บท 14: The First Wave
"So, do you plan to die here?"
Albert drew a line with his finger in the air and the chatters on the ship's viewing deck were then shut out. His word was warm like a salesman knocking at one's door to sell some beauty products but it gave off a suffocating impression that she would have a knife through her skull if she were to give a wrong response. She couldn't help but blink so she looked around until she realized that the three of them shared the same gaze. She at least expected that Tanaka would break the mood with a terrible joke but he remained sitting in front of her waiting for her answer.
"I'm sorry what?" She could help but avert from everyone's eyes.
"I mean, I at least would respect your decision but it's something that we need to know," Tanaka said after he scratched his nose.
"Albert wants to support her fandom, Tanaka's got a family to watch over and I like this place so come on and give us your answer." Rei followed.
"Is that what you think of me? I mean, we're there to save those people who are suffering right? Why would I want to die?" She hit her palm on the floor and raised her voice. The other two sighed and smiled as if a great deal of weight were lifted from their shoulders. Albert on the other hand, clicked his tongue and slowly curved down his lips.
"Aaand, the meat shield is gone..." Albert said as he looked away.
"Meatshield?" Mary replied raising one of her eyebrows.
"We-well nevermind, Welcome aboard" He saw this so Rei tried to divert her attention with a thumbs up and an awkward smile.
"Now, now let's leave that thought behind us for a more important matter. It's time to discuss our team s-"
"Wombo combos" Tanaka waved both of his hands full of enthusiasm
"I was gonna say strategy but suuuure." Albert stared at him and breathed through his nose until Tanaka stopped moving. "Wombo combo it is… then go tell me your powers so we could start to work something out."
"Ah… I'm sorry Sir Albert the thing is…"
"...." He shut his mouth and kept his eyes on her. She then broke their eye contact, covered half of her face and said,
"I-I'm sorry"
"No… It's not that, please call me that from this point on." Albert replied with a slight grin.
"Looks like you got someone to fulfill your fetish huh? You bastard." Tanaka whispered.
"Don't want to hear that from a special someone who likes to flaunt his fatherly love in public" He paid him no mind and continued to show her his yellowish teeth. "So what were you saying?"
"It's that I… I don't actually know what my powers are".
"You're kidding right?" Albert said as he raised both of his hands, Tanaka then tried to raise his voice and followed,
"Well, I could explain this… It's just that s-"
"Everyone gets their power figured out right? What the hell happened to you?" Rei said.
"What? What do you mean?" She replied before she clenched her jaws and made a ball with her fist.
"Alriiighhht! Looks like our meat shield is back boys" Albert clapped and let out a whistle.
"No, Wait..." Mary clutched her shoulders as she tried to move away from him.
"Now, Now… Let's just scrap the idea that there would be a shield for this bastard. What I was trying to say was, She hasn't figured out her ability yet." Tanaka replied.
"Ah, then that's easy, all you have to do is to remember it then" Rei raised his finger.
"I'm sorry??"
Albert poked her forehead and smirked. "Death's lazy so he made sure that every last bit of detail was already hardwired to our brain before we go here. Go on, think."
Mary clasped her hands over her chest and closed her eyes with a determined face. She tried to dig in deep within his feelings since she thought that's how it usually goes. She imagined herself swimming into the sea of black space filled with a few glinting stars from a distance. She found nothing. She tried to crawl and see if it would be related to what she felt about those fragmented memories that looked like pieces of broken glass but there still was nothing.
"Sorry… I ca- I don't... I can't find it…" She whispered as a drop of sweat drew a line down her neck.
"Dumbass" Albert gave her a soft chop in her forehead. "It's not about what you feel. It's about what you know. What is your power? Answer me."
"Sorry" Mary closed her eyes once again while the others kept a close look. She puffed out her chest and tried to calm down. She felt a slight tingle at the tip of her fingers and after a brief moment, he opened her eyes with a wide smile and said, "My power has something to do with weight!"
She remembered one of her earliest memories when she tried to show her mess of a drawing to her mom. Silenced permeated the space in between them and she couldn't help but continue to put up her fake smile even after seeing them sharing the same disinterested expression.
"That's nice… I guess... That's so you" Tanaka then replied with an awkward laugh.
"Okay…" Rei gave a thoughtful nod but his gaze looked as if it went past through her skull.
"Lame…" Albert averted his eyes and crossed his arms.
"What do you mean??!" Mary leaned forward and slammed the floor.
"Ah no worries no worries, that's something we could work with."Albert replied.
The other two shared the same sentiment. They all did give a bit of a laugh and but all of them got their focus back after a few seconds. The wind continued to blow and they all soon started to share their thoughts. They continued their talk until MC got their attention as she walked across the deck with her graceful steps. She then clapped her hands and the reapers around her soon started to move and move towards at the front and back, and the two opposite sides of the ship. Their group soon followed and once everyone's back had turned, MC pulled out a mic and said,
"We have reached enemy territory. The bastards that you need to kill are sitting at five-thousand feet beneath my boat. It's inevitable that most of you would die but that's fine, It's a small price to pay to wipe the filth made by humanity's strive to live and survive…"
"Here," Albert placed his palm over Mary's shaking hand. "Tug your cloak and put on your mask, trust me, they'll be terrified."
She had the strength to look around and saw Rei and Tanaka put on theirs before Albert. Her heart had started to beat like a drum and the warmth of her own body seemed to slip out of her fingers. She hugged her weapon towards her and as MC was about to finish her speech, Tanaka opened his hand in front of her.
"Take my hand." His head didn't move an inch but she could feel that he was looking at her. She could still see everything fine but it felt like the mask was also kept a hold on her lungs. The darkness from the corner of her eyes started to eat everything up and the air from her chest just wouldn't come out. Her hands were stiff as a thick piece of rubber but that feeling eventually went away as soon as he felt Tanaka's rough palm on her fingertips.
"...Blood will be shed, you will lose some or all of your comrades but don't play the victim. If they managed to kill your friend, you would need to make sure that you would get up on your ass. It doesn't matter if your legs are broken, it doesn't matter if you're losing a limb. What matters is that you would stand up and make them pay. Do the right thing. That's your job and that's because all of you are reapers…"
"HAIIIIIIIII" The crowd went wild as one by one jumped out of the boat and the four of them then followed. They pierced through the air with their cloaks waving like a blazing comet about to hit the earth. Albert and Rei drew their weapons and kept their form in midar. Tanaka, on the other hand, spread out his arms like a kite as he held Mary's hand who wanted to scream out but can't. Her jaws froze from the fright and with the midnight air blasting through her body, she can't do anything but wait. It wasn't long before a greater force of wind broke their fall and cradled their feet until it reached the damp ground.
"Ss...so" Mary's legs were turned into noodles, she dropped on the floor shaking as soon as her feet found something to land on. "I wondered why they didn't hand out some parachutes, I guess that was the reason why..."
"Rigghhhtt??" Albert laughed with a sense of nostalgia.
"Nothing beats to see a first timer react to that, that was so great." Rei then walked towards her and helped her stand up with a satisfied grin.
"This is the southern front vanguard command to the left flank, are you there? Start the roll call"
A chatter buzzed through their masks, Tanaka then placed his fingers at his temple and waited. The two then got on their knees and started to look around while Mary kept her gaze.
"This is Group A, we have landed safely and are on the move"
"This is Group B, same here, we're about to move as well"
"Acting leader of group C here, we have made contact with the enemy and lost our leader"
"..."
"This is Group E, We have spotted a few imps here. We're gonna enter combat now. Wish us luck."
"Group… F" A girl's cry echoed through the radio…"Please help, help us… I'm the only one left… We-we got overrun… and our leader was torn to pieces… plea-"
"This is Group G, we just got here, we're gonna move as well" Tanaka whispered as he signaled Albert and Rei to move in closer. Mary seemed to have lost the muscle on her things and knees and was left on her place due to the earlier commotion.
"Group H, We just have eliminated the enemies on our surrounding Area, we have lost a teammate. Be careful out there everyone"
"Good Job, we might have lost Group D and a few people here and there but let's proceed with the mission. Groups A, B, and C move forward along with each other and regroup with Groups E and F if you got there on time. Group G prepare to receive the other groups and clean out the area and be ready if either side required assistance. Group H, Move forward and act as our scout, I'll be sending some of my troops over there."
"Roger that." All of them answered and dropped the call.
They found themselves in a quiet neighborhood filled with huge dark buildings and dancing trees. Its grounds were a mix of paths made of asphalt and dirt. The smell of dried leaves filled the air as its branches crack with the winds blowing here and there.
"Goodness, looks like them ghosts could already see us" Rei said with a carefree tone as he pats the dust off of his cloak. "Have you checked the goods old man?"
"Three men, a woman, and a few dogs?... Must be the imps."
"Woah... that's pretty accurate" Rei replied.
"I also got the woman's three sizes if you're down I could tell ya..."
"Save that one for later you perverts. Rei, do your thing before we get surrounded." Albert said.
"Honestly… It was just about to get good…" Reri glanced over to his left and right before he walked in the middle of the group. He then looked at Mary and said, "Hey miss, come over here for a second and spread your arms wide and circle around me... please."
Mary's face turned red as he embraced her chest.
"Just do it already. Hurry." Albert said. "You already should know what this is for."
"Just cover me please…" Mary walked towards him with a hint of hesitation. She lifted her arms and was surprised that there was not a bulge around the surface of her body. "Everything covered by that cloak would appear flat, touching it tho… is a topic for another day. Walk around me please"
"Getting quite embarrassed are we?" Albert turned his back and looked at her with a smug smile.
"Y-yeah... Pretty much… though.. I don't really know what's this fo-"
Mary said but when she turned her head back to Rei, he was already gone and left no trace.
"What…" Mary dropped down her arms and rushed to pick up her short spear on the ground. It was unusual for him to disappear like that so she thought that it might be an enemy attack but when he looked at the other two, they seemed to be awfully calm.
"Ah.. so Northeast of us it is…" Albert straightened his back and waved his knife around before he placed his finger at the side of his mask "Hey Rei, you there?"
"Yep I'm inside a room but I don't know which building I am in. I'll go break a window later so you could see. You guys should go ahead and proceed with the plan, I'll go ahead and boost my count before Albert comes and steals all of my kills"
"Sir Albert?" Mary asked.
"You bet I am," Albert said in a tone before he started to stretch his arms. "I'll prolly be there in a minute, hold off breaking that window till I say so…"
"Neat, then I'll be walking with Mary. You need a lift?" Tanaka said as he stepped closer and placed his hand over his shoulder.
"Nah… Don't need one… besides, I need to warm u-"
"Don't worry... You'll be fiiineee… I won't break your legs." Albert gave him a silent nod as soon as he saw his smile so he told him to stand a few feet away before he started to weave his strings. It then started to take form and clutched around the large trees from their opposite sides. Albert then stepped on the coil with a few layers of few white lines covering his limbs. "Do you remember this feeling, do you like it?"
"Not one bit." Albert bent his legs and as soon as he got into his position, Tanaka shot him through the air like an arrow pushed by a bowstring. Mary noticed the sudden change of air between them. Tanaka was just joking and Albert seemed fine about it despite his replies but at the moment he stepped on his strings, his eyes had changed and became as sharp as the knife he was holding.
Mary kept her watchful eye on him as he flew towards a building within the distance. He was then about to land but it seemed like he's won't be able to bridge the gap. She was about to look away when she saw him walking on the air until he reached the edge of the building.
"What?...
"Well, I guess he did trust me" Tanaka leaned forward and with both of his hands resting on his waist. His lips soon twisted into a dark smile as soon as a few silhouettes started to appear in front of them.
"H-how why? I thought you guys hated each other how could he jus-" Mary then looked at the group in front of them.
"People, please do this old man a favor and accompany us to your leaders." He paid her no mind and stood on his ground.
"How about we pull that pruned head out of that pitiful body of yours?" One of the group stepped up along with two white bare-skinned beasts leaving a silhouette of a man and a woman in the background. The beasts had the face of a human but didn't have the eyes to see. It only had a contorted nose and a mouth full of yellow jagged teeth. It walked on all fours and it had limbs so thin that one could almost define the shape of its bones.
"Ohhh feisty…" Tanaka stepped forward with his eyeglasses glinting with the moonlight. Mary, on the other hand, was taken aback when he saw the beast's genitals dangling around. He then raised his hands and cracked his knuckles with a wide grin before saying, "One...two… hmm… you seem to be missing one? Did he chicken ou-"
An entity jumped out of the shadows but was then suspended in midair. Its grunts were enough to pull Tanaka's eyes from the ones in front of him so their enemies took that chance but there was one problem. None of them could no longer move.
"Ah… good choice, at least the one in charge of the surprise attack didn't shout. I'd give it an 8/10" Tanaka chuckled and gave them a few claps as he watched them curse and struggle. He then raised one hand and shoved one back in his pocket and said. "It's like the perfect time to say this so, like that man who I admired when I was a kid said, the moment that you decided to step in here… you're already dead."
He snapped his fingers and all those who were rendered immobile was then turned into a white paste. Mary couldn't help but cover her mouth when she saw them getting crushed like grapes. Every fiber of their being sprayed all over their surroundings and some even reached their masks. They didn't have the time to curse, cry or shout, it was even too fast for Mary to look away. The only thing that her brain could manage was to let the tears out in her eyes.
"Wha...what? Why would you do that?" She let out a few words with her shaking lips and bit her teeth. She lost the strength to follow him, she dropped her spear and stared at her feet. Tanaka then walked into the pool of white blood like nothing happened and said,
"Just like what I've said. This is our job and we are all professionals."
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Vertgren
Vertgren Thank you all for reading and I appreciate your effort if you had made this far.
I had enjoyed writing this and I hope that you enjoyed reading it as well. I am trying my best to do a weekly update so I hope that you would give this story a chance and add it to your library.
I hope that you liked this chapter and I promise that I would work hard to bring a better chapter next time. Thank you all for your time XD.
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