Meanwhile
"Strange, Crimson Hood has been silent for quite a while now. Did I lose contact?"
Soldier 11 can be seen walking in the middle of the Hollow, which is confirmed to be the rebels' camp, where she was invited to meet with the leader. She knows it was a trap, and she had prepared to fight them off with backups on her back, but she can't help but feel that something might go wrong.
She knows that what she's doing right now is foolish, and she's aware of how much of a red flag this entire situation is; she knows she's making a huge mistake. However, all her rational thoughts are clouded by her dislike for traitors.
"Let's get all of this over with..." Soldier 11 mutters as she walks towards the supposed location of the camp. As she arrived, she was greeted with an empty camp, which confused her before she raised her guard.
Slowly, but surely, people with modified military gear pop out of their hiding places, each holding their gun before pointing at Soldier 11. Before she could say anything, she heard her comm ringing, and she picked it up.
"Hello?" Soldier 11 asks.
"Hello indeed..." The familiar ugly voice of Mr. Mole can be heard from the comm as Soldier 11 resists her urge to spit in disgust.
"What is this?" Soldier 11 asks with a fake, confused tone.
"Did you really think you could pretend and trick us into joining the rebels, government'slapdog?" Mr. Mole mocks. "Crimson Twilight, does that name sound familiar?"
"...I believe I had no idea what you're implying," Soldier 11 says shamelessly, trying to maintain her guise.
"Spare me your pitiful acts. You should not have come here and tried to spy on us. I will say I was impressed by your guts for pulling such moves, but then, I'll be lying." Mr. Mole says mockingly, causing Soldier 11 to grit her teeth in annoyance. "Ooh, struck a nerve, didn't I? Since I am a generous man, I will let you meet my leader, but unfortunately, you won't get to see the daylight once the meeting is over."
"...you truly had underestimated me, Mr. Mole," Soldier 11 says in a calm tone. "I saw your treachery from miles away, especially when you sent a bunch of rats to spy on me. I made sure to prepare for a potential ambush."
As she said that, she pulled out her secret communicator, which is just a walkie-talkie. As she turns it on, she winces when she is greeted with a loud scratching noise from the device before following up with loud laughter.
"Oh, please. It's you who underestimate us," Mr. Mole taunts. "Your 'plan' for backup was so poorly made! All I need is to turn on the signal jammer, which ironically is the same tech you fools had made against us. The transmission device you and that foolish fake Phaethon had used to record any message it sent, which has been modded by ME! Haha! Life sure has a sense ofhumor!"
"You..." Soldier 11 had almost reached her peak of patience as she grabbed her blade, and every rebel had aimed at her.
"Boys, be a dear and blow some holes in her. Make sure you didn't go too far, after all, we need to mail her head back to the Defense Force." With that, one of the rebel army started to shoot. Soldier 11 quickly raises her blade to parry, but it was unnecessary as the bullet had hit an unknown barrier and instantly melted, turning into a tiny droplet of molten iron.
Everyone goes silent except the loud hiss coming from the molten iron eating away the dirt underneath. Rebels, Soldier 11, and even Mr. Mole, comically blink owlishly, trying to process what is going on.
"Eh?" One of the rebels couldn't help but voice his confusion.
"Eh?" Another follows suit.
"Eh?" Then another.
"Eh?" Even Soldier 11 joins in.
"Eh?" Mr. Mole had entered the chat.
"Eh....?" Everyone says in unison. Meanwhile, from a distance, Trigger had taken her position and aimed her rifle at the biggest rebel soldier on the field.
"I see you..." Trigger said before she pulls her trigger. A powerful energy blast launches from her rifle as it blasts onto the rebel, knocking it onto the ground and burning through his bulletproof vest.
"W-what!?" Mr. Mole exclaims in shock from the comm, still connected to Soldier 11's as suddenly, small missiles rain down upon the rebel armies, knocking them away, and a huge shadow covers the entire field. Soldier 11 looks up and sees a giant robot slowly descend down and she had to blink when she noticed Phil riding on its back, holding a modified military weapon in his arms.
Before she could react, Phil had started blasting his gun at incoming rebel soldiers, and the giant robot also joined in, using missile launchers on its wrists. Soldier 11 can't help but think that the scene looks like something straight from a movie.
More and more soldiers had appeared, and they attempted to aim, but before they could, every gun on their arms started glowing red and started melting. The intense heat forces the army to drop the weapon before they all get blasted like there's no tomorrow. If they are not traitors, Soldier 11 would honestly feel bad about them.
She can't help but wonder who melted those guns? Did she miss a recruit due to her hyperfixation on catching these scums?
"Hi, Soldier 11!" A girl's voice appears from the robot as it stops shooting.
"...Seed," Soldier 11 says evenly before glancing at Phil.
"...before you ask, Trigger had requested Caelus and me for this," Phil decided to throw his client under the bus without an ounce of shame.
"T-Trigger?" Soldier 11 asks in surprise, unable to believe her partner would do this behind her back.
"Let's leave some questions for later," Phil says in a tired voice before noticing more and more soldiers had arrived. "Great..."
"You may have caught us off guard with that attack, but you all haven't grasped how much trouble you all are! You all have barely taken down a small amount of the army in this branch!" Mr. Mole exclaims. "I doubt that such a small army could be capable of taking all of us down! You all will definitely fall before you take care of all of us! And all of you aren't able to callfor-!"
"Not to worry for that part," Another familiar voice cuts in as Soldier 11 notices how her walkie-talkie had managed to work again, causing Mr. Mole to splutter.
"W-what!? How!?" Mr. Mole exclaims.
"No offense to the Defense Force, but that kind of tech is easy to breach," Wise says mockingly. "And another thing that I find funny, you truly believe I am the fake Phaethon."
"T-there's no way you're the true Phaethon, even if you're very skilled!" Mr. Mole stammers. "There's no way such an infamous Proxy like the Phaethon would stoop so low and work with the government's dog!"
"Tell that to your exposed location," Wise says smugly, causing Mr. Mole to short-circuit. Before he could respond, everyone could hear a loud explosion and a smoke visible from a distance before follow by a loud girlish shriek. "Perhaps next time, you should update your outdated information, but I doubt there will be next time, especially with the person I'm sending to catch your slimy ass."
"Here's Johnny~" Caelus says creepily from Mr. Mole's comm, which follows with another girlish shriek before the comm cuts off.
"..." Soldier 11 blankly stood there, wondering how an infiltration mission ended up becoming so chaotic. Not long after, Caelus walks in while holding a...giant mole? Soldier 11 takes a good look, realizing it's a mole Thiren while silently thinking how ironic it is.
"Really? A mole Thiren calling himself Mr. Mole? And people say I lack creativity," Caelus says as he shakes the mole Thiren, who is covered with rock shells binding his limbs. The glasses on its snout almost fall, bubbles frothing out of its mouth, and its eyes comically turn huge, anime-like white circles. The rebel soldiers start pointing their guns towards Caelus, who simply sighs before waving his lance, causing the guns in their hands to start melting.
All rebels drop them in panic before Seed starts raining down missiles again, blasting them off as Caelus stood there with barrier shielding him, looking nonchalant.
"..." Soldier 11 stays silent, staring at Caelus with her left eye twitching.
"...in my defense, Trigger requests my help and her offer is...tempting..." Caelus says, as Soldier 11 could only do what a rational person does, facepalm very hard.
"No one...I mean no one shall ever speak of this to anyone..." Soldier 11 says, sounding exasperated as her rage had evaporated for a while. Seed could only giggle as Phil let out a sigh while Caelus dropped the unconscious Mr. Mole like it was a sack of potatoes.
Soldier 11 had seen a lot of things in her military career, and some she may have forgotten, but she honestly believed this was the weirdest mission she had ever had.
And surprisingly, she didn't feel any anger or dislike toward her current situation, but she didn't feel happy or excited either. Just plain nothingness.
To be Continued