Kaname was in such a chipper mood she didn’t think anything could upset her today, not even the fact that her father had arrived early in the morning. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him, she missed him dearly; it was the idea of him finally meeting Sousuke that sent her into a panic. Knowing her little soldier boy, he’d be freaked-out, nervous and probably say something asinine. Her father had a great sense of humor but not when it came to boys who had an interest in one of his daughters.
Previously, on many occasions, she had told him little bits of information about Sousuke and how he had come into her life but nothing very personal, especially not about his military life. Not only was she sworn to secrecy but she knew her father would freak out if he had even an inkling of the dangerous situations she had been involved in. He had given her freedom at a young age because he trusted her to make wise responsible decisions. But would he view Sousuke as one of those wise responsible decisions?
She strolled down the hallway on the way to Sousuke’s room. The doctors had mentioned using some new drug on him that was supposed to speed up his recovery and the idiot agreed without a hint of hesitation. She could see he hated being immobilized but she was a little uneasy about him allowing them to use him as a guinea pig. It was obvious he would do anything to speed his recovery but this just seemed a bit extreme.
Today she brought him some magazines that Shinji had once mentioned that they both loved. Anything to take his mind off his present situation and that fact that her father was on his way. When she opened his door he was lying in bed still asleep but opened his eyes immediately when he heard her enter. “Chidori,” he said almost surprised to see her awake so early.
“Good morning, sleepy head!” she beamed as she placed the magazines on the table. “How do you feel today?”
“I believe the drug is actually working,” he replied positioning himself into a sitting position. “My pain is almost completely gone and the doctor’s are going to do some X-ray’s later to see if the bone is healing any faster.”
“It isn’t right to mess with nature,” she scolded him.
“Chidori, I can’t protect you if I’m-”
“Tessa told me, Sousuke,” she said interrupting him as she went about adjusting his blankets. “About the men who are after you. And I think it’s sweet that you would want to protect me and all but now it’s my turn to protect you.”
He wasn’t sure what she meant by that but he had no doubt she was more than capable of completing the task. It shocked him a little but it was customary for her personality. It was one of the things he admired about her the most, her courage and determination. If half the soldiers he knew in his life had even an ounce of what she possessed, they’d be an unstoppable army.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“But if you ever just drag me off somewhere without explaining things to me again, I will hang you from the highest treetop, you big stupid jerk,” she said her hands placed defiantly on her hips, hell burning in her eyes.
Sousuke swallowed hard knowing she would definitely follow through with her threat. “Yes, ma’am,” he whispered.
“Now,” she exclaimed her face reverting back to sweetness, “about my father...”
Sousuke physically tensed his face full of panic. “Chidori, I uh...that is...” he stumbled over his words in a nervous fit of anxiety. He had faced numerous enemies on the battlefield, even killed to survive, but the thought of meeting her father sent such a feeling of dread through him he thought he might collapse from it.
“He arrived this morning. He’s just going to want to know why we’re here.” Her father wasn't stupid and she knew she would have to cook up some grand lie to cover their tracks. If he figured out that she was in any kind of danger, he would force her to come live with him and her sister again.
“What are you going to tell him?” Sousuke wondered what they could say that wouldn’t arouse suspicion and endanger the man. It was tough enough lying to her about a lot of things, now he had to lie to her father. It was like lying to a superior officer; the thought made him cringe.
“We’re here on a class trip and you got hurt,” she blurted out. “The other students left already but we had to stay behind until you were well enough to travel.”
“And he will believe this?”
“Mmm-hmm,” she said smiling wide.
“If your own intelligence is any indication of your father’s, then I would not underestimate him,” Sousuke said sliding a finger under his cast to itch his leg. The itch had been bugging him for a long time and he couldn’t quite reach it no matter what he did. It was beginning to become excruciatingly uncomfortable.
“Trust me, he’ll never know unless you open your big fat mouth and tell him,” she replied adjusting his pillow.
Sousuke continued to wrestle with his cast trying to scratch the itch. It was becoming so unbearable now that he was breaking out in a sweat and his cheeks were flushed from the sheer agony of it. “Why would I tell him?”
Kaname sighed annoyed. “I know how you get when you’re nervous. You just...blurt stuff out.”
Sousuke wiggled against the covers letting out a frustrated groan. He had almost reached it...it was just millimeters away...almost there...
“What the heck are you doing?” Kaname asked dumbfounded.
“My leg itches and I can’t reach it,” he said still struggling to get his finger down further.
Kaname moaned loudly. “Hold still, I’ll get it,” she replied leaning over the bed sticking her finger inside his cast. But it wouldn’t reach either and he kept squirming around and she was getting annoyed.
She went to the other side of the room and came back holding a metal coat hanger that she’d twisted up. “What are you going to do with that?!” he asked tensing up trying to back away.
“It’ll reach,” she said sliding it inside. Sousuke immediately jumped at the cold feel of the metal but relaxed instantly when it slid over the spot finally satiating the itch that had been bothering him for so long.
He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against his pillow. It felt like heaven...sweet heaven. He swore he couldn’t move if he wanted to. His entire body had become flaccid and weak just from having an overdue itch scratched. His head felt numb and all he wanted to do was stay floating like this a while longer.
As she tried to remove it, it snagged on something and wouldn’t budge. She leaned down and was looking inside the cast as best she could to maybe find what was keeping the hanger from dislodging but it was impossible.
Sousuke may have been relaxed before but the feel of her soft hair passing over his now exposed stomach brought him back to life. “Kaname!” he cried wiggling against the strange sensation that shook through his body.
“Kaname!” a man cried angrily from the doorway.
“Father!” she screamed jumping away from Sousuke, a very evident blush staining her cheeks.
Sousuke’s eyes flew open in shock; the timing could not have been worse. “Sir-I-am-sorry-it-was-not-what-it-looked-like!” he shouted jumping from the bed to stand up. Surprisingly no pain from the sudden jolt of jumping up, he thought with optimism.
Shunya Chidori just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes directed right at Sousuke.
Kaname laughed nervously and grabbed him by the arm. “It’s good to see you, father! Let’s go-”
“I’m not going anywhere until you explain what is going on in here,” he grumbled loudly his face beginning to turn red with fury.
“Sir, please don’t kill me! I’m in love with your daughter!” Sousuke blurted out hoping the truth would be redeeming enough to make up for what the man just witnessed.
“What!?” Kaname cried out. “Ahahaha! Don’t listen to him, he’s on drugs and has no idea what he’s saying!” She tried to laugh but it came out as a half whimper.
“I get a message that my daughter is in America and I fly here only to find her being groped by some delinquent in a hospital bed!” His voice was so loud several men down the hallway stopped and stood staring in shock.
“I have compromised your daughter’s innocence and I am willing to marry her right now!” Sousuke stated loudly straightening in his stance puffing his chest out.
“What?!” Shunya screamed his face reddening with even more fury.
“Oh my God,” Kaname muttered swiping a hand down her face in defeat.
Just as Sousuke was about to open his mouth again, Kaname jumped on him and clamped her hand over his mouth. “He’s delirious with pain!” Then she shoved him violently back into his bed and he groaned loudly from the impact.
Like lightning, she had grabbed her father by the arm and dragged him out of the room. “I have so much to tell you, father,” she said nervously as they walked down the hallway.
After Kaname had finally calmed her father down they spent the rest of the day off base catching up. She was forced to explain that Sousuke was now her boyfriend and it didn’t go over well. It took a few hours before he would stop referring to Sousuke as that boy and threatening to have him arrested.
.o.o.o.o.
The helicopters landed one by one along the vast stretch of the dessert just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. AS units began falling from the skies pounding the ground with a fury. Fighter jets flew past but only the sound could be heard as they fired randomly into the buildings. It only took seconds for them to close in on the city. No sound until the last minute and they appeared so quickly that there was no time to react. It was like a Hollywood movie as numerous explosions suddenly began igniting the city.
With swift vengeance the AS units started swiping through buildings with great ease. The horrid screams of people could be heard coming from all directions but all it did was fuel the beasts on. The morning sky lit up with a red glow as buildings burned high with flames tickling the already warm air.
“Take them all down!” one of the men in the AS’s cried with a wicked laugh. The same man fired blindly into a huge building and an explosion shot out the side so forceful it scattered debris for miles in every direction.
“Now this is what I call a good time!” another AS pilot yelled as he sliced through the building in front of him.
The other AS’s went to work ripping everything apart, sparing nothing. Building after building came down, one by one until a huge explosion went off in the distance near the center of the city. The force was so intense it quaked the earth.
“Time to go! Pull out!” one of the AS pilots yelled waving his arm.
As fast as they had entered they disappeared from where they came from and in their wake thousands of dead bodies lay everywhere while the entire city just burned. It looked like the earth had opened up and hell had burst forth onto the surface of the planet.
There was no time: no time to gather troops, no time to alert, no time to escape. In a matter of minutes the entire city was annihilated, left in a pile of rubble. A city that was once thriving and full of life now laid waste by one unimaginable powerful attack...one clean blow. It was unheard of and as the nearest troops arrived all they could do was stand in shock witnessing the most devastating attack ever seen in history. There were no survivors.
As the president alerted the nation a collective panic rose. He felt like nothing he could say would change the fact that 2 million people had been wiped out in a matter of minutes. There was no way that anyone could had foreseen this kind of devastation. It was something they had never seen before, or ever thought could happen.
Kurz and Melissa stood on the de Danaan staring at the television unable to move. “Tell me this isn’t real,” Kurz said hoping it was some prank. If there was an army out there like this, this was the beginning of another World War. Who could have the kind of intelligence to pull such a covert, agile attack like this?
“Son of a bitch!” Melissa cursed still staring at the screen.
A voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker of the Tuatha de Danaan, “All available personnel please report to briefing room 4 immediately.”
“This is it,” Melissa said as she and Kurz walked down the hallway to the room. They both knew that this would mean immediate deployment of all AS teams and special teams. This was just the beginning.
.o.o.o.o.
Back at Fort Dix everyone was called into a meeting and Amy made special arrangements for Tessa, Leonard and Sousuke to sit in considering it involved them all. Tessa wheeled Sousuke inside and they all sat in the back as observers. It was customary for Mithril to hang back until they were needed and this was no different. Tessa couldn’t make any decisions until she spoke to Intelligence anyway, but she needed all the facts.
The entire room was aflutter with nervous talk and confusion until a highly decorated officer came strolling in and walked to the front of the room. “General Nesbit, you have the floor,” Amy said backing away as the General cleared his throat.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the General began. “Las Vegas, Nevada is no more.” A video of the earlier onslaught played on the television behind him on the wall. It lit the room up red and everyone’s face fell into shock as they watched.
“How did this happen?” someone cried from one of the front row seats.
The General just stood there obviously trying to compose himself visually affected by the situation. “At 0500 hours this morning an unknown battalion of AS units landed in Nevada and 20 minutes later left...leaving the entire city demolished, 2 million souls up in flames. How they entered our airspace without detection in unknown and by the time our forces reached the area, the targets were long gone.” Several gasps were followed by some angry grumbling.
Many questions followed for several minutes and the tension began to escalate. Sousuke sat there in his wheelchair eyeing Leonard suspiciously. Why was he here? He didn’t trust the man and he didn’t feel he had any right to be in this meeting. He knew something the way he just stood there staring as if he had planned this.
Tessa closed her eyes knowing that this was Amalgam. She took a step forward and clasped her hands behind her back. “General, may I have a word with you in private?”
“Of course,” he said nodding at her. “Please excuse me,” he said to the room then followed her out.
They both disappeared and Sousuke sat there still staring angrily at Leonard. If he wasn't in this wheelchair, he’d get up and force the man to talk. He didn’t care if he was the Captain’s brother, this attack happened because he was here and had alerted Amalgam of their location.
“That’s a very bad habit of yours, Sergeant,” Leonard said not looking at him.
Sousuke waited for a few seconds then forced himself out of the chair coming to stand directly in front of Leonard. “Don’t think for a second that I believe you’re here for Kaname’s safety.”
“What are you insinuating?” Leonard asked finally holding Sousuke’s gaze.
“You knew about that attack and didn’t say anything,” Sousuke replied his voice full of malice.
Leonard leaned down so only Sousuke could hear him and said lowly, “It’s so convenient that you were here when this happened, wouldn’t you think, Sagara?”
Sousuke forcefully grabbed him and pulled him closer, his fingers tightening angrily around Leonard’s neck. “You son of a bitch,” Sousuke seethed.
Amy saw this and ran over shoving them apart. “Tensions are high enough right now without you two at each other’s throats. I’m not sure what it is that’s between you two but it ends on this base, am I clear?”
Sousuke stood there eyeing Leonard with fire in his eyes. “Yes, Ma’am,” he said his voice coarse and gruff.
“Can you please report to the infirmary, Sergeant,” she said calmly. “The doctor wants to have another look at your leg.” It was a blatant lie but she had to get them out of the room anyway, they were there unofficially. Leonard just gave her one of his usual smiles and she rolled her eyes at him.
Sousuke sat back down in his chair and Amy signaled one of the men standing in the room to take him out. She then turned to Leonard a scowl on her face. “You should know better,” she said angrily.
“The boy is young and irrational,” Leonard replied with a giggle.
“If you know anything about this attack, I would hope you would tell me, Leonard,” she said taking a firm stance. “We’ve known each other for most of our lives, I would hope that would count for something.”
Leonard just smiled and shook his head. “Have no fear,” he replied with a grin then swiftly turned strolling out of the room.
He knows something, Amy thought as she watched him disappear out the door. If she knew Leonard he was keeping secrets as usual. If he wasn't involved, and she hoped so much in her heart he wasn’t, he knew who was. It wasn’t really in his nature to be part of a team, he was more of a loner. He was well known for being a free agent and last she had heard he was working for HighTech Inc. designing new software AI systems for AS units. Seeing him after all this time made a small alarm go off in her head even if he was Tessa’s brother. Him showing up just didn’t seem right.
Sousuke sat in the infirmary feeling like he wanted to jump out of his own skin. His body was useless and it bothered him more than he could have ever imagined. He would rather die than just sit here while innocent people were dying because of him. Leonard’s words echoed over and over in his mind. He knew more than he was saying. His presence here was dangerous and he knew if he said anything to the Captain she would dismiss his accusations immediately. He was her brother after all, she had to trust him on some level. But Sousuke didn’t have to.
“We can take that cast off now, Sergeant,” the doctor said behind him examining the X-ray. “New medicine worked perfectly! Thank you again for letting us test it on you.”
Sousuke watched as the doctor applied the saw to the hardened cast buzzing through the material and sat there in relief. All his life he had seen soldiers wounded in battle and had felt pity for them. He had known one day that it might happen to him but he had never imagined how it would make him feel. And when the doctor pulled the cast off he could feel his confidence swiftly returning along with his growing fury.
Now, to deal with all this...my way.
To Be Continued
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