A new morning had come, the sun, still hiding behind the horizon, illuminated the land in a strange and weak dark-blue color, giving the world a bleak and eerie feeling.

In contrast to this somber mood, hundreds of people hastily moved about the place, looking to make haste at everything they did. The sounds of boots running were easily muffled by the shouting of officers and roaring of machines.

In what appeared to be an airport, hundreds of soldiers were moving to and fro, the only people that were not wearing any uniform were the civilian reporters that would stay in the country instead of risking their lives to film what was happening in the frontlines of the warring country, far away from the present continent and safe borders.

Although the reporter team was checking their equipment, it would still take a few hours until they started filming, so there was not much for them to do in the meantime. That is also why Jennifer, equipped with a hidden camera, was also traveling all around the military airport, trying to speak with someone that would be going to war outside the continent.

She also knew that no soldier would speak their mind around a superior officer close to them, so she was paying extra attention to anyone far away from such personnel. However, this task was further complicated by the fact that preparations for the departure were still being made, so almost every soldier stood close to their superior and followed whatever orders were thrown out.

Thankfully, after a couple minutes, she found the first people she could interview, random soldiers standing around an empty hangar, three of them.

She headed closer but slowed down to eavesdrop on what they were talking about, only to become immediately disappointed when hearing them talking about the fact that one of the soldier's brother is still a virgin after being twenty and something years old.

Jennifer knew how things would go from here on, but she still walked over to them, any comment could become an extra for her, after all.

"Hey, guys!" She spoke, a friendly - although unnoticeably fake - smile on her face while she confirmed that not all of them looked at her tits before her face. "Do you mind answering some questions about the place you're going?"

The soldiers looked at each other and gave a small shrug at the same time, could the lack of intelligence cause such an incredible teamwork, or was it truly years of working beside one another? Jennifer believed it was the former.

"That's why you're allowed being here. Ask away, girl." It was strange being called a girl by a guy that was barely a couple years older than you, but the newly expert reporter simply ignored their behavior, not everyone was behind in time like these guys after all.

"Although you're going to be facing The Religious State of Airis, what are your thoughts on the dictator government of Alassad, close to the coast of Airis?" A regular and simple question like this was, interestingly, the best to give a metaphorical slap in the face of anyone that picked a side without thinking. One of them seemed to know about such a famous and commonly used tactic and hid his cringe while letting one of his colleagues answer in his stead. That there was such a smart guy among these people, the world was truly going crazy.

"Hmph. Those guys are just as trash as The State, one gives zero fucks about innocent civilians and the other kills everyone who doesn't belong to them. Now we take care of The State so that later we deal with the dictator."

"If it is about not caring for innocent casualties, didn't our Nations behave in a similar way during in the conflicts on Iraq?"

"Ugh..."

The soldier was far too slow to realize Jennifer's intentions and made an ugly face when hearing her counter-argument, that is what you get for speaking your mind in a logical debate. Although it was possible to justify the Nations actions due to lack of concrete evidence and bad politics, things were different when you had just spoken about the dictator's decision of doing the same to make things easier.

Proving that the government was wrong was far from the goals of Jennifer, she was only interested in finding holes in people's arguments. Hypocrisy was the Nutella of reporters, said a wise colleague of hers once.

It was clear to Jennifer that the soldier that answered her would be the target of jokes during the rest of the week, this also meant that her objective here was complete. However, there was still a lot of time, so she should recreate the previous event and try to record something even better to laugh at, humor had - after all - the highest demand on the internet.

After another couple of minutes, she realized that the same kind of luck in finding soldiers zoning far from officers yet in plain sight would not happen again. So she set a course for herself in order to find someone that met the standards, which were to simply be a soldier and staying away from officers.

The barracks were soldiers in wait usually hang out seemed to be a good place to look arou- Ehem... search for an interview. She was not allowed entry without the company of an officer, but when did such rules stop someone like her? Never was the answer.

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Away from the sounds of roaring machines and barking of orders, a building that seemed to have space for almost thousands of people if everyone was cramped together, decorated by a tower in one of its sides stood tall, just waiting for commands. It would be a pleasant walk in the park for Jennifer, were not for the two people standing around the entrance of the building.

One was a woman, around 1,70 meters in height, wearing a white shirt with a black necktie; on her shoulders, there were few lines of black and gold, her trousers were as black as her tie and almost hid a strap belt of the same color, she was a pilot; her pitch-black hair was short, kept at neck length and her brown eyes seemed to slightly laugh along with her mouth when she spoke with the person beside her.

On the woman's side, was a simple soldier, wearing the same clothes as every other, just his cap was nowhere to be seen, letting his dirty blonde hair bask in the sunlight that was just appearing on the horizon. He had a slight smile on his face, appreciating the moment of speaking with a friend... at least that was what Jennifer understood, the guy was not making the slightest move to confirm that they were more intimate than friends and this seemed to be the normal friends meeting friends scene for the woman that appeared to be the same age as Jennifer herself.

She was not able to eavesdrop on the two since they noticed her approach before she was within hearing range, a pity since the chitchat between people is an important first impression to have of someone... that is what life taught her anyway.

Jennifer waved her hand and quickly moved in the pair's direction, judging by their faces when they noticed her, she was not really welcome to spoil their conversation. But when did something like that managed to stop a reporter? Never!

As the harbinger of annoyance, Jennifer quickly approached the pair and presented herself, better not cause a bad impression to someone that could have manners.

"Hi, a pleasure to meet you two. I'm a reporter working for Country Nation's News, could you tell me your names?"

"Clarisse, the pleasure is mine." Said the woman, perfectly hiding any sign of annoyance that she may have for nosy reporters. A dangerous personality in Jennifer's opinion, since people like that love to sharpen their tongues before an interview, she vividly remembers the cringe she felt while watching on the tv when one of her colleagues was questioning a random person in the street about how much time had passed since he was last fired and discovered that 'by the grace of God' that person was never shot before.

"I'm Carter, what questions might you have?" He seemed to have already thrown all of the little hostility he had out the window, for if his casual smile told Jennifer anything, it was that he didn't really care about her nor her intentions. A strange response, since every time she interviewed someone, they all had strong opinions about her presence.

"The Nations and Soviets have made an alliance in order to defeat The Religious State of Airis, the activity of such powers, however, will most likely further damage the country of Airis. How do you feel about this?"

Clarisse simply closed her eyes and crossed her arms, making it difficult to say if she was thinking about the question or just mentally ordering the man named Carter to answer in her stead. Carter, however, was clearly making a thinker's face while scratching his chin, his eyes would probably be looking upwards, were it not for the sun that was just gaining its yellow color.

"Well," Said Carter, finally. "Although both ours and Soviets' military will cause harm to Airis and its population, The State is currently proving to be a bigger threat... and the cause of our actions. The State has not only increased its frequency of attacks in Airis - heavily bombarding cities that should have been protected by Alassad's troops, but it has also started to spread its range of terrorist activity around the world to an alarming size - striking even the quiet and undeveloped countries of South America."

Carter paused and shrugged, taking a second to sort his thoughts surrounding the answer. "I believe that not only the future damage caused in Airis by The State will be worse than the one caused by us if left alone - they are turning the tables on their fights against Alassad after all -, but that the fear caused by them to the rest of the world will keep piling and end up harming even further the overall world's stability."

"So you support the opinion that war should be carried out?" Jennifer asked to confirm.

"Unfortunately, I can't think of any other way to end such problems once and for all." Nodded Carter.

Perhaps because Jennifer also thought that The State would come to harm innocents that had nothing to do with them if nothing was done, or perhaps because she had a favorable impression of Carter that didn't seem to have - or be hiding - the intention of stabbing her and dumping her body in the sewers, but the reporter was slightly agreeing in her mind.

But there was still a chance or two to ask some questions around, thinking that, Jennifer asked some other simple questions before thanking them both for participating and swiftly leaving to see some more sights.

Seeing that the reporter had left, Clarisse turned her head to face Carter, who had just let out a sigh. While smiling slightly, she asked humorously.

"What's wrong, Carter? You had such a sweet tongue, why are you acting like you are nervous?"

"Reporters are pros at the art of slapping someone's face, of course I don't want one of them retorting me." Answered Carter who let out another sigh before letting out a smile of his own. "But I have to congratulate you, it's not every day that you manage to stay quiet like that. Ah, could it be? You were even more afraid than me right now?"

"Shut up! We're going to be late for the flight!" She almost barked the first part.

"Even though it's happening two hours from now?"

"Differently from you, my superior hates not being early." It was Clarisse's time to sigh now.

"And even though your superior is currently inside the tower?"

"Fuck off! Let me walk a little, no one else needs to know."

"It would be so nice if I could pass the blame with a simple 'I don't know her'."

"Then just go to your barracks, go talk with your friends. Oh, sorry I forgot that no one likes your father."

And so the pair started bickering because of Jennifer, the reporter. Who knows what would her reaction be if she knew that the conversation transitioned from what kind of apocalypse would happen if Half-Life 3 were to be launched to this strange quarrel because of some random questions.

Barely two hours later, the first few of many units were sent from the Nations to Airis for warfare purposes. The objective, the fall of The State.