CHAPTER 2 – TEAM
-Luke's Side-
Luke entered the back of the truck, which was practically empty. He sat on the floor of the vehicle and looked alternately at the other 3 soldiers inside the truck. He recognized 2 of them. Sitting on his left side, was Raven, who chuckled and shook her head when she saw him. On his right, was the girl with the eye-patch, Diana, a soldier from the Trainee Corps before his that ranked 1st. She had medium length mahogany hair by the shoulder and her uncovered eye showed a shining greenish hazel color. She was 5 years older than Luke and Raven, making her 21 years old. The last soldier was leaning against the outer side of the driver's seat with his arms crossed. He had his long blonde hair by the nape tied up in a ponytail. He was taller than Raven and Diana and also taller than Luke. He was muscled and well built. He crossed a leg over the other and looked up to Luke. ''Welcome ! We are the new Special Operation Squad of the Recon Corps. I'm Captain Michael and I'm gonna be leading this team. I've already introduced myself to the rest of the team, at least to those who didn't know me.'' When Michael finished his sentence, Luke heard a light snore in the corner of the truck. He then realized that there was someone sleeping in there, completely covered with a black blanket that hid that person. Michael chuckled ''As I was saying, you only know one person in here and that person is Raven Clark, from your Trainee Corps. Then you have Diana, my girlfrie-'' ''I'm not your girlfriend…'' Diana, interrupted with a firm and harsh voice. Michael laughed lowly and didn't seem to care ''Whatever you say babe~ Anyways, the girl sleeping in the corner is Lilianne, also from our Trainee Corps. And the 5 of us make the Spec Ops Squad ! Now… Let's head to what matters… Our mission is simple but complex at the same time… The simplicity lies in our briefing. We have to get inside the Titan Research Facility and escort a very peculiar item or items, since we're getting lots of boxes full of the material. So… The difficulty of this mission is in how to get in. There will definitely be titans around the Facility and probably some titan-shifters and anti-humans inside so take these.'' He gave each one of them, except Lilianne, a handgun. ''Those are for emergencies. Always aim for the head. I don't know if it works but we will only know by trying. Also, don't improvise. We'll split in two teams. Diana will go with Luke and I'll go with Raven.'' Luke raised his hand to ask a question but lowered it a bit after, feeling stupid and realizing that he wasn't on the academy anymore. ''What about Lilianne ?'' he asked ''Oh, Lilianne is our tech girl~ She's going to give us directions through these.'' He handed them all a small metal circle. Luke and Raven looked a bit at them before putting it in their ears, realizing that it was an earphone and a microphone at the same time. ''She'll also be guiding us inside of the Facility, telling us where to go and where to find what we're looking for'' Luke scratched his chin before asking ''What exactly are we looking for ?'' Michael chuckled but Luke noticed that he got a little pale ''Wow, you're a curious kid, aren't you…? They told me you were so but I still chose you. The thing is, I can't tell you, kid… This is the Spec Ops and our first rule is «Follow your orders, with no questions asked» and I hope you follow that rule strictly. We're on a confidential mission to retrieve an even more confidential item. If the bosses decide to tell you what we're going to get, you'll get to know it later… Until then, let's just worry about following their orders.'' Luke nodded and sat beside Raven. He sighed and leaned his head back against the truck's wall. He was impatient, nervous and anxious. God knows what happened to Sky already… He was afraid that she was wounded or worse… Dead... To help his anxiety, the vehicle stopped. Everyone exited the truck and looked around the ruined city.
They were standing on a tall hill on the edge of the battleground. The mixed scent of smoke and blood was already overly present on Milenas. ''Have the civilians been evacuated already ?'' said a sleepy voice through the microphone in their ears. The team looked behind and spotted Lilianne, a short ginger girl rubbing her light green eyes under her rectangular glasses. She yawned and placed a finger below each one of the lenses in her glasses, pushing them up. ''Oh ! Who's the little boy ?~ '' she had a spicy voice. She seemed the type of girl that would burn you if you'd stand up to her. ''Little ?'' asked Luke. ''It's a joke kid, relax~ By the way, you guys didn't answer my question. Have the civilians been evacuated ?'' at the precise moment that Lilianne finished her phrase, the withdrawal signal was given. A loud alarm noise coming from a huge speaker in the middle of the town, letting all the soldiers know that the civilians that survived the invasion have been extracted. The whole team looked above them and watched hundreds of soldiers retreating to safety. ''Now it's our turn… The main forces are retreating and only the vanguard is staying. The elite teams are coming in which means that the enemy is bringing their elites as well… Titan-shifters and elite anti-humans… '' said Michael, now facing the team. ''Alright ! Think of this as a Capture the Flag game ! Retrieve the flag which in this case is the item we're looking for and come to the extraction point. Remember the teams ? Me and Raven, Luke and Diana. Okay… I wish you all good luck and may you all come back safe… Luke, your commander warned me about your recklessness… Try not to put yourself in danger and more important… Don't put others in danger…'' Michael said, looking at Luke. His phrase shocked, embarrassed and enraged Luke, who clenched his fist and bit his tongue. He tried to hold it back but his thoughts spoke louder. He glared at Michael, who kept looking at him, knowing that the boy would say something. ''With all due respect, sir but… I think you are either blind or dumb… I'm not the reckless brat you think I am… I am an extremely capable and useful soldier and I believe that that's the reason why you chose me… So you can shove my non-existing recklessness somewhere deep inside you where the sun can't reach…'' And with those words, Luke flew away at high speed, to somewhere far away from there. Diana looked at Michael, who was now surprised and shocked. ''I warned you…'' said Diana ''I told you to go easy in the kid…'' she flew away after Luke. Raven patted Michael's soldier. ''He's been through a lot… He's a bit edgy when someone gets on his nerves. This really won't be the last time he speaks to someone like that. Let's go…'' They both took flight.
END OF CHAPTER 2