Trigger Time

Chapter 3: A FEARful Thief, The Courageous KNITE

The next day, Shogo entered the lunchroom in such a happy mood. After he joined the team, he told me to change the name and make it sound cooler. "Why don't we just shorten it to SDRS?" I suggested, shrugging a little after he had suggested such an idea

"That'll work," he replied. He spent a lot of time with the Elite Division in between missions, mostly so he could get his gun modified. When he wasn't trying to make his gun better, he trained with me in the underground arena that the FEAR Corps used for simulations.

"I'm thinking DJ MAX," he told me one day out of nowhere during training. I looked at him after blasting one of the dummies to pieces, confused slightly as I tilted my head at him. He saw me and continued, "For my codename. You are ELITE-1, so I want to be called DJ MAX."

"It's a bit odd, don't you think?" I ask with a bit of a chuckle, shaking my head slightly as I holstered the Trigger Havoc and moved away from him for a moment.

"Well, yeah, but I think it'll work, considering my motif." After speaking this, he ejected the disc from the Scratchbox and placed it into the gun. An alarm sound similar to the Trigger Havoc's went off and it announced "TYPHOON FEAR FINISH! MAXIMUM MIX!" Three lights along the back of the gun lit up one after the other, which signaled it was fully charged as Shogo pulled the trigger. Multiple discs flew out from the barrel and landed on a practice dummy, and then they all made a scratching noise as they exploded in sync. Some of the other dummies were caught in it, but the dummy the discs landed on was destroyed completely.

I was astounded, having never seen it before from our brief time as comrades. When I turned to him, I saw he had moved to the exit door, giving a serious look that I knew meant there was a mission to get to.

***

I'm used to running by now, but I've probably been running for a long while chasing down the thief that stole the Trigger Havoc. Before long and with incredible luck, I had reached an apartment building long since abandoned, though there were slight traces that the thief went this way. 'They must be up there,' I thought to myself as I entered the front door and was greeted by a booby trap net, which narrowly missed me by a centimeter as I darted out of the way quickly. I looked around the lobby for more traps, but found that it was all clear.

"A large building and only one trap? Well, I guess since not many people bother her, she doesn't need many defenses... And I guess the Deformed aren't as numerous here either..." I murmured to myself, though I knew that logic was flawed slightly. I walked over to the stairwell door and made my way up to the top, figuring the elevator would be out. 'They're probably at the very top, I mean, who doesn't like a great view?' I thought to lighten my mood. I was near the top, when I heard an explosion. I rushed up to the door at the end of the staircase, ran out and down the hall to find a room with the door blasted off. Knowing this was the room; I quickly moved in and stopped at the sight I saw.

They- no, she- was resting against the wall, the Trigger Havoc lodged in it above her. When I first saw her, she was wearing a hood so I couldn't see her face, but now I can see a blue-eyed, freckled face with short auburn hair. Her tank top was vibrant yellow with a picture that was half a mask and half a knight's helmet. Her black hoodie was short sleeved and her jeans were torn just at the knees. I walked over to pull the weapon from the wall, but when I got it out she kicked it out of my hand and sent it flying near the window.

"I stole it off you fair and square, so you should just accept that and leave." Her tone was childish but also very serious and demanding. My eyes flick to the Trigger Havoc, then to her.