Nightingale awoke in silence. Without even opening her stinging eyes she raised her arm and covered her eyes, hiding the tears flowing from them. Her lips formed a bitter smile. ‘’Even my dreams are haunted…’’ She bitterly whispered. After she had stayed still for a while longer to shake off the last remnants of her nightmares, she quietly sat up. The only sound within the room now was the soft snoring of Lucy, still sound asleep in the bed next to hers.
Softly her feet tapped on the ground as she walked over to her locker, gently she opened it and grabbed a fresh towel and went towards the changing room. Her body cold and clammy from her nightmares she decided to take another shower.
Her underwear was quickly thrown into the basket again before she stepped into the shower room, flickering then steadying itself the light came to life on its own. Washing away the sweat and coldness with the hot water helped Nightingale to shake off the last bits of her disturbing dreams.
She finished quickly, after drying herself and putting on her underwear again she moved over to her bed and got dressed fully in her military outfit. Then she sat down on her bed and waited for someone to come and get her. Or just something else to need her attention; she quietly watched Lucy.
A bit of envy stung her heart, how she wished to have such a peaceful sleep. But Nightingale also knew that those dreams were the result of her own actions. So the envy within her died out just as fast as it had come alive. Nothing more than a passing flicker of emotions.
The sun had begun to rise just minutes ago, when she could see Judge walk towards her room through one of the windows. Softly she stepped onto the floor and began moving towards the door, quietly she opened it as to not disturb her guard and slipped out without making a sound, gently closing the door behind her back.
Judge was just about to reach the door when she had slipped out, he looked around with a questioning gaze. ‘’She is inside.’’ Nightingale told him quietly as she opened the door a bit. Just enough for Judge to see that his sent guard was alright. ‘’You gonna punish her?’’ she asked as she closed the door again.
‘’If I say yes then I guess you will argue against that?’’ Judge gave his answer. Nightingale looked at him for a while before murmuring ‘’How smart…’’ The a hint of a smile on her lips. ‘’Are you usually this meddlesome?’’ She was asked by a sighing Judge. ‘’No… But I always pay back debts.’’ The smile on her lips actually grew a bit, remembering the soft words which gave her a name.
‘’Debt? What debt? Actually… As long as it does not include anything illegal I don’t even care. Anyway, I am here to bring you to the Colonel. It is time to sign your contract and for you to be told everything you need to know.’’ She was told matter of factly.
Nightingale simply nodded and started to follow Judge. It was still very early, but on top of the walls and towers the soldiers still did their duty flawlessly. Nobody seemed to relax or let their guards down in the slightest, carefully scanning their surroundings. At least that is how it looked from the courtyard.
They walked only for a short while before they stood in front of the tall hexagon shaped tower. Judge opened the heavy door for her, and they stepped in. The inside was quite a surprise. It was a big and empty room. The inside walls did seem like they had been heavily fortified, just like the floor she tapped with her foot. At the back of the high room were two sets of stairs, one leading up and one down, in between the two sets four heavily armed soldiers were standing guard. In their mid an unmanned minigun.
Upon seeing this Nightingales eyebrow rose up, shooting a questioning gaze towards Judge. ‘’That... Is overkill is it not?’’ She asked him while again looking at the gun which was able to shoot six thousand rounds of doom per minute. Her answer was a hushed laugh. ‘’Just in case…’’ The slightest frown appeared on her face for not even half a second before she slowly nodded.
A bad feeling began rising up within her. Seeing all the weapons, guards and the heavy fortifications all around gave her an idea as to what the identity of her new employer was. And she did not like it one bit. If her inkling was right, this was not a better choice than a death warrant depending on the circumstances.
The soldiers gave Judge a silent nod as he passed through with Nightingale, but with each step they ascended the stairs her grasp on the blade became a bit stronger. They just kept climbing, the first floor with a big door was ignored. So was the second, third and fourth. Only at the fifth did they enter. There was a small corridor behind the door. Two doors were each at the left side and right as well as one heavy wooden door at the end of the room.
Her grip once more strengthened as they arrived at the door, Judge knocked and entered, giving her a sign to wait. Her mind raced and the suspicion she had grew stronger. After a few minutes of thinking the door opened again and Judge called her to enter. It was a small triangular room. Two windows at the walls, a few cabinets and a couple potted plants. Besides that there was a carpet laid out on which stood a massive secretary, in front two chairs and behind a leather chair on which sat a grey haired man. He was sturdy built and had sharp eyes the color of steel, but the beard he wore made his gaze lose some of its sharpness.
‘’Welcome, I am Colonel Bann Wulfram. And I will be your boss, a pleasure to meet you.’’ The Colonel said. His face an unreadable mask as his eyes tried to read her. But Nightingale did not return the smile, instead she slowly drew her sword as she spoke. ‘’Did you bring me here to fight against ‘them’?’’ She asked while pointing her sword towards Bann who was sitting just an arm's length from her swords tip.
‘’I advise you to speak the truth...’’ The young woman added with an icy glint in her eyes. Silence, utter and complete silence fell upon the room. The Colonel didn’t move in the slightest and instead stared unwavering into her eyes. In that moment Judge reached extremely fast for his gun, but within a blink Nightingales sword had moved through the air. With a soft humming sound it came to rest on his throat.
‘’I vowed to never kill another human, but if you reach for it again your head will fall.’’ Her voice was cold as ice and her whole demeanor was that of a predator now. A nostalgic feeling ran through her, yes, this was who she truly was. A predator, that is what she was and always would be deep down. No matter how soft she may become, no matter how her sins haunted her. In the end, deep within, her soul was that of a hunter. Something which could never be lost or forgotten, just suppressed.
Like that nobody moved for a while. Nightingale and Colonel Bann just looking at each other motionless, not saying a single word. From the corner of her eyes she could see Judge dripping with sweat, staring at the Colonel, awaiting his decision before he dared to move. Then suddenly the deafening silence was broken by bright laughter.
The moment he started laughing Nightingale had a smug smirk on her face, with an elegant motion her sword spun away from Judge and was sheathed in a beautiful flowing movement. The Colonel only stopped laughing after he was completely out of breath and tears were flowing. ‘’Damn… I didn’t… Expect that…’’ He huffed, fighting hard to regain his composure.
‘’And here I was worrying about how to get you to cooperate. How to find out if you are just playing out a character. I was even prepared to put you under a long time supervision till I could be sure you are trustworthy. But then you walk in here and demand the truth, not worrying about putting up any act.’’ He spoke while suppressing his laughter with great difficulty as it seemed.
‘’Fine, you win. That makes this much easier actually. The answer to your question, it is yes. We are fighting them.’’ The last sentence he spoke carried a very serious tone all of a sudden. To that Nightingale simply nodded as she began to contemplate the choices she could make.
It was then that Judge spoke. ‘’Sir, are you just going to let that pass? Yes I may have spoken of her as very reasonable and the probability of her being an asset is great. But she just threatened you and then me! I take back all I said before, she is a danger and should be disposed of! I made a mistake this time.’’ His voice carrying a cold tone which Nightingale had not heard from him before. But that was nothing she was surprised about, he was an agent. So she had already calculated the possibility of him changing sides anytime.
‘’No, it is quite alright. I would not want to become a chess piece in a game I don’t understand either. All she wanted is honesty, so as long as I do just that. Being honest, we won't have any trouble with her, right?’’ She was asked by him. Her response was a single silent nod. ‘’But sir! you can’t!’’ Judge interceded.
‘’I can’t? You, a field agent gives orders to me, a Colonel and base commander?’’ Bann asked with a tone commanding respect. Nightingale silently watched as Judge began to sweat profusely again, ‘’No sir... I would not…’’ She could hear him stutter. ‘’It is quite alright, you are not needed anymore. You can take your leave, on the double!’’ The Colonel shouted at the agent.
A quick salute, then Judge was gone from the room. ‘’Well, how about you take a seat?’’ Nightingale was asked by Colonel Bann in a much more dignified voice. Without hesitation she sat down on one of the chairs in front of the old man's desk and placed the sword on her lap. ‘’Well then, as you already know about them, any questions?’’ She was asked straightforward. ‘’I have seen them appear once, from one of those glowing… things. What are they?’’ This was a question she had wanted answers to for a long time now.
‘’As to ‘where’ they come from is unknown. The most viable theory nowadays is parallel worlds where beings such as them can exist. A place with so called magic, a place where lore, mythology and stories are real. As to how they come here, we don’t know. We call them anomalies, there are six different types known to us. Each varying in behaviour and size, also varying in what they bring us.’’ Bann said, he took a moment before adding. ‘’Now it is your turn to answer a question of mine. What is your name? I did hear about your answer to that from Judge. But I don’t think that is true, so what should I call you?’’ She was asked.
Stolen story; please report.
For a moment she remained quiet before softly answering, ‘’Nightingale… I… I like Nightingale.’’ She said, it was the name she chose to accept as her own. ‘’I chose to take that name after I heard a certain sentence last night…’’ she added quietly. ‘’And the Nightingale sings her sorrowful lament…’’ Bann said in a somber voice. ‘’What a dark story to derive your name from…’’ He slowly added. Her eyebrow rose as she looked at him. ‘’You’ve heard of it before?’’ To her question the Colonel nodded. ‘’It was Lucy who recited it wasn’t it? How could I not know it, the book she has it from comes from my private collection.’’ Now Nightingale looked with a curious expression at the greyed man before her. ‘’Related?’’ She asked him, to which he shook his head.
‘’She trained under me, she’s a bright young woman. She made her way here as the youngest person ever, she scored near perfectly at training. But I don’t think she is suitable for actual combat, her strength lies elsewhere but she refused to listen… Anyway, that's besides the point. Got any other questions?’’ She was brought back on track by him.
‘’My mission will be to fight them right? With a team?’’ Her face was expressionless again as she asked this. ‘’Yes, you will go to fight them in as much secret as the situation allows. As you should be aware of their existence is nothing more than myth and some rumors. And people up high want to keep it that way. Thus we can’t waltz in with tanks and a whole company. That’s why we form small elite teams as fast response to their threat. As to your team… We have still not found anyone besides you at this point. But chances are you will lead it if nobody more suitable appears from within the candidates.’’ She was explained by Bann.
Then he added, ‘’For now you will go through training. Today you will have to demonstrate your combat skills in sparring matches and on the shooting range, we will also test your overall fitness to know your strengths and weaknesses. After that we will teach you how the army leads teams, what tactics we use, what weapons we use for which type of enemy and general knowledge about our enemy. If that is acceptable and you have no further questions we can start talking about your contract.’’ With that the long explanation ended.
Nightingale was not surprised about most of the things, at most a bit of her curiosity was satisfied. And a few more questions had appeared in her mind. But that was something she could take her time to learn about later. For now the contract was more interesting, as she wanted to add some more points to it.
Thus when she was handed the contract she quickly read through it. It basically stated;
To obey the orders of your superiors, fight the creatures, while under changing circumstances the order to fight may change to capture or protect. Besides that there were the things she had talked about with Judge written down. Her training, the secrecy of her work and identity. Her not being able to leave except for missions and special granted requests of leave. Also the protection detail of her niece and all those things.
After she had read through it she lifted her eyes and looked at the Colonel. ‘’I want to add a few things, depending on what will be granted I will offer something in return.’’ Nightingale gave her demand while hinting at her offer. ‘’Hoh… And what may you want?’’ She was asked with a curious voice. Obviously she knew that Bann would be interested in her offer more than in her demand.
‘’I am a lone fighter. I never fought in a team, neither was I ever in the military. I also lack vast amounts of knowledge and equipment for the job I am supposed to undertake. I will probably have a lot of questions which won’t be able to be answered during my training, due to that I request that Lucy moves in to my bungalow. She can help me with answering my questions, she also can help me get more familiar with my new environment and with the idea of working in a team. Also you mentioned she is a good soldier but not suited for combat, I may have a job for her in my team which might fit her quite well. Also I need someone to manage my requests. I also want the right to visit my niece, I do not want to meet her just yet. And when I go to meet her I will probably want to do so in secret. Can you accept these demands?’’ Nightingale finished her long monologue.
For a long time Bann Wulfram silently looked at her before he began to ask some more questions about her demands. ‘’ The right to visit… I think I can accept that if we can manage to have you see her without her knowing that it is you. As for Lucy… That also can be granted, she is under my command so it is within my power to accept that. But I am curious about the job you mentioned for her in your team. I also am quite curious what you mean with equipment, I think we have everything you could need here.’’
After listening to his words quietly a soft smile was on her lips as she began to explain. ‘’For the equipment, those are things an assassin uses. There is quiet a variety of items I would like to have. Among them are; scentless shampoo and shower gel, also the same for deodorant, washing pulver and so on. The same goes for clothes with the addition that they also need to be silent, they can’t rustle when I move in them. And it would be good if they don't leak body heat, so they are more unlikely to be found by heat seeking cameras or in our case creatures. I also need special boots and all such things. There is really a wide variety of things I need just clothes and daily necessities wise. If we were beginning to speak of tools the list would just grow much longer.’’ For a moment she let her voice fade as to let the Colonel have a moment of time to understand what she said. Then she continued.
‘’As for the job I have for Lucy, I dislike going blind into jobs. I would normally spend weeks stalking my target, I would learn its routine and position. I would get any tiny information I could get and work a plan out on that. But I do understand that such luxuries are not available in the kind of work I will do in the future. So I would like to place her in the rear and let her gather real time intel of the surrounding area, our movements, the enemy movements as well as to find us any small advantage possible. She could use small drones, rc cars with cameras, satellites. I don’t really care how as long as she can work it out. That should make the jobs a bit less dangerous and a lot more efficient.’’ She finally finished her long explanation.
Again there was a while of quietness in the room before the conversation moved along. ‘’Well… I can see your point in your request for special supplies. It is my job to give you the best equipment so you can fight to the best of your abilities, I have an idea as to how to solve a majority of your requests. The daily necessities are absolutely not a problem, just have Lucy order them. Also I think I will be able to supply you with your request after your training.’’ The Colonel quietly accepted her first demand.
‘’As for the job… Normally Intelligence would work on that. But I can also see your point in real time intel on location, we can treat it as a field test for better threat management methods. Also you are right, this may truly suit her. I accept, if your offer is good that is.’’ There was what Nightingale had waited for. He would accept all her demands if her offer was good enough, but would it? she didn’t know. But it was worth a shot, if she judged the Colonel right he would like her offer quite a bit.
‘’I am offering information, It must be hard finding people such as me. That is why I shall give you two hints in exchange. Do you accept?’’ She asked the Colonel, not fully revealing her cards yet to gauge his reaction. ‘’I am listening...’’ The bait had been taken. With that she sorted the informations she had within her mind and then began to tell the Colonel.
‘’The first is the undying emperor. Deep within the underworld lies a certain colosseum, people are made to fight battles of life and death there while rich people bet on it. But the emperor is undefeated, I have no information where he came from but he is sure to have been taken against his will. Still he never lost a fight, he became so good that people sometimes even though very rarely brought in strange beasts from mythology to fight him. It was one such fight I have witnessed during a negotiation for a job. He fought a beast which I can only describe as the guardian of hell, Cerberus. He won.’’ After that she gave Bann the location of the colosseum and also explained how to get an invitation it.
‘’Interesting, that man really does sound like someone we want to have. Even more so as he has experience in fighting them, and he also is fighting against his will... That really is a good piece of intel, so I guess the next one is just as good?’’ She was asked by the Colonel who carried a small smile on his lips.
‘’Yes, the second is just as special. She is an underground surgeon, the Reaper’s right hand. Her skill as surgeon is probably world class, she also has done countless successful operations nobody else wanted to do. Besides that she even operated on me a few times, sometimes even against my will… Thus I tried to kill her quite a few times when I was younger. She is still alive, that alone should be proof of how tough she is to take down.’’ It was there that the she was interrupted.
‘’You wanted to kill her? Won’t it be a problem then if we bring her here?’’ Nightingale was asked. But she only shook her head before speaking. ‘’It will be no problem, she operated on me to the demand of my parents. In the end she just did a job, not unlike I did. So who am I to be her judge? Also it should interest you that she is at least as good with a rifle as any of your soldiers. And she also has researched the biology of those creatures. She loves research, when humans became too boring for her she seems to have learned about those creatures and made a deal with the colosseum to acquire slain creatures to dissect them. To hire her should also be quite easy, just tell her you got research material in exchange for her service. Ask a bit around and you should be able to find her quite easily.’’ Nightingale finished her explanation.
She now could observe a thoughtful expression on Bann’s face, it lasted for quite a while before he gave an answer. ‘’I will change the contract, all your demands will be accepted. Just give me a moment I will call someone to set up a new one.’’ A small smile was on her lips as she slowly leaned back against the chair and waited.