5 minutes before Mori's Death.
The tremor still echoes in her bones. Even this far out, the shockwave had rattled the steel beneath her feet. Aspera clutches the wall's edge, staring out across the horizon where smoke now paints the sky. Her throat is tight.
"Os?" she whispers again, but the wind gives no reply.
Her hand trembles as she fumbles for her communicator. The signal connects. Two lines open simultaneously—Lieutenant Vera in Sernoa City, and Lieutenant Kage stationed across the bay.
Vera's voice comes first. Casual. Too casual.
"Yo, it's rare to hear your voice at this hour. What's up, Cap?"
She twirled her purple hair as she was having her nails done.
Kage follows. "Everything alright?" The Hispanic man stepped out of his dojo to take the call.
"No," Aspera says. Her voice is flat, but something trembles beneath it. "I need both of you to listen. I wouldn't call unless it was urgent."
Their heartbeats race, They know that tone. This is serious. Too serious.
"Thirty minutes," she says. "If you take the emergency chopper and push it, you can be here in thirty. Maybe less."
"What's going on?" Vera asks, tension creeping in as she pulls away from her pedicure.
"Who's attacking?" Kage adds.
Aspera hesitates. A part of her wants to say it. To say the truth: The President sent an assassin. A weapon. But she can't. Not yet. Not to them.
"I don't know who they are. Unknown faction. Highly equipped. Organized. Dangerous," she says, carefully choosing each word. "What I do know is… Osprey's down there. And he's fighting alone."
A long silence.
"I know you 3 haven't always seen eye to eye with him. I know he's not the easiest to work with. But this—this isn't about that. I called the moment he left. I knew something was off."
She swallows hard. Her throat is tight now, constricted by dread. Her eyes are still locked on the far-off smoke cloud that refuses to disappear.
"He might still be alive," she says, almost as if convincing herself. "He has to be. But I can't work. I can't think. Not until I know he's okay."
Vera mutters something under her breath. Kage's voice returns with more steel in it. "Understood. We're on the way."
Aspera ends the call.
She stays there on the wall, gripping the railing so tight her knuckles go white. Somewhere out there, in the wreckage and smoke, her friend is either alive or buried beneath the silence.
And she refuses to let him die alone.
As a plane flies deep in the clouds above the base. Soldiers come raining out of the sky 30, no 50? More?
They were in the air falling, roughly a few kilometers away from the base, likely in an effort to fall into the forest and flank Mr. N's elite Gaurd Demi, who is in control of the students at the back of the base.
However they had no idea they wouldn't even make it to Demisaux.
Aspera saw them, like black shooting stars in the fog, without hesitation she pulls for her weapon. As she reaches into her pocket.
"Mori shrimpdick is lucky he caught us off Gaurd."
Aspera's fighting style often takes range and a lot of thinking. However unlike Mori she doesn't have the fast twitch muscles, size and speed to distance herself so she can get to work.
She throws a piece of gum in her mouth, as it stretches down into her stomach. She stands still for 15 seconds meditating.
Slowly she starts to speak German, her skin goes so pale you can see the blood pulsing through her veins.
"Auserwählt Erwachen"
Aim, and fire.
"Don't even leave their bones" she whispered.
That day. Not even Mr. N had time to process what had happened to those 50+ men in the forest. Not even evidence of their corpses remained.
-Elite Gaurd Rank 10 For Mr. N's Liberation Army
Letter "A" for Auto aim
Aspera Armiehsa Gold
The Liberation Army is what Mr. N's organization is named.
It is the second political party and the opposite of the President's Democratic Party.
And election day is nearing.
(Elite Guard Rank #9 For Mr. N's Party) "Y" for "Yara's Bible" walked out of the kitchen, his white culinary uniform tainted in blood.
Blood. The kitchen was flooded. Blood up to his shoes he took off his gloves mumbling "Kan… he slipped away. Ridiculous."
Yara hurled his fifth corpse to the ground, jaw tight, frustration bleeding through every motion. Slowly, he removed his chef's hat.
"Killer Karmel Kan… tougher than I imagined. What's an Elite Guard-level fighter doing here?"
Behind him, his lieutenant Niko staggered. He cradled a mangled arm, the flesh already swollen purple, twisted grotesquely. One failed block against Kan's strike—and the bones had shattered like glass.
Niko's uniform was torn to shreds, stab marks bore into his skin, superficial and deep cuts alike. However he did not falter. As a Lieutenant for the elite guard you must stay strong. He simply spat a bloody tooth onto the floor as he informed his superior. "He's an international assassin. His price is notoriously high however—"
Yara's face flushed with anger, quickly cutting him off.
"International? Then this attack on our base… is it Rufus's doing? From the President's Elite Guard?"
Niko grimaced he knew Rufus was a rival of Yara just his name alone was enough to cause his blood to boil.
"Can't confirm. But Rufus runs international operations… it's likely."
Something in Yara's gut twisted. He spoke low.
"It's Rufus but… this attack is too sloppy, too pointless. It has to be a distraction. Which means… an elite unit is already moving on one of us. This is just smoke. A way to keep us busy."
Meanwhile, on the surveillance feed—
Killer Karmel Kan blurred across the hallway. In a single motion, moving so fast the CCTV cameras only saw a blur. Quickly he tore through the reinforced doors of Mr. N's office. He scanned the room, breath steady. The lights suddenly snapped off. As Mr. N prepared for this attack, his feet soo steady you cant even hear him, it's as if he disappeared.
Kan closed his eyes, exhaled.
"This is going to be hard."
Liam the monster lurks, bored in bed.