Chapter 3 - A Whole New Threat

After such a tiring day, I decided to head home. Oh, yes. I do have a family. Well, thankfully my home is near Base Zero HQ which is at least a 30 minute train ride. Upon reaching my house, I am greeted by my ten year old son, Radii. I gave him a hug after a long day at Base Zero. My wife then greeted me and invited me for dinner. Shortly after dinner, I took a bath and decided to just go to bed without any worry. Ah, what a happy life indeed, surrounded by love and happiness.

Which all of those cease to exist on the very next day. Of course, it is indeed depressing seeing the HQ. The interior and the exterior of the HQ is a sight that we need to cleanse our eyes each time we look at it. The suffering had only begun. I can't help it, after what happened yesterday. That is the longest interview I have ever had in my entire life. Here is the thing, the receptionist is the only thing that makes everyone happy, of course for 0.5 seconds. I am sure it is already more than enough. I then head over to my office desk and what greeted me is a pile of paperwork. Just like in APD where everything is paperwork. But it is worse than APD. When I look at the time on my watch, a sigh of relief escapes from my breath. On time being late. A little while later, Kyro with his red trench coat arrived at my table, giving me a piece of paper with a little message on it.

"At 10 am, head to the meeting room. Make sure you are PUNCTUAL."

Shortly, he just left without saying a word. The bolded word 'punctual' just indicates how important time is in this office. Another reason is that he knows I am quite late based on my attendance at APD. First and foremost paperwork. Oh well, it is just plain old how life has been in this office type of work. To be honest, I'd rather go for action than to sit here and do office work. Hopefully, the upcoming meeting has something important.

9.45 a.m is the time that is shown at the clock near my desk. Of course being very PUNCTUAL, I set foot to the meeting room that is supposedly close by, of course it isn't. Thankfully, General Raz happens to pass by.

"General, fancy meeting you here."

"No shit Sherlock, why are you here?"

Sometimes I feel stupid. Indeed that answered my own statement.

" I am trying to find this meeting room, but I am not familiar with it. Mind if I tag along?"

To which Raz immediately agreed without hesitation. After a "few" walk, which I don't know it is that near, we reached the door to the meeting room. Upon entering, there are a lot of people inside the meeting room with their own fancy suits like they are preparing for a war. I got into position and General Raz went to the centre to brief everyone about the upcoming mission.

"The day is here. With the addition of a new member, the interception mission will be easier. Still, we can't say for sure. Here is what you should know about it."

General Raz pushes a button which then brings the long meeting table down and then pops up the map of Azalea City in hologram form. He then focuses on a certain area which happens to be our mission area.

"Your mission will take place throughout Azalea City. Teams A will be situated at Azalea Port to monitor 4 trucks at the port. The 4 trucks are carrying an important element to be transported to the Azalea Research Department. The 4 trucks are under disguise as Azalea Postal Service. Once the truck starts moving, teams A will inform other teams."

The map then changes to a few specific routes on which the truck will travel. The route seems complex, but that is what it seems. If there is a fight, civilians might be harmed. Indeed it is wise to blend in with others. What if we got found out?

"Teams B,C,D and E will begin tailing the truck at a distance. Make sure you are not spotted.. Your mission objective is, protect the truck until it reaches its destination. In any case there are attackers, stop them at all cost. By right, there shouldn't be as our routes are secret. Get into position and move out."

Everyone starts to move out in accordance with the order. First day, hooray. More like give me a bloody break. Or at least I should retract my statement by saying I need action. Fortunately the man in red trench coat finally made his appearance

"Rilles,you come with us. We are in team C."

I immediately accepted Kyro's 'kind' invitation. Maybe not so kind later on. Not sure.

*At the port*

We waited for quite a while until some action was about to occur. Though we are not sure what exactly the package is, but dividing us all into teams just explains how important this mission is. Suddenly, we received some intels.

"All teams come in. The trucks are en route. I repeat, the trucks are en route. Please proceed to the designated waypoint."

Team A gave the green light to protect the trucks at once. Our targeted truck has a longer distance of at least 18 kilometres to destination. Defending it will be a total nuisance, but still let's call this truck, truck C, at least that is what we are supposed to name it. Based on what general said, usually there is no attack.

*18 kilometres left*

So far so good, nothing has come up to attack us. The truck is approaching onto the first highway which should last around 7 kilometres. The truck begins to punch in the signal light to the left while approaching the highway.

"This is Team B, truck is secured"

"This is Team C, truck is secured"

"This is Team D, truck is secured"

"This is Team E, truck is secured"

*17 kilometres left*

In the distance, I saw a speeding black car going at an unusual speed. Such skill on a busy highway is indeed impossible. I notified Kyro about that, which they all got into position. Here is where the stuff is about to happen. The bonnet of the black car suddenly appeared as nanobots which then formed a cyborg like figure. Noticing that, Kyro then summons multiple swords mid air and aims at the cyborg, which the swords hit the car and explodes the car, but not the cyborg. The cyborg jumps onto the truck in order to break the container apart to access the contains inside

"This is team C, the truck is under attack. Attackers sighted. Shots fired."

"Team C, head to the highway and initiate Protocol Blaze."

For context, Protocol Blaze is a protocol which team members have to engage in Close Quarters Combat. We disengage from our vantage point and immediately jump onto the truck. Kyro summons his machete and begins fighting the cyborg. The cyborg then gets defensive and immediately retaliates. No choice, but I have to expose myself once again.

"Light, Transform!"

I engage in with my armour and throw five daggers onto the truck to halt the cyborg on top of the container. Kyro then use the opportunity and strike the cyborg and sending it away.

"Time Defy, Stop the Time"

Within that six second limit, I threw 3 daggers in a straight line aiming at the chest and head while the cyborg was mid air. After the time has resumed, the daggers immediately strike the zone at once, which then damages and destroys the cyborg. Kyro notified the truck driver about the situation.

"Kyro. Inform the truck driver to take another route. This doesn't seem to be according to plan."

"That is against the order. Besides let me handle it all-"

"No, the attackers are already in place based on the given route. If we switch routes surely we can counter the attacker on the other end. The route should be secret. The operation was hijacked."

Kyro looked at me dead in the eyes. He looks disappointed, but I can feel that he agrees with me on this one.

"Not sure what got into your mind. But if that is your deduction, let's go with it. If it is wrong, you shall be held accountable."

Wasn't sure if this was the right approach. Kyro suggested that we inform the others about this. But the fear of losing any lives in Base Zero HQ is the main concern. Either someone is a spy within Base Zero, or there is someone with such incredible ability to see through our plans. But how?

"Rilles, are you sure about this?"

I signalled Kyro to actually destroy the earpiece that is on his ear.

"Someone could be spying on us within Base Zero HQ, let's talk like this and not receive anymore information."

It is still far from over. Other teams should be under attack by now. All I could say is that this is a Metavoid attack. Base Zero is so secretive that only the General and those involved know the plan. If this is a Metavoid attack, I challenge the user to see through my plans.