“Hehehe… Spy mission…”
“It’s not a ga, Narumi. Focus.” Carol chopped the back of her head. Augh…
The research facility proper lay just beyond the small crack of the bathroom door. The slick, black bathroom contrasted with the sterile white halls.
Their initial infiltration was a success. They got inside and managed to plant the bombs that would create a distraction later without getting noticed. Next step was grabbing so keycards to move around freely. They had the route planned out, but before they left, a guard passed by them in the hall.
Sure enough… The guards were ard with assault rifles and full military gear. Probably gear to fight monsters. Humans like them only stood a chance with a Matching Weapon and gear equally as protective.
“So…? What now? Are we taking him out? He seems isolated.” Sarasa said.
“Hmm… We don’t know that…” Katja said. “We’ll knock them out if necessary, but let’s try to avoid fights at all costs. Miyuki, Bea? A guard passed by our location going east. What should we do?”
“Going east?” Bea’s voice reached everyone through their earpiece. “Let
check… It’s fine…? Yeah… He’s not on your route. You can just ignore him.”
“No… Take him out.” Miyuki said.
“Huh? But he’s not in their way. Why?”
“Trust , okay? If you leave him alone, he’s going to run into you after the bombs blow up. Just take him out now. There’s even a janitor closet where you can hide him next to him if you move now.”
Is there? “Huh… You’re right…” Carol said after peeking out.
“If Miyuki says it, we have no choice. Who’s coming with ?” Katja asked.
“I’ll help you!” Narumi raised her hand.
“You…? Really?” Carol looked sideways at her.
“Don’t look at
like that… If it’s just knocking soone out, I can handle it. I have to help out now before we end up actually in a real fight and I’m forced to do sothing worse…”
“You want to help out while you can… Well, give it a try then.” Hecate tapped her shoulder.
“Alright then. Co with .” Katja opened the door and the two ran out.
The two ran up to the guard’s back without making a sound. Narumi grabbed his arms before he could react and restrained him. He gasped, then Katja delivered a hit to the back of the head which knocked him out cold. Both girls grabbed his limp body and quickly tossed him into the supply closet. Clean kill. Except it wasn’t a kill.
“Nyahahaha! You got so good moves!” Once the coast was clear, the girls stepped out of the bathroom and rejoined the other two.
“It was nothing special.” Katja said. “From the way you move, I bet you could have done the sa.”
“But of course! I’m actually pretty aweso, so it’d be a breeze. Well… depending on how good their armor is… Speaking of which, shouldn’t we take so loot from the unconscious guy?” Sarasa peeked into the supply closet.
“No ti. And you don’t need the extra weight.” Katja closed the door in front of her eyes.
“Huh? You calling
fat? ? Sarasa F. Dremsa?”
“Who would ever call you fat?” Carol said. “Seriously, get yourself together. The only person here who could be called that is Narumi because of her jugs.”
“Gaah! What did I do? Don’t drag
into your war!” Narumi covered her own chest.
“Very funny, but now’s not the ti to make noise. Let’s go…” Katja said.
It was smooth going from there. The research floors were complete mazes, but the voices in the ear kept them on the right path. Go right there. You got another right coming. Turn on the next left. Guard passing by, take cover. Took them a little over ten minutes to get to the keycard room.
“Hmm… This one’s complicated… Two guards in front of the door… And they don’t seem to be moving.” Hecate said.
The girls hid behind a corner next to the hallway they needed to go enter. It was a long straight with no places to hide and the door they were after was right in the middle. Two guards were posted there on either side of the door with assault rifles in hand.
“A fight’s inevitable now, no?” Sarasa asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, my bombs should detonate in a few minutes… If we just wait for a while, that might lure them away.”
“Hmm…” Katja focused on their guns… Could actually pose a threat to them. “It could work, but they’d pass by us on the way there. If we take them down imdiately, good, but they might shoot us if we’re not fast enough. And they’re also going to be on high alert…”
“You’d rather we have the initiative, right? Don’t worry, leave it to .” Carol poked around the corner. The others peeked with her and saw a rock materialize, not much bigger than a pebble, beyond the guards, near the ceiling and outside their peripheral vision. “Whenever you’re ready, say the word and I’ll drop it.”
“Then they’ll turn their backs to us… Amazing, Carol! But how are going to take them down?” Narumi asked.
“Isn’t that obvious? We’ll just rush them!”
“Fufu… Sarasa, you silly girl… You should know by now it’s never that simple.” Hecate said.
“No. It could work here.” Katja said.
“Seriously?” Hecate asked. Such a simple plan?
“We have the elent of surprise. If we’re fast, we can close the gap and overwhelm them with our numbers. We’ll knock them out before they can fire a single bullet. Let’s go with that.”
“Hehehe… No need to thank . Just another day in the life of being a genius.” Sarasa puffed out her chest.
“Yeah… The line between a genius and an idiot sothing sothing… If we’ve settled on that, can I drop it?”
Katja nodded. “Go!”
*Clack…*
The rock echoed when it hit the ground, and both guards imdiately turned to the right. Their backs were now exposed. A silent stampede closed in on them, and only when it was too late did they hear any steps. “Huh?”
“Arggh!”
Swift hits to the back of the head knocked out both guards. The girls sat them up against the wall.
“Huh… That was easy… Must have been my amazing plan!”
“My amazing distraction, you an.”
“It was a team effort.” Katja said. “Good work, everyone. And we’re just in ti for the next step.”
*Boom…!*
*Weee wooo! Weee wooo!*
Ririna’s bombs went off, and a siren imdiately blared. All that slick smoothness from before replaced with an electrifying adrenaline.
“Now we’re on a tir.” Hecate said.
“Ririna, can you get it open?” Katja pointed to the sturdy door in front of them. Fully made out of tal and with a keycard reader under the lock. Isn’t that dangerous for the PSF? If you need a keycard to get into the keycard room, can’t you get locked out?
“Leave it to . It should only take a minute.” Ririna poured a vial of sli over the handle and panel. The liquid imdiately started lting the steel and moved as if it had a mind of its own. Was it a chemical or a monster? A little bit of both?
“The locks gone. Let’s grab the keycards and find Iroha.” Katja pushed open the door and the girls ran inside.
They split into pairs as part of the plan. Carol and Narumi received a set of keycards, Sarasa and Ririna another, leaving Hecate with Katja. They had three floors to clear, so it worked out.
The bombs lured everyone away, leaving the path upstairs open. Each pair took care of one of the floors, and soon enough the reports started flooding in for the hideout.
“Fifth floor, 1A, nothing.” “Sixth, 2B, nothing.” “Seventh, 4C, she’s not here.”
Most rooms were empty, a few of them had a monster trapped behind glass, and even fewer had a scientist inside that would fall on their butt from the scare of a door being forced open.
Miyuki and Bea X’d out the rooms without Iroha as they nad them to ensure they didn’t miss anything. Had they been lucky, they would have already found Iroha before five minutes had even passed. On average, they have to look through at least half of the rooms.
“You’re halfway there…” Miyuki said. Ughh… Now they were entering unlucky territory.
“Don’t lose heart. She’s in there sowhere.” Bea encouraged them.
“Do get your weapons out. The guards are going to start going up at any mont now. Stay alert.”
Carol, Katja, and Sarasa got ready for a fight. Their partners focused on opening doors and searching for Iroha.
“Fifth floor clear. Nothing here.” Katja said.
“Sixth floor here. Sa for us.” Was the report from Sarasa.
Was she really in the last room? Really? How unlucky were they? “Co on, Narumi… Is she there…?”
Narumi swiped the keycard one last ti. “Okay. The door is open. Iroha’s… Not here…?”
“Huh?! That can’t be!” Carol had to check for herself too. Completely empty room. “Iroha’s not here either! Miyuki! What the hell? You said she was in one of these rooms! Did we miss sothing?”
“She’s not there…?” She and Bea looked through the papers for all the floors for rooms without an X.
“No… You got them all! It doesn’t make any sense!” Bea said.
“Maybe they moved her and we just missed her?” Katja said. “Don’t panic. Let’s regroup for now and try again. Even if we have to use force. Miyuki, Bea, guide them to us.” Down to the fifth floor.
Miyuki and Bea nodded, and the call went silent for Katja and Hecate. Miyuki focused on Carol and Narumi, and Bea guided Sarasa and Ririna down.
“Let’s hide near the stairs and wait for them.” Katja lead the way. She and Hecate entered an empty room that had line of sight to the stairs.
Not long after… “Hey, Sarasa, Ririna, over here!” The two girls got to their floor, and they called them over.
“Whew… What a relief… Sure feels a lot better to have more people around to take aggro…” Sarasa wiped her brow.
“You an, trustworthy allies that you fight alongside and not use as bait, right?” Hecate shot her with a scary glance.
“Hmm! Yes! Of course! Slip of tongue!” Not just a slip, a catastrophic fall…
“Carol and Narumi should be on the way.” Miyuki said, reaching Katja and Hecate again. “They had to take a detour since a security door closed.”
“Are they going to be okay?” Hecate asked.
“Bea and I got this. Just wait there.”
But just waiting was a luxury they didn’t have. They ant to hide, but multiple sets of footsteps found them before they could.
“You! I can’t believe it! You’re the ones behind all this!?” Rows of soldiers lined up on one side of the hallway and pointed their guns at the girls. Between them was a man wearing a black suit.
“Daisuke…”
“Hah… And after I gave you so more ti to play around… Now your friend’s stupid sacrifice was all for nothing. Not a murderer would understand that… n…” He raised his hand. “Get ‘em.”
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