Murder Of Crows

“Now that everyone is here, let’s begin with the debriefing.”

Lupus addressed his three subordinates sitting on the couch in front of him. He had a light blue display pulled up in front of, containing details of the mission ahead. Charlotte and Slater both looked prepared for whatever information they needed to know. Blitz, however, was laid down on his side, holding his head up with one hand as his mouth extended in a yawn.

“Blitz… I can’t tell you everything in full confidence unless you take this seriously.” He spoke with the exasperated tone of a parent having to deal with their son’s errant behavior.

“I’m all ears, chief. Just tell us what we gotta do.” Blitz reached for a chip from a plastic bag on the ottoman in front of him, throwing it carelessly in his mouth and smirking at his boss.

The old man winced at the crumbs falling on the white sofa, moving his fingers to the bridge of his nose and sighing, as he often did when bothered by Blitz’s behavior.

“Moving things along, President Smith has given us the task of doing reconnaissance in No Man’s Land.”

The three all adopted shocked expressions, but only Charlotte actually put voice to her thoughts.

“Are you sure that’s safe, sir?” She turned to look at Slater. “Especially considering Slater—“

“We will receive equipment that will eliminate any risk of radiation poisoning. As for Slater, are you okay with this?”

“Sir, I think we should reconsider this mission—“

Lupus slowly turned to face her.

“We either do this mission, or I have to send you to a lab for testing where they can do whatever they please with you. Would you rather do that?”

Charlotte turned her gaze to her knees, balling her hands. Slater was seated next to her, where he had been doing the same since Lupus’ initial question to him. Before long, Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, but Slater’s words came out first.

“I don’t think it would be right to knowingly make someone else suffer just because I was too scared to go back there.” He sat up confidently, speaking his answer clearly.

“I take it that means you all are up for it?”

Two thirds of the trio nodded, leaving Blitz as the only one who hadn’t responded. His eyes were dull, looking off into a corner. He quickly noticed the gazes directed at him, scrambling to sit up and gave a quiet “Yeah…” and throwing his arms over the back of the couch.

“Now, as for the actual location, you three will be deployed to the ruins of St. Louis by airship. Your goal is to observe and see if there have been any movements of Western States personnel in the area. You’ll be searching the city the whole day, staying the night, and having a transport pick you up in the morning. Simple enough, yes?”

Everyone nodded in unison.

“Good. The operation is in three days. Be prepared for it. You all are dismissed, except Slater.” The boy flinched.

Slater’s comrades shot him glances as they both stood off and walked into the hallway towards their rooms in unison, giving him a combined slightly teasing stare saying “You’re in trouble” as they disappeared around the corner. The boy who had been singled-out simply sat preparing to take whatever was thrown at him.

“I have two things to discuss with you before your mission.” Lupus walked forward and stood in front of the still-seated Slater. “First of all, the bandages you were found with. We analyzed the blood on them. The blood was neither from you nor your sister, but there was some interesting technology mixed in with it. We’re still testing it, but we should have results before you are deployed. And, secondly…” He took a seat next to Slater on the couch, which made the boy jump. “That blade of yours, I’d like to know how you fight with it. I don’t want to send one of my men out into the field if I’m not confident they’re able to fight at the best of their ability.”

Without a word, Slater reached for the blade on his hip, but his boss put up a hand.

“Not here, we have a training room for this. Follow me.”

Lupus stood up, instructing Slater to do the same with his hand, and the two walked to the door of the division’s hideout, leaving it behind for the moment.

I don’t know what he plans to teach me, but whatever it is… Slater’s mind turned back to the blood swordsman from the warehouse whose blood had been on the bandages. I just hope I can find a way to beat that guy someday.

Two days later, an undisclosed facility in New Louis, Western States:

“I’m back.”

Axel’s voice resounded through the empty room. He was greeted with darkness, as usual. Before the lights flickered on, exposing the dilapidated state of the meeting room. Not that he wasn’t used to it by now. All that the room held was a large table, as well as four doors which splintered off into other common spaces. The room itself had what were originally white walls, worn down by years of misuse to be closer to a gray color.

“Jeez, how long were you out?” A mocking voice came from one of the doors which had just opened. Out of it stepped a man in his mid twenties donning brown hair which seemed to barely reach the point many would consider overgrown, yellow eyes almost glowing under the pale light reminiscent of a snake’s, and sharp teeth which looked stolen from a beast.

“I had a lot to take care of from my last assignment, Droite.” He responded dispassionately. Axel truthfully wanted nothing to do with his coworker.

“But I was so lonely, man! If you left me alone any longer I would’ve been running on the walls!” Droite pulled a chair out from the table, sat himself in it, and propped his metallic legs up on top of table, balancing the chair on its back two legs. At the angle he positioned himself at, the light reflecting off his skin, white as snow, gave it an eerie and unnatural glow. Especially as opposed to the black military fatigues he wore over his torso and partly over his prosthetics.

“I have a feeling you would’ve been perfectly fine.” Axel sneered back.

Droite’s face soured in return, but before the two could continue their squabble, another one of the doors flew open as a figure jumped at Axel.

“You’re back~!”

A blonde woman launched through the air, wrapping her arms around Axel as he tried his best to catch her and prevent the two from falling to the ground. While he steadied himself and was successful, it came at the cost of his nose taking a hit from her head. She spun around, keeping her arms wrapped above Axel’s shoulders, her feet ever so slightly above the ground so that he was stuck with her. It looked childish for a girl of the same age as Axel to be doing this, but the Wendigos had all grown used to her eccentricities.

“Droite’s always so mean! Why don’t we send him out to do all the dirty work!”

Axel walked forward with the woman still on his back.

“I thought you said you were lonely, Droite?”

A cackle came from the man’s mouth.

“Come on, you know Maya doesn’t count. She’s practically a mannequin unless you’re around!”

“Whatever,” Axel turned back to the door he had come from. “If April isn’t here, I’d rather just train.”

As his hand reached out to twist the knob of the antiquated door, a violet bolt of electricity crashed against it, blasting his hand away. He turned back to the man in the chair, who had a foot of his raised, the purple core embedded in his mechanical lower half glowing from being recently used. His regular condescending smirk had grown significantly.

“Oh? Train? You, Loverboy? Did somebody get their ass whooped?”

“None of your business.”

“Yeah! I’m sure Axel tried his best!” The petulant girl poked her head out from behind Axel’s, still clinging to him. Axel winced, knowing she wasn’t making anything better. “Besides, we don’t have time for this, April left a report for us last time she was here.” She released her arms from around her exhausted coworker, scampering towards the table in the center. Her plain mint hoodie she wore as lounge wear over her white and yellow bodysuit fluttered loosely a bit as she moved. She pulled out a small bundle of documents, drawing the attention of the other two. Axel especially wanting to leave the discussion of his last mission behind them.

“Some leader she is, dropping info on us and scramming so she doesn’t have to deal with it, huh?” Droite made his annoyance with April well known, leaning back and pointing his mouth towards the ceiling with a raised tone.

Not intending to join in on his bellyaching, Axel promptly ignored Droite and snatched the papers up himself, flipping through and skimming the contents.

“She said whoever is available could go after this one, so I’ll leave it between you two to decide. If Axel goes, you can count me in too though!” Maya cheerfully pumped her fist, trying to add some energy to the fairly depressing room.

“I’ll do it.”

The answer came out fast from Axel’s lips, which were curled in an uncharacteristic smile, his body rigid with silent intensity. Even Maya had her cheerful demeanor turned off, now just concerned about what would cause such a reaction. Before she could ask, Axel threw the documents down and took a step back and created his blood blade.

“Hey! Put that thing away in here! We’re supposed to be nice friends-who-might-even-be-more-than-that while in this place!” Maya cried out, but her input was disregarded.

Axel’s smile reflected across the edge of his blade as he murmured to himself. “Now that I figured it out… I can finally ask him myself…”

Raising an eyebrow at the obsessive episode Axel had suddenly fallen into, Droite snagged the documents and began to read. A task quite uncommon for him.

“What have we got here? Boy with a blue sword, a girl with a power source, and…”

A resounding cackle drowned out anything in the room.

“KEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!”

Droite had fallen back out of his chair and hit the floor, kicking his legs and holding his head. His laugh made Axel and Maya question why the man hadn’t been committed to an asylum yet. His body threw itself all over the ground as more and more demented sounds of pleasure released from his feral teeth.

“This is TOO good! I just have to come along with you guys on this one!”

“I’m glad you all feel so strongly about this operation.”

The door had just swung open, revealing a militaristic female figure in its absence. As soon as she made herself known, Axel and Maya had straightened their posture and given a salute. Droite only ceased his laughing and sat up with a neutral look painted over his welled up tears.

April took a step forward, viewing the state of the room, then putting a hand onto the military cap on her head as she breathed in for her next command.

“If you all have interest in this mission, then all of us will be partaking.”

Axel and Droite, for the first time in being Wendigos together, shared an expression of exhilaration. Maya, meanwhile, jumped on Axel once again, only thinking of the time the two would be spending together. As all of this occurred, April put a hand on one of the dual rapiers on each of her hips, pulling out the leftmost one and smacking Droite across the face with the blunt side of the blade.

“Now, get to preparing. Especially you, Werewolf.”

“You know I don’t like that nickname, boss.” Droite got out, his amusement completely faded at this point, while lifting himself to his feet.

The woman in the white coat return to the entrance of the room, standing tall and proclaiming to her troops.

“We leave at oh-seven-hundred for No Man’s Land! Our target destination are the ruins of St. Louis! I expect nothing but your best performance, Wendigos!”

The beasts of the Western States barely held in their excitement at a chance for the pack to dance around the wasteland in search of their chosen prey. With hearts racing with the desire for revenge and carnage alike, their time waiting passed in the blink of an eye.