VISIBLE CHAMELEONS

It was around 11 AM, and no sound could be heard outside. It felt as if the night was waiting for us to make the first move.

“We’re going ahead of you,” said Daichi, equipping his weapons and fixing his glasses.

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” said the girl who was carrying the boxes earlier, avoiding eye contact with him.

“Don’t worry, we have some amazing teammates now in the squad. We’re getting  stronger...after all those losses.” He smiled and waved at her, though I could see the same smile fading away when he turned his back to her and left, probably hiding the concern he had for this mission.

“Took you some time, Daichi,” said Tsubasa, looking at his watch.

“Sorry, everyone. I got everything we need with me.”

“Everyone, you hear me? Put your chameleon suits on and get ready to move!” said Misato cheerfully as she appeared on the screen of our glasses, standing in a comfy chair in her operator office.

“All right, let’s get it started,” said Riko, almost stepping onto a walkway that led to the location.

“Hold on. This is a special operation, so we cannot be seen taking the public transportation paths. We’ll be going with the fast-paced underground pods,” said Misato, revealing to us the pods that were slowly rising from the ground close to the barrack.

“These will go back underground and follow a transportation path to the buildings,” continued Tsubasa, who was already preparing to enter the pod.

All of us went into them and prepared for the travel. The pods did exactly what Tsubasa told us, entering into the ground just below the surface level of the city and gaining massive speed.

“Woah, this is insane. I cannot believe I’m getting to travel with these things. I never knew they existed in the first place!” said Riko, whose loud words we could hear through our glasses.

“Is it even possible for you to not like something at all? I’m almost throwing up here,” said Masashi, barely getting used to this method of transportation.

“You’re not going to die, Masashi,” I said, hearing their conversation.

“All right, guys, you’re going to be there in just a few seconds,” said Misato, and truthfully, the pods stopped and sneakily emerged from the ground.

“I’m never going with you guys again,” sighed Masashi, on his knees.

“This is the team you’ve had such high expectations for?” said Tsubasa, subtly pointing at us while talking to Daichi.

“Tsubasa… we’ve had this discussion before… about Tatsuya, Ichiro, and Saki. You need to—”

“Don’t ever mention them again!” he grunted, almost hitting Daichi’s chest with his finger before leaving toward the building.

“Daichi, we should be going too. We need to take them by surprise if we want to finish things fast,” I said while getting my pistol ready.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, moving toward the nearby fence together with us and scouting the place. “This is an abandoned building that received no renovations. We’ll enter through the broken window on the first floor.”

“Wouldn’t they see us moving before we get there?” said Masashi, noticing some movement in the upper floors. The building had five floors, each with multiple windows.

“That’s why we have the suits, right? We’ll be advancing close to the fence and blending in until we reach the gate,” said Riko, who had already figured out how to use the equipment.

“I’m surprised you worked that one out,” said Tsubasa, jabbing at her again with his words.

“I’m not listening to your words, short kid. Let’s see you in action,” she said, jumping the fence and using the tactic she described.

“Short kid? Where are you going, insufferable girl?” he said, jumping with her. It felt as though the weight of the mission eased significantly at times, probably because, although we had our differences, we were still motivated by our reasons. And the way to reach them was to give everything to the military."

“We can’t sit still here. Let’s move on,” I said, following them.

We got close to the fence and slowly advanced toward the window. I could see silhouettes close to the windows upstairs and their rifles shining in the dark.  It was almost as if the moon reflecting the weapons shouted out loud that the most important aspect of this night was represented by the inventions created to harm people.

“Listen, me, Masashi, Ryo, Tsubasa, and Riko. Each one of us will take one floor following this order. We'll stay camouflaged until everyone reaches their floor, then I'll give the signal to attack."

“Hold on, why are you deciding this?” said Riko, pointing at him and then crossing her arms.

“It’s because he’s more experienced, obviously. If you don’t want to listen, then leave,” answered Tsubasa in Daichi’s place, pointing at his head to mock Riko’s question, then showing her the road back.

“But that’s not fair! I don’t want to get the last floor. I want to fight the most interesting one. You think they would put anything important on the 5th floor?,” she said, barely trying to keep it quiet.

“Don’t worry, Riko. I’m sure you’ll find something there too. You can blame me if you don’t,” said Daichi, giving her a confident glare while taking responsibility for it.

“Fine, but I won’t forget the last part,” she said, entering the building first as always, with the four of us following her.

I slipped past the various terrorists by staying close to the building’s walls, successfully climbing to the second floor. However, I was about to face a new problem. I was taking the stairs that led to the third floor, standing close to the side where there was a wall, when five terrorists were coming downstairs. Usually, I had no problem sneaking by two or three of them on the previous stairs, but now I couldn’t avoid them. I tried to go downstairs as well when…

“What was that noise?” said one of them, who stopped speaking to the rest. I had stepped on an empty bottle when I placed my foot backward. I quickly picked up the bottle before they realized and threw it as low as possible toward the other side of the stairs.

“Must have been a rat. I’ll go check it out,” said one of them, signaling to the others to stand by with his hand.

I took this opportunity and avoided the one coming to check my noise, moving upstairs in his place. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with one of them when suddenly he turned his head and looked directly at me. I locked eyes with him and stayed in this position for a few seconds that felt like forever.

“We should change bases. This place looks terrible,” he said, turning his head away from me.

I almost climbed all the way to the third floor when Daichi gave us the signal.

“All right, boys and girls, let’s start the party,” he told us via his glasses. That’s when I grabbed my pistol and shot the guys I just passed.

“Ugh, what the hell is happening? From upstairs?”

“Sir, there are attacks on every floor. I don’t know how they got there—” shouted an enemy trying to warn the others I was shooting at, but Masashi took care of him. I glanced at him for a second, nodded, and went on to my floor.

Having arrived there, I started shooting the terrorists who had no idea where the bullets were coming from. I entered the first room, where two of them were working at a computer, and finished the job.

“Plan A: Operation Disarm,” I uttered to myself, reading what they had opened on their computer. I went back to the hall, where a few enemies were coming toward me, and got ready for the perfect time to strike. However…

“Ugh, what just happened? I suddenly felt something—” I said, looking at my pierced shoulder. I was bleeding a significant amount, even though it didn’t hurt much.

“Watch out, everyone. They’ve realized our trick and have thermals equipped now. You cannot sneak anymore. I repeat—” said Daichi faintly, his words covered by the gunshots and screams coming from his floor, coughing like he had been hit as well.

We were not invisible anymore. We were in the same boat as the terrorists that we had to take care of with our special equipment. And most importantly, we were also in their home, in their territory, far away from the barrack or our homes, far away from any comfort or warmth.