The night passed with nothing disturbing me. I crawled out of my bed and disarmed the Alarm, and disassembled my weapon. In the last few days, it went through as much abuse as I did. With a proper night's rest in two days, which seemed to stretch out like a week. I finally treated myself to a hot bath.
Sitting still and soaking in hot water felt rejuvenating, all of those near-death experiences, stress, and tension made me feel like I've aged a decade or two. Good things, unfortunately, weren't meant to last. I spend my time making and subsequently eating my breakfast. Cleaning my weapon, recharging my phone, until I've noticed that I've received another message on my phone.
Dread spread through me like a wildfire in a forest after the very rare hot season. My veins immediately felt hotter, and my blood almost boiled. I was getting in this combat mood, which normally takes me when I know I can't rely on Kyle to put up a good enough fight for us both.
I turned the screen on, not daring to directly upon my phone. My gaze slowly edged its way towards the push notification, and I saw one of the few names I rarely want to see when I didn't message first.
"Sinne…" Her name left my throat like the generational curse that ails all of the German descendants who heir from those ancient Fiefdoms. My stomach curled, yet I pushed onwards. I opened up the first message, which was sent slightly after midnight.
Message #1 02:04
"They took me out of the hospital and told me to scramble to the lower city! Are you and Kyle still there? I'll find you two and then you can treat me with the dignity and recognition I deserve!"
Message #2 02:41
"Hey, you two haven't replied yet. I had a good time hunting and jumped out of the helicopter to land early and separate from those guys. I got two dozen guys down and ran out of ammunition. A Lieutenant from the Command Center called me on my phone and told me to stay put until they were able to resupply me. Where are you two so we can meet up?"
Message #3 03:11
"You two should have seen me! And treated me to something good! The nightmares suddenly came from all over and there was this squady of four troopers all hurled up in an alley way next to where I was hunting. I told them this cool 'Stay with me if you want to live' and punched our way to the walls. I've seen entire barricades and halftracks getting run down. It was glorious! We kept running in like one of those action movies and I kept leading them towards the wall of the upper city. And suddenly one of them shouted."
Message #4 03:22
" 'The L.T wants you up on that wall, thanks for rescuing Miss but the city needs you!' Can you imagine Ibuki even some unnamed L.T Recognizing me you think Kyle finally picks up his phone! And you while you're on it? No matter what you think, I think I deserve to be treated to something lavish!"
Message #5 05:41
"Ibuki! You can't believe what I've seen! I was up on the wall, and there were multiple machine guns mounted, and we were supposed to cover the routing Platoons. They told me to take over one of those emplacements, and I kept shooting off one head after the other. One of the spotted cheered and said 'Missy is stemming the tide almost on her own!' But then the Nightmares started to come out of every corner of the lower city, and they overwhelmed anyone outside of the walls. One of the Officers screamed that we have to get off the walls because they're going to blow it up as a barricade, but Sabine arrived and told them not to. You should have heard her! Her voice was so authoritative, you could hear her all over those Mortars and Gunshots. And when the Nightmares broke through, she ran downhill to meet them headfirst, and it ended in some giant melee where everyone fought until the nightmares stopped coming. You should have seen her! Hack, slash, kick, and jabs. She was fighting like some hero in all of those medieval movies with her large spear."
I didn't bother reading any further. We're screwed, or at least Kyle was. No matter the circumstance, it is questionable if she seems kindly to get ignored and denied her treats for a night's worth of glory. Well, from what I've read, she deserved it. But something has to be done before she goes ballistic. It is questionable what happens if she kills Kyle in cold blood and what happens to the city if Meldiers of her Caliber and "Kitten" were to fight.
God in heaven, receive this prayer from this cowardly servant of yours who only prays when it is convenient to him.
I offered that little prayer to god… It probably wouldn't suffice to make him bother listening to all of my excuses once my time has come. But that day is hopefully not nigh, we might or might not be able to save the world from Sinne's wrath, Clyde and I only have to cheer her up…
Yeah, no, she only gets to accompany us while we jump at the shadows of the Commissar's errands. I dialed Clyde's number, thankfully he never takes long for anything.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"We have to make a stop at the hospital again today."
"The Sergeants up?"
"No, but better."
"I'll pick you up," Clyde said and ended the conversation. I reassembled my weapon and waited for him. As always, it took about fifteen minutes for him to make his way to the Student Dorms.
He stopped the car before me, and his gaze wandered up and down. "Military attire? Don't tell me you're expecting something."
"You're also wearing your uniform."
Clyde shrugged and reached over the passenger seat to open the door for me.
"Please tell me we are not getting shot at. I would hate to return my car for maintenance.
"In all likelihood? No." With that said, we idly listened to music while he was navigating us through the city.
"Clyde?" I asked.
"Hm?"
"I think Sabine is going to tear me and Kyle a new one."
"Definitely."
I looked into the cloudy sky, which loomed over the city.
"What were you two thinking? It's not like she wasn't expecting anything to be down there with how many nights Kyle has been hunting in the sewers. But you kicked up a hornet's nest."
"I don't know, Kyle probably neither. We both thought it was a good idea at that time since they were openly showing their presence with the Cameras, and we just went with the flow."
"The flow!" Clyde chuckled. "I hope you've seen the video of that entire room flying with an arch towards the upper city!"
"You mean the derby?"
"Yeah, it flew like the payload of a rocket battery."
"Ughh," I groaned. "I hope she is too busy reassuring the people and forgets about what we did."
"No chance, Women run the Directorate, and that is because they have the innate talent to multitask. She might be assembling volunteers for a firing squad."
"Only four?" I joked.
Clyde looked over at me with amused frustration, "multiple while she is at it, and probably in the dozens with how much time she's taking."
"Well, that's some organisational talent. I wonder why she isn't the Custodian then, but some Admiral who was famous for the book series and his adaptations on all kinds of media."
"The first victory in menkind in more than three hundred years, I guess."
"To the first Dude to be a Custodian in three hundred years." I cheered.
Thankfully, the conversation didn't drag on much longer on that topic. We pulled up to the Technocrats Hospital, and I made my way to the counter while Clyde kept the Engine going. The Rezeptionist luckily didn't put up too much of a fight when I asked for an Meldier, and I got to wait outside while he fetched her.
And when finally Sinne showed herself in gear. She looked not amused.