● During the Full-Dive Operation Drill.
- A few days back.
"Have you spoken to Willow yet?" Thomas asked the teal green haired man whom he exchanged friendly parry with.
The latter took a step back and looked to the other side of the hall where Aria Willow instructed other Sweepers with a smile forming on his lips.
"I have actually, and we plan on starting things again, hopefully, things will be different this time."
Thomas smiled and nodded. "Are you talking about marriage or just a simple relationship?"
Liam exhaled and made his battle stance. "Well, I do want to get married, it all depends on her at this point."
Thomas also made his battle stance. "You know, it's not as easy being a married man," he revealed. "You have to drop a lot of things, one of which is keeping your eyes open for those other ladies, you know."
"Right, right… it's still a shock to me that you got married this early."
Thomas scoffed. "Early? Dude I'm four hundred and forty years old, I'd probably be in my grave four hundred years ago if we were still on Earth."
"Speaking of Earth, I'm still waiting on those tales you promised to tell about Earth."
"Left." Thomas swung an attack towards Liam's left in an attempt to not answer the light brown-haired man's question. But before they could parry, a shout from the other side of the hall where Aria was drew their attention.
"I've had enough of this!" They all turned to see Owen approaching Aria with a real assault sword held firm in his hand. "Why should we let someone from a different division instruct us? We are not recruits."
"It's simple-- this someone has more experience and skills than you do."
"More experience? For only injuring one creature? I almost killed a creature and my warnings about the problem being a creature turned out to be true."
"Almost killed a Creature? It seems this is all a joke to you."
Owen laughed and aimed his sword at her. "Why don't we see who's better then? You and me, first blood."
The brunette tossed the fake sword she was holding and picked up a real one from a nearby rack.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Liam questioned.
Thomas replied by shaking his head. "Get your camera ready, he's gonna get his ass kicked."
"First blood it is…"
/////
A few moments later, Aria knocked Owen's sword out of his hand and lunged her sword at his neck but stopped the assault just as her sword was seconds away from his neck. She planted a small cut before smiling.
"Looks like I win." She then took a step back and kicked him to the ground. "Does that answer your question?"
Owen gritted his teeth and clenched his fist angrily as he stared at the brunette who turned away to instruct the others. "Alright guys, let's rework our formation."
The light-skinned man's back began to glow bright as multiple green markings appeared on his back, signifying the activation of the full capacity of his Artificial Intelligence. The markings were so bright it shone through his shirt.
She veered around but was too late as Owen was already a few steps away from her.
Liam appeared between them and grabbed Owen's fist just in time. Their collision released a wave that pushed everyone back and the force of the attack burnt out the teal green-eyed man's sleeve.
Owen quickly jumped back to survey the scene. He groaned angrily as he realized what had happened. "Shit."
The teal green-eyed man crashed to the ground and gripped his left arm which he used to stop Owen's assault.
Aria rushed to his side. "Liam? Oh my god, are you okay?"
The light brown-haired man nodded and dragged himself up while stretching his arm. "Are you crazy?" She barked. "Why did you block that with your bare hand? It could have killed you."
"And it would have killed you if I didn't stepped in."
"And that's even crazier," Thomas said from behind.
Aria stayed quiet to process what had happened before turning to Owen. "You fuck face, you could have killed someone with that punch."
"But I didn't, so let's forget about it." He turned and walked away.
.
.
.
● Satellite
Exact Location: Inside the Forbidden Zone.
- Operation Day
"Alright people," Aria started.
The Sweepers had entered the Forbidden Zone and had each taken their position with Aria in front of the formation. Liam, Thomas, and Zara were behind her with a few meters gap between them while Owen and the other Sweepers spread out behind them.
"… Let's play out exactly what we practiced during our drills," the brunette continued. "Sure we can't predict what the creatures will do next, but we can lay out the options for them to take."
They all continued forward and the moment they heard a screech in the mist, Aria waved three fingers in the air, signaling the next action to the team.
The group separated into three groups, creating a large space between them while forming a shape like the number three.
The ground beneath their feet rumbled, causing them to lose their balance for a few seconds. They managed to regain their balance just in time to notice a creature standing a few meters away from them.
"Hold!" Aria ordered.
The being screeched and growled, but it didn't charge. It marched out of the mist, showing its full body. The particular creature had similar body features and structure to a wolf but with a much thinner waist, longer and pointier ears, broader and sharper claws and fangs, and its eyes were completely red.
The being continues to move forward and then back again as if pondering an action to take. It's eyes moved from Aria who was in front to Liam then back to Aria.
"Why isn't it attacking?" Owen questioned.
Aria dropped her gun by her side and pulled out two long laser assault swords. "Liam, Zara, and Owen, with me, the rest, back us up." She zipped forward, taking the fight to the creature.
The three each also dropped their gun and pulled out their swords, racing after the brunette, while the other Sweepers opened fire at the being.
Owen stopped and curbed to the ground, scanning the scene in front of him before grinning. Multiple green markings appeared on his back, signifying the activation of the full capacity of his Artificial Intelligence. The markings were so bright it shone through his Bio-suit.
The blonde-haired man launched himself forward, zipping past the three he was supposed to be side by side with.
"Owen, no… fall back."
The said name ignored her and continued towards the creature. "This time I'll win."
....