Chapter 10 - Promise

02.04.1642

The Southeast Military Base

47:29

Little N04H, LUK3 and MY4 are walking together on the hallway as they talk, or, well... as LUK3 talks. He seems relaxed, despite the chaos that is happening around the base at this hour, as everyone seems to get ready to leave, but also confused on what's happening for an unknown reason. Officer RY4N is one of these people, and as he notices the small group, he rushes towards these three to talk with Miss MY4.

[RY4N]-MY4!

[MY4]-...?

When she heard him, she looks confused at the young Officer, as he seems a bit worried as well.

[RY4N]-Have you seen CHE5TER? The mission is about to start and none of us can find him anywhere! Did he tell you anything?

[MY4]-No, actually... Are you sure He said there will be a mission now?

[RY4N]-Don't you see all the people here!? Of course he did! And we even tried to contact him, but no response!

[LUK3]-Well then I don't need to stress myself to get ready if Boss isn't here. N04H, do you want to train a bit now?

[RY4N]-LUK3, I'm serious! He doesn't miss any mission, nor he informs us of one and leaves us to do it without him!

[MY4]-...Have you tried talking to the people around the city that work for us? Maybe they know something.

[RY4N]-I already thought of that! None of the people that I asked about him seem to know where he is now! Nobody saw him in the city!

[N04H]-M-Maybe He just took a break?

[RY4N]-Without telling us?

RY4N looks at the recruit as he says these words, making him realise that the situation is serious.

[LUK3]-With or without Him, we are prepared for every mission. I don't think it is something so hard that we can't do without His orders. You led us in the past, what's with the whole crisis?

[RY4N]-That's not my point, LUK3! And even so, you already know he is the only person with the Investigator role until N04H finishes his two years of training!

[LUK3]-Then put N04H in this mission this time. What's the big deal?

[RY4N]-Are you out of your mind!? I can't put a child without experience to complete this mission!

[LUK3]-You say it like he isn't capable of doing anything. Besides, isn't training better in a real situation rather than a simulated one? At least this way he can learn what he has to do in the future. The soldiers of the M aren't focusing on finding more C borns in the city anyway?

[RY4N]-LUK3...

[LUK3]-...AAAND if something really happens, I can always go and take his butt out of the problem! It's not like we will leave him alone for good!

[RY4N]-...

RY4N looks again at the young recruit as he waits for his response. Of course, from the look on his face, he really wants to join this mission, and LUK3 seems pretty confident in what he is saying too.

[RY4N]-I don't know, LUK3... It still seems too risky. CHE5TER wouldn't agree to this plan...

[LUK3]-Forget what Boss thinks! This time, you are the Leader, not Him! You have to make your own decisions, RY4N!

So he looks one more time at the soldier. Though his stupidity makes him look like a fool most of the times, he has his own moments of seriousness, but they still look like he is joking. RY4N doesn't have a choice here though. All the people already prepared and he is the Leader until the real one comes back from wherever He is. If the Great Leader wished to make this mission, he cannot cancel His words.

[RY4N]-*sigh* I know I'm going to hate myself after this, but... Everyone! I will be the one who will lead you on this mission! Take your leave and meet me at the Entrance 19 of the City of Above!

And with that, LUK3 smiles confidently at the temporary Leader, while he simply seems pissed off by this idea.

[RY4N]-...I hope you know what you are doing, LUK3. Don't make me regret my choice.

[LUK3]-Don't worry, Boss! I will keep my eyes on the little man!

The City of Above

48:05

Now, everyone stands hidden on different buildings, circling the one in which they have to go to do their mission. Most of the people are the Guardians who supervise the situation in the area around them, so they can make sure nobody finds them during the mission. The others are the ones that are completing the mission itself, like a few Defenders including C0NNER, the Hackers which are led by Officer KYR4 and emergency people which have some Strikers and a few Healers.

[LUK3]-Are you ready, little guy?

[N04H]-I'm not so sure...

[LUK3]-Oh, come ooon! Of course you are ready! I wouldn't have taken you in the first place if you weren't ready after all!

[/KYR4]-Maybe he would've feel better if you didn't force him in the first place.

[LUK3]-Hey!! I didn't force anybody!

[/B4S7IAN]-You literally forced Officer RY4N to take the responsibilities and make this kid come with us to "train". We could've just stayed at the base and wait to see what Master CHE5TER wanted to do, but nooo, I have to risk a young life in this mission because I think I'm the smartest guy in the world!

[LUK3]-OKAY, OKAY! NOW YOU CAN STOP!! ...I wasn't speaking to any of you anyway, why are you guys even talking?

[/J4CE]-Maybe because you are as stupid as always and we have to tell you when you are wrong every single time.

[LUK3]-You guys are mean, you know that?

[/B4S7IAN]-Oh, cOMe OOon! DOn'T bE LIke thAt! ...We know you love to work with us anyway!

[LUK3]-Well, I DON'T like when YOU are making fun of ME!

[/RY4N]-Alright everyone! You can stop all this nonsense now! It's too late to change the situation anyway. If the Great Leader wished to make this mission, we have to obey to his orders.

As they stop talking in their airpods, Officer RY4N comes to LUK3 and N04H with CHE5TER's personal Defender, Mr. N4THAN.

[N4THAN]-Hello, N04H! It seems like our paths have crossed their ways again!

[RY4N]-...N04H, I think you already met Mr. N4THAN, right?

[N04H]-Yeah... He helped me when I chose my role.

[RY4N]-Since you didn't choose your personal Defender yet, and CHE5TER isn't present to work with him, he will be the one guiding you this time. The other Defenders will only provide him with information so that he can help you.

[N04H]-Right... So it will be similar to when we've first worked together?

[N4THAN]-I will try my best, though I am used to other methods during the missions, so if you encounter any problem on what I'm saying, just remind me that you are not the person I'm working with in general. Your airpod will be connected only to mine unlike the others, so it won't confuse you whatever we are going to talk during the mission. You just need to focus on what I'm saying, alright?

[N04H]-Alright...

[RY4N]-And remember! If anything happens, shout for help so we can send the Strikers to help you get out! I don't want another person to act brave and do everything by himself! It's your first time in a real mission, don't do anything stupid!

[LUK3]-Actually, it's the second time.

[RY4N]-You don't help, LUK3!

[N04H]-Okay... I think I got it.

[RY4N]-Good. Now go in there so we can finish this quickly. CHE5TER's gonna kill me if he finds out what we are doing, and I fear that he might be in this city, so it is a chance we will all get in trouble.

Then, N04H activates the device which makes him invisible and gets into action. Though RY4N said these words to the little man, at least some people know the actual truth. Yes, they fear that the ruler might find out what's happening, which is very clear that He will, no matter how hard they hide it from Him, but the Officer wishes for His appearance at this mission, even if that means he will have to argue a lot with his brother about this subject. The only thing he can do now is to take a deep breath and hope for the best.

48:17

After he got in the building, N04H started walk around the hallway, guided by N4THAN, as he can't let him to do every decision on his own yet. Some soldiers wander around here too, but there is no stress as they can't see him. Then, he finally arrives at the room that N4THAN told him to find, so he waits for all the soldiers to go away and to enter the room itself. He then disables the device to not waste its battery and starts whispering to the Defender.

[N04H]-Alright, N4THAN! I'm in! What do I do now?

[/N4THAN]-Find the document we require!

[N04H]-Okay... but what document do I have to find exactly?

N4THAN looks at the Officer who was standing next to him to make sure that the situation there is fine.

[N4THAN]-What document do we need to find?

Yet RY4N, as he hears these words, realises that there is still a problem with the Great Leader's absence. Though they know what they have to do in every mission, the only one who knows what are they searching for is missing. He looks fast at the papers that he has with him, searching for a possible answer. N4THAN gets scared, worried about the little man, as he realises the problem too.

[/N04H]-N4THAN? Hello? Can you hear me? Mr. N4THAN?

[N4THAN]-Hold on a bit, buddy!

He looks at the Officer who was still struggling to find an answer, but there is no hope. The Great Leader never revealed the documents needed on the papers that He writes to His brother, nor to the people that help Him. Only the Investigators who were working before knew what they had to find. It was decided to be like this even before He chose this title, so if anybody unauthorised finds these papers, they won't know what they are trying to see in the first place.

[N4THAN]-What do we do? We came too far to leave empty-handed!

Out of adrenaline, the RY4N takes the Defender's airpods and starts talking to the recruit as he remembers something.

[RY4N]-N04H, listen to me! In the equipment that I gave you, there is a small camera hidden! Somewhere behind your airpod, there are two small buttons! The first one will activate a small transparent screen that would stay in front of your right eye, and the second one is the button that you can use to take photos. By activating the screen, you activate the camera as well!

N04H puts his right hand on the airpod to find the buttons that his Officer was telling him about. He does as he said, activating that transparent screen he was talking about.

[/RY4N]-Did you find it?

[N04H]-Yeah!

[/RY4N]-Good! Now search for every document that seems important and take photos of them as much as you can!

So, he starts searching for documents in the rooms. He doesn't seem to know what "important" means though, so he just takes photos of whatever he finds interesting, such as some documents that have some information about things that happened around 50 years ago or 100 years ago, some even older, others that talk about the city's evolution throughout the years, some about how many slaves were recorded to exist in the past 20 years, the numbers of the C borns executed analysed and so on and so forth. None of these seem to get close to the word "important" to him, but he doesn't know what exactly they need in the first place.

But as he searches more, he finds a strange hole in one drawer of a desk. He puts his finger there by curiosity and activates a hologram which seems to be the map of the entire city. Again, he doesn't see something important in it. Several maps are found in every base. But as he looks deeper at this hologram, he sees in a corner a strange icon. He puts his hand on the hologram to interact with it and presses that icon, and by pressing it, makes it appear a space on the right side of the map, full of hidden documents, messages by the high titles and more. By clicking on one, not only the document is opened, but the map moves on some locations by itself. Each document and message seem to be talking about future plans decided by the General, such as where they will patrol or with which people they are still struggling to make a deal to get their slaves, so he takes photos of everything he sees.

But one thing attracts his eyes at the end, a conversation between two M Colonels about something. The document itself doesn't have a name, it's simply a chat.

"-...I'm not sure about that. When we came to the location to investigate everything, only the body of the victim was found. It doesn't seem to be her the one who did this. Even the soldiers who were before us reported a man leaving the building.

-So it was him again?

-Most likely. But they said they attacked the man as he was leaving, the result being some buildings getting damaged. Also, they did report that they caught him into an explosion, leaving a bit of blood behind, but the body wasn't found. It was either blown up completely or they still have to search deeper. Either way, I do not think he is still alive. Seven Two was already injured as far as we know.

-Then if we really managed to get rid of him, we can finally prepare for the next phase of the General's plan. Whatever that is..."

But he can't read anymore as he hears noises coming from the hallway. He closes this strange hologram as he already took enough photos, activates his device to vanish, gets outside the building and manages to go back to the group that was waiting for him.

While so, RY4N seems to be looking around the city for a reason or another. It's not to guard the area, being his role as one of the Guardians, but rather to find something, or someone. N04H then finally comes back, without any kind of emergency happening. For a first try, he did pretty well. LUK3 was also waiting for him all this time to see how he did, so when he saw him, he took him by surprise and raised him a bit in the air by holding him by a hand.

[LUK3]-Ohhohoho, no problems encountered? No alarms activated? I can't even tell if you are a noob! SEE EVERYONE!? I KNOW WHEN PEOPLE ARE GREAT AT DOING THINGS!

[N4THAN]-Did you manage to find anything?

[N04H]-I did...

[N4THAN]-Alright. Hope what you have is useful then... Let's wait until we get back to the base so we can see what you've got there.

The Defender then looks at the Officer who was still looking around the area...

[N4THAN]-Master RY4N, we are ready to go!

...but he didn't seem to respond at first. He looked down, closing his eyes and took a breath before he made his decision.

[RY4N]-...Let's go.