Chapter 8:

Progress, at last

Alive


"Anh... well, that's really the best tip I can give, like, I don't think there is anything more practical" George laughed a little.
"No, no, it's fine, it helps a lot, I guess..." Anna gave a small smile
"I hope it does" Then George turned himself to the column "for you as well Rafael"
"Wha-, Rafael??"
"HUH" Rafael almost jumped "you knew I was here all along?
"Yeah, of course" George lay on the couch "you looked like you needed some help too, so I just did nothing about you there"
"Ah" Rafael, embarrassed, slowly approached them, and sat on the sofa with them.

They stood in silence for a while, it was getting late, so, many were going to the dormitories, yet, the line for the tennis table still was quite big.
"Actually, explain to me how you managed to get a drill bit on your back?" George casually asked.
"uh, well, she had some sort of made up weapon, so-"
"This part I know, I saw it, I mean, like, you were pursuing them, and you got shot on the back?"
"There is still no report about the mission?"
"nope, and if it had, I would probably not read it"
"ahh... She got in an apartment, held a hostage, then a tremor hit, I jumped to split them and got shot."
"A tremor??" Anna finally joined the conversation.
"The SCU made something to make the building shake"
"Isn't that super dangerous??" Both of them said together
"Not at all, every building, since the beginning of Promise, is prepared for intense shocks, because of the common earthquakes and in case of corruptions attack, like, how you guys don't know that? This is basic knowledge"
"Yeah... sure I knew" George looked away.
"Same, heh" Anna started playing with her long brown hair.
"And before you ask, the SCU pilot can see all ARC's visors in her cabine"
"Wait, really??" Geoge was way too surprised "That's something I should know"
"ah... disappointing" Rafael sighed "Let's go to the bedrooms"


"General Astrea, today's report came in, there were fifty-seven, successfully contained, insurgencies"
Astrea was at the base's command center, a room filled with computers on the sides and with an eletronic interactive table, which was displaying the whole city, could be seen in charts all of the problems, from traffic to sanitation to crime and more. With her, there was also three people, after all, every single movement of the military passed trough there.
"Thirty-one at military structures, eighteen at power stations, five at the city borderline, a big one at the city hall and two at the base itself; they are getting bold" a small guy, using glasses and holding a tablet spoke
"Don't mock of our own people, David, they are upset because of our actions" Astrea said seriously "Tanya, how many deads?"
A woman energetically spinned her chair towards Astrea "Estimated to be two thousand deaths, and fourty-four of the army, counting the recruits who got killed by suspicious activity. Buuuuuuut, the percentage of the population who approves us increased to incredible thirty-nine percent, and the petition to change the government is increasing slower, and is now at" she gave a thumbs up and smiled "twenty millions signatures" and spinned back to the computer.
"The numbers are... improving, considering that the city has more than fifty millions of inhabitants" A quite big man stood up from his chair to talk "yet, manifestants are getting more agressive, comparing to the past weeks, it is significant higher the number of attemps of compromising electric wires. It's also becoming quite common the tatic of break in a residence, and get a hostage to escape, right now, we have twenty people missing and and sixty dead only because of it"
"Don't forget about the insane amount of homemade bombs and improvised weapons" Tanya said while getting a lollipop out of her bag "Heard about one that could shot drill bits, slow to reload, but could pierce an ARC"
"Indeed Ian, and thanks for pointing that out Tanya, however, you can see that the insurgencies are scattered and without long term objectives" Astrea started to use the city holograph to explain "As long as we keep suppressing them efficiently, they will soon lose strengh and fade away"
"So our only fear is the rising of someone who can unite them, right?" David asked.
"Well, if that ends up happening, we will be in serious trouble"


In the next day, Rafael went straightforward to the dining hall, he was starving for not having eaten anything last night. Him and George sat on the same table alone.
"Maaann, it was our first mission and we already have a day off, you really need to get shot more often" George joked.
Rafael looked at him for a while and kept eating. Then Anna appeared behind him, with a strange woman alongside her, and sat on their table.
"This was pretty mean, private, even for a joke" The woman said.
"Wha-, who are you?" George asked dissatisfied with a random just sitting on their table.
Then Vladmir showed up and also sat on the table "This is Lucy, our SCU pilot, you didn't met her in person" she had a short dark hair, with also black eyes.
"Oh, don't tell me this is a squad reunion, I was just enjo-"
"Indeed it is" Vladmir rapidly replied "Since our only mission was a success only by luck, and we waste the rest of it receiving a day off, I thought we could put this day in good use"
"Can I skip it? I did okay on the mission"
"George, you almost tortured the manifestant, you may not have messed up, but you were far from doing okay"
Rafael and Anna looked to George, scared.
"Wait, wait, he is exaggerating"
"Is he?" Lucy casually asked.
"C'mon, I'm not a sadistic, besides, was just a criminal, he would do worse to an innocent"
"Yeah, but you will stay here and listen" Vladmir said roughly, he was losing his patience.

Their next missions weren't easy or calm, yet, they managed to complete their objectives. George's tip truly helped, although Rafael and Anna did not take a single life, they didn't hesitate to shoot in order to do their duty, and slowly but surely, they were improving as a squad and as soldiers. As the weeks progressed, the frequency of uprisings began to decrease to a normal rate, as predicted, or that is what they thought.


"Ulysses, we have received the reply of our spies"
"Are the prototypes ready?"
"Since the past three weeks"
"Then initiate the first step of our operation"
Ulysses laughter of excitement echoed through the tiny and dark tunnel they were in, an unknown underground that could be anywhere.
"At last, now starts the countdown of the end of this tyranny"