A/N:The chapter will be rewritten,as part of the rewriting project

The Ether Conflict

Chapter 13: The Insider

After changing into her uniform, Miho, along with Maho, made their way towards conference room 2C. There were a lot of people in the hallways and stairways, walking quickly towards different directions, a sign that something important must be going on.

"There're lots of people here", Maho says to Miho, seeing the large volume of uniformed women armed with different kinds of weapons going up and down the fairly wide hallway they were in.

"Seems like something big is happening. Normally there isn't such volume of personnel moving. Probably another big operation.", Miho responds back.

"But some of the soldiers look younger than you.", Maho says, having spotted some girls that were at most 17 years old.

"Blackout's recruiting policy is rather simple ; you have the skills, you are hired." Pausing and stopping at a rather narrow part of the hallway to let a squad of five soldiers to pass, she continues as she and Maho resume to walk towards their destination. " That's how I and the girls got hired here. Being members of a Shenshadou team and having won the National Tournament were a good enough reason. Factor in what happened in the village with the rogue JSDF soldiers and who wouldn't hire us." Passing the front entrance of the Dormitory, they exit to the main courtyard that is connected with all the buildings. It actually resembled a park, essentially being a grassy field with paths laid with bricks, benches where you could sit and relax, lampposts to provide light in the night and even a small fountain.

"But, couldn't you have done something else? Surely you didn't have to become mercenaries", Maho says, looking around the courtyard while following Miho.

"I mean no offense but...you weren't here Maho. Or anyone else for that matter. We were low on food, water and the tank was running on fumes." Glancing over her left shoulder to Maho, in a way that only half her face is seen, she continues, "We just didn't have any other choice. It was really difficult at first, especially when you had to kill someone else. But after a time we got used to it. This actually still scares me, at how easily we can extinguish a life and not even feel any regret." Stopping and looking at one of the cherry trees that inhabit the courtyard, a sad smile forms upon her face. "We all have lost so much. Yet we keep moving forward like nothing has changed. I have spilled so much blood and ended so many lives, yet here I am, like nothing's happened.", Her sad smile slowly changes into a saddened expression,lots of different feelings flooding her heart. Sensing this, Maho goes behind her sister and puts her hands around her abdomen, pulling her closer to her body in a hug.

"I'm sure that's not the case Miho. Instead of thinking how many lives you have ended, think how many lives you have saved.", Maho says in with a soft voice. "And I am sorry...for...not being by your side when you needed me". Maho is filled with regret for not being able to help her younger sister like a proper older sister should do. Now is Miho's turn to help her older sister, sensing that she is sad, even though Maho keeps her stoic expression, albeit with a faint smile. Moving her head from left to right, she looks back to her sister with a bright smile. "I'm sure that you also had to make some tough decisions. I'm just glad that you are now with me sister."

"Me too Miho", Maho responds back, before letting her sister and continuing to walk towards the administrating building that housed the conference rooms.

Entering the administrating building, it looked like any other building in Blackout. The walls were painted the same dull olive green every single building in the base had as a stock color. Though if she was to be honest, the girls dormitory was a little more flashier, with some parts of the building being painted in different colors, such as teal, pink, cyan and other bright colors. Of course those were paid and painted by the soldiers themselves, but it was a nice addition. As they passed by doors, Maho was throwing glances inside the rooms whenever there was an opportunity, mainly when someone forgot the door open. Inside these rooms were offices with files upon files filled with documents. People were going in and out of these offices with various kinds of papers. "This is the logistics department. They deal mainly with the allocation of supplies to all active personnel of Blackout, resupplying any spent equipment and also handle the fixing and servicing of any vehicle that is present.", Miho tells her sister, having noticed her glancing inside the offices as they pass by.

"It seems they are rather busy", Maho says, watching a man carry a box full of documents.

"Normally they aren't so busy. This just reinforces the point that there is going to be a big operation soon."

Reaching the staircase at the end of the building, they go up to the second floor, where the conference rooms are. Despite being quite wide, they had to squeeze through some squads of soldiers to go to the second floor. Reaching it, there was another wide hallway with big wooden double doors on its sides. They had carved coats of arms on them, representing the elite squads that are serving in Blackout. The first doors that read 'Conference Room 2A', had a winged figure that held a spear in its hand and under it the name 'Angels of Judgement'. They were the best paratroopers Blackout had, able to take down a whole base behind enemy lines in a blink of the eye. The doors across it that read 'Conference Room 2D', had a lightning hitting a sphere that was shattered at the impact point and under it the name 'Lightbringers'. They were a squad known for their fast-paced tactics, giving the enemy no time to respond on their movements, effectively making them a very good breakthrough unit, using speed instead of brute force to shatter enemy lines. The doors a bit further in the hallway that read 'Conference Room 2B', had a snake that was coiled and ready to attack. Under it was the name 'Black Mambas', one of the best special operations squad Blackout had. And at the end of the hallway were the doors that read 'Conference Room 2C'. They had a wolf carved on them, but the difference was that the wolf was painted black. Under it was the name 'Black Wolves' written in calligraphic letters.

In front of the door were positioned two soldiers, their firearms loaded, with safeties on of course, their barrels aiming at the floor. Recognizing Miho, they quickly salute and open the door, so that the two commanders can enter the conference room. "Do the tank commanders have a higher rank from the normal soldiers?", Maho asks, seeing the soldiers saluting her sister once more.

"No. In Blackout, ranks don't matter outside of your squad. It's one of Blackout's policies, in order to have every squad on the same level. The only difference is on your pay and what jobs you are assigned. And if your rank is high enough, receive emergency jobs."

"Then why did they saluted you?"

"It's because me and the girls have a certain reputation. I will tell you more after the negotiations.", Miho answers back.

Saying nothing but nodding, Maho puts her curiosity aside for now. Scanning the very big and painted white room, she spots the rest of the commanders, along with the Anglerfish and Antelope team, siting in big leather chairs around a big wooden conference table made from Mahogany wood. The girls converse quietly between them, with Reiji and Tyler conversing on how the negotiations will go. Spotting Maho coming towards her, Erika instantly gets up to salute her commander, with Maho waving her hand to sit down. Miho sits between Mako and Yukari, with Mako snoozing on the table. A suited man enters the room and sits at the head of the table, a uniformed woman standing on his right.

He looked to be on his mid 30s, had slick black hair and black eyes and wore glasses. His suit was colored blue with a red necktie. He clears his throat a bit, getting the attention of everyone inside the room.

"I'd like to thank you for accepting our invitation and coming here today. My name is Katsunosuke Murata and I'll be the one negotiating with you in place of the Director. Also, let me express my most sincere apologies for your losses. Rest assured that Blackout will be held responsible for them, should the need arise."

"Wow, way to ruin the atmosphere Murata", Odysseus says with a grumpy expression.

"Miss Papaioannou, may I remind you that you are here to observe the negotiations, not to comment on them. And I am your superior, so I can have you suspended from all Blackout operations or even fired. And if you don't comply, I can and will have the guards restrain you with force.", Murata says with a serious voice and a tone that speaks authority.

Losing her trademark smile and taking a more mature composure, Odysseus speaks softly, "And should you do this, it will take 20% of Blackout's personnel before you can even touch me. I'm a trained assassin after all", which causes everyone in the room except for Murata to shiver in fear, remembering what she did in the R.I.J.A. leader.

"Will have to see about that. Threats aside, may I know your names?", he gestures to the guest commanders. Standing up, Darjeeling clears her throat a bit before speaking. "My name is Darjeeling. I'm the overall commander of St. Gloriana's Shenshadou team and overall commander of the school ship itself. This is Assam, my gunner and this is Orange Pekoe, my loader.", Darjeeling gestures on her left and right respectively. "It's a pleasure making your acquaintance Mr. Katsunosuke." Making a short bow, she sits down, continuing seeping some tea she had poured herself before the meeting.

"I'm Kay from Saunders Girls High School. This cutie here is Naomi, gunner of one of our Sherman Fireflies.", Kay says cheerfully.

"I am Anchovy, Duce of pasta and wine, overall commander of Anzio Girls High School!", Anchovy exclaims grandly. "And she is Carpaccio, best loader our school has!"

"I-I don't know about that last remark Duce", the blonde girl smiles awkwardly.

"I am Katyusha, overall commander of Pravda Girls High School. This is Nonna and this is Klara, my two vice-commanders", Katyusha exclaims from the top of Nonna's shoulders.

"My name is Nishizumi Maho, commander of Kuromorimine's Shenshadou team.", Maho stands up and bows, before sitting down.

"My name is Itsumi Erika, vice-commander of Kuromorimine's team.", Erika says, mimicking Maho and standing up to bow, before sitting down.

"Now that we have made acquaintances with each other, lets begin the negotiations", Murata says, a subtle grin on his face that passes unnoticed to everyone.

At the same time

Location Unknown

Underground Lab S-18

Fifth level

Three figures walked inside a narrow corridor. It had steel walls that were painted white, with a black line running along the walls. It was illuminated by bright white lights that were built on the steel ceiling that the hallway had, holding a considerable amount of ground from just falling inside and killing any unlucky person that walked there. The corridor was really long, at least a kilometer in length, but almost no one was even there to use it. The three figures looked around at the corridor, but there was nothing except that black line that kept following them however far they walked. "Are you sure this is the right place?", a tall figure spoke. She had short black hair and black eyes. She was wearing a single eyeglass and had a serious expression on her face.

"The orders said to come to the fifth level at laboratory 23. And our clearance is only until that level, so we just went as down as we could", another girl answered. She had dark brown hair tied in a medium ponytail and dark brown eyes.

"At worst we end up in the cafeteria and stop to eat something. I don't think we will have any problems if we are a bit late.", the third girl told the other two, having just finished her bag of dried sweet potatoes. She had redish brown eyes and hair, tied in long twin tails.

"Wouldn't be better president if you stopped eating so many bags of dried sweet potatoes?", the girl with the single eyeglass told the shortest of the three with a frown.

"Momo-chan is right president, you should eat more healthy", the brunette girl said with a smile.

"Don't call me that, Yuzu!", Momo said.

Reaching the end of the corridor, there was only a futuristic-looking steel door, with a panel that had a screen on top of it, built in the wall next to the door. The shortest of the girls put her hand in the screen. A female robotic voice is heard. "Scanning initialized, please wait." A green neon line can be seen going from the top of the screen to the bottom and vice versa, scanning the handprint of the girl. "Scanning complete. Identification process initialized. Match found. Welcome, Anzu Kadotani." The door suddenly made a hissing sound and started revolving around its center for about 90 degrees, before stopping and split in half, with each half moving up and down respectively. Opening completely, the girls find an old man, around his 70s in front of the door. He had black eyes, grey hair, wore dark grey pants and a red and blue sweater. He also wore a whit labcoat.

"Ah, good morning girls.", he said with his raspy voice.

"Dr. Azarin", Anzu said with an emotionless tone in her voice.

"I see you still hate me, but then again, you have every right to do so. By the way, I have the intel you requested.", Azarin presents a small USB stick and hands it to the girls. "Better start making your moves, or your fellow students might not make it. Make sure that Mannheim's madness ends once and for all". Putting his hands on his lab coat's pockets, he retrieves a micro SD card and hands it on Anzu. "This has information about Sakura. I'd advise you to view it when no one else is near.", he whispers in Anzu's right ear, before making his way towards the elevator. Anzu stood in front of the door, looking at the SD card that was on her right hand's open palm. Pocketing the card, she entered the room that was in front of her. It was a normal observation room, with computers everywhere. It had a row of glass panes in one of its side. A lone scientist was looking from behind them, writing notes on a clipboard he was holding. He was looking at an adjacent room that was lower. It was quite small and had two capsules that resembled teleportation pads. Near the glass pane was a screen that showed things like blood pressure, heartbeats per minute and other medical stuff. Approaching the figure, he stops taking measurements from the screen and turns his body to face the three girls that just entered. "Ah, you finally came. How was the operation?", he asks with German accented Japanese.

"All of the remaining JSDF units have been eliminated. Some were taken captives, but others managed to escape. As of now, we control the Northern parts of Japan.", Anzu answered, her voice containing no emotion whatsoever.

"Wunderbar, with this we can finally have a steady income of subjects for my experiments! Good job! Now, we can begin the final phase of my masterplan! I need you to capture Subject 23, she is the key for the activation of Serum Black". At this moment, a tall man came in the observation room. He had grey eyes and hair, and looked to be at least in his early 50s. He also wore a military uniform, but wasn't from any known militaries that Anzu knew. He must be either from Europe or America.

"Ah, Major, to what do I own this visit?", the man said.

"The Cerberus tanks are finally done Mannheim. Now, about our deal.", the tall man said with a serious expression.

"Of course Major. You mean that girl with blonde hair from your country?", Mannheim inquired.

"Yes. Her name is Elpida Papaioannou, she is the one that got injected with Serum White.", the Major responded.

"That is interesting. If the users of the Serums were to activate their powers at the same space, it would lead to some interesting things.", Mannheim said to himself, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Has she ever activated her powers?"

"Yes and 20 soldiers paid the price for it. I barely escaped with my life. She summoned a thing that looked like a Grimm Reaper."

"I see. I don't know what you want with that girl, but since you provided us with a lot of resources we will capture her.". Turning his attention to the girls once more, he gives them their orders, before continuing his conversation with the Major.

Exiting the room, the door behind them closes and locks itself with a hissing sound, silence filling the narrow corridor, only the footsteps of the girls echoing as they walk towards the elevator."I still can't believe that magic exists. It is scientifically impossible for things to just appear out of nowhere, there must be an explanation.", Momo said, thinking about what she just heard.

"You know Momo, magic is just another fancy word to describe things that we do not understand.", Anzu told her with her usual voice, having opened another bag of dried sweet potatoes.

"The president is right Momo-chan, there is always an explanation.", Yuzu told her friend with a smile.

"Don't call me Momo-chan!", she yelled, her voice echoing in the narrow corridor. Reaching the elevator, all three girls got in and Anzu slid an ID card through an electronic lock and after bliping once, she pressed the ground floor button and the elevator started moving upwards. "President, what will we do about the rest of Ooarai's girls? We don't have a lot of time before Mannheim starts using them for his sick experiments. And I heard that the Shenshadou team is at the top of the list.", Momo spoke with a disgusted tone.

"Yeah, I heard the Bunny team is first to go. President, we need to inform Miho and that girl they were talking about. We must tell them everything...and hope they come to save our friends.", Yuzu spoke in a sad tone.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. We will isolate Miho's tank in the nearby forest and we will give her every information we have. And I'm sure she will come if her friends are in danger.", Anzu chew another dried sweet potato, eating her third bag of this delicious snack for today. Reaching the ground floor, the doors of the elevator open and the girls exit and start walking towards the garage depot. Everywhere they look there are soldiers in white uniforms that have red lines all over them and wear futuristic helmets. Reaching the garage depot, they go straight for their tank, before one of the soldiers stops Anzu.

"Awaiting orders ma'am.", the soldier says in a very synthesized voice.

"Are the Phantom and Angel units ready?", Anzu asked in a lazy tone.

"Affirmative. And we have additional units in the form of Cerberus Guerilla tanks. The Titan Heavy Assault tank is still being prepared."

"Make sure everyone is ready, we leave in an hour.", Anzu orders, turning her back towards the soldier and making her way towards her tank. The soldier salutes Anzu and makes his way towards the crew that still prepares the Titan.

Entering the tank, Anzu closes the commander's hatch, cutting any external sound from entering the crew cabin. Pulling out the SD card from one of her pockets, she inserts it inside a small tablet the tank has for when she gets bored. The tablet boots and starts projecting a document on the screen. Both Momo and Yuzu are silent, their eyes glued at what they are reading. "President...you never told us that...", Yuzu trails off, not finishing her sentence, a hand covering her open mouth. In the tablet's screen the document reads:

The following you are about to read are to never be mentioned outside Laboratory S-18, unless heavily censored and granted Blacklisted status.

Document status: Confidential

Japanese Self Defense Force, Black Lotus branch, department of Genetics engineering and Paranormal Phenomena

Subject 22: Kadotani Sakura

Age: 13

Codename: Winter

Archive log: Subject's acquisition

As Anzu kept reading what the document had, she started feeling even more hostility towards Mannheim.

"So that's the reason why my sister went missing. I'll make sure Mannheim gets what he deserves. And anyone that helped in this project. They will answer for their actions", Anzu whispered, her voice seething with hate and anger.

Outside the tank, the forces had assembled, with tanks, APCs and artillery vehicles ready to move out, helicopters and jets already moving towards their target, Blackout's main base.

A/N: Normally, I would take some more chapters before this one, but let's be honest, my "idle" scenes are really bad. So let's have another battle where people die. Someone has to fill the empty graves I dug. 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!