Having finished her cleaning ritual, Hina exited the firing range and headed toward her private quarters to change.
She ignored the lingering stares of the unit members.
They didn't matter.
Only Kai, and the mission to secure their future, mattered.
A sadistic and murderous feeling tickled the strings of her dirty but pure heart.
She walked, with her gaze locked on the floor.
She didn't want to look at anyone.
She kept walking until she finally reached her room.
Hina rapidly opened her closet and picked her """"Medicines"""".
"This feels so... nice..." She said, while laying down on the bed.
Her eyes were staring at the ceiling with an empty expression until another sinister grin appeared on her face, followed by a dark chuckle.
What was she thinking...?
-------------
Meanwhile, in a separate, heavily locked armory deep in the facility's lower levels, Akira was conducting her own intricate preparation.
Unlike Hina's raw, explosive power, Akira's approach was silent, calculated, and focused on distance, that's why she loved to be a sniper when she was in the army.
To be specific, she loved the feeling of her enemies' reaction after seeing one of their comrades randomly dying from a shot from more than 400 meters.
A very nice talent, in the wrong way.
Akira, with her long red hair tied back, sat on a low bench, surrounded by specialized equipment.
She gently removed the black bandage covering her right eye—the eye that she permanently lost—revealing the prosthetic glass eye she used purely for aesthetics and sometimes to hold micro-tech.
To be specific, Rei had given her a modified version of an eye like that.
One that had a camera so that everyone could see everything she was seeing.
-
Her table was a study in lethal efficiency:
The Sniper Rifle: A customized bolt-action rifle, currently being meticulously cleaned. Its scope, a high-magnification variable optic, was checked for the slightest misalignment. This was her primary tool for the flanking mission Rei had assigned.
The Sidearm: A standard-issue semi-automatic pistol, simple, reliable, and equipped with a suppressor—for when the distance closed and the noise had to remain minimal.
The Tornado Knife: She checked the specialized Tornado Knife strapped to her thigh. Designed for close-combat penetrations, its tri-edged blade creates a massive wound that makes stitching impossible. She was prepared for both surgical strikes and messy close-quarters engagements.
Special Gear: She meticulously organized her low-profile plate carrier and a small, tactical backpack containing comms gear, medical supplies (IFAK), and her most crucial asset: a specialized monocular night vision optic that attached to her helmet—essential for the northern flank attack which would take place pre-dawn.
Akira moved with the weary professionalism of someone who had been living this life for too long.
She didn't share Hina's mad fervor, but she shared her desperate need for an end to the conflict. Her primary goal was tranquility.
If Rei's plan succeeded, the war—no, the world would probably change drastically, but nobody knows if it was in positive or negative.
Akira didn't care whether Rei's plan would fail or not, since in both cases she would have her back covered.
If it failed, she would still follow Hina everywhere—her only remaining connection to her broken familial past—to find another way out.
But, more than Hina, Akira started to grow some kind of affection towards the young man.
It has been a short time since she met him, but... just like Hina, she felt a strange connection with him, like she saw trough his soul and felt attracted by something.
Moreover, Kai was younger than her, and Akira had a weak spot for younger guys.
Akira took another look at the gear and a satisfied grin appeared on her face.
"Oh boy... I'm gonna have some fun in killing these scumbags..." She said with a predatory voice while rubbing her hand in a mischievous way.
She was about to eliminate some of her old comrades, but she didn't care at all.
Akira was the same as a mercenary.
The only person she cared about was nothing more than Hina, and now she was on her side.
But deep down her mind, Akira perfectly knew that Hina would've done something out of the plan, like hurting some allies or even killing everyone who gets in her way, and she knew that her sister didn't talk to her because of hidden spy cameras in every room.
Akira was more than ready to help her in any kind of situation.
But she also know that Rei knew everything and couldn't be outsmarted.
"Who knows what's gonna happen..." She thought to herself.
She secured the eye patch back over her empty socket, a silent promise to remain focused.
The world was about to break, and she was ready to watch it burn from a distance.