[SFW VERSION]
🌹 There's something wonderful in those who stare death in the face. Even in a world wracked by relentless calamity, flowers blossom between a sea of corpses, the shapeless crimson rivers marched over by mechanical instruments of mass...
[Acting can come in handy in the worst situations, even if it's utterly humiliating...]
I should kill you where you stand.
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"I have eyes."
Rapi lines up the shot. At the end of her rifle stands a familiar Nikke in the distance, crouched beside a government building, donning gothic colors nearly invisible under the guise of nightfall.
"No," you say. "I'll handle her myself."
"Are you nuts?" Anis butts in. "She'll blow your brains out. Let Rapi take the shot."
"I said no." Quickly yet quietly you signal for your squad to move out. "Jackal and Viper have to be close by, if the tips we received are correct. Round them up, we can't let them pull off whatever it is they're planning."
Anis sighs, and even Rapi herself looks bothered at the fact you're once again willing to put yourself in harm's way. The last time you had a run-in with Exotic, things simply weren't pretty. You could've lost your life that day.
"Anis, Neon. Head northwest — don't leave any stone unturned." You turn to Rapi. "I have faith you can work on your own."
"What are you planning, Commander?" Rapi asks.
Hit by the question, you realize you don't have a solid answer. Maybe it's the naivety in you that's talking. Perhaps stupidity. You're going to act nonetheless.
"I'm going to apprehend Crow," you say firmly. "Now move out, all of you." With that, the Counters offer no more questions. They split off into the dimness of night, Anis and Neon moving as one unit, Rapi proceeding solo. As for you, it's time to make a decision. You stand from your crouched position and start down the road, heading for Crow as though you were just taking a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk. Night welcomes you with open arms as you tread ever closer to the lone Nikke, gauging her activity near this government-issued facility. The only thought that comes to mind is an attack, another one, and that Exotic is behind it.
You think she may have a bomb...
And your suspicions are confirmed when you come close enough to hear the faint beep, beep, beep of a device stuck to the side of the building. Upon hearing your encroaching footsteps, Crow stands up straight, not needing to face you to know who exactly you are.
"Just who I was waiting for," she says, then grants you with menacingly calm eye contact. "The Commander. Splendid."
"Save it," you say. "Whatever you're doing stops now. I'm taking you in."
"Oh?" Crow's lidded eyes search the roads around you. Empty, devoid of humans and Nikkes as if the whole Ark were asleep. The world, if it can be called that, is quiet as a mouse. Hardly a single sound touches your ears or hers, leaving the two of you standing in utter silence.
