Ch. 70 | Disaster 1

Well, if this wasn’t a sign that things were about to go to shit, I didn’t know what was. Then again, when did anything ever go well for me? The deafening alarm blaring through the room certainly wasn’t doing much to convince me that things were gonna work out better this time around.

Its shriek tore through the office so suddenly that several people flinched at once. A second later, the white lamps turned red, casting long, ominous-looking bands of crimson light across the walls.

Normally, you would expect people to freeze under such circumstances, but this time, to my surprise, without a moment's hesitation, the entire room immediately sprang into action.

Bereth was already turning toward the door before the alarm could blare for a third time. Marcus turned right after him, Maya straightened at once, shoulders squaring as she slipped back into command mode.

Their years of training clearly hadn’t gone to waste. The moment the alarm sounded, all the bickering and bad blood in the room vanished as everyone switched into emergency mode.

Meanwhile, I was still standing by the wall, trying my damnedest to figure out just what the hell I was supposed to do, without making myself look like a complete idiot. I glanced to the side to see what my fellow fuckup was doing, and to my surprise, she was gone- poof, vanished into the wind.

I looked around the room and saw her making her way towards Uden, who was rifling through a stack of papers.

Great, I’ll just stand here and hope no one notices me.

Uden rubbed her eyebrows and breathed out. “Fuck me.” She immediately turned to Alysa and waved for her to come over. Once she did, they proceeded to discuss something very intensely in hushed tones.

If I needed any more confirmation of the seriousness of the situation, this was it.

“Attention,” Uden said loudly, her voice cutting through the alarm. “Everyone, line up.”

All eyes turned her way, and without as much as a word, the entire squad lined up in front of Uden and Alysa. I awkwardly shuffled my way to the rest of the squad and joined the line.

Uden looked over her subordinates, and this time nobody avoided her eyes. Her gaze lingered on me for a few seconds longer than everyone else, which almost made me squirm.

I glanced at Alysa, hoping for something resembling an explanation. She edged toward me and slipped into place at my side, apparently trying to be subtle about it. She wasn't particularly good at subtlety, but fortunately for her, nobody seemed to notice. Every eye in the room was fixed on Uden.

“What happened ?” I asked her, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Alysa barely even looked at me as she said quietly:

“Shit's going down.”

Very informative.

Before I could ask what kind of shit or how far down it had gone, Uden snatched up the phone on her desk and punched in a few numbers. She waited with the receiver pressed to her ear, her expression tightening with every unanswered ring.

We all waited until, finally, after several seconds, she lowered the phone.

“Seventh isn't answering.” She said, her voice sounding genuinely concerned.

The atmosphere in the room grew even more ominous than before.

Uden stared at the phone for another second before setting it down.

“I’ve got a rough idea of what might be going on, but I just can’t shake the feeling it’s much worse than I thought.”

She took in a deep breath.

“If what I think is about to happen actually happens, then we might have an unprecedented disaster on our hands.”

“Great. What the hell are we waiting around for then ?” Alysa said, and without skipping a beat, she turned and started walking toward the door.

“Wait !”

Uden's shout followed her across the room.

Alysa kept walking.

“Alysa !”

She didn’t bother responding as she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. It closed shut behind her with a muted slam as Uden’s curses echoed across the room.

I stared blankly at the wall. We were in the middle of some kind of major emergency, and the only person I was on friendly terms with had just left me standing among people I barely knew and, well, didn’t exactly get along with.

Well, there was Maya, but I had no idea how she felt about me after I’d chosen Alysa over the rest of them. Even more so after I'd watched Alysa being a massive ass to everyone in the room, myself included, so I couldn’t even blame it on ignorance. Standing on her side probably hadn’t done wonders for Maya’s opinion of me either.

Uden closed her eyes for half a second, and I got the distinct impression that whatever they’d discussed in hushed tones a minute ago had gone completely over Alysa’s head.

“As we just saw, Alysa will be going solo. The rest of you will be splitting into two teams. Oba. Maya.” She gave me a quick glance. “Sorry, Yurui, I know you’re an officer too, but you weren’t supposed to see fieldwork until after your training. However, due to current circumstances, we are going to need every pair of hands I can get.”

Her eyes shifted toward Maya.

“I’m not putting you in charge of your own team yet. You’ll act as Maya’s second, stay close to her, and follow her lead. Consider this an unfortunate opportunity to learn on the job.”

A wave of relief hit me first before it was followed by embarrassment.

It probably said something unpleasant about my prospects as an officer that being officially informed I wasn't qualified to command anyone felt like wonderful news.

“Yes, Captain,” I replied meekly.

At least I said it without my voice cracking.

“Team Maya will head toward the Institute of Development. You are to make sure that nothing leaves the premises, and I mean not a single piece of paper. If it does happen, the consequences would be beyond catastrophic. You should investigate any and all irregularities you encounter along the way. If the situation is beyond your ability to handle, fall back and report it. Understood ?“ I don’t want anyone getting themselves killed trying to play hero.”

Her words were met with a wave of nods.

“Team Oba, head out and link up with the Seventh Squad. They’re supposed to be patrolling alongside us, so find out why they aren’t responding. Like I said before, if things get too dangerous, don’t play hero. Pull back and regroup with Maya’s team. Did I make myself clear ?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Oba said as he saluted her.

Narun moved toward Oba almost immediately. Marcus watched him go with a visible look of betrayal on his face.

“Dude, Seriously ?”

Narun glanced back.

“No offense. I’m not ready to die yet, mom asked me to help her with the garden the upcoming weekend.”

Marcus pressed a hand against his chest as if he'd been personally wounded, then moved over to Maya's side.

“I'll remember that.”

“Please stop,” Maya said quietly. “Save the bickering until we’re back in one piece.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Marcus said, doing a mock salute, and got immediately elbowed to the side for his effort.

I quietly shuffled my way towards them and stepped in line behind Maya.

Marcus turned my way and grinned. “Just so you know, nobody died on the same te”m as me for at least a month, so you should be fine.“

“Marcus !“ Maya said loudly. “ Be quiet, and you better not make me repeat myself.”

Marcus leaned against the wall and shot her an annoyed look.

“Jeez, what is it with you women today? Do you have a stick up your buts or something ?“ His face lit up. “Oh, I get it now, it’s the periods, you are on some kind of mass—”

And he got elbowed to the side again. Some people just don’t ever learn. Though, I had to admit, the durability of his ribs was fairly impressive.

Janis followed Narun and walked towards Oba's squad, yet she was stopped by one word.

“No.” He said Icily

She stopped and looked at him annoyedly, one hand on her hip, the other hanging loosely by her side. “What? You got cooties or something ?”

Oba doesn’t engage with her. He gives her an almost pitying look and says condescendingly:

“You’re injured. I don’t need dead weight. Go to Maya. Babysitting invalids is more in her wheelhouse.”

Surprisingly, Janis didn’t seem too slighted by the underhanded insult, if anything, she seemed even more desperate.

“I’m fine.” She said almost pleadingly. “I just got a bit roughed up, that’s all. I’m not even seriously injured, like not at all.”

“You were nearly choked to death minutes ago, you have no business going on a mission- well, not on my team at least.“

Janis straightened as though posture alone might be enough to showcase her physical abilities. “Injured or not, I can still fight.”

“I don’t care," Oba replied coldly. “I don't need someone slowing my team down on my first mission. I'm still just a temp, remember ?" My position as an officer is on the line here. No way am I taking someone severely injured with so much at stake. You can stay back or go with Maya, I don’t give two shits either way.”

Her eyes immediately moved toward us, and the look on her face certainly was not that of joy. Was there something wrong with my team? I thought

Like, sure, I’m new, but for all it’s worth, I am an officer, and since Uden and Alysa weren’t coming with us, Maya seemed to be the top dog around here. By all accounts, our squad was the place to be, injured or not, which only made the way she’d practically growled for a spot on the other team that much more pathetic.

Oh.

It just hit me like an enlightenment.

Of course she wanted to be on the other squad, she was injured because of me. I was the one who’d fucking done it, and somehow that hadn’t even occurred to me until now. To be fair, my mind was still hazy, and it hasn’t even registered properly in my brain yet. I was basically sleepwalking without the sleeping part, which I guess leaves just walking? Murderous walking? I don’t even know what to make of it, hells, I didn’t even know what to call it.

As if she’d somehow read my mind, Janis shot me a scornful look as she made her way over to our group.

I bet this one is gonna be fun. Let’s just hope that nobody fucking dies.