Thank you ExcaliburShooter, and Pokemonrot377 for your kind words and encouragement. The life blood of are chivalrous readers and reviewers, like the both of you. Now strap in… because things are about to get interesting!

Chapter 12: Kill the Operation

(The mission is underway…)

Akame, Tatsumi, Serra, and Leona made their way to the mission area, emerging from the highlands into a wooded basin, where a mist hung heavy over the forest below, filled with damp leaves and wildlife.

In this basin, the four were to find a facility, a large dome which marked an entrance to an underground holding center at the center of a forest on the Imperial city outskirts.

As Najenda described, orphans had been gathered here, in the thousands, including some children who were not orphans, but simply kidnapped from the Empire's poor.

This facility wasn't charity, nor were the children being tested or trained. This indicated that they were being gathered for some other purpose.

Night Raid's mission: Eliminate the Imperial officer in charge of the operation, release the children to Night Raid custody, and hopefully to better lives.

This was the first time Esdeath was officially "operating" with Night Raid.

Stealth and speed. Esdeath marveled at their efficiency. The group wasted no time sitting around making decisions, they either moved deadly quiet at close to top speed, and when they needed to kill, they killed quickly, without hesitation and hid or left the bodies without fanfare. She couldn't help but respect it. Of course, by the time the Empire's soldiers reacted to the breach, Night Raid would already be far far beyond it…

And then they came upon a long dusty path with no tree cover. Signs marked the start of the dusty path with skulls on them. Past the signs were craters, and small corpses scattered among the fields.

"A minefield," Serra said. The other Night Raid members surveyed the situation in silence. Until a child's voice rang out, and the sound of a metal chain. A small boy was struggling, chained to a post in the center of the minefield, exposed on open ground. Beyond him, in a rolling hill that surrounded the entrance to the underground facility was a trench line.

"Someone!" the child called out plaintively.

From the trench line, there was the distant sound of laughter and a shot rang out, striking the ground beneath the child's feet.

To Night Raid, the decision was made before there was time to consider the situation.

"I'll get him!" Leona announced, with outrage on her face.

"No." Tatsumi manifested Incursio. "I'm the most durable. I'm the obvious choice. You and Akame can infiltrate the trench line. I'll rescue the boy and distract the defenders at the same time."

"It's a trap…" Serra said, but no one seemed to notice her when she said it.

Akame gave Serra a sly smile before slipping off towards a drainage ditch in the field with Leona. Tatsumi gave a look back to Serra before making his move.

"Cover me Serra."

Serra grit her teeth, knocking an arrow as Tatsumi bounded off, and the machine-gun fire began in earnest. That idiot…

Then, when Tatsumi was exposed on open ground, the soldiers gave an order and a unit pulled a tarp off of a massive rail-gun which had been built into the side of the hill, which was aiming directly for the boy. That massive… goddamn… idiot. Serra fired off an arrow, putting it through the neck of the gun's commander as he shouted "Prepare to fi-AHHHH", but still, the loading sequence continued.

"TATSUMI!" she called out.

He landed on the ground near the child, placed himself between the child and the gun, and struck the chain with his gauntlet, but it was particularly strong and didn't break with the first hit. Esdeath's heart began to pick up a bit faster. She pulled in a sharp breath as Tatsumi manifested his shield in front of the child.

I can freeze time… I can bury their entire trench line in ice… As she watched her love standing there, a soldier shouted "FIRE", Esdeath felt a tremendous urge to unleash her full power. She drew and fired another arrow, scoring another kill, but the gun was already pre-aimed at the boy and Tatsumi had no intention of moving.

She choked her fear down. Time seemed to move at a slower speed. If he died, she thought, he would not be my love… She breathed out. My spirit would not have guided me here. Fate would not have shown me that pure smile… Unless it was him. My destiny….

The firing of the gun hit her with a wave of pressure, sending dust and small rocks flying past her. There was a loud metal bang and she saw bits of Incursio armor shatter off of Tatsumi, but when the smoke rolled off, he emerged from beneath his dented shield, standing tall, albeit dented.

In short order, Akame and Leona fell upon the trenchline, their shadowy figures leaping out from and back into the trench. There were screams, violent sprays of blood, and gunfire as the Imperial soldiers were slaughtered. Serra made her way up to the trenchline through the drainage ditch that Leona and Akame had taken, but she was fuming.

What kind of 2-bit operation is this Night Raid. She gazed up with dread as Tatsumi limped to the trench. A piece of his facemask had been blown off, and blood trickled down onto his chestplate from his nose and one of his eyes.

Akame and Leona both looked to him with concern. Serra approached him as well. "Tatsumi." Her eyes were sharp, demanding to connect to his, to see if he still was steady.

He smiled. "Najenda told us the mission was time sensitive." His cough that followed was a bit wet with his own blood, which he spat out without hesitation. "I can continue." He smiled with too much purity for Serra to countermand.

As they continued onwards, Esdeath eyed Tatsumi's slight limp with concern. A bow… how am I supposed to keep him safe with a bow? She could feel her slender-blade rapier along her back in a hidden case which she'd strapped to her body. If it comes to it, I will do what it takes.

Esdeath felt a slap on her back as Leona walked beside her. "You're trembling, newbie. Don't worry, you're doing fine!"

Esdeath smiled meekly. "Thanks Leona…"

I would rip your fucking arm off, you fucking incompetent for that sloppy execution. It took you twice as long as it should have to clear that position, and it would take me half as long as your wildest imagination to sever that stupid head and kick it into the darkness like a rotten melon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Later in the operation)

They came into a room, full of children. They stirred from their cots, which were crammed together in the multi-level, prison-like interior, gazing at the four night-raid members with hollow eyes and haunting expressions. It was a picture of malnourishment, resignation, and hopelessness, as if warmth and hope had been pulled from the very air itself. Even Esdeath felt the chill…

Akame knelt down beside one of the small children. "Are there Imperial soldiers with you?"

"The Warden," the child answered, pointing with a small hand to the center of the room, up a series of ladders where a single enclosed office was. "She's in there."

Akame smiled gently. "You all are free to leave now. Gather just outside… we have people coming soon who will bring you to a safe place."

The child shook her head sadly. "There is no leaving… look." The child pointed to where they'd come from. "See? She closed the door."

The members of Night Raid followed where she pointed, and saw that the door was indeed closed… or, to put it more accurately, where the door had been, there was only a flat wall of hard black stone. The little girl continued to speak in earnest, "the Warden controls this whole place. Now you're trapped here like us…"

"Like hell!" Leona cried out. She leaped to where the door had been in a few nimble bounds before punching the wall with her full power.

Strangely, instead of shattering the stone as prior experience would lead everyone to expect, her fist crumpled against the stone, which didn't budge, crack, or so much as make a sound.

"OWWWW THAT HURTS!" she cried out, making a face back to the rest of the squad. "THIS STONE IS WEIRD."

"Tatsumi." Akame said quietly.

Tatsumi nodded his head. Before he jumped off, Akame put her hand on his shoulder "This entire structure is the Teigu." Tatsumi nodded his head again. "I understand," and leaped off.

Akame stood up from where she had knelt and unsheathed her blade. "Serra, with me."

They walked directly to the office. As, behind them, came the dull noise of Tatsumi's gauntlets striking the stone, but the noise of the strikes seemed muffled somehow…

"Akame," Serra said. "the air here… it's like it's heavy with… something."

A dark look passed over Akame. "We continue," she said, simply.