“So what made you join the divisions?” Alexia asked with a joyful tone, but Callan remained silent. He noticed that she had a mace strapped to her waist.

After a few seconds, Alexia moved her face away.

“Not open with that as well huh? That’s normal.” After speaking, Alexia took out her tablet and faced it towards Callan.

“Hmm, say here you have more injuries. Mostly light cuts and lacerations.” Alexia raised her hand again, emanating a green glow once more.

Like before, Callan felt a warm breeze on his body as his wounds began to heal.

Once done, Alexia let out a deep sigh, and took out her canteen.

“When the mission starts, the best I can do is just hand you stims and painkillers. Need to conserve energy for worse wounds you know?” Alexia began drinking coffee from her canteen.

Behind her, the rest of her team talked amongst each other, just as cheery as her.

The other leaders of the teams joined in talking with Hannah’s superior, their conversation too quiet to be heard by Callan.

Callan noticed that the mysterious woman of his team was talking with a group of other operatives, all donning black long heavy coats with a longsword strapped to their sides. In front of them were the same interfaces Callan saw from the woman before.

“Looks like she found her colleagues when she went for the promotion process.” Clara commented, walking towards Callan while being followed by a few S division operatives.

“Those are the I division?” Callan asked. Clara simply nodded her head before returning to chat happily with the S division operatives.

Marci and Oliver both talked to the E division operatives, Oliver seeming more interested in their gear. They seemed to be somewhat heavily armored, carrying long staffs with a large rectangular device on their back like a storage tank. They wore thicker kevlar vests with a thin orange robe to cover most of it, their faces were covered by gas masks.

‘Wonder why they wear those.’ Callan pondered.

The rest of the operatives talked amongst one another, with Callan just sitting silently next to Alexia.

‘Seems like everyone has a division to go for…Wonder if I should find one.’ Callan thought to himself, starting to think about his future if he manages to survive.

His thoughts were interrupted by Hannah’s superior, grabbing everyone’s attention with a snapping finger.

“Alright, enough time has passed. We will descend down and begin the operation, prepare your gear.” He ordered. Almost immediately, everyone stopped talking, returning to their teams and following him as he made his way out.

Callan joined with his team, together once again, they checked their gear and walked out.

“I always wanted to fight with S division again.” Clara was the most happy of the team, ecstatic as she looked at the S division operatives assigned to them.

“By the way, do you guys mind if I can kill most of the mutants? I wanna impress em.” She chuckled.

Hannah and her superior led from the front, making their way back to the main room.

Together, the teams moved through the wave of operatives with ease, managing to stick together in the crowd before reaching an elevator.

Entering inside the elevator, they waited patiently for their descent, Clara brandished her sword, glancing constantly at the S division operatives next to them.

As the doors opened, they were greeted to the gate. Puddles of water lay around the floor, with stains of blood and a few torn pieces of fabric from their capes.

“Alrighty then, just like always. Hope you all can catch up!” One of the S division operatives spoke enthusiastically, already unsheathing his sword for combat.

The woman, and the I division operatives were mostly focused with their interfaces, swiping parts of it around like images or documents on a computer.

Soon, everyone was ready to face the outside. And after a moment of silence, a loud buzzing sound blared out, and the door slowly opened.

After fully opening, they were greeted to a dry but calm scenery. With the darkness and rain farther away.

“I division believes that we may have a higher chance to find the unique mutants by moving farther than the scouting range of S division. Stay close and keep guard.” After speaking, the superior began giving orders to the teams, quickly creating a formation.

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Callan and his team found themselves surrounding the group alongside the S division, with L and I division at the very center of the unit.

Unlike before, Callan’s boots didn’t sink to the bottom. The dirt felt far more solid and easier to move on. The group walked on, starting to quicken the pace as they went farther from the wall.

The team descended further, Callan could see the darkness and light anchor in the distance.

As they approached the fort, one of the L division operatives spoke.

“The storm looks quite violent. Doubt our anchor can hold it off.”

“Calm yourself, by estimates the anchor may hold as long as the surge does not turn into a torrential storm.” An I division operative spoke up. Callan was surprised by the nonchalant tone of the operatives, seeing what could happen if the anchor breaks.

They soon passed by the fort, greeting the guards that protected it. Callan could see the bright beam of light that rose up to the air from the anchor.

Soon, they reached near the edge of the light, just a few steps from the wet mud and darkness in front of them. The team took a few moments to check their equipment one last time.

Callan held onto his sword, glancing at his checklist and scanner. The L division operatives prepared their staffs, making them shine brightly.

“The storm at this moment is stronger than usual, we may face dogged resistance in our search. But the executives ordered us to only return if heavy casualties are sustained. Prepare to start running.” The superior ordered.

In moments, the team rushed out of the light, all at once. Callan felt his entire boot sink into the dirt, almost consuming it.

Everyone ran through the dark, with the light acting as an umbrella, shielding them from the rain as they went away from the safety of the city and light.

‘So this is the place outside the light…’ Callan looked around at the darkness, despite seeing nothing he felt intrigued by the absolute pitch black that surrounded him. The curiousity and intrigue quickly faded away as they went farther, and the storm became stronger. He began remembering what happened before.

‘Will those things come out again?’ As if to answer his question, a loud growl came from the darkness, alerting the team to the threat.

“Keep moving, S and A division operatives, take out any that approach close enough.” The superior ordered.

Callan gripped his blade, looking at the darkness, trying to see any form of movement, but to no avail.

The team moved faster, hoping to reach their destination and end the mission quickly. The light of the city behind them became smaller and smaller as they descended further.

“How’s your first time being this far out?” Clara asked from behind, her voice almost muffled by the violent rain.

“Is this really what operatives do normally?” Callan yelled back.

“Pretty much, but this is normally done by S division and R division.” She replied.

Minutes gone by, and they all continued running. Suddenly, they heard another growl, this time much nearer than before.

Callan felt more anxious, looking around more carefully while trying to keep up with the team.

He felt his boots sink deeper and deeper into the mud, getting harder to try and move.

Soon, the expedition became slower with the other operatives struggling to move around.

“Move slower, it seems we’re getting closer to where these unique mutants were found. Continue observing the area.”

The mud only became harder to move through, like a thick sludge, almost knee high.

While everyone struggled, the S operatives moved through with little issue, continuing their march.

While Callan wrestled with the mud, he caught something move in the darkness.

“I think something’s there…” He muttered, the operatives close to him looked as well, searching for any other sign of movement.

A shadow flashed by in the dark, moving just shy of where the light of the staffs ended.

“Hope it's those new mutants…” An S operative commented.

Suddenly, a large figure lunged out the darkness, headed for Callan. He felt his body fall back as the thing pounced on him. It raised a bladed arm, about to strike Callan. But before it could, its head fell off, leaving a red stump. Callan quickly pushed the humanoid mutant off. Clara stood next to him, surprised, extending a hand out.

“Are you alright? Also thanks for the free kill.” Callan nodded his head, full of shock and fright.

‘This is not like the fort…Not at all…’ While trying to calm himself down, the team looked around for any possible enemy that may be present.

Behind him, Alexia held her scanner to him, searching for any wounds.

“Fortunately your teammate saved you in the nick of time.” She commented.

An I operative approached the corpse, his interface floating next to him.

“Bizarre. Although it matches the characteristics of a common mutant, it looks somewhat larger. Or bulkier to be more concise. And compared to the records of past engagements, the blade is also noticeably bigger.” He explained, quickly being joined by an E operative.

While they studied the creature, the superior began to talk.

“Most likely a result of our distance. But it does not match the unique mutants they want us to find. Return to formation.” The superior commanded.

“Strange though, only one? A storm like this should make hundreds of these things pop out to fight us.” Clara pondered.

Following the orders of the superior, the team returned to their main task: Finding a unique mutant.