NOVPUBEarly in the morning, before the sun even came out, a group of three soldiers gathered at the wall near the concealed entrance. It was small, just enough for a single person to go out at a time. More than a reinforced door, the entrance was an improvised blockade that could only be pushed out from the inside.
In a sense, it worked even better than a gate since very few people knew about its existence and it didn’t need any guards to stand watch.
The soldiers sipped on their coffee trying to shake the morning dizzyness and made small talk, but as time passed they soon got tired of waiting for their team leader to show up.
"This is so disrespectful, I didn’t join the army to be treated like this." The only male on the team, a man on his thirties with an unkempt beard and sharp eyes complained.
"Calm down, maybe he got stuck in traffic." A woman who seemed to be on her early twenties tried to defuse the man.
"Traffic!? What traffic? After being under attack for so long there’s barely any cars in the whole city!" The last member of the small unit voiced out loud. "I don’t know who this new guy is, but I’ll make his life hell."
"And how do you intend to do that?" Uriel, who just showed up, asked.
"I will cut the tips of his socks, no, I’ll add a ghost pepper to his meal... no, even better, I’ll put a scorpion on his sleepingbag!" She explained, not realizing that the man she intended to prank was precisely the one who asked the question.
At first, Uriel thought her pranks were funny and didn’t think much of them, but at the mention of a scorpion his demeanor took an 180° turn.
"Corporal Eleanor, drop and give me twenty!" Uriel shouted with an authoritative voice, mimicking a scene he saw in an old generic movie about soldiers.
"Lieutenant Sage!?" She gasped.
"That’s me and I hate to repeat myself." Uriel furrowed his brows and the woman did exactly as she was told. She crouched and handed Uriel a twenty credit bill. ’It’s not what I wanted, but I won’t complain.’ He thought to himself as his impression of her suddenly improved thanks to her giving him money.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t know!" The woman apologized, but the man quickly stepped forward in her defense.
"It’s your fault since you showed up late. This is the first time in my entire career that a Lieutenant keeps me waiting."
"Guys, calm down, he must have had his reasons."
Uriel knew exactly who they were because he hand picked them himself and the fact that they all were troublemakers was no coincidence. The man was called Rusty and his trait allowed him to rust iron in a matter of seconds, it was an extremely powerful trait for an evolved, but it was also completely useless in real life which made him bitter and reluctant to follow orders.
The woman who threatened to put a scorpion on Uriel’s sleepingbag was called Mayhem and her trait was also quite powerful, but she honored her name with her mischievous personality and caused more troube than she was worth.
The ’youngest woman’ who wanted to keep peace at all times was actually the oldest member of the team and she was also Mayhem’s mother and the reason why she looked so young was due to her ascended trait that allowed her to rejuvenate herself once a month. At first it wasn’t that noticeable, but after a couple years she looked way younger than her own daughter.
She was competent, but the reason why she remained a corporal was because she refused to participate in any violent act. She only joined the army to acquire a trait and was counting the days left on her contract to finally quit being a soldier.
Uriel decided to not explain himself or issue any order and simply pushed the blockade to exit the city. In all truth, he could care less if they followed him or not. Actually, he counted on them not following him as he only agreed to take people along with him because Cassandra insisted soldiers couldn’t go solo.
Once outside the city, he walked on a straight line towards the wetlands, but clicked his tongue once he realized the corporals were following him.
"So this is why you kept us waiting!" Young exclaimed when she noticed a hovercraft had been deployed for them.
Uriel remained silent and started the engine, but unfortunately for him the rest of the unit was able to jump onto the hovercraft before he could set off.
"Are you trying to leave us behind after keeping us waiting all morning!? You didn’t even briefed us about the mission! I don’t care that they let you use this fancy toy, I’ll fucking end you." The man shouted, uncaring of the consequences of disrespecting a higher ranking officer. He was strong enough to win a one on one fight against most ascended and he wasn’t afraid to fight a lieutenant.
"This isn’t a toy," Uriel said trying to hide the smile that formed on his face when the wind hit his face. "and it’s very much needed for our mission."
"Uhh, about that... what’s our mission?" Mayhem asked.
"I hope we don’t have to step out of this thing, I don’t want to ruin my skin." Corporal Young added.
"Mud is supposedly great for the skin anyway." Uriel replied thinking on the traditional mud baths people in some parts of Asia used to take as part of a skin care routine.
"Really?" The woman’s eyes glimmered and she now seemed eager to throw herself in the shallow waters.
Uriel then decided to explain the basics to keep them from annoying him even more.
"Our mission is to explore a POI to the west. It’s believed to be an historic place but there were no records of it on the library."
