet rang throughout the empty square. It was no normal bullet seeing the damage it did…
Tania who stood close to me and Hugo a few steps behind her are missing their heads.
The chaos point's effect hasn't waned completely so their bodies were falling slower than they would have been in normal circumstances, falling in slow motion.
The smell of iron filled the scene and I can see all the gruesome details.
Tania's head taking the brunt of the impact was reduced to random chunks of meat, one of them hitting my face. Her spine peaked through what was left of her neck among random veins and muscles. Blood gushed out, soaking her and the surroundings, painting my black jacket crimson.
Hugo had half of his face blown out. His right eye and cheek were gone leaving his grey matter and some brain chunks leaking out of his head and landing on his shoulder. The left side of his face was stuck at the last expression he made, his left eye gone dark and his mouth open as if he was trying to say something.
My brain stopped operating normally, focusing on the scene before me. I didn't feel a thing, fear, sadness, disgust none of it. My eyes opened wider than they ever did before, never blinking, focusing solely on the two dead bodies before me.
And as if I haven't had enough, the same pain I felt not long ago came back even fiercer, not allowing me to process what just happened. The ringing in my ears played an ominous melody and my vision twisted and went completely dark.
But it started to fade away, the ringing stopped and my eyes regained clarety. To find Tania in front of me wearing a worried face.
"Blurgh…"
I puked. Contrasting the two scenes makes looking at Tania all that harder, I can still smell the iron in the air.
Tania "E!?"
Hugo "Hey! What's gotten into you?"
"Huuh…"
I couldn't muster up any words, all I was able to do was look at them with a pitiful face.
Tania "What's wrong?"
Hugo "Is it a migraine?"
"..."
Tania "You're look pale let's get back and get you checked ou—"
"GET DOWN!"
That was too similar to what I saw, my body instantly jumped to push them but I couldn't make it far enough for Hugo—
*BANG* *SPLAT*
"HUGOOOOO!"
The same scene replayed, this time with Tania watching alongside me.
Hugo's head taking the brunt of the impact was reduced to random chunks of meat, one of them hitting Tania's face. His spine peaked through what was left of his neck among random veins and muscles. Blood gushed out, soaking him and the surroundings, painting Tania's white jacket crimson.
I turned from a scene I saw before and focused on Tania's expression which mirrored my own. Pale and emotionless, as if she doesn't understand what's happening in front of her eyes.
She and Hugo knew each other long before they met me. Growing up together even with their opposite personalities they were inseparable. To see someone that close to you in such a state will break anyone.
My hand moved on its own and reached for the boutton I wished I would never have to use. Pressing it multiple times with all of my might until it broke as if that would shorten the time needed for help to arrive.
Tania "Hugo… N–no no no nononononononononononononononononono"
Her eyes watered, and her body shook. It started to dawn on her the situation we're in.
Tania "H–hugo.. This can't be happening, it can't, it's not real it can't be real…"
Hugo died a horrible death by a party that hasn't made itself known yet.
? "How did I miss such an easy target? That should be impossible, I've seen the perfect time to shoot both of them down, HEY! Did you cheat?"
A man approached us at a steady pace with a smoking gun in his hand. He wore a white mask, the same as Yuta but with a different design. He's the culprit.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS?"
Masked Man "And what if I am fake? What are you going to do about it?"
"..."
I took out my gun and aimed it at him.
Masked Man "A handgun? You encountered Yuta already so you should know that that won't work on me."
He knows that I met Yuta? I guess that's easy for them to figure out.
Masked Man "Last time you were lucky enough to have the best of the Preservation at your side. This time around you have a dead body and a useless crybaby."
He pointed towards Hugo's body and the crying Tania over him.
Masked Man "Hey! You still haven't answered me, did you cheat? She should be dead alongside that lump of meat she's howling over."
Tania "DON'T CALL HIM A LUMP OF MEAT YOU MURDERER!"
Masked Man "Oh really now."
He raised the gun he was holding and aimed it at her heart.
"NO!"
*BANG*
And shot her. Tania stood second away from him firing which saved her from a mortal wound. The bullet penetrated through her spine but it was nowhere close to the power the first one had.
Masked Man "WHAT? I'm really unlucky with my shots today… You won't survive this."
Tania "DO YOUR WORSE!"
"IDIOT!"
This time I reached her and managed to push her away.
That shot wasn't as fast as the second one which meant—
*BANG*
It was as strong as the first.
"AAAGGGHHH!"
My left arm was blown to pieces.
"Haah…Huff…"
Masked Man "HA! He blocked it for her? That's too funny."
Tania "No… E!?"
Masked Man "You're really concerned about him?"
Tania "Huh?"
Masked Man "If it wasn't for him you would have been on your way home about now."
Tania "What?"
Masked Man "I want nothing from you and the dead guy. All I want is him."
"What… are you—argh… on about?"
Masked Man "Don't you think that the people closest to a target are the ones to suffer most?"
Tania "Target?"
Masked Man "You see missy, that guy over there is wanted dead or alive. And what does that mean for his pitiful bunch of friends? They will be subject to kidnapping, torture and be used as a hostage, nothing more to us. I personally find it fun to kill my target's favourite people to see them mentally shut down so I can take them back without resistance. But he seems to act fine even seeing a friend of his missing a head."
Tania "E? …you?"
I didn't think this through… Of course they can go that low… Tania was looking at me wanting an explanation.
Tania "Did you know…?"
"That's why… I joined the Preservation in the first place…"
Tania "Then why didn't you tell us?"
"..."
Tania "WHY DID HUGO HAVE TO DIE BEFORE I GOT TO KNOW?"
"..."
I don't have an answer, no I do. I just didn't think it was important for me to mention it… But if I did, would they still be friends with me?
Tania "ANSWER ME E! WHY DID HUGO NEED TO DIE?"
The shot to her spine left her unable to walk, she crawled to where I was and started hitting me. Her punches were weak, shaky and aimless.
Masked Man "Hahahah! That's what I want to see! And with this place evacuated I can enjoy the show with no intrupti—"
? "Don't be too sure of that."
Ely jumping from the bike he was flying on cut him off.
Ely "So you're the one who's been following him anytime he left HQ."
Masked Man "What? Why are you here?"
Ely "I had a hunch the bunch of you might try something but I guess I was careless…"
Ely looked back at us. Hugo's cold body, Tania's broken mental state and me losing too much blood from my hand.
Ely "I'll quickly take care of this for you."
With that, Ely pulled out two guns, both of them the same as the one he used before.
Hugo's killer took multiple steps back in panic and seeing how the gun he was holding was a sniper he probably wasn't proficient in close range combat while Ely was the opposite, a bad match for him.
Ely pulled both triggers but nothing came out of them instead they started glowing the same shade they did last time, they were charging. He took off in a sprint closing the distance between him and the killer. It wasn't long until they were face to face.
The killer tried to aim and shoot but the gun was swiftly kicked off of his hands.
And Ely put both guns to the killer's body.
Ely "I have orders to kill anyone that threatens that guy's life."
He pulled both triggers again, this time with lasers melting all that stood in their way.
Masked Man "URGH… HOW!?"
Ely "Just die."
Shooting him two more times to shut him up completely he turned around and came towards us.
Ely "I need his face intact for identification…"
My body felt colder and the hand Tania is still punching has gone numb. She is repeating "Why" over and over again but I've lost too much blood to even speak, I'm sorry Tania… I really am…
Ely "Don't die on me now. It's a good thing you let go of your pride and called me here. It's unfortunate that he died but if you didn't all of you would have probably died. Don't blame yourself."
Is he comforting me? Urgh… This is my limit, I can't stay up anymore…