The Pursuit (1)

The Miniknog soldier on the 20th floor carefully scanned his surroundings with his night-vision goggles already implemented into their high-tech helmets.

He was using all his devices and senses to secure the hallways designated to him.

It was a very important mission not to let anyone get close to the escape pods that were on the floor.

In this mission, they were ordered not to let a single person survive. All must die.

So, he was doing his job to the utmost of his abilities.

For the honor of Big Ape and the Miniknog, he must not fail in his mission.

As he was patrolling such floors, he heard some hurried steps coming from the distance.

He immediately lifted his weapon and aimed the dark hallway in front of him.

"I hear footsteps at my position. Over." He said on his radio.

"Stay cautious. We are on the way." The others on the floor said.

"No, this might be a distraction. I'll see who is it. If you don't hear about me in 30 seconds, presume my death, and immediately send someone to stop the killer from escaping." The soldier said emotionlessly, like his life meant anything at all in his eyes.

"Roger that."

With that, the swift conversation was over between the soldiers on the floor.

Right at the end of the hallway, the soldier could see a figure approaching despite the darkness by using the night vision.

From the armor that was the figure was using, the Apex could very see that it was also another one of them, it was the same black armor he and the ones were using.

But the soldier remained cautious and unceremoniously aimed at the approaching person.

"Stop right there and identify yourself." The soldier coldly asked as his finger rested in the trigger, ready to fire.

The figure followed the orders and stopped at his tracks while lifting his hands, "ID number MKA97034S."

The soldiers looked at his PIPS and confirmed the number of the armor of the figure his ID.

There was nothing wrong with the information given. However, the soldier was still cautious as it was strange as to why someone that was designated to be on floor 25 would be there.

"Why are you here?" He asked.

"A scientist that survived ran towards this floor. I'm here to stop her from fleeing." The figure answered.

"Really?" The soldier squinted his eyes at the figure and carefully scanned his surroundings using his visor.

At the corner of his field of vision, right at the end of the hallway in his right, he caught some white blur that swiftly hid itself.

"Do you hear me?" The soldier asked on his radio.

"Yes." The other soldiers that were on the floor and on the same radio channel answered.

"We have a survivor on the floor, be cautious. Over."

"Affirmative. Over."

The soldier glanced at the newcomer and lowered his weapon as he said, "Let's go. We have to capture her."

"Yes, sir!" The figure saluted and followed behind the soldier.

...

Not long after that, another Miniknog agent said that he had captured a female Apex scientist together with a blue Hylotl child that looked to be their target of attacking the station.

At a specific place, the five soldiers guarding the floor were all at the same spot looking down at the two people they have just captured trying to get in one of the escape pods.

By the side of these 5 soldiers, there was another one as well, but he was a little away from the group.

This soldier, in particular, carefully stepped back as he slowly lifted the rifle across his chest.

"Stop it." One of the 5 realized something and directly aimed at the newcomer among them.

"Take off your helmet, would ya?" The soldier asked politely with a menacing rifle pointed directly at the newcomer's head.

The other four looked at each other for a moment before also lifting their weapons and aiming at the newcomer.

"What is happening?" The newcomer calmly asked.

"I never trusted you since the moment you appeared before me." The soldier flatly spoke, "You are with them. I'm sure about it." The soldier took one hand off the rifle and pointed at the PIPS in his wrist, "I have a Tech Ability that currently, only the Miniknog military has. It's called X-Ray, a Tech Ability that makes it possible for me to see through surfaces, depending on the material and the thickness. To see through a Durasteel armor such as ourselves isn't hard for this ability. Now, guess what I saw when I activated my ability and looked at you?"

"..."

"I didn't see an Apex at all. I just saw a yellow Novakid behind that armor.

"...I'm not a Novakid. I'm with you guys."

"If you are really one of us, we'll confirm soon enough. If you don't have anything to hide, why are you refusing to take off the helmet? I really don't know what your plan was, but I have to say that it had lots of flaws. I didn't try to kill you the moment you appeared just because my instincts were telling me that I would lose if I tried to fight against you, that's why I followed with your plan until I grouped with my comrades. Now that we have the strength on numbers, I don't think we're going to lose."

The newcomer flinched when faced with the accusations.

"Okay... I'm going to take it out."

The newcomer released one of his hands from the rifle and went for his helmet.

The soldiers followed his hand with their eyes.

*Bang, Bang, Bang*

The newcomer unceremoniously pressed the trigger with his only hand over the gun and sent a barrage of fire at the distracted soldiers that were carefully watching his other hand.

Sparks and metal shards were sent flying in the air as the projectiles pierced the armors.

A single body hit the floor while spraying blood before the soldiers managed to fight back with their guns.

Although the newcomer killed one, fatally wounded another, and somewhat injured one more, he was still at a disadvantage. He was directly turned into a sieve as soon as the surviving 4 opened fire with their automatic assault rifles.

The newcomer fell on the floor but not spraying blood, the liquid that flew from the body was yellow plasma.

*Bam*

The body fell on the floor with a loud thud, and as soon as it touched the ground, the helmet left from the newcomer's face.

What reveled for the soldiers was just like that soldier had said, it was a yellow Novakid with an 'Omega' brand at its face.

"Now, mission complete?" One of the soldiers asked the others without even batting an eye at their fallen comrade that was bathing in his blood.

"Looks like it." Another one answered as he came by Forge and Saito, "Let's just get rid of the Apex female and bring the target with us."

They all agreed with the suggestion given by their comrade.

Without delay, they grabbed the Hylotl kid and aimed their guns at the unconscious Forge Umbra.