Chapter 3

Chapter 3

YEAR 2045

[Tezuka Kejinto – 19 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence – 23 years old]
[Ryu Mitsukai – 19 years old]

“China has something to do with the Nuclear War?” Tezuka raises an eyebrow. He is on the phone with one of the most important people, “May I please see the evidence, Colonel Alvarez?”

“Very well. You may go to level seven. Tell them your code names and they will allow you to enter.”

“Yes, sir,” Tezuka waits patiently until Colonel Alvarez hangs up on him.

“Well?” Ryu asks.

“Will we get the information about China?!” Skylar asks eagerly.

The Sunny Wing team recently finished their intense training a week ago, and they had been waiting impatiently for the new mission from the CIA. They had done nothing but exercising everyday. Finally, they are getting the new mission today.

“It looks like we will have the new mission,” Tezuka smirks at them. “They may send us to China, but first we have to receive the instructions for the mission as soon as possible.”

“So, that’s why we were requested to go to the base of the U.S. Eastern Division. I can’t wait!” Ryu says cheerfully.

Right after they exit the training area, a woman who wears a formal tan suit approaches them quickly.

“Good morning,” She, her long black hair locked up in a ponytail, bows her head. “Lieutenant Colonel Medina is expecting you. Please follow me.”

“Psst, Tezuka!” Sky starts whispering to Tezuka after they enter the tall building next to the one they recently left. “Does it mean that Lieutenant Colonel is a rank lower than Alvarez?”

“Yes, moron,” Tezuka rolls his blue eyes. “What the hell have you been learning?”

“I’m only a medic,” Sky pouts cutely.        

“Let’s stop here. I can’t go further. You are instructed to go to level seven. Please follow the sign,” the woman bows her head again and leaves them.

“Come on. I know where it is,” Tezuka says before he looks at Ryu. “You must be the first Japanese person to get in here.”

“Hey! I’m as much an American as you are!” Ryu yells angrily.

“No more arguing!” Sky whines. “It’s like you hate each other right from the beginning.”

“I dislike him!” Ryu and Tezuka speak at the same time.

“Ok, ok! Let’s just go,” Sky sighs at his partners. He had been getting to know them more for about a year. He already knew that Ryu had been pressured by the society while Tezuka was pressured by his father. If Ryu and Tezuka knew how each other felt, then as Sky was wondering, why the hell could they not just get along?!

They use the elevator to take them underground until they reach the seventh level.

Tezuka approaches the door and presses the buttons for the code. However, the door is not opening yet.

“Password?” A young feminine voice asks through the speaker. The team cannot tell if it is a computer or a human voice.

“Mother Bird,” Tezuka answers quickly.

“Codename?”

“Falcon.”

“Owl,” Ryu stretches out his arms, still sore from his recent exercise.

“Nightingale,” Sky is still pouting at his ridiculous codename.

"Access granted,” the voice says. Almost immediately, the door slides open.

They enter the room to find many scientists and employees either walking or running around... that, or, entering and leaving the room.

“What is this? Research lab?” Ryu blinks in confusion. “Are we in the right place?”

“Yes,” A pretty woman approaches them. Dark eyes and long straight black hair that reaches to her waist. She is wearing a white lab coat and glasses. “Except it is not the research lab -- it is a cover-up for any unnecessary visitor. Welcome to the Arena S.W.S...”

Three soldiers watch as the woman takes off her glasses and smiles, “I am Lieutenant Colonel Medina. Please follow me.”

Lt. Colonel Medina leads the new team to her own office. “Please have a seat. As you already know, the employees here are working for Colonel Alvarez. First of all, you will need double lives. Tezuka Kejinto?”

“Yes?” Tezuka asks.

“Just in case anyone asks... For your cover, you serve in the Delta Force. But, here, you are called Falcon and serve the Sunny Wing Squad, or S.W.S. And, you, Ryu Mitsukai, are the pilot for the U.S. Army. And, you, Skylar Lawrence, work at the hospital as a nurse.”

“Why am I a nurse?!” Skylar whines, as two other soldiers snicker.

“Becoming a doctor requires a lot of years, and you look so young. So, I think being a nurse fits you better. Just consider it as ‘training’ to become the future doctor,” Lt. Colonel Medina smiles at him.

“So, the fake jobs will be our cover, right?” Ryu asks.

“Correct,” Lt. Colonel Medina takes the files out of a filing cabinet behind her table. “Colonel Alvarez instructed me to provide you with the evidence. Please take a look at the purchase list from one of the weapon stores.”

Only Tezuka understands such a purchase statement and is more than shocked to discover new information. “Thirty thousand new weapons were shipped to China within a month?”

“That many?!” Ryu cries.

“So, what does this purchase thing have to do with Japan and South Korea?” Sky asks.

“This leads to the next evidence,” Lt. Colonel Medina takes out another file. “These are the shipments from China to Japan. One thousand shipments per day. After 30,000 shipments were delivered, it stopped.”

Tezuka takes a short look at the form. “30,000 shipments. Of what?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t say anything about what the shipments are for,” Ryu rubs his chin in wonder.

“We are concerned that it might be nuclear missiles. 30,000 new weapons to China… then 30,000 shipments to Japan. Coincidence?” Lt. Colonel Medina asks with a pretty smile. She then frowns, “But the real question… where in the world did China get the weapons from? That’s what we are looking for.”

The new bird members glance at each other with the same thoughts. China has been helping the United States by providing its resources, such as food supply, medical resources, and everything else after the attack on California. So why now?

“Fine,” Tezuka says. “What will we do?”

“We need you to find concrete evidence. Just those papers won’t help us. You will be flying to an uninhabited area in China. Here, we can contact each other with this,” She hands the radios to the men and continues, “Colonel Alvarez will also check on us every once in a while. When the mission starts in China, I’ll contact you and we have to use our code names. You have to call me Hummingbird. Alvarez’s code name is Eagle.”

“That’s it?” Sky pouts again. “No fighting? No shooting?”

“No. You have to keep yourself hidden,” Lt. Colonel Medina says. “If you are found out, we will have no choice but to place blame on you and your team. You will be on your own.”

“My father did this stuff?” Ryu blinks in surprise. It’s such a miracle that he survived this long...!

Tezuka suddenly feels a little jealous. He knows that Ryu has so much respect for his father... and, his own father... on the other hand, he is one selfish bastard.

“No time to waste,” Lt. Colonel Medina says seriously. “Go to Camp Key in West Virginia. They will send you to China from there. Sounds good?”

“Yes, ma’am!” the team shouts.

~*~

“Helicopter time!” Sky yells, already running out of the building. “Last one to the helicopter has to wash our dishes after dinner!”

It takes them fifteen minutes before they arrive at the destination, which is in West Virginia.

“Welcome to Camp Key,” the man with black and grayish combed hair smirks at the new team, who gets off the helicopter. “I believe we’ve never met in person before. I’m Colonel Alvarez of the West Virginia Alliance... or...”

As soon as they enter the elevator that takes them to the lowest floor, Colonel Alvarez reveals his true code name by continuing, “...Eagle of the Sunny Wing Squad.”

“Whoa!” Ryu gasps in amazement when a huge military plane gets in their sights. How the hell can it get underground?

“As you already know, Lieutenant Colonel Medina and I will be working with you. We will only be your contacts. If someone else tries to contact you, ignore them,” Colonel Alvarez says. “Your pilot is already ready and is in the plane. From now on, you will be calling him Goose. Sounds good?”

“Yes, sir!” the team yells.