Chapter 7

Chapter 7

YEAR 2045

[Tezuka Kejinto (Falcon) - 19 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Nightingale) - 23 years old]
[Ryu Mitsukai (Owl) - 19 years old]

“Good, everyone is up.” Tezuka glances at two Americans and one Chinese, putting on his duffel over his shoulder. “Our ride will be at the destination in two hours. We have to go right now.”

“Night, will you be ok to walk all the way?” Ryu pulls Sky’s hand lightly, helping him to get up from the wet ground.

“Yeah, it’s not like my legs are broken,” Sky laughs lightheartedly, as if nothing ever happened to him yesterday. “Falcon, thank you so much for saving me! You know… I didn’t expect that it was you… and so --”

“Shut up. We have to get moving now,” Tezuka snaps, but a small blush on his face is already caught by Sky, who then decides not to comment on it. It may anger his comrade any further.

For the next ten minutes, Sky has been pouting angrily until he cannot take the guilt anymore. “Guys, I’m so sorry that our mission failed.”

“No, it’s ok --” Ryu gets interrupted.

“You’re damn right!” Tezuka snaps at Sky again. “It’s because of an idiot like you who has to get careless and get yourself kidnapped! You could have created another enemy for our country! Yet here you are, worrying about your own guilt! Haven’t you ever thought about our people at least once for the entire mission?!”

“No! That’s not it…” Sky mumbles with an unusual frown on his face. “I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen…”

“Give him a break, Falcon. It is our first mission together,” Ryu says. “Any of us could have made a mistake.”

“Tch!” Tezuka looks away from Ryu and Sky with his crossed arms on his chest, not being able to stand to see their faces any longer.

Akane has been walking a little far behind three men in wonder. They are completely different from anybody else she has known for her entire life. She wonders if the citizens from their country usually act this way?

“So, where is our ride going to?” Akane asks, trying to break the awkward silence between three upset soldiers. When she does not get any answer, she decides to get an answer on her own, “Since you speak English… so, I’m guessing… United Kingdom? Canada? Australia?”

“United States of Amer --” Sky’s mouth gets slammed and covered by Ryu’s hand, cringing at the unexpected pain. 

“U.S.A?” Akane smiles brightly as she claps her hands together. “Perfect!”

Tezuka rubs his aching forehead at Sky’s idiocy and uselessness. “Akane, now that you know where we are from, we have some questions.”

“Can’t this wait until we get back? Then she can be interrogated?” Ryu suggests.

“I don’t plan to let them take her in custody. This is not fair to her,” Tezuka almost mumbles quietly. “She said she wants to leave her country because she feels like a prisoner here.”

Ryu drops his jaw to the ground at his comrade’s answer. “You are crazy, Falcon! Much, much crazier than Night!”

“Hey!” Sky yells angrily.

“You have no idea how much trouble we are going to get into!” Ryu waves his hands in the air furiously. “We will get kicked out for sure! Then we will be homeless for the rest of our lives!”

“I’ll take responsibility,” Tezuka shrugs his shoulders before slowing down a little until Akane catches up with him. “Akane, you were right about everything. We are on a mission here. China is the primary suspect of providing nuclear weapons to Japan. We got a leak about it, but there is not enough evidence.”

“So, are you asking me if we have such weapons here?” Akane raises an eyebrow at him. She receives a ‘yes’ nod from Tezuka. She thinks to herself for a minute before she says, “Actually… Frankly, I have no idea. I’m just a mere soldier. We received the orders... from our superior.”

“Then, what were you doing in an area like this?”

“We were sent here for the supplies, but where they come from, we have no idea. So now you mention it…” Akane rubs her chin in wonder. “It’s been weeks but nothing came. We were about to get ready to return to the camp base… because my Lieutenant Colonel was getting impatient and pissed off.”

“Are you saying that there is no nuclear weapon in your area?” Sky asks.

“That’s correct.”

Tezuka narrows his blue eyes in both suspicion and disappointment. “Are you sure they did not tell you anything about weapons? Or did you not see any of them?”

Akane shrugs her shoulders, "I'm quite sure. There’s nothing here."

“I hate to say it, but I think she is right. What she is saying makes sense to me,” Ryu says, recalling from his shooting area on the top of the biggest hill. “I haven’t seen any large pallets or any containers large enough to contain the nuclear weapons.”

“Either way, China is not stupid enough to leak anything really important to the U.S.,” Akane scoffs. “If you have time to barge into my country, then why didn’t you go to Japan or South Korea in the first place? What did we ever do?”

“Nothing,” Tezuka answers simply. 

Akane rolls her eyes at the answer.

~*~

CAMP KEY
WEST VIRGINIA

Colonel Alvarez is tapping his pen on his desk impatiently with an angry look on his wrinkled face. “Let me ask you again, Kejinto. Can you please explain to me why the hell did you bring that woman here?!”

“Sir, that’s my fault --”

“Silence, Lawrence!” Colonel Alvarez slammed his fist on his table, making Sky flinch at his sudden temper. “I’m speaking to Kejinto!”

“There’s nothing I can explain, sir. I’m just helping her out. China is one of our allies, isn’t that right?” Tezuka says calmly. “There are no nuclear weapons in that area where you sent us there. The paperwork with the shipments is only a mere evidence, but it could have come from anywhere, yes? It could have been forged --”

“Are you saying that your first mission shouldn’t have happened in the first place, Soldier?”

“Yes.”

Colonel Alvarez scoffs at Tezuka’s answer. “Even though after you talked about how much you despised the Asians for what they had done to us?”

“Yes, sir,” Tezuka answers again. Ryu and Sky look at each other nervously, awaiting another explosion from their Colonel.

The Colonel is rubbing his forehead in frustration. “I hope you take responsibility for this, as you said that you are going to supervise the Chinese woman.”

“I do, sir. It was my decision to bring her here. Ryu and Sky have nothing to do with her. They even opposed the idea, but I insisted on helping her.”

“Fine. Just… get out of my sight. I’ll call you back for your next mission.”

~*~

“You seriously kicked ass, Tezuka!” Sky exclaims excitedly. “You did not even react to the Colonel’s tempers at all!”

“That’s…” Tezuka sighs lightly when he remembers how his father used to yell at him about every little thing. “I’m going home. I’m taking Akane with me.”

“I’m surprised that they allow you to babysit her,” Ryu crosses his arms and places his legs on the coffee table, leaning against the warm couch. “What kind of trick did you pull this time?”

“Nothing, really. Didn’t you hear me say that China is not our enemy? That there are no nuclear weapons? There’s no way that they would take her into custody without any evidence,” Trunks gets up from the chair and stretches out his tired arms. “Oh, Ryu, thank you for saving my life there.”

Ryu blushes lightly as he scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, “Y-you’re welcome. You didn’t have to thank me, you know? You also saved Sky’s life. I was just helping you out.”

“In the end, nobody had to die,” Akane says out loud, startling all three soldiers. She is standing at the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. “But one of them saw you. Sooner or later, your sweet President would have to deal with my President about the problem you caused.”

“Oh, you’re very welcome,” Tezuka says sarcastically. “It’s time to go, Akane. We have to get you an alien card tomorrow. The sooner, the better.”

After leaving the common room, Akane is looking at every framed picture as they are walking through the long hallway. Some photos are black and white. Others are newer and colored. They display a different team standing in front of a military plane for each picture.

"They were used to be part of different secret squads for the last 150 years," Tezuka says after noticing Akane’s curiosity. "They used this same camp."

"What squad are you serving?"

"I can't answer that," he smirks at her. "I'm taking you out of here before they change their minds about taking you in their custody."

"Ok, fine," She rolls her eyes. "Where are we going, then?"

"Home," Tezuka says softly with a small smile on his face.