Taking it in

2203

Saya stormed down the hallway, determined to find the guy who made a racket outside the girls' dorms early in the morning. His voice boomed, ignorant of the fact that most people don't wake up at 4 am.

He was easy to find, speaking with his friends in the shared lounge. He held a clipboard and wrote as they spoke. Taking their input on the last fight?

"If you must wake up before the sun has, couldn't you do it in your own wing?" she angrily signed. Her hands cut the air sharply.

The boy turned to her, eyeing her coldly as she attempted to communicate with him. "I told you I can't speak sign language."

She yanked the clipboard from his hands and wrote her message instead.

"There wouldn't be a problem if you had noise-block, but you seem pretty vanilla when it comes to tech," he said. "The girls have never complained about my morning rounds."

No arguing with that. She'd be behind the other recruits in almost every aspect because her parents refused to give her biological advancements. It was mostly because new technology was not available to regular people like her. Only the rich had access to it. In recent years, regular people started getting enhancements, too. 

"You look tired. Maybe someone has a cream you can put under your eyes?" he suggested, leaning closer to her to inspect her dark circles.

"Morning! Are you ready for training?" A strong hand slammed down on her shoulder, making her jump. Superior Satoshi, secondary command of Humano's recruits.

She nodded. How many cups of coffee did it take for him to be this chipper in the morning? He was a man in his late 50s who had no right to behave the way he did. When she first met him, she wondered if he dyed his hair that bright red or if he was immune to aging.

"Takuma, take her to the range. Get her aim down."

"Right," he agreed, and they left the lounge.

Two weeks earlier, she joined Humano. A military operation created by the world-dominating organization 'COT'. Its purpose was to use technologically altered recruits, ages 16 to 20, to fight the uprisings of rebel citizens. On the streets of Central City, war was raging.

A few years after Wataru Yamada's death, they created the Impersonal Project. It aimed to expand Central City and develop rural areas in Japan. COT tightened its reign, and in response, the people revolted.

Humano's operations were held in June Tower, a skyscraper transformed into a military storage and training facility for soldiers.

In the first three days, she was only allowed to speak to Superior Satoshi. He got her set up with a badge and weapon. Multiple tests and identity verification were forced on her. Because of her parents' past, she was hesitant to give them her family name. Luckily, it didn't cause any problems...yet.

When she first arrived, she assumed it would be easy to save Takuma. Telling him the truth about his family and helping him escape COT should've been simple. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as she'd imagined.

They made their way to the range, passing through sterile hallways lined with a single red stripe. Humano's section of the tower was divided into three floors. The light wing, where girls slept. The dark wing for boys, and the red wing. From what she'd heard so far, it was where senior recruits like Takuma slept. Members who'd been there for years and had their feet firmly planted in COT's inner systems.

That's why it would be impossible to remove him from his roots.

He'd taken all of their experimental technology, tracking devices, and enhancements. The boy was packed full of so many mechanical oddities that she struggled to see him as human. Even his eyes, which should be full of life, were dull. Aided by computer systems that let him view the internet, maps, and programs, he was never fully present in the moment.

The range was a large room designed for training recruits. There were areas for shooting and close combat. She wouldn't be using a regular gun. The weapon chosen for her was designed to fire immortal bullets. Specialized in destroying unnatural matter, they could obliterate anything they came in contact with, reducing it to a pile of ash in seconds, even spirits. When it was first described to her, she thought it was silly.

Spirits? They didn't exist. Ghosts, monsters, angels, demons. All fantasy. But the people at Humano wholeheartedly believed in them, and it seemed like everyone else in COT did too. Spending time around them made her wonder if they knew things she didn't.

Takuma stood next to her, forcing her to shoot wooden boards until he was satisfied with her accuracy.

"Stop. You're doing it all wrong," he said. He took her arm and lifted it, forcing her to keep her posture steady. "Don't slouch. See how many of them have gone into the wall? What if that was a friend?"

She couldn't reply with her hands full.

Bang! Bang!

"Good job."

His praise barely reached her. Every gunshot made her tremble with fear. Those bullets would soon be hitting real people. People like her.

Saya wasn't like the other recruits. Raised to see the flaws in the world, she knew how dangerous COT really was. An organization that began innocently but eventually took over the Japanese government and spread its rule throughout the world. Her history knowledge wasn't as sharp as she'd like it to be.

When they finished, they sat on the benches outside the range so she could catch her breath. Takuma slid his visor over his eyes, which had been flipped on top of his head. The main piece looked like headphones, but was equipped with an eye shield that could be retracted and lay flat on top of the head.

"So…when are we going to be fighting?" she signed.

No reply. He was busy talking to someone. He'd never notice her timid hand signs, even if he could understand what they meant. Being mute was a pain. There was nothing she could do about it since it was the way she was born. Teaching him sign language would be a long and tedious task. It takes dedication to learn a new language, and he probably wouldn't be willing to do all that for her. But she'd have to try, no matter how hard it may be.

Then she could explain much COT hid from him. It sickened her to see people her age fighting for evil. To see him on the side that killed his father. He had to be stopped, and she didn't care if she had to bring his world crumbling down to do so. Telling him outright about her reason for joining Humano wouldn't get him to leave. She needed to gain his trust first.

"Is that so? I'll have to come check it out sometime," he laughed, leaning his head back against the wall.

Peeling.

The bandage around his head was peeling. Just a bit, but still. Was he injured? It bugged her since she arrived, but she didn't dare to ask about it. It looked more like a sweatband than a serious attempt at healing. Was he hiding another piece of tech they'd installed in him? Perhaps recovering from the surgery?

Nope. Thinking about it would only worry her.

His resemblance to his dad was uncanny. 18 years old, and gorgeous as a dove. They looked almost identical, but their personalities were nothing alike. She'd seen plenty of videos of his dad, mostly from his teenage years. He gave a light, cheerful impression, the kind of guy who was always brimming with energy. Takuma didn't have an ounce of that charisma.

But then, didn't she look a lot like her dad, too? With long magenta hair and brown eyes, she was often compared to him.

No point wasting time here. She left him there and went to find the other recruits. There were still a lot of people she hadn't met yet, and it would be good to introduce herself. She'd be fighting alongside them soon.

- - -

Red Alert: Infiltration.

"Get out there!" Satoshi hollered, running into the lounge just as the siren signal started blaring through the tower. "Move it!"

Saya was sitting with the other recruits when the siren started, putting the building into lockdown. An undetermined number of rebels broke into the tower and were ascending the levels.

The red branch would take the inside, and everyone else would stop rebels outside from entering. All she had to do was follow the recruits to the elevators. They were already dressed in their uniforms, which they were required to wear at all times. She still hadn't gotten used to the white and red suit, which was more revealing than she was comfortable with.

The recruits crammed into rows of elevators that lined the wall in the foyer. Packed chest to chest, she could barely squeeze herself around the other girls. Her palms were sweating already. It didn't feel real.

The elevator smoothly glided up the floors. Wait—up? What about going down?

Stepping out into a cramped walkway, she went with the flow of people up the stairs to the roof. Winter wind brushed her hair across her face. The pillar that shone on top of June Tower was turned off during the day, but it stood proud even without its signature blue glow. This was the place said to reveal the stairs to heaven.

One of the recruits, a boy with black and teal zebra-striped hair, turned to her. "It's scary the first time, but don't be afraid!"

What's scary?

An explosion came from the ground. Recruits started jumping off the roof, flipping visors over their eyes, and curling their knees to their chests. The boy took her hand, and they ran towards the edge of the roof. She couldn't stop her legs, though her heart was pounding and screaming 'no'.

Voluntarily falling to her death wasn't a good idea.

They rapidly plunged towards the ground. When she looked over, he was gone. He fell faster than she did. She could barely make out the screaming and explosions from below with the wind howling in her ears. From this height, she might even be able to see her house if she had enhanced eyes like Takuma.

Someone ran down the side of the tower above her. He leaped off the wall and caught her in his arms as they fell through the sky.