11 The Moment She Lost Her Marbles

Then, a familiar airy voice tickled his ear.

"What's with the frown, pretty boy? Did you forget, we're going to have a real nice~ talk somewhere?"

「 F**K! 」

.....

A couple of hours ago, somewhere in the research facility a few levels underground, at a T-junction of fluorescent-lit corridor.

Hiss*.

Hiss*.

A radio comm crackled to life.

>"Mermaid 1, Mermaid 3, over."<

A female soldier in blue-black exosuit quickly raised her left hand to the air and clutched, halting the movements of the five other soldiers in her squad in the process.

She was Second Lieutenant Layx Haellen. A decorated Thacon soldier, and a well-accomplished one at that.

She had characteristic brown eyes and brunette hair, and curves at the right spots, which she had proudly flaunted in the male-dominated army.

A strong, smart and independent military careerist.

She quickly pressed on the left side of her helmet before replying.

>"Go ahead Mermaid 3, over."<

"Mermaid 1, we got visual of a possible civilian survivor one-foer meters ahead. No, make it two. One appeared to be unarmed and disoriented, while the other was, unawake..."<

>"...will approach and make contact, over."<

"Roger that. Mermaid 3, secure location and charlie-mike. We'll reach at your two-zero in five mike, over."

>"I read back; secure location and charlie-mike. Mermaid 1 will reach at my two-zero in five mike, over."<

"Correct, over."

>"Willco, over."<

"Roger and out."

She turned to her squad members as she gestured them to proceed moving in formation.

"We'll be moving faster. Corporal Kohner, I'll take point."

"Ma'am!"

They encountered a few Shadows along the way, but nothing that her heavy-class Ragnar gunlance could not handle.

Although its firing speed was much slower, it could blast open a mob Umbral Roamers in one shot.

And being a Bolt Custom, its muzzle could be retracted back inside its housing, reducing its initial length of three meters into half - making it suitable for indoor combat - though at the cost of its effective firing range.

The Ragnar was her source of pride, a medal of honour, a trophy earned from the exchanging contribution points obtained from the many missions she had undertaken.

She held it dear tight in her arms, as she communicated with her team only in rapid hand signs.

Her squad made quick progress approaching their destination. She had noticed from earlier that electricity still ran at this level and most of the rooms on this underground level was electronically-locked, unlike the upper levels.

Even the automatic door was still functioning.

Then, suddenly at the end of the corridor bend in front, another squad of five exosuited soldiers could be seen.

Alerted, they reflexively raised their gun muzzles at her squad, but then relaxed their hold before saluting.

"Second Squad Leader, Corporal Kyro, ma'am!"

"At ease, corporal. How's the situation?"

"We managed to secure one objective and had engaged with at least two groups of Roamers so far at Objective Point 1. As for the other two at the objective points, they had suffered time-integrity failure and did not survive. At Objective Point 2, one of the capsule, one of it..."

"...was empty and appeared to be had been recently vacated. There were also signs of breaching into the objective point. We suspect the civilian survivor reported in by the Third Squad was the test subject from Objective Point 2 and may have been resuscitated during the breaching and had fled away. We're now en route there."

She paused, taking in the information.

"I see. Then, Corporal Kyro, you and your squad shall guard the rear. First Squad, on me!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

It did not take long for them to meet up with the Third Squad, which had already set up a temporary makeshift outpost, at the T-junction of the corridors near the third objective point.

Sixteen soldiers equipped with bulky exosuits gathering together quickly made the area seemingly very cramped at the moment.

The Third Squad leader came up to her and gave a sharp salute.

"Third Squad, Sergeant Geral, reporting."

"Good to see you still alive, Sergeant. Brief report."

"Ma'am, we've encountered twice the normal occurrence of Shadows on our way to this location..."

She suddenly felt a strong gaze on her. Scanning around stealthily, she noticed a young man in a outdated white hospital gown was looking at her, his gaze unabated.

A thought waltzed into her mind.

"...so I boldly propose that we should send a squad to the facility's lower levels-"

"I'll report it up to HQ as well as your proposal, sergeant, but for now, we stick to the mission. Anything else?"

"We managed to secure at least three objectives, which we had retrieved from Objective Point 1 and Objective Point 3, except for the one from Objective Point 2. He was actually discovered here in this room Objective Point 3, with the other survivor. He appeared to have experienced first-degree psionic-corrosion. Preliminary observation suggests that there might be acute psycho-cerebral damage. He knows nothing else but his own name. All three are being and have been administered with first-aids."

She nodded, glancing over again.

She inadvertently smiled.

"Well done, inform the boys they have three minutes to pack up before we proceed to the extraction point. And radio in our ride. Now, show me to the amnesiac survivor."

"Over here, ma'am."

She did not break her gaze of the young, male survivor clothed in the Old World patient robe as she made her way to him.

The young man was pretty.

He had black shiny hair, a straight small nose and a pair of thin peachy lips that seemed to be slightly dry.

His jawline was angled sharp and his stature was smaller compared to a soldier's, though it could be observed that there was toned muscles rippling underneath the white hospital gown.

But the most attractive part of this young man before her was his eyes; two deep, mesmerising black pearls that felt they could just draw her entire soul in.

They were scintillating like the cloudless night sky, impearled with a million stars.

She wanted to touch them, she wanted to touch him!

She immediately sobered up from her reverie, surprised to what she had just thought of to herself.

"I'm Second Lieutenant Layx Haellen, of the Thacon City Administration's 16th Battalion, 3rd Thacon Infantry Brigade as well as the leader of this operation. May I know what's your name?"

"Nuel. It's Nuel."

She repeated the name under her breath, as she held her gaze on his black eyes.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance...Nuel?"

She enunciated, as a misbehaving thought surfaced.

"...Calibre. Nuel Calibre. Nice to meet you too, Lady Layx."

'Lady'?

That was the moment she lost her marbles.

Tiny warm fuzzies bursted out from the centre of her chest and flushed off turbulently to the extremities of her limbs, to every centimeter of her being, like water quenching the dryness of an arid, scorching desert.

He actually called her 'Lady'!

It was a novel feeling, a cathexis she had never had with any other men she had ever meet nor been with.

She let out a giggle.

A resolute aspiration was born in her eyes.

"I mean, Lieutenant, I mean miss, I mean ma'am!"

"You can just call me Layx, I don't mind. Or would you rather call me 'Lady'? Hehe~"

This Nuel guy was really up to her taste.

The more she looked at him, the more it was so.

Young, a tad bit shy and most importantly, handsome!

Though he was diagnosed with amnesia, and had no background, and came from the Outer Ward, there was nothing that Credits could not solve!

She was already nodding to herself at this point.

She was nearing to picturing a beautiful, future scenario when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Ma'am, the boys are up and good to go. The unconscious survivor is hooked with a biosoma IV and now hoisted inside the walker. The Bastion is already at the extraction point."

She lapsed a second or so before she realised she was, in fact, still in a mission!

She straightaway pushed her impulsion to the back of her mind and wore her staid, militant look as she barked out an order.

"Third Squad, enter formation and follow Sergeant Geral's lead. Sergeant, you bring them to scout ahead to the extraction point. Second Squad, guard the rear and escort the civilian! First Squad, with me!

"YES, MA'AM, YES!"

"Let's move out!"