First work as a team

In the middle of the night Yasu wake up and sit in the edge of the bed, he saw at the corners using his peripheral vision and took the bag in where there was his things, he took out the broken phone and a screen not bigger than an average picture portrait, he touched some buttons in the screen and a little keyboard come out below it, he started the little machine having only the light from it to see.

He started to search for something in the phone and started pulling with force until a little memory card was out, he put the phone again in his bag and took the little machine and inserted the memory card into it.

A lot of files came out of it, the name of the phone, and other archives that were from the software of the phone, but the ones that caught the attention of Yasu were two folders called “photos” and “music”. He searched in his bag for a pair of headphones and put it on as he searched in the music folder.

There wasn't that much on it, and the music wasn’t organized in folders, there were 39 tracks only. All from the same genre, neo soul hip hop, Yasu banged slowly his head and he started to see the photos on the folder.

There was a total of 490 photos. All of them from landscapes, a river, a mountain in the distance, the starry sky, the person that was the owner of the phone seemed to haven't taken self-pictures, and there wasn’t any other person either, until one was found.

A blurry picture of a woman, her mouth was opened, and she was gorgeous, messy but well treated medium long curly hair, a mole on the bottom right of her lips, hazel eyes, and dressed in all soggy black clothes, the picture seems that was taken by someone and she didn’t want the picture to be taken.

By the looks it seems that she was around her 20s. That was the only picture of her, the other ones were still landscapes, the last one was a picture of the ocean, showing his feet and the feet of another person on a blanket, they were close.

Yasu took a sigh and saw the date of the picture: 23/05/2040.

—There was still time until the great war started, I hope she didn’t have to pass too much…

Yasu removed the memory card and closed the little machine, he saved it and put the memory card again in the broken phone.

—I wonder if we can still see the real starry night…

Yasu took his blankets and went to sleep again, the first day on duty, ended. And a new one began.

Everyone was already on the main base wearing his suits, they already ate breakfast and were ready to deploy. In that time a new navigator came to the team and took the entire team to a new room, this was a giant space with nothing but white hexagons on it.

—Welcome to the training room, I was informed of your performance in the last mission.

Ryu was about to talk but the man raised his hand doing a stop pose and continued talking.

—I know what you probably are going to say, but save it, the concern in here is not for your performance as a solo collector, but as a team, to be competent for this job you need to be open to the idea of receiving orders, a thing that you probably lack

Nobody spoke a word, the navigator nailed that assumption, and he just made a “huh” stretching his arms.

—Well, firstly, I’m going to tell you the mission that you have, wipe and track, for this mission, you need to eliminate entities on the floor 1432 and track all the sectors, we found an exit very quickly on that floor and leave to future exploration, and the day has come for it —the trainer snap his fingers and a few dummies of different colors were made —. For that mission to success, you need at least some formation, a form to attack together and a leader.

Everyone looked at each other, and Ryu took a step forward.

—I will do it, as the older member, I think it is logical that I should be the leader.

Nobody opposed, and Ryu was named the leader of the team.

—Alright, Mister Ryu, please guide your team.

Ryu looked at the team and saw the weapons that the team held.

—We’re going to have a position that will be for default a one that will be beneficial to everyone in here, I will be in the middle due to my weapon, and starting with the two that had firearms, Marin, Midori, you two are going in the middle with me, one covering the back of another, Sakura, De cruz, you two are going in the behind us, and Amano, Nazu, you two are going in the front.

—Hold it, you just want us to protect you? —Amano said.

—The kid is right, shouldn’t you be with one in the front or back? —Midori said.

—Don’t call me kid!

—Yeah, yeah.

Amano closed his hand and Yasu took his arm and moved it from left to right.

—I know it sounds weird, but trust me, I will protect everyone that way.

—Seems that you have it already, you have one defender, two rangers, three swordsmen and an incapacitator, well the subdivision you already know it, and should be used only in determined conditions, it’s time to test it —said the navigator—. Your goal will be reaching the other side of the training room with everyone. That’s all, you can start.

The navigator leaned on the wall and watched the team getting ready. Everyone held the position that Ryu told them to and put their helmets on. They started going in a straightforward line, in where the dummies and the goal were, holding the position as they were walking, everything was quiet, and the room was filled with steps when all the dummies started running from all directions.

—RUN! —Ryu said.

—We can take them —said Midori as he charged his shotgun.

—I agree —said Marin.

Yasu hit Marin with the back of his staff.

—We have a leader now, do y'all wanna get in trouble again, or better yet, get injured.

—You damn collectionist… —said Marin as she held his abdomen.

Sakura smiled a bit and saw Marin with a side eye.

—THEY’RE GOING TO REACH US IN NO TIME —Amano screamed.

—Damn, we fight then, on the first opening, we move, understand?

The team on the back and front said a loud “Yes!” while the ones in the center struggle but say yes at the end.

Yasu was taking care of the ones that were approaching and the others that were passing him were being stabbed in the head by Sakura. Marin shooted at the direction of Yasu and Sakura. Midori was shooting at the direction of Amano and Nazu, the two of them were hitting the dummies with a solid hit, making them fall easily.

—Yasu, Amano! Hold the left and right, they are getting that way.

Ryu said that as he was throwing his shield at the ones that were jumping and later at the ones on the left and right.

—Roger! —said Yasu.

Yasu took the right but Amano still hadn't moved.

—AMANO! —Ryu yelled.

—If I left Nazu alone.

—Don’t worry about me Amano, if you don’t take the left we are going to have real problems.

Amano bit his lips and went to the left.

—Alright, at three we run, understand?

—YES! —everyone yelled.

They were fighting, there was the “one”, when Ryu recovered his shield, he said “two” and when he threw it again at the front with Nazu he said, “three” and the shield expanded. For a few seconds, when it got smaller again, an opening was made and Ryu yelled “RUN”. Everyone ran, and Ryu took his shield manually when he passed on top of it.

—Sakura, look this way, I will take care of them —Marin said.

Sakura was running backwards but she was getting behind the team, when Marin said that, Sakura looked in front and ran to reach the team, Marin extended his arm shooting at the dummies. In front things weren’t all colorful yet, they were getting attacked by the dummies going straightforward, but the cuts of Nazu were clean, taking down three to five dummies with one single swing. And having the support on the left of Yasu and Amano made it easy.

If anyone passed that, Midori and Ryu take care of the issue. Before they noticed, everything went blank, they reached the goal and every dummy disappeared.

The navigator clapped his hand and approached the team.

—You need more training on this, but we are ready for your mission. Take a deep breath, I will see you in the depths.