Yoo Mina watched as the Corrupted rushed recklessly at her, madly lunging with a deafening roar. Their lack of any awareness made her prime to take advantage of any plans, yet she also knew strength in numbers could take a seasoned Counter down well enough. Many reports she had read of companies being shut down or employee Counters slaughtered. She herself had been under employment of companies prior to Fenrir, and witnessed death that would have struck any lesser Counters. If one could not see the possible deaths of allies in their field of work, then they were weak.
The first batch ran at her, lunging with their mass of limbs. Jumping to the side to avoid the diseased monstrosity, she smacked it with her rifle, firing a shot that also blew off a large portion of its body, spewing dark blood. Twisting around she fired another shot that dispersed another into bloody bits. Another rushed from her side, its claws seeking her out but she was fast, reloading for another shot that splattered its blood across and painting the field even further in gore.
Her steps were lithe and quick, honed even despite the rank she had. But then, even the lowest of D Counters had attributes that put them above the realm of the rest of humanity. When an individual became a Counter, while they could freely live with the rest of humanity, they no longer were that of a normal life. Counters largely dedicated their lives to the protection of humanity from the Corrupted in the Counterside. Their awakening of their powers through the Watch, a device that also designated them as Counters and was the only source of protection against the disease of the Corruption.
Yoo Mina herself was one such individual.
A shot dispersed another into chunks, while she slammed her foot hard against the skull of another Corrupted beast, sending it back as it crashed hard against the wall, crashing through and hitting the surface of another, accompanied by spiderweb cracks. In her dance of battle she continued, weaving through the tangled mass of limbs to avoid any attacks and retaliating whenever. A few with their claw-like protrusions came close, but none touched her. With a precise shot, she fired into a mass of them, the bullet piercing through and detonating, the smell of copper and chemicals from the bullet lingering in the air.
In her dance came the memories of Amy, the girl of the Freedom Riders, who had fought alongside her, the mocking scorn of her death delivered as if a casual news report, and it fueled her even more; Amy's death fueled her anger and drive, and all the Corrupted in front of her were nothing but prey. Amy, the girl who did not need to die, was slaughtered by the Replacer Knight. A clawed limb reached for her, but she flipped over, slamming her heel across its face hard enough to pulverize it, and landed on top of another. With a leap, she was out of the way of her prey as it tried to grab her from above, but high above, she fired into the mass, a crackling explosion as it became nothing more than pulverized obsidian flesh and matter.
Finished with her carnage, Yoo Mina awaited the next batch, and as they spawned from the depths once more, again did her carnage begin.
Lee Sooyeon took a sip of coffee, her footsteps echoing down the corridor of Coffin Company. The former Counter's face was set and etched in a serious disposition as her heels clicked in the emptiness down the hallways of Coffin. The walls lit with a fluorescent vibrant nature, one that grossly contrasted with the reputation of the company itself.
The Administrator, the CEO of their beloved Coffin, was awaiting her arrival in their meeting and Lee Sooyeon made haste for it, though not as quickly to maintain a dignified appearance overall. As she did so, she mulled over the past events. Yoo Mina, or as both Hilde and Joo Shiyoon would call her, "newbie", had joined them, even though the girl had made it clear that she was simply in it to get paid with her first arrival, leading up to a chain of events that led to the girl proving her commitment to the company.
The C ranked Counter certainly had made something of a headline.
A swipe of her card opened the elevator doors, and another swipe, as the glossy interior of the elevator popped open, revealing a button which she also pressed, the elevator rumbling as it took her to her destination.
As the doors opened, she was greeted to Kim Hana. The manager of their company greeted her with a polite bow. In her hands were stacks of papers and a clipboard. She greeted her with a nod. "Kim."
"Ah! Miss Sooyeon! Administrator Tavan is awaiting your arrival!"
"Thank you, Kim. Shall we enter?"
At a nod, the two entered the meeting room.
The meeting room was wide and expansive. A long table stretched across Coffin, along with many screens and keyboards that stretched across the walls. The screen was flashing brightly with an array of movement. One screen contained news reports of the latest Counterside Effects, while another contained a map of the surrounding cities. Situated at the center of one of the ends of the table, was the Administrator.
Or rather… It was him, and it wasn't him.
The robot that was used to hide his identity, the Machine GAP, waved his arms in greeting in such a ridiculous manner that it was hard not to smile. The metallic plate that acted as both his face and was controlled by the true man behind the AI was smiling, an emoticon that was plastered on his face in a goofy smile, though she knew that the man behind it was smiling, the AI was all but a mask and a facade to present. It also, in a sense that he told her and Kim, that it was a rare chance for him to "fuck around" with others.
"Evening, Lee! Glad to see you come on such short notice!"
But it did concern her the slightest bit. Only her and Kim were here, so why was he still hiding behind the robot? She also was concerned with the details pertaining the meeting. She had yet to discover why had Administrator Tavan chose to be discreet about any details. Just that the meeting was important. Perhaps she would find out right now.
She greeted him back. "Good evening, Administrator Tavan."
The robot gave a high pitched laugh. "Come on! At least be a bit more lively!"
Though she smiled only briefly at the ridiculous nature of what Coffin's CEO did to piss around with others, it was a joke that was only a brief reprieve, or rather, add to the frankly chaotic nature of Coffin. Their company was not normal. Then again, nothing about the world around them was normal in any sense of the word, from a Counter's standpoint.
The robotic laughter ended, as the humor vanquished immediately after soon it had arrived. "Both of you. Sit down."
Lee and Kim exchanged glances but immediately sat down. The tone the robotic facade the Administrator took was of a more serious nature, and it did not fit on the droid. It fit rather more on the Administrator's true image.
"You are wondering why I have called this meeting, yes? Kim? Lee?"
Lee spoke immediately first. "Sir. You haven't detailed any specifics regarding the meeting." A sidelong glance at Kim, and she was tilting her head as well in agreement.
The robot voice hummed for a moment, adopting a thinking posture that still looked ridiculous on the droid. "I can't blame you if you do. To be honest, I did call this meeting for a specific reason." As the robot glanced at them, Lee Sooyeon could see the smirk on his face.
"Tell me. What do you think about forging an alliance with another company?"
A company?! A TASKFORCE company?
But that couldn't be. No TASKFORCE company would even work with a company such as Coffin. A large part of her blamed Hilde's abandonment of the company as many applicants passed it by for its failure and the company's egregious reputation, but there was a large variety of factors besides Hilde, yet she was still bitter that her former Commander chose to leave Coffin, abandoning what the company had stood for.
Lee Sooyeon immediately spoke up. "Sir, if I'm going to be blunt, that is frankly stupid and ridiculous." She couldn't help but be slightly bitter about it, even though she tried to push Hilde out of her mind. It was a metaphorical and literal stab in the back that she couldn't help but amount all those problems Coffin had to Hilde.
Kim was less blunt and crude, but her thoughts echoed Lee Sooyeon's own perfectly. "Administrator Tavan… I'm unsure if any TASKFORCE company would even work with Coffin with how our… reputation has been to the public at large and even other companies."
The robot stared silently at both of them, its face blank on the shiny surface and carapace of the droid. "I'm well aware. Yet I think this company and ours will work very well. In fact, I already called their CEO." He raised up an arm to halt Lee Sooyeon's interrogation at his actions. "They do not care about Coffin's reputation. In fact, they have experienced a similar event themselves losing many of their Counters."
It did not paint a bright picture at all. Was there a company out there that had just as much a torrid reputation as Coffin?
"Regardless, their CEO is someone who I think you, especially you, Sooyeon, who you would know quite well."
"Me, sir?" Lee Sooyeon raised a brow in curiosity. Who would know her from her past? She went through her memories, but only recalled the bitter anger and hurt as Hilde left. Joo Shiyoon remaining adamant in staying even though she had given up hope at times and even told him he could leave if he wanted to. She recalled in her days as a Counter of Fenrir Division, and a few familiar faces, but she had never seen those faces ever again as she grew older and older and eventually retired to manage as to assist the current CEO before her. Her days of a Counter were long gone, and she would not return back to fight again anytime soon.
"I think Administator Tavan means me." A voice spoke from one of the flat screens above them. The screen flickered a blank empty gray background, before the face popped into view.
But it was the face that Lee Seeyeon knew from her past. From Fenrir Division, she recalled the face from the olden days under the Old Administration. It was the face of someone she befriended, and the voice, much deeper, and his face was more sharpened and older, signifying his own experience and age. The piercing sky blue eyes were the same, retaining kindness but also a hardened edge that she knew from Fenrir Division. Yet they were all the same despite time changing him.
She was staring into the face of her friend from the past, Minato Namikaze.
She must've spoken his name, because he smiled in return. "Lee Sooyeon. It has been quite some time. You're beautiful as always. It's good to see you again after all these years."
Lee Sooyeon exited the meeting, her mind brewing with thoughts.
Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Two of her friends had also been Counters like her. They had split up during their childhood and she had never seen either of them again. When Fenrir Division had formed, she had recalled them while they had been in training as Counters, and missions and objectives slowly made her forget about her past with either of them. The formation of Coffin and Hilde's departure made her entirely forget who they had been.
Konoha Institute.
One of the most recognized famed TASKFORCE companies that was now commandeered by Minato, the fourth CEO following the death of his predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and founded by the legendary Hashirama Senju and his brother and the second CEO, Tobirama. The company had gained and garnered a positive reputation for many of its powerful Counters and cutting-edge technology, and it had been recognized across the world for its high pay, quick response time, and multiple benefits for its employees. Due to Coffin's own poor reputation in contrast, along with her own anger at Hilde's departure, had been to reason why they had not found each other again earlier, along with Minato's work schedule, which she was sure wouldn't even be worth the pay that was given.
That had all changed within the incident that had also taken Kushina Uzumaki's life, along with many of its other Counters. Konoha had been known then as one of the companies that amounted to a large amount of life loss, and many of its Counters KIA. It had served as an example to many other companies as even a company as powerful as Konoha was not infallible.
Minato was able to sweep together the fractured company and put it back together, but the damage had been done. Konoha was only a shadow of what it had been. When Minato had been given the position, he had been searching through old contacts and pinpointed her to Coffin Company after hours of searching through multiple companies.
The meeting passed, and a contract between Coffin's Tavan and Konoha's Minato had been formed.
Konoha Institute would send a team of its own to assist Fenrir Squad the following day. It was a team, most notably by its name she had recognized, Team Kakashi, led by its commander, Kakashi Hatake.
Hello and welcome. With CounterSide's release a year back, I had this in the woodwork for quite some time, where the basic premise is that Konoha is a TASKFORCE company as with many others in the world of CounterSide, and Naruto and company are Counters.
You may already notice a couple of familiar plot and settings introduced here that are carried over from the series, with a couple differences.
Team 7 and every other character will be relatively the same personality wise as they are in Canon, with changes to suit the AU.
No pairings… yet.
Other Konoha Squads will make an appearance, though the main focus will be Team 7 and Fenrir Squad.