Boring Again…?
Phesx reunited with the group after dressing up. He wasn't the last one. Pheli nodded at him before Phesx stood at the side in silence. His equipment was already delivered to the reception, of which a few brand-new Artistas carried elsewhere, probably to the helicopter. When everyone arrived, Pheli registered their entry before heading to the underground parking area.
When they arrived at the dark environment, Pheli led the group elsewhere, a closed compartment that only opened a few seconds after Pheli waited in front. Then, after extremely thick gates opened to the sides, the group went in, welcoming a long hallway.
There were other Artistas guarding the tunnel-like passage. The group became a little closer, and they chatted a little in whispers, at last. Phesx found himself walking up to Pheli as the others chatted. Pheli looked at him before sending her left-handed fingers to his right hand.
Taking grasp of it, Pheli leaned her head on his right shoulder, intertwining her hand with his in front of everyone. Phesx felt the silence and stares from behind, but the notion of Pheli’s open affection before their circle drove his attention to her alone.
Even then, the pause only lasted 2 seconds before the others returned to their chatter. Phesx lowered his head to the right, as if to hug Pheli’s sweet head that was now slightly rubbing him.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the second gates, whereas Pheli separated from Phesx and stood in front again. A few seconds later, the gate opened. These were a little less thick, but the material was different. It smelled like wet cement and metal at the same time, somewhat.
Pheli stepped forth, leading the group into a well-lighted, huge landing zone. They were still underground, but a space of a few square hundred meters and a height of nearly 100 meters held one helicopter and various tech tools and even machinery. Many people walked about.
Some seemed for repairs, others to check on any vehicle, be it military, civilian cars, motorcycles, or a helicopter in this case. The only way out besides where the group came from was a tunnel half the height of the landing zone and about a fifth as big.
Phesx’s attention was fully on the helicopter after checking around. Pheli explained to him, as the others wouldn’t need this information, knowing he’d be deadly curious. And excited, too. “This is a military grade helicopter. It is only for quick movement of cargo. It became faster after taking off any weaponry system in it. Well, it’s last gen, so look around but don’t touch.”
“It does seem to have a similarity with the one I saw,” Phesx commented, ignoring the dozens of Artistas boarding the helicopter and Instructor Omar directing them. Pheli looked at him. “Preut? That one incident at the bridge?”
“Mhm,” Phesx nodded. “That one was a little smaller, but it had a lot more space for scary stuff.”
“Sit beside me,” Pheli said after nodding in silence. Phesx looked at her as she continued, “As my selected Artista, you might act first thing in the mission. I’ll let the Instructor brief everyone on the rest.”
“Okay,” Phesx nodded and meekly voiced. Pheli led the group to stand in front of the Instructor. They could see the helicopter was half-full. The Instructor checked the interiors before turning to Pheli. “Right middle row. Go ahead. Medics to the back.”
Pheli went into the helicopter, which was tremendously large. It didn’t have much height, but it had more than 2 auxiliary motors for its enormous cargo space. The front looked a little like a passenger airplane, but small and built to deflect incoming firepower, even missiles.
There were 3 separate columns, of which each was divided into 3 from the back to the front, enough for a group of 12+ to sit, with seats on the left and right. Like this, the large group comprised by 9 other smaller groups could board it without a problem.
There were narrow spaces between each row to let anyone walk freely in between, not having to walk from one end to the other to cross to another column. Although the seats weren’t top quality, they were comfortable and each had belts and holds to grab when needed.
Phesx sat beside Pheli as the groups settled down. The medics remained at their rear, checking their equipment with utmost detail. The other Artistas checked their weapons and even grenades, confirming they were optimal. Phesx did the same, not used to airborne movement.
After checking everything, and noticing nothing was missing, Phesx sighed in relief in his mind before looking at Pheli. She grabbed his right arm, holding it to put him at ease, just in case. But to Phesx, it mostly calmed his thoughts. They locked eyes for a bit before relaxing.
Phesx looked at the ceiling, while Pheli calmly looked around. The helicopter was silent, with the sound of workers moving around outside diminishing after every passing minute. The other groups joined the helicopter, filling it up.
Before it was full, the helicopter’s auxiliary rotors began their pivot. Phesx could simply just hear how they became heated, no more than necessary, getting ready to set off. He looked down at Pheli after that intricate noise like melodic bells to his ears become more consistent.
“This thing flies very fast, but it is also so it can stop or change angles smoothly. Are you scared?” Pheli asked him, pinching the skin of his right backhand. Phesx placed his left hand on hers, both already with gloves, “Only of dying in accidents that didn’t depend on me.”
“Hmph,” Pheli blew from her nostrils. Would he be fine by dying in an accident he created? She flashed him a cute smirk before returning to her indifferent resting face.
Everyone waited in the helicopter before the last few Artistas joined them and sat in the last 3 rows near the ramp. A minute after that, the Instructor finally entered the cargo hold and the main rotor started gyrating, gaining velocity.
Phesx had the sensation of wind passing through his feet when they were against the floor. When they weren’t, it felt like he was slowly being lifted. The Instructor passed by each column, checking the Artistas as the main rotor became prepared to set off.
“Our mission will be your month’s best week. Make sure you’re alive to celebrate it after we return.” The Instructor spoke before stopping at the front, behind the entrance to the cabin, and faced them. “Simple steps. First, we need to prepare a safe house and secure the target to protect. One of you will find this individual and bring them to us. Do not be reckless. The moment this mission is on play, the enemy of our contractor will know. We are not ghosts, and I won’t welcome any of you wanting to become one.”
“One of you will be chosen here. In case you fail to send a notification, you’ll be taken as dead and another will be sent. This target is around the age of the youngest among you,” the Instructor’s words had everyone stare at Phesx, which the latter ignored. Omar continued, “Regardless of the motive or situation you’re in, at least make noise to know your position. We’ll know if you were ever killed or had to hide after sending your replacement.”
“It’s better if you are killed. Because failing in this extraction will cost you dearly with me and when we return to the HQ.” The Instructor went on, “Good luck whoever is chosen. In the next step, we will attract whatever forces the enemy in question sends to catch the kid. The lot of you must prepare for the next step as this happens. Be swift and certain.”
“From the next step onwards, we’ll separate and wait for the enemy to deploy their full forces. That’s where we’ll take them down and get ready to go back to our beds. Do not contact each other unless you don’t have any more pants to shit on.” The Instructor paused.
“As you can tell, we must be careful in our movements. Nobody will miss another rising mob choked before it could spark in the criminal world. But we’re moving close to the capital. As I said, don’t be reckless and you’ll be fine, at the very least.”
“The last step is preparing to leave. We can’t take the helicopter, so this baby will return as soon as we land near the safe house to be.” As the Instructor went on, the helicopter finally lifted off the ground, immediately leaning forth and advancing fast. Phesx’s eyes widened in surprise.
“We’ll reunite in different places, but we will get to that when the time comes. We must leave with whatever stolen vehicles you can find to drive outside Coalely. A reminder, don’t take helitaxis or hostages, you’ll be dead Artistas before the police gets to you.” The atmosphere became a little somber and still.
“Find a base in the other states, avoid Proteros, and use the same tunnels to return. This won’t be another daily news of criminals killing each other like cannibals.” The Instructor paused, looked around, and loudly asked, “Who are those to be selected for the first step?!”
A person immediately stood up, wearing a serious expression and ‘duty calls’ in his eyes. The Instructor looked at this in disgust before bashing at the Artista, “Sit down! Not you! Group leaders, speak up!”
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Before anyone else could react and speak for their selected Artistas, and while the Artista who stood up sat back down with a wronged face, Pheli spoke with a low voice from her seat. “Fox is the fastest element in my group. He has agile reaction capabilities and isn’t afraid of danger.”
“His escorting and protecting missions have always been carried with neither him nor his targets being injured. The best candidate is my person. No one else.” Pheli’s words rang nonstop. She left a shaky pause after finishing, where no one else dared or had something to say.
The Instructor frowned in thought. His eyes moved to Phesx, “Fox, are you willing to start the mission first?”
“I’m willing to complete the first step,” Phesx looked up, straightened his back, and replied. Pheli remained unresponsive, like Phesx’s words were to be expected. The Instructor lifted his eyebrows and smirked, lowering his head before saying without a care, “Alright then.”
From then on, the Instructor walked to the side and sat with his group. They were all Artistas, but that was just how things worked. At the very least, those Artistas should be on par with Phesx’s circle.
… On their way to Coalely, a state 3 states from Sargonde. Others would spend from 6 to 8 hours approximately to travel from one to another, but with a cargo chopper, it would only take 4 hours, more or less.
During the trip, when they neared Coalely, the instructor commenced debriefing them. It was clear there was an issue of possible information being sold. Regardless, the safe house was selected after a brief debate the Instructor initiated with the other group leaders.
Nobody here leading a group was a ‘simple’ figure in Riverlye. The Instructor then proceeded to show Phesx, and the other Artistas to replace him if he fucked up, about the target. It was a young man, barely 19, who returned from his university late at night every few days a week.
The first and last 2 days of the week would be spent like this, and such was the time the contractor’s enemy decided to act. Spies among criminal organizations, especially organized crime, was the usual stuff, so information-gathering was of no issue.
Phesx would have to drop on a place where a hidden trapdoor led to the surface. It would be a long trip from a couple of hundred meters underneath, but it was the safest. The helicopter couldn’t just pop up out of nowhere and then disappear like smoke.
“Time’s come, Fox!” The Instructor broke the helicopter’s silence. Most closed their eyes to rest, feeling the cool sensation of the helicopter moving with incredible speed. They opened them to glance at Phesx, who nodded at Omar and stood up. He grabbed only one of his submachine guns, a small one, and kept his small pistol while leaving the rest with his group.
Phesx nodded at Pheli, who simply looked back at him. The ramp slowly opened, descending as the helicopter barely slowed down. Phesx felt the distinction between the helicopter’s speed and the tunnel, stagnant and tranquil.
He mentally sweated and walked towards it. Before reaching the ramp, he turned around and walked backwards. Phesx didn’t do it with the intention to, but the Instructor looked at him and nodded. Then, Phesx held his small gun to his tummy and dropped backwards. He was still about 20 meters above the ground, although the helicopter finally slowed down.
Whooosssh- whistle~… Phesx felt his ears focusing on the air movements rushing towards his body, carrying him along as the helicopter rapidly disappeared in the distance. But he didn’t look at it. Phesx filled his body with breath, gaining a sensation of purpose as his body moved midair.
Phesx’s back faced the ground, slightly leaning. 2 meters before he fell, he forcefully rotated with his bum upwards, but moved his legs to the left and halted his rotation, lying sideways in the air. With his left arm atop his forehead, Phesx felt his body crackle and screech before immediately positioning his body.
His neck and upper back received most of the force in his body, which spread to the rest of his back when it touched the ground. Phesx’s muscles and bones reacted inhumanely, resisting the trajectory, although he was hurt a bit. Nonetheless, his organs were intact, and his uniform protected him from grazing against the ground.
Phesx’s right leg tensed. His veins seemed about to sprout out of his skin, but they didn’t. He used it to begin rising himself up, further supported by his left leg before quickly throwing himself into the air with the inertia from the landing.
His body lunged forwards. Phesx kept his small gun to his belly with his right hand still, only momentarily lunging his arm forward to retain momentum. He rolled again, this time with even more force that was yet resisted by his body.
In this occasion, Phesx used both his legs, whose veins bulged again, to jump upwards and dash into the air once more. He crossed his arms and slightly bent his knees, locking them as he spun and spun with his body sideways.
At some point, the force behind him seemed to poof into invisible smoke around him, letting him fall to the ground without resistance, albeit out of danger.
“Huff, huff, huff…” Phesx sweated as his body heaved up and down. He faced the ceiling, feeling a little sick. ‘I need more training. My breath isn’t flexible and accustomed enough to this complexity. I should go to more difficult missions, and train with Pheli, and the others, too.’
Phesx rested until he recuperated his breathing. He stood up, ignored the bruises around his shins, shoulders, collarbone, and knees before searching for the ladder. His small gun was safe and sound, and the few extra magazines hidden under his uniform intact.
Phesx found it, a red ladder exposed on the wall that went up for dozens of meters. It soared into a square hole about 5 square meters big. Phesx Caolia felt lazy, exhaling in defeat. But then, he thought of something and walked to the ladder, wearing a thin smirk on his lips.
After going up until he went a few meters past the hole’s lower end, Phesx could see the closed platform at the very top. He stopped and calculated, turning around to look at the walls and calculate the ladder inside the hole…
Tap… clank! Clank, clank- tap… clank! Phesx lunged upwards, kicking the ladder’s bars twice before kicking himself back into a wall. His feet harshly kicked himself up again, this time higher and stronger than before, and he lifted his hands to grab the highest bar he could.
Then, pulling himself up with his arms’ strength, he kicked the ladder’s bars again, repeating the motion to a fault. He was definitely faster, but not something like a blurry figure flying upwards. That was simply impossible. It was tiring, indeed. But compared to the maneuvers from before, this was nothing. Furthermore, he didn’t need breath. Phesx only had to employ what he’s learned and honed.
When Phesx approached the very top, he took his cloak and mask out from under his torso. He stopped at the last few bars, put them on, and introduced a code into the platform above him. It rotated a few times before sliding away, revealing a late-night sky without stars and many obscure gray clouds.
Phesx breathed in before coming up, rolling once and lying on his back, checking his rear after rapidly assessing his front beforehand. He stood up, coiling his small gun’s strap around his right arm before lowering his presence.
After a look around, Phesx understood where he was. He calculated the time since he dropped off the helicopter and rushed in a direction. His steps were soundless, but his speed was truly something worth noticing, even for lagj secret organizations.
The location of the secret passageway to Riverlye’s HQ, which closed on its own, was behind a few suburbs that were still under construction. At this hour, there was no one around, but there were cameras. However, by the time they were checked, after the mission was completed, it would be long useless.
Phesx rapidly shot his body through buildings before arriving at a few streets. Cars drove by, but very few. When a good timing arrived, Phesx rushed from one sidewalk to another, stopping several streets away, heading towards a wealthy district with a large precinct in the middle.
Phesx rolled his eyes before heading over. If it was going to be another boring rescue mission, then so be it. He just hoped there would be a few hooligans he could indiscriminately play with.
Phesx checked the routes the target would walk by. Confirming they weren’t trekked beforehand, Phesx continued until he spotted the target walking a kilometer away in between some storage garages. Checking the target’s surroundings, Phesx saw a few tails near the young man, and some hawks ahead positioned to keep looking.
Phesx evaded the latter so far, but now that he discovered the criminals were either waiting for a good chance, or baiting, he calculated the target’s pace and that he was a bit flustered. Maybe having noticed he wasn’t alone. Phesx smirked and dashed below an apartment’s stairs.
On the sidewalks, as long as an entire block without roads in between, a few people were suspiciously looking around before always focusing on a particular direction.
One of them had just checked behind him, where a drunk old man shouted at him for no reason. The suspicious young man debated on whether to scare the old fart off, when he heard someone running towards him just in front!
He looked ahead, only to see a gloved palm strike towards his face. Phesx crushed the young man’s nose with his hand, feeling the blood and a bit of a struggle that rapidly became a seizure. By the time the body went limp, Phesx was cleaning his hand, forcefully swaying in the air, and bringing the corpse to an alley’s garbage container.
After the first, another followed. Phesx hunted the several hawks who exited their little nests. With the darkness as his cover, whenever one of them stepped outside the lights, trying to hurry to the location or simply walking by, they were pulled away and immediately half-killed by Phesx.
He tried to leave a few alive but felt bored, immediately killing them after nearing an alley.
At last, Phesx returned to where he saw the young man, still amidst the storage garages. Phesx didn’t know if he was really that fast, or the young man too slow. Regardless, Phesx didn’t worry about those tails. The hawks he threw into the garbage containers didn’t carry any phone or communication device, only handguns.
Phesx tilted his head to the right, crouching atop a building’s corner on the other side of the street from the storage garages. Checking a spot, he impulsed himself downwards, running a couple of times down the wall before holding hard with his left hand, halting his falling speed before sliding forwards. Jumping into the air, he rolled on the ground before running towards the storage garages.
… The target looked behind him, swinging his arms a bit. He could swear he saw some people walk towards him, like 100 meters behind him. He didn’t expect it, so he returned his eyes to the front. When he realized and looked back again, the person wasn’t there anymore.
But the target was somewhat alarmed. He kept looking back and could discern some limbs or clothes hiding just in time before he could catch them exposed. His head began to feel more and more dizzy.
Just then, he heard a whistle, sounding 5 parts like a human and 5 parts like a bird. He frowned and paused for a moment but continued right after. His eyes become used to the dark as he just stepped out of a streetlight. They discerned a leg stretching out of a corner of one of the garages. The young man frowned, but then, his eyebrows eased.
Nearing that leg, it retracted just a few seconds before he could run around the corner. The young man became flustered and hurried around that corner, meeting a pair of gloved hands moving to seize him.
“I think they’re following me! They are here, I think I’m in danger! Ah-”
…