Outside the encampment, two people were waiting minutes away from the entrance. While one of them was stretching, the other stood silently watching.
"Are you ready yet?" He asked the other, his fingers fidgeting with the knife in his hand. "Can't make a good entrance without a warmup," She told him, her arms reaching out for the sky.
"Not everyone's as prepared as you are." She looked at him, he was tapping his feet on the ground. After taking her time, she finally got up.
"This is why I didn't want to partner with you, you know?" He told her, already walking towards the entrance. "Really? You were so against it because I took one minute to stretch?"
"Yes." he said bluntly, waving his hands to catch the attention of the guards. One of them noticed him, his friendly wave lowering his guard a bit. "What do you want?" He asked him, his gun already to fire.
"We're messengers from the capital." He pointed at his partner, confusing her on what he was trying to do. "Shes with me, uh, please tell me we didn't get this wrong. This is the camp led by The Director, right?"
The soldier called for his partner, "Watch him." He got out his radio and called out to headquarters. Meanwhile, he extended his hand to his partner. "My name's Sirius, not that many people know about it though."
He looked at him with caution, then shook his hand. "You don't look as serious as a messenger from the capital" He told him, looking at his appearance. "You should be careful, some people might make light of you."
Sirius smiled, "Thank you for the advice. Can I have some water?" He asked, pointing at his dry lips. "Is this really what the weather's like regularly? I've been sweating bullets since I came here." He asked while getting a handkerchief out.
"Is it different over there?" The guard asked, a smile on his face knowing how someone from the capital is experiencing what it's like to be in the badlands.
"Can't have the luxury of controlling the temperature over here." He went to the back to get a cup of water. "If I were dumped in the middle of this place, I might even mistake it as hell." Sirius joked.
As the guard filled up the cup, he saw that the other guard was running to him. He seemed to be signaling something, waving both of his arms while shouting.
"Well I would've, if I hadn't been there before." Sirius told him before stabbing him in the back. He didn't have the energy to turn back, or the time to react. Sirius stabbed at the spot which sent the guard to the afterlife as quickly as possible.
"You bastard!" The other guard running shouted out, opening fire at the outpost. "Intruders at the front!" He relayed to the radio. Sirius held his ground, staying close to cover as the guard kept spraying his bullets.
"Looks like it's my turn." The girl passed by him, going straight to the gunfire. Her body began to blaze with a blue color, her eyes turning to a frenzy.
"No mercy!" The soldier shouted out to his comrades before opening fire, the others following his actions. The soldiers were demoralized when they saw that the bullets that hit her did nothing.
Multiple tremors shook the ground surrounding her as the bullets came at her, causing the foundation of the nearby buildings to crumble. She then zipped around the camp, traces of a blue flame followed closely behind her as she struck them down one by one.
Sirius drank the cup of water the dead soldier gave him, grabbing the gun in his holster just in case. "Looks like I'm in the clear." He told himself as he looked at the state of the camp.
He walked towards the headquarters, the one building which everything seemed to revolve around in. As he went, the sounds of his partner's laughter and screams of the soldiers filled the air.
In the middle of the chaos however, Sirius caught an irregularity with the air. It was like deformed air, something close to invisible flying straight for his head.
He slowed down, letting the oddity pass by. He watched as it landed on the ground, leaving a mark as if it were a bullet. "What a pesky ability." He commented before pulling out the soldier's gun, calculating in his head where it came from.
Following his head more than his eyes, he shot to one of the outposts. Walking away, he snuck himself inside the headquarters. There was something else he needed to find, the reason why they went there in the first place.
"Come on!" She shouted out, trying to provoke the others. "Aren't you all supposed to be the strongest down here?" She kicked a random pillar out of frustration. "Or are you all just going to keep shooting me with those toys?"
"You want a fight?" A woman came out, signaling the others to cease fire. With one wave of her hand, they stopped.
"Finally, someone with guts has appeared!" She laughed with excitement. "What's your name?" She asked, curious on the source of her confidence.
"Sylira," She answered her question, "Most people wouldn't answer, but I want you to think of me when you're dead." She smirked, her eyes burning purple.
"When you squirm and writhe in pain, I want you to scream my name. Not for salvation, but for the revenge you could never get."
She laughed, "That's funny, my name's quite similar." She got up towards her, until she was inches away. "My name's Caelira," She introduced herself, "Should've told the others too now that I think about it. Could've been a celebrity in the afterlife, too bad they died so quickly."
"So what's your plan?" Caelira questioned her. "Don't tell me you came all this way just to put on a brave front." She laughed, openly provoking her. Sylira just smiled however, keeping her calm. "Do you have claustrophobia?" She asked before her eyes flared up.
Caelira then felt an immense pressure fall onto her, causing her to fall to the ground. She struggled to keep herself up as the weight continued to increase. It was like there was a wall above her that kept pushing down harder and harder.
"You will soon realize just how strong each person is here." She told her with cold eyes. One of the soldiers nearby touched the ground, a brown fire coming from his hands. The sand moved to his will, slowly swallowing Caelira into the earth.
The others stood by, watching as the intruder slowly fell to the grave. Some who had the ability to help the wounded, using their power to heal whatever they could. As for those dead, they could only pay their respects.
Sylira looked at the destruction Caelira caused, the camp was basically in shambles. "This is a clear sign you all need stricter training!" She told them all, causing some to sigh.
"That's right!" A voice erupted from the sand. Sylira looked to see that Caelira's face was looking at her. She was slowly emerging from the ground, walking out like it was nothing.
"How could you let one person carry you all so much? Truly unbefitting of the title of the strongest." She told them before quickly speeding towards the one who manipulated the earth, cracking his neck.
"Don't want to experience that again," She commented, emptying the sand from her ears. "Maybe when I'm older, it seems like it would be a good massage."
Sylira activated her powers again, throwing Caelira high into the air. She then clasped her hands, forcing immense pressure from both sides. "Bugs like you need to be crushed." She said before continuing to tighten her grip.
"So all you amount to is just two big hands I can't see?" She asked her, a disappointing tone in her voice. "Whatever, I already got bored of you." She told her before easily breaking from her grasp with sheer force.
She grabbed Sylira's neck, choking her with one hand. "Get your hands off our commander!" A soldier shouted out, shooting a magazine at her. Others followed behind him, fighting with whatever they could to stop her.
Caelira stood tall however, not a single attack coming through. She locked her eyes with Sylira's, watching as the life went out of her eyes. And for a moment, she had the ideal scenario.
That is, until something splashed into her face, causing her to reflexively wipe it off. Her skin burnt as she tried whatever she could to get it off her. "Who the hell threw that?" She shouted out to the crowd, causing them to fall silent.
"Not throw. Shot." Anora shouted out, shooting a few more glass bullets filled with acid. Caelira could only hold her ground as her skin melted. "If physical attacks don't work, use alternatives. Flexibility in the way you fight could determine the outcome."
"I think you know what this means, Polin." Her words went to one of the soldiers. They nodded, putting on a special suit before sprinting towards Caelira. They sprayed out acid from their arms, the transparent liquid melting everything on touch.
"Everyone go and assess the damages, this fight is as good as over." She dispersed the group. As she watched over the fight between Polin and the intruder, she looked at Sylira's state.
"You must really feel like a dumbass right now." Anora wanted to scold Sylira for her actions, but she was already unconscious from the fight. Her eagerness to fight and young mind was a problem Anora had to face before, one that she wanted to fix.
She couldn't fix her past mistakes, but she could fix Sylira's future ones. Anora sighed, wondering what to do seeing how she saw her as a rival. She went and shuffled around Sylira's pockets until she found a packet of cigarettes.
I'm sure she wouldn't mind.
She grabbed herself a cigarette and lit it, puffing a large cloud out before noticing Ikra was behind her. "Where did Wing go?" She asked him, thinking that he wasn't the type to be hiding during emergencies.
"Went to check on the director, remember he said something about him while running off?" He told her, "Thought that they were after him." Ikra sat down next to her, stealing another cigarette from Sylira.
Anora lent him her lighter, both of them taking a break as they watched the intruder fight for her life. Her movements were spontaneous, changing speed quickly. If she had to describe it, she would say she reminded her of electricity.
"Well they're definitely after something," Anora deduced. "No way a skilled fighter like her would make all this ruckus for no reason. Plus, we were told that there were two people." She pointed at the fighter, "All I see is one person out here."
BOOM!
An explosion rang from one of the buildings. "Isn't that where non-combatants stay?" She watched as the smoke went up. Ikra looked at where it came from, it was the building for families of the soldiers to stay in.
That's where Ryu is.