A few hours later…
As Missio was dallying around his office, Mythos's voice suddenly dug into his ear.
['General of the Black Ops' is calling you.]
Missio jolted up, his eyes widening.
"Accept?" He blurted in an unsure voice.
Mythos accepted the call and from the other side, a hardened voice echoed from the earbud.
"Lieutenant General… things have progressed quite quickly."
Missio raised a brow, his heart throbbing.
"What does that mean, sir?"
The General sighed and grunted. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he spoke.
"The PM has requested for the immediate capture of Sun Daishen."
Missio froze as the General continued to talk.
"He's skipped getting clearance from Ashland and I've greenlit the mission… Now, it's your turn."
Missio stammered. "B-But isn't that a bit abrupt? Without clearance as well, will it not harm our relationship with Ashland?"
The General coughed, responding in a raspy tone.
"Pangea knows what will happen… but you're not allowed to reject this assignment. Remember you place, boy."
Missio paused for a moment, frowning.
"I know we're obligated to serve our nation but wouldn't this be harmful for the empire?"
The General's laughter sounded from the other side, amused by the Lieutenant General's stubbornness.
"Ah… since when did you become so law-abiding? Didn't I tell you to know your place? You don't belong here. Thank your brother you haven't been ostracized already. If you want to stay, then don't cause more trouble for us."
Hearing his brother be mentioned, Missio was silenced. The bereft remained utterly quiet as the General briefed on the details of the plan.
"Prepare for departure by 10, Lieutenant. Don't be late."
The call was abruptly cut. Missio didn't speak for a while after that, recalling the General's words.
'Since when did you become so law-abiding? Didn't I tell you to know your place? You don't belong here. Thank your brother you haven't been ostracized already.'
He couldn't argue with him. He was right. He was only here because of his big brother. If he didn't want to be ostracized, he would have to obey every order without question.
And that made him boil with rage.
"What do you know about me? You don't know anything I've been through… not even a little bit." Missio muttered under his breath.
He stayed quiet for a while longer, enveloping himself in the melody his Music box played. Then, his eyes flew open with a grim determination burning within them.
"Mythos." He called out.
His trusty AI assistant replied to him almost immediately.
[Yes, sir?]
"Inform the team about the mission and send them the recording of the General's briefing."
[Executing your order, sir.]
Missio crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. Swimming in his thoughts, he stared at the ceiling for quite some time. He felt at peace and safe as he sat alone in his office.
It was a feeling he didn't get often.
Therefore, he kept running towards it and farther away from which that made him uncomfortable. However, the mission he was about to go may be the most stressful in his entire career.
Since, he hadn't gone on an international mission in a while. Even so without the clearance of the nation, they were entering.
For that reason, he had a gut feeling that this would end badly for both sides.
'I just hope this ends quickly…'
***
A few hours later...
The time had finally arrived.
The steel giants illuminated the city of Romulus with their blaring lights. Billboards, advertisements and holographic screen scattered across their roofs.
In the headquarters of the Black Ops division, the Lieutenant General gazed out towards the city from his window. With a tired expression, he stared blankly at the buzz of the crowd below. Then, with a heavy sigh, he called out to Mythos.
"Mythos."
The AI immediately responded.
[Yes, sir?]
The bereft lifted his head, peering towards the moon – the only object that could been in the dark sky.
"What time is it?"
The AI replied promptly.
[8:24 PM, sir]
Missio sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets.
'It's time…'
Spinning around, he passed his desk. The door to his room slid open as he exited and closed once he arrived in the hallway.
The blaring lights of the city and the radiance of the moon above seeped into the hallway from the glass exterior, illuminating the corridor. As Missio strolled through it, he crossed paths with a familiar man wearing the same clothes as him.
The man lifted his head slightly, adjusting his glasses with a look of surprise on his face. Missio titled his head.
"Henry? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to wait in the lobby?"
Henry laughed awkwardly, ruffling his ginger hair.
"Oh… I was coming to get you. Didn't think you'd come."
Missio frowned, peering into the Henry's emerald eyes. Then, he simply shrugged it off and placed his hand on Henry's shoulder.
"It's fine. Let's get going."
Henry nodded as his captain passed. Following closely behind, the duo eventually ended up in the elevator. After a few minutes, they left the lift and descended the stairs. There in the hallways two beautiful women were waiting for them alongside Krishna.
On the left, a blue-eyed beauty with dyed deep ocean hair stood with a golden ring on her middle finger just like Henry – Eira.
In the middle, an amber-eyed lady with tied Golden-hair stood with a silver cross hanging from her neck – Mary.
And of course, on the right, standing close to Mary was Krishna who with wide grin etched across his face.
"Look who finally came~" he teased, crossing his arms.
"Not the time to joke, idiot." Henry reprimanded.
"Anytime is a good time to have fun." Krishna raised his finger. "Not like you would understand anyways, boss"
"Seriously, go be a stand-up comedian instead a Black Ops Enforcer." Henry sulked.
Krishna rolled his eyes in amusement as Missio and Henry stood in front of them.
"Are you all ready?" Missio inquired.
"I've been ready." Krishna said.
"Always." Mary nodded.
"Yep." Eira stated enthusiastically.
"Then, let's get going." Missio flicked his head, passing his team.
The team spun around. Henry and Eira stuck together like the couple they were. Krishna and Mary walked side by side like true teammates. They all followed their captain – the Lieutenant General of the Black ops out of the HQ and headed to his SUV.
Missio opened the trunk and threw his katana in. Slamming it shut, he circled his SUV and entered the driver's seat. The instrument panel scanned Missio's retina as he gripped the wheel. Henry buckled his seatbelt as the rest made themselves comfortable in the back. Then, Missio spun his car around and drove towards the airport.
***
As Missio drove through the streets, he glanced at the passenger seat where Henry was seated. The enforcer was currently gazing out of the car in a daze – something he rarely did. Missio dragged his attention back to the road where he turned a corner.
'Looks like Henry's worried about this…'
Heaving a sigh, he recalled all the events leading upto this moment.
'This is really going to strain our relationship with Ashland. What were the General and Prime Minister thinking? Neither did they get clearance nor did they inform the AEOC Black Ops. Do they think the AEOC is really that incompetent? No… there must be ulterior motive behind this but… I just can't get a grasp on it… God dammit, if only brother was here… then, he could tell me everything about those fools…'
He frowned, realizing an error in his judgement.
'Wait, how the hell did he not reject this? Did the General not inform him about this mission?'