Absolution

5. Red Flags.

Klein began to panic as he realised the situation, whereas everybody else seemed relatively calm.
"They aren't fighting. Keep walking and they might not notice us." Jeffrey said quietly.
Things were going smoothly until someone bumped into Kwang Joon, resulting in some obscene cursing and an enraged swing of a fist. 
"Why are you such a twat?" Morrigan asked with exasperation, before casually blocking an incoming attack. 
"He stood on my fucking foot!" Kwang Joon yelled over the noise that had began to grow.
"Stop shouting at each other and focus on not getting killed!" Ray barked, punching somebody in the neck.
More and more soldiers were noticing the commotion, immediately jumping on the chance to fight. Morrigan's squad was easily numbered, but that had never made a difference to Morrigan in the past, and it wasn't about to start.

They hadn't managed to take all of them down. Instead, they fought their way through the crowd and had made a break through to the other side. Morrigan's legs were burning as she continued to sprint away from the few that had chased them, out of the town and onto the expanse of sand surrounding it. 
The sun was beating down harshly on her, and sweat was dripping, but the fire in her lungs was burning more fierce than the sun could ever hope to. This is what she lived for. Without it, she would rather die. 
"They're going to catch up. We can't keep running like this." Klein yelped, tripping over his own feet but managing to keep going. 
"Then we turn and fight." Morrigan said.
"Are you insane?!" Klein shrieked.
Morrigan stopped running and turned to look back at the oncoming soldiers. The others in the squad whipped around to see what she was doing, but she already had her backup gun in hand and was speeding full-pelt towards the opposition. 
"What the hell are you doing?" Ray roared, but she didn't hear him. Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears, and her golden eyes alight with fury. The gun only had six rounds, but she had trust in her squad to sort out the remaining two that her bullets would not kill.
The gunshots echoed, drowning out the shouts of her squad. Six men fell. 
Morrigan dove between the other two, who were not fast enough to react. Two more gunshots rang out and the remaining soldiers fell to the ground. Morrigan stood over the bodies, their lifeless, glassy eyes forever frozen in terror that she had instilled in their hearts. 

"Never pull a stunt like that ever again. You could have been killed." Uzo said dangerously, putting her gun back in it's holster. 

"I got the job done, and that's all that matters." Morrigan responded, not making eye contact as she continued to watch the corpses. 

The Certamine district was unlike anything Morrigan had ever seen before. The towering, glass skyscrapers contrasting starkly with the wasteland surrounding them. 
The city was so dense, that she could no longer see the horizon. 
Under the cover of the night sky, the buildings were dark, but the city lights and the twinkling stars made them glitter. The air was becoming colder as the darkness deepened. 
She knew the Hub immediately when she saw it. It was no bigger than the surrounding buildings, but there were hundreds of soldiers from every faction bustling through the doors. 
Nobody said a word as they passed through the entrance and were directed to the thirteenth floor. 

The floor was not well-lit, and it was not divided by any walls or corridors. It was one huge room filled with ambitious soldiers. There were glowing screens lining the walls, each with signs above them, labelling which faction they were for. 
Ray led the squad through the people and managed to find a set of screens for them fairly fast. Uzo had no need to use said screens, so she waited by the staircase for them to return. 
Morrigan was amazed by the technology, as she had never been this close to equipment this valuable. Aside from her own gun of course. 

She was required to fill out a basic application form. 

Name: Morrigan
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Squad number: 017

She pressed continue. It hardly took a second for the machine to load up an entire profile of her, including her height, weight, fingerprints, and recorded kill-count. The thought of a machine possessing this information about her immediately sent up red flags. 

"Please place your hand on the screen for ten seconds, to confirm your identity." A box of text popped up on the screen to instruct her. She did as the box said and after the countdown, she was finished. 
"That was almost too easy..." she muttered to herself, sceptical of the capabilities of the technology. 
"Is everybody done?" Ray asked, stepping away from the screen. 
After a scattering of confirmations were voiced, the group headed back out to Uzo, who was standing patiently on the stairs.
"Head to the next floor for the solo physical examination." a woman in a pure white uniform said to them.
Ray and Jeffree nodded and with her mind plagued with doubt and uncertainty, Morrigan followed closely behind them as they headed up after the woman.