The City of Above

47:35

Now, everyone is prepared for another mission, that... seems to be already going to start at any second. But even so, nobody seems so pleased doing it. Not because of the incident, but more because of a different reason.

[/J4CE]-...Are you sure about this, Master RY4N?

[RY4N]-If I said we are doing it, WE are doing it.

[N4THAN]-As much as I would like to be positive, Mr. J4CE has his rights to be concerned, Master. I don't think it's the best idea to put the recruit complete this mission...

[/ELL1OT]-...I have to say that he is right. We lost more Investigators in this building alone, even Master CHE5TER came injured out of it.

[/IZA4K]-It is the most guarded building in the entire city after all. What did you expect? Not even the crisis going on now will stop the soldiers from doing their duties here.

[RY4N]-That's why we should give it a try. If anything, the building could have answers to whatever the General is planning to do in this "next phase of the plan".

[LUK3]-Even I have a bad feeling about this, Boss...

[/C0NNER]-Oh, if even HE fears this...

[RY4N]-I won't change my mind now. We shall continue the Great Leader's work for the city's safety.

[/IZA4K]-I don't think Master CHE5TER wished for us to commit suicide, but oh well...

N04H was scared as he heard the conversation between everyone, as he was the one who is put to enter the building in the first place. If even the Great Leader couldn't escape harmless, then what makes him think he can do it?

[RY4N]-Are you ready N04H?

[N04H]-Mhm...

[RY4N]-Do the same thing as you did yesterday, okay? And listen to Mr. N4THAN.

He then activates his device, vanishing immediately, without any other word. What can he do? Now, RY4N is the Leader. He has to obey to whatever he says.

47:41

He enters the building without making any kind of noise. Compared to the building from yesterday, this one is indeed more heavily guarded. No matter where you look, there is always at least one soldier guarding the area. He tries to not panic and goes forward guided by N4THAN.

When he arrives at the specific door, he doesn't actually know what to do, as two soldiers are standing side by side in front of the entrance, and don't seem as they will move any sooner. He can't speak to N4THAN either, as someone might hear him. In the end, his very first idea to announce him is by pressing the big button on his airpod, which for N4THAN appears as a quick "beep", then disappearing.

He is not so sure what it means, as he used other codes with the ruler when he worked with Him. So, He tells the Hackers to track down his location in the building first so they can tell the Defenders to view the area around him, in hope that he might get an idea of what's happening. And so they did, a Defender looks at the area noticing the door and the two soldiers. Mr. N4THAN understands then that he can't get inside, so he puts the Hackers to find another way. They find one, of course, but he needs to use the ventilation, which would mean that he needs to go back from where he came from.

He goes back, gets into the ventilation when nobody was looking and goes forward guided by what N4THAN says, who seems a bit confused as some people are shouting in his airpods which one is the best, but he manages to get in the room after a bit of anger. He disables his device to not waste its battery, of course, but the room itself is a bit too dark for him to see anything. He struggles a bit at first, before setting somehow the airpod to give him even a bit of light.

[/N4THAN]-N04H, can you find any kind of document there?

[N04H]-Let me see...

The room seems pretty empty though, only a desk and a chair located to what seems to be a closed window are found. Remembering what he found yesterday, maybe he can try the same thing on this one as well. But as he gets closer, the desk doesn't seem to look any close to what the other one looked like. It looks more advanced, not a normal desk. He looks for some drawers, but the desk doesn't seem to have, not even one.

[N04H]-...I don't see anything here. It's just a desk and a chair in a closed room.

[/N4THAN]-It can't be just nothingness. As how highly guarded this room is, I can't believe there is only a desk and a chair. Look in the drawers.

[N04H]-I already thought of that, but there are no drawers to begin with.

[/N4THAN]-What!? No, there has to be something! Look closer! Maybe you can find something out of the ordinary.

He checks the chair to see if maybe he missed something, but nothing. He even sits on it to see if it can activate something, but still no response from any of his actions. He gets a bit disappointed, actually, so he puts his hands on the desk to think a bit what could he try now.

And of course the only random thing he does is the right thing to begin with. As he puts his head on the desk too, he notices that under him it got a bit brighter out of nowhere. When he looks, the desk seem to have a circle in the middle, one that wasn't before. He looks at it before doing anything, to see if there is suppose to be something, and tries to touch more of the area out of the circle to see if he can activate other things as well. But it doesn't seem to work as intended, in the end, the only thing remaining on the desk is that circle. He puts his finger on it to see if it does anything, but nothing in response. Then he puts his whole hand and finally sees progress. A light appears and starts moving from up to down in the circle for a bit as he keeps his hand there. He gets fascinated a bit as he is curious what's behind.

But, curiosity kills as well, as the light and the circle disappear completely and an alarm goes on. He gets up from his chair and goes to the ventilation before anybody enters the room. Right in time as he closes everything, the soldiers come to investigate the area.

47:53

[/N4THAN]-N04H, what's happening? Why are the alarms activated??

[N04H]-It was the desk itself all this time! There should be whatever they hide!

[/N4THAN]-N04H, where are you??

[N04H]-I'm in the ventilation! I need to go back to the exit now!

[/N4THAN]-No, no, no, no... N04H, stop talking! They might hear y--

Yet N4THAN doesn't manage to finish his sentence, as underneath him, a bullet made its way through the ventilation, almost even hitting him. Though he was silent when he came, now he made too much noise and discovered himself. He gets panicked and starts moving faster.

[MSoldier1]-He's here!

[MSoldier2]-Get him, now!!

His heartbeats rise to the heavens as he hears the soldiers coming after him. He moves forward for a while, but the soldiers stop him from getting any further, activating a small explosive as they stay far from the location and destroying the ventilation, making N04H fall. He gets fast from the ground as he isn't hurt badly yet and looks behind, only for him to see the soldiers coming closer and closer. Now he understands why they lost so many Investigators in the past. Whatever was yesterday was nothing if this is a normal mission for them.

[/N4THAN]-N04H, get out of there! Don't stay in one spot! RUN!!

And so he does. He starts running for his life as he never did before, not even when he first met these people. Meanwhile, N4THAN gets panicked and looks at his new Leader.

[N4THAN]-Master RY4N, N04H is in trouble! We need people to get him out!

But RY4N looks at him terrified, almost traumatised from what he just heard. Just these few words made him realise the mistake he made: he put a child in a suicide mission because of his despair.

[RY4N]-...Strikers! I need you all to go after him now!

[LUK3]-No need for everyone. If there is someone who needs to go, that will be me. If I didn't obligate you yesterday, he wasn't in this situation.

[RY4N]-There is too much for you to handle alone, LUK3!

[LUK3]-It's not like it's the first time I'm doing this. Just stop talking and let me do my thing.

Yet now, we are cut back to N04H, still watching the recruit run, as bullets try to reach him. He doesn't look behind as he tries to find an exit, but no matter how much he looks for one, the soldiers are already guarding any kind of possible way out. He can't run forever though. He is exhausted and soldiers are catching up with him fast, and it doesn't help either that some bullets even managed to hit him which slowed him down, but at least he wasn't affected during the whole explosion so he isn't injured from them. Still, they can do their work even this way, knowing that they are designed to just knock them on the floor rather than killing them. After all, everyone needs to be affected by that gas to be injured to begin with.

But after the whole chasing, N04H finally can't bear any more step and falls to the ground. He was so scared, he didn't know what will happen to him. He never knew what happens to the survivors of the execution who become slaves. But luckily for him, LUK3 gets into action, being covered by his armour, only the face being revealed.

[LUK3]-...You missed me, little guy?

[N04H]-LUK3!

[LUK3]-That's right! Now get your ass up and run!

LUK3 protects N04H from the bullets coming their way with his weapon while he tries to get up and do as he said. Then, he fixes it heavily in a wall to detach a part of it and throws it to the soldiers coming to slow them down, and of course, starting to run after.

[LUK3]-Why didn't you activate your armour too?

[N04H]-YOU DIDN'T TELL ME I HAVE ONE!

[LUK3]-Are you stupid? The thing on your arm has it!

[N04H]-Oh, great! Maybe next time YOU WARN ME??

[LUK3]-Yeesh, you are such a cry-baby! You have five buttons, god dammit! You never got curious to see what every single one does?

[N04H]-NO??

[LUK3]-Oh, I have a lot to teach you, buddy! For now, just run! I don't want to lose you now as well!

Though he was speaking the same stupid way he was before, his voice wasn't really the same, nor his attitude. He saw him many times arguing with the Great Leader, but even after all of this, it seems that it got him a bit affected too. But now it wasn't the moment to think about that. They had to continue running.

Minutes of chasing later, they get to a hole in one of the walls that get them outside which seems to be the entrance he created when he came, high above the ground, but some soldiers were already there to make sure they won't escape. LUK3 didn't seem as he cared though, he continued running towards it as there was nothing.

[N04H]-LUK3, they are going to catch us!

[LUK3]-No, they aren't! Trust me and continue running!

And so they do. They run faster and faster towards their exit, ignoring all the soldiers standing there. Then he takes his weapon, pointing it in front of him, as he runs and looks down to protect himself from any possible danger and takes N04H by his hand, screaming like the soldiers will fear him or something. Then, they finally jump off the building.

As they jump outside from a huge height, he drops off a device behind him, which when it finally activates, covers the whole hole from the wall almost completely. The only thing they have to fear now is the landing. While they are falling, LUK3 takes N04H in his arms and fixes his weapon aggressively in the building to slow down the falling. When they get closer to the roof of another building, he pushes his body with all his strength of his feet towards it and falls on it safely, remaining on the ground because of the impact.

Though none of them were affected by the gas, a landing like that can't just leave you without anything. Immunity or not, the body can still response to pain. And not only that, but their energy also gets affected, as both of them seem to have lost that C colour of theirs pretty quickly, remaining only a tiny part of it, causing the exhaustion they might have. Yet from his airpod, LUK3 can hear a voice talking to him again.

[/KYR4]-LUK3! LUK3, can you hear me?

[LUK3]-...KYR4?

[/KYR4]-Can you hear me, LUK3?

[LUK3]-Yeah... I can hear you...

[/KYR4]-What happened there?

Both of the boys stay on the ground, unable to move, N04H even seeming as he passed out because of the whole impact from the landing and loss of energy too quickly, while LUK3 barely keeps himself awake too. Others, though, wait for his response, as they are concerned for both of them.

[/LUK3]-...We managed to escape from the building.

[N4THAN]-Thank M1NERV4 they are alright...

[/LUK3]-We are... somewhere... on another rooftop... Can you see us?

Officer KYR4 then makes two sings with her hand to some of the people around her, making them search for them both. A man notices the boys standing on a smaller building and announces her affirmatively.

[/KYR4]-Yes, we found you. Some people are on their way. Just stay there and wait.

[LUK3]-...Hey... KYR4?

[/KYR4]-What is it?

[LUK3]-...Why don't you admit you are worried... about me?

[/KYR4]-You are talking nonsense again.

[LUK3]-I can... hear it from your voice... Hehe...

[/KYR4]-And I think you hit yourself too badly in the head this time.

As he listens for the last time her voice, he smiles a bit as he looks at nothingness, closing his eyes slowly. All he can reply to this is a simple laugh, before passing out.

[LUK3]-Ha ha...