48 The Culpri (1/2)
Year 2033, February
01:00 A.M
Kista, Sweden
. . .
. . .
It was only me and Eugene in one of the narrow alleys that night. Our eyes peeled for any suspicious activities around the area.
By suspicious activities, I meant soldiers doing what soldiers were not supposed to do.
Maltyie decided for the three of us to split up and survey the area. From the information that she gathered, that place was a hot spot for the emergence of soldiers practicing their regular abuse on innocent civilians.
She was very complacent about what had happened two days before at Eugene's Orphanage and concluded that she, as The General of The Army, had to step up. The abuse of authority by her lower ranking soldiers made her furious.
Eugene glanced at me. ”You know, Ava, she's very strict when it comes to what a soldier should do and shouldn't do. She had her experience as a trainer at one of the military schools here. You could say the cadets were afraid of her, specifically the rules that she laid out and her approach for anyone who broke them.”
I adjusted the hood of my grey jacket to cover my head. ”She always does this?” I asked Eugene.
”Eh, pretty much. And more often than not, a lot of those soldiers she managed to catch red-handed were fired from the military,” replied Eugene unenthusiastically.
”Oh.”
I called Aegis under my breath and it responded with a static voice.
”Ava,” said Aegis.
”Do you see anyone?”
”Actually, there's a few 'soldiers' up ahead. That dark alley in front.”
”I see.”
My left hand tugged at Eugene's blue bomber jacket and he raised his eyebrow at me.
”Why didn't she call for help? She's basically doing this by herself,” I said.
”Oh. As I said, she prefers to do anything that she felt strongly about, on the get-go. And there's also the reason where she couldn't trust anyone under her right now. You never know who's your enemy or friend at this point,” said Eugene.
”Hmm.”
When I thought about it back, it was strange that I helped them both, to begin with. Since Eugene was the only one with me, I could practically escape from his grasp.
But I wanted to catch the one responsible for doing all those things. Kidnapping, pillaging, and harsh treatment towards regular civilians was unforgivable.
And I was sure my pent-up rage and hatred would ease a bit if I managed to hurt one of the soldiers myself.
”I don't think you should come with us, Ava. I mean, you're still a kid,” stated Eugene.
”I shouldn't stay up late, is what you meant.”
”Er, yes.”
I was not certain whether Eugene knew about the fact that I was an Aegis User. Maltyie obviously knew because she was the highest ranking soldier, and Eugene, on the other hand, was only a regular civilian.
I decided to keep my mouth shut after that. Eugene felt awkward that I refused to answer any more of his questions and so, he kept walking.
We came out of the alley to the main road. As expected, there was no one in sight.
”I have a feeling that alley up front might have something,” I suggested.
”You think? Well, it's worth a try. We still have time before the meet up with Sis,” said Eugene.
He took the lead and I followed behind.
Since I could not access my Aegis crystals due to the Aegis suppressor drug, I had to make do with typical enhancements from Aegis itself when the time came.
”Hey!” shouted Eugene.
He was pointing at three soldiers in black that were dragging a young girl, presuming the age of sixteen or so, along the alley.
She looked at us with wide eyes. ”H-Help me!”
One of the soldiers walked to us indignantly and pushed Eugene with one hand. ”Kid, get lost! You're not supposed to be here.”
Eugene was about to pick up his phone when the soldier in front swiftly grabbed it from him and threw it away.
”I guess we have to do this the hard way then,” said the stern soldier.
”Indeed,” I scoffed.
He tilted his head at me when a kick sent him stumbling to the ground. Eugene then followed up his attack with another kick to his head and he groaned from the pain.
The other two soldiers let go of the girl and proceeded to help his comrade when I stood in their path.
”Hey, kid! Get outta here! Or we'll--”
”I know, I know. This happened before in Yellowknife,” I muttered.
”Huh?”
My Aegis disabled my physical limiters and I stepped in to grab myself a metal pipe behind one of the trash cans lying around.
”What the... she's so fast.”
In a moment, the pipe struck the head one of the soldiers and he fell to the ground.
”Kid!”
I held the pipe with two hands and jumped. The soldier made a mistake of being distracted and I hit him on the head too. He fell but I did not stop there. My hands clenched the pipe as hard as it could and swung it several times at his limbs. Then, I took the liberty of making his face prettier by smas.h.i.+ng it with the pipe far too much.
Actually, there was no such thing as 'too much' when it came to punis.h.i.+ng sc.u.ms like them.
”Ava!” called Eugene.
I struck the soldier a few more times before throwing the pipe away.
”How's it, Aegis?” I whispered.
”It's great. Nothing seems off so far physically. Looks like being fed made a huge difference, huh?”
”Indeed. I need to eat more after this.”
The girl was s.h.i.+vering in fear from what I just did.
”Y-You're like Sis all of a sudden,” said Eugene as he approached me, dragging the unconscious soldier he fought before.
”I never knew you're a good fighter,” I said to him.
”Yeah. Sis taught me a lot when it comes to self-defense,” said Eugene. ”And, I've called Sis. She should be here any second now.”
Sure enough, Maltyie ran towards us with her close-fitted military uniform after a while.
”M-Maltyie!” cried the girl from before.
”Helen.” Maltyie hugged her friend and shook her hard. ”Why are you around here? You know those soldiers are prowling, searching for their next prey.”
Helen nodded. ”I k-know. It's just that, I played truth or dare with my friends before I came here. So...”
”You're almost kidnapped, do you understand that, Helen?” said Maltyie.
”I'm sorry, okay!” Helen cried her eyes out and Maltyie comforted her.
In that situation, anyone would be afraid. Whether the chance of getting rescued was there or not.
”Maltyie, I k-know who ordered them,” said Helen as she wiped away her tears.
'Who?” prompted Maltyie.
”They said his name is... Sir Relly.”
”Relly?!”
I too was shocked by what she revealed to the three of us.
”Relly Fernandez?” repeated Maltyie.