‘Wonder where he went’ Callan pondered, looking at the emptied seat next to Hannah, where Enzo once was. Having left the room a few minutes ago for some reason.

The rest of the team had gone to sleep, napping on their chairs out of boredom and nothing else to do. Only he, Hannah, and the mysterious woman were the only ones awake.

The door of the briefing room opened, and Enzo entered inside. But behind him, teams of operatives donning different but recognizable outfits began to enter inside. Callan’s teammates began waking up, hearing the voices of the people walking in and the footsteps.

“That is alot…” Clara looked in shock.

Soon, almost all the chairs in the briefing room were used by the new operatives.

Callan noticed that many were from the divisions they previously worked with. None though had recognizable faces.

Above, the lights went dim and the screen shined brightly.

Enzo walked to the front, holding a tablet in his hand with an emotionless expression.

“I division was satisfied with the operation, reporting similar mutants from the other strike teams. But the casualties had exceeded what was expected.” He explained, tapping on his tablet a few times before an image appeared on the once blank white screen.

An image of the same mutant they had captured, placed inside a large pod filled with blue liquid.

“Despite this, they were deeply interested in the recent unique mutant our team had found.” He glanced at Hannah and the team.

“Due to this, they requested that we begin gathering more of these mutants for further tests and research, along with the other unique mutants we didn’t manage to find. But most importantly, find this mutant in particular again.” The image changed to a picture of teams huddled together like a group photo, a strike team from another tower.

“Furthermore, after deliberation with the division heads, they agreed to provide more teams for the strike forces, providing an extra team from each division that had agreed. Along with this, G division has agreed to join this operation, acting as an escort unit for any possible altercation we may face.” He continued. Another image appeared, this time on the same mutant again, but in the rain, seemingly taken as a photograph from a fight.

“From the information they gathered, it seems the head is the main weak point of the mutants, sparsely protected by the thick organic armor on it, along with portions of the legs.” After speaking, another image appeared, showing the same picture of the city and arrows like before.

“Our destination will be the same, just beyond the normal range of S division units.” Once finished, the screen shut off and the lights came back on.

“Our mission begins in a few minutes, prepare your gear, we will start heading down.”

The operatives stood up, waiting for Enzo to exit the room, Callan was still shocked by the amount of operatives near him, having only been with smaller teams.

But after taking a look at their faces, none were identifiable.

“Ms Hannah. What happened with the other teams we were with?” Callan asked Hannah, walking next to her as they began heading out to the hallway.

“Well, due to the casualties, they provided a new team to replace them. Fortunately the change was quick.” She quickly responded with a kind tone.

With an answer, Callan walked back to her team. Clara had already begun talking with the new S operatives.

‘Replaced so quickly…’ He thought before looking forward again. He swallowed his fears and memories of the earlier expedition, hoping to accomplish the mission and follow what Clara had said earlier.

‘Make sure you don’t lose anyone else’ The thought seemed to resonate deeply with Callan.

The team entered inside the elevator alongside the other operatives. He could hear them tinkering and unsheathing their assortment of weapons. From sharp to blunt and even piercing weapons.

The doors opened, and the operatives flooded out almost immediately, like water released from a dam.

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Enzo ordered the team to move closer to the gate, standing in front of the entire unit.

Callan took out his cleaned blade, looking at the large gate in front of them, restraining his fears and focusing on completing the mission. And saving as many as possible.

Once everyone had taken out their weapons and prepped their gear, the alarm buzzed loudly as the gates began opening to the outside.

Dry ground and the scent of dirt and faint petrichor hit their noses almost immediately.

The unit stepped out and began walking onward with little delay.

On the move, Enzo began ordering the teams around, quickly making a new formation for them.

Once he had finished, Callan and his team had found themselves surrounding the E, I and L divisions, protected by the S and G division operatives.

Callan noticed that many of them seemed to be seasoned, seeing multiple scars on their body, and the calm nonchalant expression on many of their faces.

After a while of walking, and passing by the same fort, they reached the edge of the light. Callan took a deep breath, preparing himself to descend back to hell. The rain had gotten stronger since they left earlier.

“Keep tight formation, and do not stray from the light. Once we reach the destination, we will hope the mutant shows up so we may leave.” Enzo spoke, now leading near the front while Callan and his team continued staying behind with E and L operatives.

After a minute, they took their first steps into the rain, departing from the safety of the city’s light.

Their walk slowly shifted to running as they started rushing through the rain with no care or regard.

Along the way, the team was ambushed a few times by small droves of mutants, quickly cut down by the S and G divisions with the sharp arsenal, still managing to keep up with the unit.

As the minutes went by, Callan could feel his boot sink deeper and deeper into the mud.

The light of the city from behind had disappeared, leaving him and the unit to the mercy of the rain.

An hour had passed, and most of the team returned to walking, conserving their remaining energy for the possible battle ahead.

As they moved farther, the groups of mutants that ambushed them only grew in number. But all were quickly taken out by the operatives, sustaining light wounds but surviving.

Callan was relieved at the sight, but he still hoped they would survive once they reached their destination.

He noticed that people in his team had begun jotting down on their clipboards, prompting him to start writing as well. Even on the move, he still needed to complete sections of the report.

A few minutes passed, boots of Callan and the other operatives had sunken deep into the mud with each step they took, starting to wrestle their legs out the brown sludge.

The silence began taking a toll on Callan, expecting a shout or yell of a mutant ambush nearby.

Blood had begun coating the S and G operative’s weapons, having fought multiple ambushes but managed to defend the unit well.

Another hour had passed, Callan began to despise the mud, becoming more and more difficult to pull out his legs with each step, and feeling as his boots submerge almost immediately once it hit the ground.

He felt somewhat secured behind the lines of operatives protecting them, feeling a sense of calm, only occasionally broken by a sudden mutant ambush.

“Doesn’t seem like any of em are the right ones.” Clara muttered, looking at the corpses of the recently killed mutants.

The deeper they went, the ambushes became more frequent, with the G operatives sustaining a few close calls. H operatives periodically moved through and provided aid to any wounds they had taken.

On the way, Callan and the unit stumbled upon something, causing Enzo to stop the unit.

In front of them was a bag. Filled with syringes. The sight brought immediate fear to Callan, realizing who it was from.

“Alexia…” He spoke under his breath. Enzo walked towards the bag, placing the scattered syringes back inside and walking back to the unit.

“It seems the tools of the operatives were spared, search for any other items along the way.” He ordered, handing the bag to Hannah.

As they went farther, operatives in the unit began taking out different items. From weapons, to masks, to weapons, quickly handing it to E operatives for storing. Hannah looked at Callan, sensing his eyes staring at the bag.

“You want the bag?” Callan was shocked by the question. Hannah looked at the leader of the H division teams, nodding their heads in response.

“Wait- We can keep that? Isn’t that for H division?” He questioned her.

“Since we are A division, we may have more permissions to keep certain equipment. Including bags of syringes like this.”

Without waiting for an answer, Hannah stepped towards Callan, handing him the dirty but filled bag of different colored syringes.

“I noticed you and her being rather talkative, so I assumed you may want to keep it. Memory and all.” With no other choice, Callan took the bag. And wore it on his shoulder. With a smile, Hannah began walking back to her original position.