The Ether Conflict
Chapter 6: Reunion
Tuesday
24th of May 2 Y.A.
2:44 am
Plains of Silence
2 km away from the enemy base
Opening her eyes slowly, Miho finds herself lying on a hard, cold surface, looking at the night sky with her blurry vision. Rubbing her eyes gently and blinking a few times, she manages to clear her vision, so she decides to sit up. Looking all around her, she sees nothing but grassy ground, littered with chunks of twisted, burning metal, their lights illuminating her dark surroundings, with the light of the starry sky absent, thanks to the thick clouds that hide them.
Looking down on her body, she sees that her bulletproof vest and her uniform under it have been cut horizontally, exposing a sliver of her abdomen's skin. The vest is ruined, she thinks and so she takes it off and throws it away. Her whole body aches and her left arm feels very stingy. Taking a look at it, she finds a shallow cut that goes from the side of her upper arm till her elbow, though the wound doesn't appear to be bleeding. Checking the rest of her body, she only finds some scratches and small bruises, though she starts wondering how she got these wounds and why was she lying on the ground when she woke up. Thankfully her sheathed knife is still strapped on her left thigh, but the holster strapped on her right thigh is empty, her Glock-7, and for that matter her M16 assault rifle, missing.
"Well, sitting here won't give me any answers," she mutters to herself, before standing up. Almost immediately her head starts pounding, perhaps from standing up too fast, so she reflexively grabs it with her right hand, which causes her head to pound even harder.
"Argh, this must be the worst headache I ever had," she groans as she falls to the ground on her butt. "Did I hit my head somewhere?" she wonders aloud. Taking a few deep breaths and waiting for the pounding to lessen, she stands up again, albeit more slowly this time. Looking all around her once again, she spots the wreckage of a Blackhawk helicopter, its tail section missing completely, probably blown off by something. The cabin section seems to be relatively intact, with its door being slightly open.
"D-Did we get downed?" Miho asks herself aloud. She tries to remember what happened, but her brain refuses to cooperate, returning fuzzy memories and nothing else. Putting the question of what happened aside for the time being, she decides to walk to the crashed helicopter, despite the constant complaints of her aching body and pounding head.
"My head is killing me," she complains, feeling quite dizzy. "I hope the girls are alright." Reaching the helicopter, her feet give in for a moment, so she has to support her body on the cabin's door, which proves to be a bit too much for it as the door snaps out of its place. Miho stumbles backwards and lets the door fall in front of her, hitting the ground with an audible thud and raising some dust in the air. Miho manages to keep her balance and remain upright, and when she looks inside the cabin, her facial expression changes from a neutral one, to one of relief and then shock.
On one side of the cabin sit her friends, unmoving but still breathing, a clear indication they are unconscious. On the other side lays a man, around 30 years old, with one of the main rotor blades stuck horizontaly halfway through his torso and his left arm cut in half. The seat in which he lies and the floor of the cabin below him are full of blood, causing Miho to avert her gaze from the dead body, her stomach churning a little. Taking a deep breath to empty her mind of this grotesque death, she looks at her friends once more. Hana lies on her seat, while Yukari is all the way at the far end of the cabin, sitting awkwardly on the floor, while the upper half of her body is supported by one of the seats. Saori is sprawled on the floor of the cabin, with Mako lying on top of her. If it wasn't for the downed helicopter, she would think that Mako was just sleeping, with Saori trying to move her but failing to do so. Deciding that checking on them for any serious injuries is better than just standing and watching them, Miho takes a step forwards, when a voice shouts at her.
"Stop right there!" the voice commands and Miho instantly freezes. "Turn slowly towards us and with your hands raised in the air," a second voice says and Miho obeys, turning slowly towards the two voices with her hands in the air. She finds two men dressed in WW2 uniforms pointing their guns at her. "Come slowly towards us," the older of the two commands and then turns to the other man. "Go and check the interior for any survivors."
The other man nods, and goes straight for the helicopters cabin. "There are more girls inside!" the man shouts. "Four in total. They all wear military gear and seem to be unconscious. There is also a dead guy, one of the main rotor blades almost cut him in half," he informs the older man.
"OK. Get the survivors out here and then bring the pickup truck. I'll notify the commander," he says and the younger man goes back inside the cabin and starts dragging the girls out, one by one. "Base, do you copy?" the older man says to his radio, but only gets static as a response. "Base, can you hear me?" he says a bit louder but once again, he gets no answer back. "Stupid thing, seems to be broken," he mutters, before eyeing Miho and aiming his rifle at her chest. "I'd suggest you keep your arms in the air," he says seriously. In the time he was trying to get in contact with his base, Miho had been slowly lowering her arms, in order to reach for her knife, though this plan is now a bust.
"Sir, all the girls are out," the younger man informs. "I'll go and bring the truck."
"So, what will happen to us?" Miho asks, in an attempt to lower the man's guard to find an opening to attack and maybe learn some information.
"Probably they will put you on a cell and then notify command about you," the man answers back. "Worst case scenario, they will execute you...or worse," the man says and Miho starts sweating a little on the forehead, knowing that she and the girls should in no way be transfered to the base or it's game over for everyone.
"Can I ask you a question?" she asks innocently and that catches the man off-guard.
"What is it?" the man asks back, still aiming the weapon to the general direction of Miho, but not on her.
"Do you have a girl named Maho Nishizumi captive?" she asks and when the man widens his eyes slightly, she knows she's struck gold. She definitely can't get captured now, not when her sister is there in who knows what kind of state.
"I'm sorry," she says and when the man looks at her face with curiosity, she draws her sheathed knife and throws it at the him, hitting him in the left shoulder. The man reflexively lets his weapon fall to the ground and grabs his wounded shoulder. Grabbing the knife, he pulls it out and a small trickle of blood starts seeping out of the surprisingly small cut the knife has caused. Looking in front of him, he realizes a little too late that he has let his guard down, Miho already swinging her right fist upwards and with an uppercut, she knocks him out dead cold, the force being enough to slightly lift him in the air. As the man falls down on the ground, Miho straightens herself, panting slightly. Hearing the sound of an engine, Miho stoops down and grabs the man's assault rifle, aiming it at the incoming vehicle. Stopping in front of the helicopter, the driver's door opens and out comes a man.
"Damn kid, didn't think you had it in you. Guess I can be wrong from time to time," the man says and when Miho hears his voice, her memories of the helicopter flight start coming back.
10 minutes ago
Flying through the night, the sounds of the rotor blades from a lone Blackhawk transport helicopter fill the air, flying at a low altitude to avoid radar detection. Though the reports said it would be raining, the ominous dark clouds that blanket the sky refuse to release a single drop of rain from their bodies. Nevertheless, this works quite well for the Insertion team, since it means the lack of light will be beneficial for them. Inside the helicopter's cabin, which is illuminated by a dull red light, sit 7 people, the members of the Anglerfish team and the two spec ops soldiers that are more or less making sure the mission will go as smoothly as possible. On the far end of the cabin sits Saori, lazily gazing through the small windows the right sliding door has, looking at the darkness that consumes both sky and ground. She is feeling a little exhausted, mainly because she had spent the past hour trying to calm down Mako, who, being scared of heights, had to be dragged inside the helicopter by Saori and when it lifted itself in the air, she was trembling like a leaf. Yawning a bit, she looks at her right shoulder, where Mako has put her head and is sleeping soundly. For all the tantrum she had caused one hour ago, she sure is sleeping soundly now, Saori thinks as her eyeslids slowly start closing. Putting her head against Mako's, she starts falling asleep, and soon enough she too starts dreaming.
Next to the sleeping duo is Hana and Yukari, who are quietly chatting to pass time, with Hana talking about flower arrangement and Yukari about tanks. Miho, who is sitting next to Hana, tries to go to sleep, but her brain refuses to cooperate with her. Knowing that her sister might be held captive there, is keeping her body on full alert, the anxiety of finally meeting her after 2 whole years making her feel butterflies in her stomach.
Across them sit the 2 spec ops soldier that they will be cooperating with. One of them, the one who is sitting and currently sleeping opposite of Hana, had introduced himself during the start of the mission. His name was John, an American mercenary that had been working for Blackout for at least 5 years, before the whole Apocalypse thing that literally shook the whole world. He was a polite guy and wore a Sombrero, of all things. Miho had no idea how he could fight with such a huge hat, but for him to be still alive, it meant he somehow made it work.
The guy sitting next to him, who was across Miho, he was a real mystery. He seemed to be really cold towards everyone, even his own teammate, though John said he normally was more lively. He didn't have introduced his name and Miho thought it would be a great distraction from the questions that plagued her mind.
"Excuse me," she says quietly at the man that sits across her and he raises his head to gaze at her with his red eyes, his messy black hair, which have an ahoge similar to Hana's, barely visible even with the dull red light that illuminated the cabin. "I don't think we have introduced ourselves. My name is Nishizumi Miho. These are my friends, Isuzu Hana, Akiyama Yukari, Takebe Saori and Reizei Mako," she says and both Hana and Yukari stop talking when they hear their name.
"I'm Vin," he curtly responds, going back to checking his weapon, a silenced SCAR-H with a holographic sight.
"Why is your uniform different from your teammate's?" Yukari asks. Indeed, his uniform and bulletproof vest where quite thick, even for a special operation's unit.
"That's because I am a demolitions expert," he responds and pats lightly a gray backpack that lies next to him. "The uniform is thicker to protect me from shrapnel."
"You mean this backpack is full of explosives?" Hana asks in concern, pointing at the gray backpack.
"Yep. This bag is full of my own custom-made explosives," he grins for the first time since the beginning of the mission. "They are really powerful," he says and retrieves a palm-sized piece from inside the back. "This piece here could incinerate the whole helicopter if it was detonated," he laughs a bit, but then frowns when he sees the terrified faces the girls make. "Relax, it is pretty harmless now. Here, catch," he says, and throws the piece at Miho, who catches it by reflex.
"It feels...sticky," she says, as she starts scanning the gray piece of explosive that she holds with her hands. "Is it like C-4?" Miho asks curiously, handing the piece back to Vin.
"Pretty much, though it is a lot more potent and destructive," he answers Miho's question, putting the piece back inside the gray backpack. "Wait a minute," he suddenly says as revelation hits him. "You are Nishizumi Miho, second daughter of Nishizumi Shiho, the head of the Nishizumi family."
"Eh? You know about my family?" Miho asks in a surprised tone.
"Of course, the Nishizumi style is one of the most famous styles in the Japanese Senshadou!" he says in a super friendly tone, which catches the girls completely off-guard. "I'm a huge fan of Senshadou! I am from the Philippines and was enlisted in the army. I came to Japan for vacations and saw the match against Selection University. I have to say the approval of the Karl-Gerat was a dick move from the JSF," he scowls, remembering everyone's not-so-friendly words at JSF when the siege weapon was shown on the TV. "But I have to admit, you did pretty good, considering you had a bunch of different schools in your team against a team of college students, led by a genius."
"W-Well, it was thanks to everyone's efforts that we won the match," she quickly says, getting a bit embarrassed at the praise.
"I agree with Mr. Vin! We won because of your exceptional leadership Miss Nishizumi!" Yukari says cheerfully and a little loudly. Both Saori and Mako fidget a little on their place, but they don't wake up.
"Be more quiet Yukari," Miho says quickly.
"I'm sorry Miss Nishizumi," Yukari says quietly, looking at the floor, though a pat on her head from Miho rekindles her spirits.
"Hmm. Say, don't you have an older sister?" Vin says, narrowing his eyes at Miho.
"Yes. Her name is Maho," she says slowly, spotting Vin's narrowed eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"It's just that...both you and your sister look a lot like your mother," he says slowly. "Minus the dictatorial behavior."
"M-My mother may be strict," Miho says with an awkward smile, "but that's because she was raised in a very strict environment herself. She's actually a very caring person, it's just that she has...difficulty expressing her emotions," Miho smiles sadly as she starts reminiscing the cheerful days with her family.
Beep-beep-beep
A monotone beeping feels the cabin of the helicopter, and the girls look around the cabin nervously.
"Mmm, what is this sound," Saori groggily says, and a second later she gets her answer.
"Missile lock, hold on from something!" the pilot says through his radio and immediately banks the helicopter left, dumping flares to confuse the missiles.
"Aaaahhh, I'm too young to die!" Saori yells, with Mako gripping her like she is the last cake in the world, trembling like a leaf from the fear she is feeling.
"Seems like the ride won't be as peaceful as we thought," John says to Vin, fixing his Sombrero that had been tilted forward to cover his face while he was sleeping.
"You bet it won't be," Vin says calmly, a complete contrast from the girls that look all around themselves like scared rats.
The helicopter keeps banking left and right, continuing to throw flares at the ever increasing volume of missiles. Looking out of the small windows the side door has, Miho sees a missile flying past them, exploding harmlessly in the distance.
"If we keep firing flares, we will be fine, right?" Yukari asks no one in particular, trying to reassure herself they will be fine.
"You realize that flares don't work always, right?" Vin says from his seat and as to be proved correct, one of the missiles ignores the flares completely and strikes the tail of the helicopter, blowing the entire tail section to small burning pieces.
"Mayday, Mayday, this is Transport-29, we are going down, I repeat, we are going down!" the pilot shouts from the cockpit in the comms. As the helicopter keeps spinning faster and faster, the girls start panicking, while Vin starts laughing.
"Hahaha, guess this is the end of the line boys and girls!" he says.
"This is the best thing you could come up with?!" John says incredulously at Vin. "I swear Vin, if I die, I'm gonna come back from the dead and haunt you!"
"Brace for impact!" the pilot says to the comms, the helicopter about five meters away from the ground.
"I just want to go home!" Saori starts crying as the helicopter crashes down and everything seems to go in slow motion for Miho. With the force of the impact, Miho gets flung out of her seat and finds herself flying through the air inside the cabin. She can clearly see the faces of her friends, with Saori hugging Mako as tight as she can and screaming, both of them squeezing their eyes shut, Hana squeezing her eyes shut too, though she seems a little bit more elegant than the others, even at a time like this. Yukari looks terrified, but is looking directly at Miho, shouting something at her, which she cannot hear sadly.
Hitting the opposite wall of the cabin, she sees one of the main rotor blades entering the cabin, passing in front of her and cutting her bulletproof vest and uniform in half, but thankfully missing her skin by the width of a hair. The blade passes millimeters away from Vin's neck and hits John, severing his left arm from the elbow and down and lodging itself halfway through his torso. Shrapnel start raining everywhere in the cabin and a particularly large piece of metal grazes Miho's left arm from her elbow all the way up the side of her upper arm, cutting the uniform along the way. Falling to the floor of the cabin, she hits her head quite hard and everything becomes black.
Lowering her weapon, Miho sighs in relief. "I'm glad you are OK," she says, slinging the AK-47 over her right shoulder.
"Yeah, though John wasn't so lucky. The bastard's going to be haunting my dreams for the rest of my life," he grumbles as he goes inside the cabin to retrieve John's dogtags and check on the pilots. "Wake up your friends, we need to get moving ASAP."
Nodding in response, Miho quickly goes over her friends and starts shaking them slightly. "Girls, wake up," she says a bit loudly and Saori stirs up a little. "Saori, are you OK?" she asks in concern, checking Saori's body for any serious wounds.
"My head hurts," she groans, sitting up on the ground and clutching her head with both hands. "What happened?"
"We were shot down. Help me wake up the others, we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Miho says and goes to wake up Yukari. Still feeling dizzy, Saori looks at her left and spots the unconscious Mako, tugging on her shirt a little bit.
Thinking of what would wake up Mako, she takes a deep breath and says the first thing that comes to her mind. "Mako, what would your grandma say if she saw you sleeping like that?!" she scolds Mako and the effect is instant.
"Aaaahhhh!" Mako shouts, sitting up faster than a human should be able to, looking all around her with a scared expression. Not seeing her grandma anywhere, she turns to face Saori. "That was a cheap trick Saori," she says with an annoyed expression.
"I'm sorry Mako, but it was the only way for me to be sure you would wake up," she says with an apologetic tone, as she stands up and dusts off herself. By now, Miho has managed to wake up both Yukari and Hana, who are asking Miho what happened and if she is OK.
"Good, you are all up," Vin says, exiting the cabin of the helicopter. "Get inside the truck, we need to get out of here now."
"What about the pilots?" Yukari asks.
"They are dead from blood loss."
"Wait,where is your friend?" Saori asks, looking around, but not seeing John anywhere.
"He is dead too, now get inside the truck," he answers her, as he opens the driver's door and gets in to start up the pickup truck.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she says sadly, as she climbs at bed of the truck, along with Hana and Miho, while Yukari and Mako sit in the cabin of the truck.
"OK, listen up ladies!" Vin says loudly as he starts driving the truck towards the enemy's base. "Our mission is still on. We infiltrate the base, save your friends and send the signal to the jets to bomb everything back to the stone age." Giving a map of the enemy's base to Mako, she tells her to open it up and stick it at the rear windshield of the cabin. The map showed three big buildings, along with several watch towers and a chain link fence all around it. At one side of the base was a huge square that had the words "Tank Depot" on top of it.
"As you can see, the base has three main buildings and several smaller ones. We are interested at one of the smaller buildings that is directly next to the Fuel Depot for the tanks," he says and the girls see at the map a small square next to the Fuel Depot. "This is where your friends are probably being held. We will enter from the Tank Depot, make our way to the building, get your friends and get the hell out of there as fast as possible."
"How are we going to be extracted, since our transport is destroyed?" Miho asks Vin.
"The transponder for the jets can also send a small message. We will use it to ask for a transport. The only disadvantage is that we won't be able to receive an answer," he says to Miho.
"Miho, your hand!" Saori gasps and everyone looks at Miho in alarm.
"Hmm? Oh, it's just a shallow cut Saori, nothing to worry about," Miho says quickly, but Saori has none of this.
"Jesus Christ, kid! Don't yell like that for just a small graze," Vin says at Saori, who completely ignores his comment.
"You know, it could get infected," she says back at Miho, grabbing her hand to inspect the wound.
"Here you go," Hana hands Saori a roll of gauze and some antiseptic so she can start treating the wound.
"Thanks a lot Saori," Miho smiles at her friend.
"Umm, Mr. Vin, how old are you?" Yukari asks slowly. "Cause you look very young."
" I'm 22," he responds to Yukari.
"You are really young."
"Says the 19 year old brat," Vin smirks a little. "I also have a daughter. She's turning 4 in two months."
At this, the girls stop everything they are doing and look at him with surprised looks.
"You have a daughter?!" they cry out in unison, the shock of such statement stunning the girls temporarily.
"Yep, her name is...why are you all looking at me with such surprise?" he asks when he sees the girls' expressions.
"You are only 22, when did you get married?!"Saori blurts out.
"Well, it's a little complicated and I'd rather not talk about it," he says with a serious expression.
"Is she back in your country?" Miho asks.
"No. When I came to Japan for vacations, I brought her with me. She's probably sleeping back in the base right now," Vin answers back.
"Will she be okay alone?" Hana asks in concern for the little girl.
"I actually have a friend watching over her for now. Plus most of the nursing staff knows her. She is a klutz, so she tends to get hurt often," Vin laughs a little. "So when either I, or my friend ain't around, she goes and hangs out with the nurses."
Miho wants to ask about the little girl's mother, but she decides against it. The rest of the travel towards their destination is uneventful, with Vin taking the most deserted roads to avoid any patrols and manages to bring them at a distance of about 500 meters away from their infiltration point. Both Vin and the girls disembark the vehicle and after reorganizing and redistributing their weapons, they slowly make their way towards the chain link fence. Vin kept his silenced SCAR-H and backpack full of explosives, Saori, Yukari and Hana took a silenced pistol each, while Mako and Miho kept their knives.
"Listen well, from here on out, you'll do whatever I tell you. If I say shoot, you shoot, understood?" he asks as they approach the fence and the girls nod in response. "Good. Now then, let the games begin." Putting his backpack on the ground, he retrieves a bolt cutter and starts cutting the fence. Thankfully, the watchtowers have no searchlights and the Tank Depot, which is a dirt lot with parked tanks on it, is completely devoid of any life. Cutting a sizable hole, Vin enters first, his weapon raised and scanning his surroundings. Seeing no one, he quickly runs and hides at the side of a T-34-85 and motions the girls to come quickly. The girls quickly enter through the hole and dash at the tank, taking cover like Vin.
"OK, here's the plan. I'll give you all a sizable portion of my explosives and split into two teams. You'll stick a bit of the explosives under the tanks, in case we need a small distraction," Vin says to the girls, handing them a fair amount of his homemade explosives to them. "Set the frequency on the detonator at the 1st channel. After that we will meet at the entrance of the target building. Miho and ahoge girl, you are with me."
"She has a name, you know," Saori frowns at him.
"It's okay Saori, I don't mind," Hana says to Saori to calm her down.
"But Hana-"
"Enough chit-chat girls," Vin interrupts Saori and goes a few rows of tanks down, sticking a bit of his explosives on each one, with Miho and Hana following him.
"I don't like this man at all," Saori grumbles, following Yukari and Mako, who decided to go in the opposite direction.
"Come on Saori, don't be like that. He just gave Hana a nickname, that's all," Yukari says to Saori, while covering Mako who is setting the explosives under the tanks. "Like Kay gave me the" Sergeant Oddball" nickname."
"I'm done with this tank," Mako says and moves to the next one. Yukari and Saori keep their guards up in case someone comes, but the only guards patrolling this place are too far to notice the girls in the darkness of the dirt lot. As they reach the end of the rows of tanks they are currently between, the three girls lean against the rear of one of the T-34-85s.
"There are a lot of Soviet tanks here," Yukari comments, eyeing the rows of T-34s, T-34-85s and T-50s.
"Probably supplied by Pravda's new administration," Mako says quietly.
"I hope Katyusha is fine," Saori sighs. "Who would have thought that the girls would fight amongst each other for power."
"Let's hope that nothing like that has happened to the other schools," Yukari says.
Looking around the corner, Mako comes face to face with one of the patrolling guards, both of them looking at each other's eyes. They both stay motionless, staring at each other, as if daring them to make the first move.
"What's wrong Mako?" Saori asks and the guard springs into action, raising his AK-47 to fire at Mako. She on the other hand, rounds the corner swiftly and puts her knife, that she is holding with her right hand, in front of the man's neck.
"If you scream or move, I'll slit your throat," Mako says at the guard with her usual sleepy expression, which seems a bit more lively during night, and the man lets his gun fall from his arms as a sign he doesn't want any trouble. Both Saori and Yukari round the corner with pistols raised, aiming them at the man.
"Please don't kill me, I have family and kids to take care of," he pleads, looking directly at Mako.
"We won't kill you," she says as Yukari walks past her and hits the man on the head with the butt of her silenced pistol, applying enough force to knock him out. After he falls down, the girls take his gun and any ammunition for it, and hide his body under one of the tanks.
"At least now we have an extra weapon to use," Yukari says as the girls go towards the target building. Reaching it, they wait for Vin and the others to come. "Do you think Miss Nishizumi's sister is here?" Yukari asks out of the blue.
"I hope so. She's been acting weird ever since she learned about her being captive," Saori says sadly.
"She hasn't seen her in 2 years and when she finally learns about her whereabouts, she also learns she is being held captive by some crazy dudes with WW2 uniforms," Mako interjects. "I think her reaction is understandable."
"I guess you are right," Saori sighs. "Why are they taking so long?" At that exact moment, Miho and Hana round the corner of the target building, quickly approaching the girls.
"What took you so long?" Saori asks Miho.
"Vin wanted to place explosives on the Fuel Depot," Miho informs her and the others.
"Is he trying to destroy the entire base by himself?" Yukari asks.
"I'd love too, but I don't have enough bombs for that," Vin answers, rounding the corner of the target building and quickly approaching the girls. "We have about 15 minutes before the jets start bombing the place, so let's get in there and extract the girls," he says and goes in front of the door.
"Didn't you tell us we would have half an hour? When did you activate the transponder?" Yukari asks curiously.
"When I was assigning the weapons," he says quietly. "15 minutes should be enough time." Opening the door just a tiny bit, he peers through the small opening he has created. He spots no guards inside, only an empty chair, so he opens the door more and motions to the girls to go inside. After everyone gets in, he enters too and closes the door behind him as quietly as he can.
"This building is creepy. It has no windows," Saori says, looking around the room and seeing no windows whatsoever. "And why is there only a steel door at the end of it?"
"Probably is the prison cell. But where is the guard?" Vin mutters to himself, but Yukari overhears him.
"Maybe their shift ended?" she suggests.
"Then where is their replacement?" he asks. "Anyway, we don't have much time, so get moving." Approaching the door Vin takes cover next to it and so does Miho, Saori and Mako. Hana and Yukari stay behind to defend the entrance to the building, in case someone decides to enter it.
"Hey I think I can hear voices from inside Saori says, but Vin places a finger in front of his mouth to indicate to her to be silent.
"Did I kill him?"
"Wh-Why would you do something like that Anchovy?!"
"It was an accident, Assam! I just got scared and used a lot more force!"
"The plan was to knock him out, not kill him!"
"You snapped his neck for God's sake! How is that an accident?"
"You saw his intentions Assam,you'd have done the same thing if you were in my position!"
"Both of you, be silent for a second!"
Upon hearing the third voice, Miho just kicks the door open and enters the room.
"Sister!" she yells, as she hugs and tackles to the ground a tall girl with short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. The girl, which bears a striking resemblance to Miho, just looks at her with confusion and surprise at first. "I'm so glad you are safe!" Miho cries at her sister's chest, tears of joy and happiness running on her cheeks.
"Miho?" is the only thing Maho can say at first, still not believing what she is seeing. "What are you doing here?"
" And why are you all wearing military gear?" a girl with long grey hair tied into twin ponytails and red-brown eyes, adds.
"And who is this guy with you and your friends?" a girl with long blonde hair and light purple eyes, asks. She has a somewhat extravagant hairstyle that is complemented by a black hairband.
"I guess these are the girls we need to extract?" Vin asks Saori.
"Yes. The girl with the twin ponytails is Anchovy, the blonde girl is named Assam and the girl Miho is hugging is her sister, Maho," Saori answers back.
"And what happened to that guy over there?" Vin points at at the limp body of a man that lies on one of the corners of the room.
"I broke his neck," Anchovy says bluntly and shivers a little. "The sound still makes me shiver."
"You still didn't answer my question," Assam interjects. "Who are you, how do you know these girls and why are they wearing military equipment and uniforms?"
"We all work in a private military company named Blackout and we were hired by the JSDF to come and save you," Vin says as quickly as humanly possible, guessing it is better to answer than convince her to wait. "Now get onto your feet and out of the room, because this whole base will be nothing but debris in 7 minutes."
"Wait, you girls are mercenaries?" Assam asks in disbelief.
"Is this true Miho?" Maho asks in a concerned voice and Miho adverts her gaze from her.
"Y-Yes," Miho says slowly and Maho just hugs her.
"I'm just glad you are alright," she sighs in relief, glad to she her younger sister after 2 years. "I'm sure you had your own reasons for doing a job like this. Though we'll have to talk about this," she says the last part with a serious expression and Miho starts sweating a little.
"Look, as much as I don't want to interrupt this family reunion, we need to get going now!" Vin says and gets out of the room, approaching the entrance of the building they are in. Miho gets up and helps her sister to stand up.
"Miho, your arm," Maho says urgently when she sees Miho's bandaged arm.
"It's fine, don't worry," Miho reassures her with a smile. As everyone gathers in the door, Vin turns around and faces all the girls.
"We have only 5 minutes before the jets arrive, so listen carefully. The moment I open this door, everyone runs back at the pickup truck," he says and everyone nods in agreement. "As for you three," he points at Maho, Assam and Anchovy, "You just follow the girls. Whatever happens, don't stop or you might not make it out alive." And with that, Vin opens the door and runs out, firing his gun at two guards that are coming towards his direction. He manages to kill one of them, but the other starts firing at Vin, the small arms fire echoing through the base. Finally killing him, the alarm of the base starts blaring.
"We are leaving, now!" he yells at the girls and they start running towards the part of the fence which they had cut to enter the base. Flares illuminate the sky, as people start shouting all over the place.
"Don't stop running!" Vin yells, as he covers the rear by firing at anyone who dares to enter his weapon's sights. As the girls start getting close to the chain link fence, Saori notices that Assam gets slower and slower, her movements becoming sluggish.
"Come on Assam, we need to get out of here!" Saori yells at her.
"I...can't...run...anymore," Assam says in a strained voice between her pants and as she is running between the tanks, a man appears out of nowhere and grabs Assam by the hair, causing her to arch her top half of her body backwards and fall to the ground. "Gaah," she cries out as she hits the ground. Looking up, she sees the barrel of an assault rifle being pointed directly on her face. Before she can even scream for help, Saori dashes in front of the man and presses her silenced pistol against his forehead, the man noticing her too late to do anything. Saori pulls the trigger and blood splashes all over her pistol and hand. The man's head jerks backwards and falls to the ground, his weapon cluttering next to Assam.
"Are you okay?" she asks Assam quickly, but Assam just gazes back at her with a horrified expression, a little bit of blood on her face. Saori just lifts her up and drags her by her right hand.
"Move faster girls!" Vin shouts as he approaches them, with several bullets barely missing him. Reaching the fence, they pass through the cut part of it and run straight for the pickup truck. "Time for the fireworks," he laughs and detonate his explosives, with several big explosions shaking the whole base. Reaching the truck, they take cover behind it, where the rest are.
"Did the bombing started?!" Yukari asks, having witnessed the explosions.
"No, these were the explosives we set up," Vin answers back, panting slightly from all the running. "I'd suggest you cover your ears," he says and everyone looks at him curiously.
"What do you-" Miho starts saying when three huge explosions obliterate the base, the shockwave reaching and shaking the truck and the girls, with debris and chunks of dirt raining everywhere.
"What was that?!" Saori yells as she looks at the burning remains of the once enemy base with awe and fear.
"What destructive power," Maho blurts out and most of the girls nod in agreement.
"That was a fuel-air bomb," he answers back to Saori. "It is used in destroying enemy fortifications or clusters of enemies."
"Infiltration team 2, this is Transport-32, responding to your encrypted message, how copy?" Vin gets a transmission and immediately presses his earpiece to talk.
"We copy you loud and clear. We are 500 meters west of the destroyed base," Vin responds back at the pilots of the helicopter.
"Copy that. ETA 2 minutes, over and out," the pilot says as he terminates the transmission.
"What happened?" Miho asks.
"They got our message and sent a helicopter. It will be here in 2 minutes."
"That's good to hear," she sighs in relief.
"Miho," Maho says, approaching her sister. "Do you have a moment? I want to speak with you in private."
"Sure," Miho responds back to her cheerfully, glad to be able to speak with her sister again after so long.
Meanwhile Saori just sits on the ground, using her hands to support herself. "I can't wait to go back to base and have a nice bath," she says.
"I just want to sleep," Mako, who is using Saori's lap as a pillow, yawns.
"You always want to sleep," Saori frowns slightly at her friend, before yawning too. "Look at what you have done, I'm getting sleepy too."
While Anchovy and Yukari go to speak with Saori and Mako, Hana goes to check on Assam, who is quietly gazing back at the burning base.
"Is everything alright, Miss Assam?" Hana asks politely.
"Ah, Miss Hana," Assam says, getting startled a little, but quickly regaining her composure. "Y-Yes, everything is fine."
"You seem a bit troubled," Hana says back. "Are you sure everything is fine?" she asks.
"Yes, don't worry about it," she politely smiles at Hana.
"If you say so," Hana smiles back and goes to speak with the rest of the girls. What has been troubling Assam, is the fact at how easily Saori killed that guard, back in the base. Granted, it was her life or his at that point, but Saori didn't even flinch or hesitated when she pulled the trigger...and that really terrifies her. It isn't the easiness with which a life can be extinguished that scares her, she has seen it happening too many times to be really shaken, but the apathy one can show towards such an action, in this case when Saori killed the guard. Then again, for all she knows, Saori could be just acting like everything is fine, so her friends won't worry, because taking lives and spilling blood isn't something that should be thought as something common, nor something you get used too.
These 2 years have really changed...all of us, she thinks as she spots a helicopter approaching them. It's as Darjeeling said. "We have already spilled blood on our hands Assam, what's a little more?"
A/N: Finally done rewriting this chapter too! Not anything else to say. Anyway, as always, suggestions, questions, corrections, reviews or PMs are greatly appreciated. Also, English isn't my native tongue, so expect some grammatical errors here and there. If you found the story interesting and had a great time, favorite and follow. Have a nice day/night and until the next chapter, stay safe!