27 - Breach

When I left the room, I didn't plan on fetching Jake immediately. But Rean caught me coming out of the room again.

"Terrence!" He calls me.

But as I see that he's about to run towards me, I point at him and shout. "Call Jake! We need blue potion fast!!"

I put attention to my performance so it looked and sounded like I'm really panicking. He falls for it and immediately turns around.

"Senior Jake!" He shouts to the office area.

But none of the seniors could hear him amidst the birds' screech.

Jake is still busy trying to get across the aisle. The birds don't seem to dwindle in number, and he's surrounded by them. He manages to stand his ground, but with many birds attacking him in turn, it's hard for him to make his way anywhere. That goes the same for Patrick.

He wants to help them, but he can't leave the woman by herself. He turns around again to look at Terrence but Terrence had already disappeared.

"Tch!" He really can't stand being still in a situation like this.

-

A grey van arrived in the neighborhood. It's the same neighborhood where the North Team cadets first arrived and secured their base. But the street is quiet and there's no one else around. There is not even a trace of anything ever happening there.

But the grey van still stops and several people come out. They're armed with submachine guns and wearing rabbit mask on their face. Then they begin walking to a certain house in the neighborhood.

Inside the house, where the Captain's Base had been relocated, the cadets are already prepared to battle. The junior archer is already on standby in the attic above the second floor, while the senior magic knife-thrower is ready in the second floor.

The citizens had been moved when the van was spotted entering the neighborhood. They're safe somewhere in the house with two other cadets guarding them. The rest of the cadets beside the operators also have their weapon ready. Their Arrows' screen lights up and waiting for the Captain's order from another room.

"Why are they going straight at us, Nat?" One of the seniors speaks.

Captain Natalie puckers her lips. "Have you searched the terrorists for anything?"

"We've stripped them of anything. They didn't bring anything with them except their weapons!" A cadet said.

"Are you sure? Not even crystals?" Natalie asked. It's because they're bringing the terrorists' things here in this house. She had a thought that there might be a tracker in the weapons.

"Yes. They didn't even bring any crystal powered device, not even a wallet." Another cadet said. She had also helped in securing the terrorists.

"Arlo, how's the situation?" Natalie asked the cadet who'd been tasked to watch over the subdued terrorists in the shed in the backyard.

Two seconds passed before there's an answer. "They're all quiet and still. Nothing changed."

"Leave them and hide until the situation's safe, Arlo." Natalie orders. Then something pops into her mind.

'Could it be…' Natalie turns around and looks at the closed box on the bed. It's where she had put the broken crystal fragments.

"Could it be the broken crystals?" Sheena asked, somehow thinking the same way as her.

Natalie contemplates before finally decides. "Kal. Take this and go."

"Eh?" Kal, who is focused on the computer screen, got surprised when the small box is handed in front of him. "EHH?!"

"You're the fastest here. Take it and leave. We need to know if they're following the crystals." Natalie said.

Kal looks at Sheena to ask for help, but she encourages him instead. "Good luck, Kal!"

Kal sighs and takes of his headphones. "The audacity."

"Hurry up and go." Natalie ushers him.

"The audacity!" Kal hugs the box close to his chest and leaves the room.

Natalie replaces him as operator and observes the screen. There are four windows currently opened. There is the tower's blueprint that shows the cadets' Arrow location and names. Another shows the communication wavelengths in the base. Another is the camera from a cadet's Arrow. And the last one is the communication lists from the active cadets in the North Team, where the cadets' contacts are ordered by the groups they're currently with.

Natalie focuses on the camera as it's currently showing the back entrance of the tower where monsters spawning from inside the vans. Due to the meticulous angle placement, she could see directly the back of the vans which doors are open wide.

"Who's Arrow is this?" Natalie mumbles.

"A junior. Patrick put it there because everyone had evacuated the entrance in hurry." Sheena replies before she responds to other cadets in her headphone.

"Where is he?" Natalie glances at the blueprint window. "15th floor. He's with Jake, and two juniors, Rean and…" She pauses at the last name. "Terrence."

Looking at his name is enough to give her headache. She couldn't believe that the gunner boy is giving her the same difficulty as when she's dealing with his other classmate. Her eyes dart upwards, where the name Rufus Bara and two other cadets are currently in floor 18th.

'The bully and his goons' is what Rufus's gang is known of among his peers. It's because he sometimes abuses his power as one of the disciplinary committees, as in, he's too harsh on some students. But he's quite a useful person to the senior committees because he could also be strict to the seniors when the delinquent seniors wouldn't even listen to their own senior committees.

"Sheena. Have you asked for status report from the ones in 18th floor?" Natalie asked.

There's one thing Natalie dislikes about this junior.

"I have." Sheena answered.

"How is it?"

Sheena huffs. "He cut me off before I finished telling him about the vans coming."

Yes. That's what she dislikes from Rufus.

He doesn't want to listen.

"Rean cut Kal off. But at least he found out through Patrick and Jake. But those junior committees didn't even let me finish the second time. At least one of them listened to me! I don't know if he's told the other two jerks or not." Sheena explains before she picks up a call from a cadet. "This is Base. What's your status? Over."

Natalie looks at the 18th floor again. They've been there for a while now, and their movements are slacking. It's so different from the ones located three floors below them. The party in 15th floor is very active, clear signs that they're fighting something.

"Sheena, ask 15th floor if they need help." Natalie said before she calls the team in floor 18. It takes a while, but one of them answers. "This is Cadet Pierce. I'm with Rufus and Guinevere. Over."

"Are you hurt? You're not moving from that room." Natalie asked.

There's a pause, then he replies. "Guinevere's hurt. We're just resting."

"Are you cornered?" Natalie asked.

"No, we're not."

"Are you out of potions?"

There's a pause again. "Yes, we are."

Natalie sends something odd with how he's answering. But she replies. "Wait there. We'll send someone to send you some. Over."

He doesn't even reply after that.

Sheena turns to her. "Jake's Team is good, but a bit worn out. And why did you say that? We can't dispatch anyone right now. The monsters are in both entrances." It's clear that she's been listening to the conversation.

"Force active junior Pierce's camera." Natalie turns to Sheena's screen.

Natalie cannot regulate it from Kal's computer because it's only used for maintaining wavelength and observing cadet's location. However, Sheena's computer has access to forcefully open the cadets' Arrows in case of emergency.

When the camera is forcefully activated, both of them could see a female cadet sitting leisurely on a sofa while sipping a bottle of beverage. None of them knew who the girl is, but glancing back at the tower's blueprint in Kal's screen, it's a junior named Guinevere.

Both of them instantly understands what's going on.

"Record it and keep it on." Natalie said before getting back to Kal's computer.

"Already did." Sheena replies before she, too, returns to her task.

Natalie changes her focus to the Arrow camera showing the back entrance.

Monsters are coming out one by one from the normal sized van, which should be impossible given the size of the van and the monsters, and the quantity of the monsters that came out.

"Just how can they fit those many monsters in that van?" She asks out loud.

But then she spots something and zooms in.

There's a dark swirl inside the van.

"Eye of Storm." She whispers.

It's something that is still a mystery to this world. She learned that it is the core which stimulates monster spawn in dungeons. Humans can never enter nor do anything to Eye of Storm, nor any monsters are ever spotted to do the same. The only certainty regarding it is that monsters are coming out of it.

She frowns deeply. "But it can't be… Eye of Storm cannot be moved. It stays in one place. How can they appear inside these vans?! If the monsters keep pouring out like this then…"

'The tower will become a dungeon! No… It already has!'

Natalie stands up in shock, making her seat falls back. "Sheena! Contact HQ and the police! Tell them to seal the tower!"

Sheena looks terrified. "W-What is it so suddenly—"

Natalie turns on the wavelength enforcer and immediately contact HQ. They pick up immediately.

"Status North Team." HQ answers.

"Seal the tower immediately!! The monsters won't stop coming!" Natalie screams into the intercom. Then she immediately types in a script and shares the computer screen.

"What is basing this—what is this…?" HQ changed their question when her screen is connected to them.

"There are Eye of Storms inside the vans! That's why monsters are pouring out of them! You need to seal the tower before more civilians get hurt!"

The other line becomes quiet for a moment, but then she could hear many voices murmuring incoherently.

Natalie doesn't understand what's going on, but she's anxious to hear what's next. Suddenly, the Headmaster speaks in the intercom.

"Retract your cadets, Captain. Now."

"But some are still in the tower!" Natalie protests.

At the same time, a junior cadets approaches the room in panic. "Captain!"

Natalie is too busy focusing on HQ's call, so she's not listening to him.

"Sir?" She calls HQ again because they suddenly becomes quiet.

Then Sheena taps her. "Uh… Nat?"

Natalie smacks her away. "Not now!"

Then HQ answers. "We will se—"

"NAT!!"

"WHAT?!" Natalie finally snaps.

"The terrorists are still coming here!!" The junior cadet said.

Suddenly, gunshots sound echoes through the air and shocks the three of them.

"BREACH!!" Someone shouts from downstairs.

They instantly realized that the terrorists have attacked the house.

"But Kal ran off with the crystal…" Natalie mumbles.

"What are we going to do?!" The junior asks.

Natalie tries to think of something.

Then Sheena suddenly gets a call. "Yes, hello. This is Base. No! You absolutely cannot come down! Hide somewhere in 19th floor or somewhere higher! Whatever happens, Do. Not. Come. Down!" She takes off her headphones and grabs her bow beside the desk. Then she turns to her friend. "Nat?"

At the same time, HQ is also trying to call Natalie because she suddenly becomes quiet. "Hello? Captain? North Team. Answer."

Natalie grits her teeth and replies. "Sorry, sir. Our safety has been breached. Please speak through my Arrow for the time being." Then she takes off the headphones and turns to her subordinates. "Let's defend the base."

She takes her baton and runs downstairs.