[My's Art in comment]
April 5, 2050 - 08:12
Base Appolyon - Main Office
An all-too-familiar ringtone echoed through the office, and the incoming video call symbol flashed on Luzia's monitor. Luzia looked up from her paperwork and narrowed her eyebrows. It was eight in the morning, too early for her to be in the mood to answer a call from a politician; not that she would ever be in the mood to be talking to one of those snobbish asshats.
The bum could wait, Luzia thought as she took the cup of coffee off the smart warmer. She brought the cup up, took a sniff of the still-warm coffee, and let out a satisfied sigh. The fragrant and perfumed aroma of the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe instantly mellowed her mood.
Luzia took a sip of the coffee, tasting the light and bright coffee with a hint of citrus and sweet berry flavor. Her usual cup of tea, or coffee, was the Vietnamese classic milk coffee, strong and sweet, perfect for a sweet tooth, but this new indulgence of hers was a nice change of pace.
With a few more sips, she returned the cup to its usual spot and placed herself back into reality. She clicked on the button to answer the call. A video feed of a chubby man appeared on her monitor, looking prim and proper in a black suit and red tie; however, his face was that of an angry bulldog rather than the usual fake politician smile that he wore in public.
"What the fuck took you so long to answer?" he managed to shout without raising his voice.
"I'm terribly sorry about that, but I am a busy woman, Mr. Chairman." She replied with a straight face and a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
If life were a cartoon or an anime, there would be a visible red vein on the Chairman's forehead, even more so with his receding hairline.
"Cut the crap, I'm calling about the issue last week."
"Ah, about the pile of bodies your officers found on the outskirts?"
"Yes, that one."
"So, any new leads?"
"Yes, it was hard since we don't have any CCTV on the outskirts of the city, but the boys managed to get some description of the vehicle from the local, and traced it back to the city. Here, take a look at it."
A notification popped up on Luzia's monitor. She opened the new files that had just been sent to her. The files were a collection of reports, findings, and various MP4 files. The reports and findings can be read later; what piqued Luzia's attention was a particular video file. She opened it.
The video showed a CCTV feed of a container terminal, with rows upon rows of containers stacked neatly on one side of the feed, and on the other side were various warehouses. There was a large open road separating the warehouses and the container area.
It was empty as expected, as the timestamp on the feed showed that it was two in the morning. However, it didn't take long for the emptiness to be disturbed by a single van, driving into the feed and stopping at a certain warehouse, with its back toward the feed.
As soon as the van stopped, the doors were opened, and multiple figures stepped out from the side. They went to the back, opened the double door, and dragged out what seemed like another man, bound and resisting. The man's resistance was quickly snuffed as one of the figures struck the captured man in the stomach, silencing him. They then dragged the captured man by his feet into the warehouse, and the video ended.
Luzia squinted throughout the whole video, struggling to see what was happening as the camera feed was blurry and the distance between the vehicle and the shitty CCTV was far enough to render everything into a blurry mess of pixels. It certainly didn't help that Luzia was near-sighted, thanks to her workaholism. Even while wearing her favorite round rimless glasses, it was still a struggle to see.
"You couldn't afford to get a better CCTV system with 8K resolution instead of this… inadequate system?" Luzia complained.
"I would if I could! But most of the city's budget is going into more important things."
Luzia let out an almost undetectable chuckle. 'More like into your pocket, but sure, important things,' she thought.
"Besides, this was one of the few feeds that we managed to recover after it was scrubbed from the port's system. Someone at the port is doing this without my per… Ahem… illegally." The chairman almost slipped. Luzia noticed it, but chose not to say anything. There would be a better time to use this information, but now was not the time.
"So, how do you want B.A.D to deal with this?"
"Quick, and quiet. I don't want any incidents that might damage the city's reputation."
"Understood. Though I highly doubt that warehouse is the be-all end-all."
"I know that much, Minerva. Do you take me for a fool?" the chairman grumbled.
"No, Mr. Chairman, you're nothing if not an honest-to-God and hardworking man." Another bout of sarcasm.
"Enough of this. I don't care what you do, as long as you get to the bottom of this shit quietly and as fast as you can. I don't care who does it, or how much it costs, just get it done!"
He ended the video call as soon as he ended his sentence.
"Hueresohn…" Luzia groaned.
With a few clicks, she brought up the list of all the recruits and teams in central Vietnam. It was about time for the recruits to be sent on missions. Plenty of teams were more than capable of taking this type of mission; however, Luzia had a particular team on her mind. She pulled up the profile of the team she wanted to see.
Whiskey team, top-tier performance amongst the recruits, and impressive resumes from most members of the team.
However, she paid attention only to one person. Someone she came to hold dear in her cold heart.
Her devious angel.
April 5, 2050 - 19:32
West of Da Nang, Vietnam - Black Angels Division Training Facility
My was drenched in sweat.
She had been running nonstop on the treadmill for almost thirty minutes. Despite the constant workout, her breath was steady, fast, but controlled. She was far more focused than her usual lax self. The display on the treadmill showed 32:34 minutes, and the distance was just shy of eight miles, a new personal record for her
My could feel every fiber of her muscle tensing up, pushing just a bit further. Each step forward was a struggle, as her body was screaming and begging to stop, to know her limit. But stopping at the limit was not an option for My.
7.97 miles…
7.98 miles…
7.99 miles…
8 miles.
She grabbed the handlebars and slowly reduced the treadmill's speed from full running speed to a jog, then a walk, and finally to a full stop. She stood still for a full minute, wiping her sweat with a towel and downing a whole water bottle. She could feel her body aching, her muscles burning, and her heart beating rapidly.
She was in pain, but to her, no amount of pain could be compared to what she had experienced years ago.
She still remembered that moment as clear as day, and along with that clarity, the same pain she had been carrying with her since.
She stared at her open palm, shaking from the muscle aches. She could still see it.
The broken bottle.
The blood.
She was weak.
She hesitated.
She should have been stronger.
She should have been decisive.
She should have ki…
"Yo, My! Boss man has a briefing for us at 2000 sharp. You should chill and clean yourself." Someone placed their hand on her shoulder.
My snapped back to reality and glanced at the hand on her shoulder. The hand bore a darker skin tone than hers. She relaxed, releasing the grip she didn't know she was holding on to her water bottle, and returned to her usual self.
She turned around to look at her teammate, who had a bright smile on his face and a unique high-top locs undercut, at least it was unique to My. Enzi was one of the few people who could match My's height, though he was just a few inches shorter than her. He was in a similar state to My, sweat covering his body and making his dark skin glisten. Unlike My, who was wearing her gym tights and a tank top that didn't quite cover her toned abs, Enzi was without his top, showing his well-trained physique, broad shoulders, impressive pecs, though not as muscular as Edric's body build. My definitely appreciated seeing those impressive pecs covered in sweat, but she kept that thought to herself.
"Hey Enzi, done with your workout?" She offered him a fist pump. He didn't leave her hanging.
"Yes, sista, even hit a new PR today. 245 pounds… or however much that is in kilograms. I do not know why the British or Americans even use that inferior system." Enzi took his hand off My's shoulder and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"No clue either."
"Maybe they are so backward that they still use the imperial system." Enzi snorted, which also made My chuckled.
"Maybe. Anyway, new PR, that's quite impressive."
Enzi replied by flexing his muscles and performing a few of the classic bodybuilder poses.
'Nice, show me those man tiddies,' My thought again as she observed the performance.
The show was abruptly interrupted when Katya approached from behind Enzi and whipped his ass with a towel, emitting an impressive sound that echoed in the gym, bringing eyes to their debacles.
"Ouch…" My uttered with a grin on her face.
"Yooooo, what the fuck was that for?" Enzi hissed while grabbing his own cheeks.
"Alright, stop being an exhibitionist and get back quickly. We don't know what the brass wants with us." Katya folded the towel in her arms and walked out of the gym.
"No fun, woman, you are no fun."
"That's just how she is, Enzi, now let's go see what the big boss wants."
My left the gym while Enzi was still recovering from the whipping.
April 5, 2050 - 19:32
Black Angels Division Training Facility - Briefing Room
"So, you guys already know that the recruit teams will only be getting actual missions and assignments around next week or so."
Harrison was addressing everyone from the Whiskey team from the front of the room, along with another woman. She was wearing a proper military suit and skirt, with ribbons decorating her coat, and her skirt wrapping tight around her thighs, ending just above her knee. Judging by her appearance alone, My assumed that she was a Latina, a pretty one at that.
"However, the big boss herself has decided to have your team take on a mission ahead of the other teams, since you guys performed way ahead of the others. So congrats, you're entering the big leagues now."
There were a couple of "Hell yeah" and "We're the best" going around here and there between the team members, but most of them settled down after a short moment.
Harrison then introduced the new woman who had been in the room with them since the start of the debrief.
"This is Luna Rivera. She will be your handler from now on. Miss Luna, if you will."
"Hola, everyone. As you've heard from Captain Harrison. I will be your handler from this point forward. Anything mission-related will be my responsibility. I will debrief you guys with your assigned tasks and operations, and communicate with you before, during, and after the missions. I'm looking forward to working with you all."
Luna delivered her short speech and received cheering and greetings from her new teammates. Before the team got rowdier, Luna feigned a cough to gather everyone's attention and continue the briefing.
"As for your mission, B.A.D had just received a request to investigate a recent incident and 'solve' the problem. About two weeks ago, the Da Nang city police discovered a container full of bodies on the outskirts of the city, in an abandoned warehouse. They investigated and traced the culprit back to a warehouse located within the Da Nang Port."
Luna operated her tablet, letting the projector display the mission-critical pictures and video. Among the pictures was a photo of the crime scene, displaying a horrifying scene of containers full of bodies. The team's reactions were varied, from faces full of disgust to looking away to trying not to vomit.
My was the only one who was relatively calm despite seeing such a horrifying scene. She was focusing on a more important detail. One of the bodies nearest to the container doors was a familiar face, one that My had an unfortunate encounter with. She remembered his face well and his crappy leather jacket. She had an inkling of an idea; however, she decided to leave that idea for now. There wasn't enough evidence.
Luna waited for the team to recover before continuing.
"For the first phase of this mission, your team must go and recon the warehouse. Information is king, and knowing the enemy is winning half the battle, Sun Tzu said that… or some shit, I don't remember the full quote."
It wasn't clear if Luna was trying to lighten up the mood or if she genuinely forgot the quote, but that moment got the team to chuckle.
Now all they have to do was to recon the warehouse.