Keng's eyes fluttered opened as Manny, Ritsuka, Liz, Olivia and Evan hovered around him. He rubbed his eyes as his friends all barraged him with questions of "are you okay," "are you fine," "do you need to go to the hospital?" Keng sat up and let out a sigh.
[Possession has leveled to 3. You've unlocked a new passive skill.]
It was strange he had gained so much levels from one possession. Keng stood up as Manny helped him up. He was angry at Manny for doing what he did to Lee Seng and desperately wanted to put him into some traumatic memory, but was it really the time to enact revenge on someone he couldn't find?
'I already did it with Sara…' Keng thought. 'If I do it to Manny, that'll just stop us from doing the job well… Maybe after?'
"You okay?" Manny asked, putting a hand on him. Keng looked at him and pulled himself away from Manny and out of the circle his friends had made around him.
"Let's just go." Keng coldly answered. He stood at the opposite end of the teleporter as Olivia stood next to him.
"You sure you're okay?" Olivia asked. Keng nodded.
"I'll be fine. Just another annoying headache coming on." Keng told her.
"I thought you'd say that…" Olivia dug into her pockets and handed him some pills. "I grabbed those for you. They'll dissolve in your mouth when you take 'em, so no need for water."
"Thanks." Keng smiled. He opened the pills and popped them in. They dissolved instantly in his mouth and as he swallowed some saliva, he could feel his headache, somewhat, fading. "How long does it take to take effect?"
"Mmmm, half an hour at most. You should feel it now, honestly. The headache should fade after some time." Olivia answered.
"Cool." Keng smiled. "Thanks." The group all stood on the teleporter as Manny sighed.
'Was that just my imagination..? Maybe he isn't feeling well.' Manny thought as he climbed the teleporter. He inputted the information and looked at his friends.
"Ready?" Manny asked. They all answered while Keng said nothing. Manny pressed the watch and the familiar light enveloped all of them.
[District 97]
[Approximately fifteen hours away from Captiol City]
'Hmm, we're really far.' Keng thought as he glanced at the watch. The place was filled with snow. It was hilly farmland with the occasional set of trees sprawled around. The job appeared on his watch and his own personal 'screen.' The teleporter hut they were in was small. District 97, like much of the other districts, used to be civilizations. This one didn't look like an actual city.
"It looks like farmland for miles and miles." Liz commented. "They say there's places like this all over the place."
"I thought it'd be like Capitol City or that zombie district." Keng replied. "Sure is very… hilly."
"Mmmhm." Liz nodded.
"Alright, everyone." Manny rounded the group up. Keng turned, staying where he was as the others turned their attention to the leader. "We're looking for someone named Gloria in District 97. Because it's Lee Seng's first time, I'll go over the simple idea of these types of jobs. We have exterminate, reconnaissance, gathering and locate. This is a locate job and our job is to find Gloria.
"The watches and phones are equipped with maps. You can project the map with your watch to see how big the area is. Since this is a district owned and maintained by the Academy, this place is documented on Academy servers, so we have files of it."
"It looks like this place is fairly large, too." Olivia commented. "It'll be hard to find a needle in a haystack if we keep together. I think we should split into teams of two."
"Mmm, I second that." Ritsuka stuck his hand up.
"Third." Evan stuck his hand up.
"Same." Liz nodded.
"I think Lee Seng should have either Manny or Olivia since he's two roles." Liz commented. "I can take Evan or Ritsuka and then the last two will be together."
"I can stick with Lee Seng." Manny raised his hand.
"Cool, I'll go with Ritsuka then." Olivia pointed at Ritsuka.
"That means Evan and I are together." Liz nodded.
"Wouldn't I be better alone?" Keng asked. "I can clear areas faster than with someone on me."
"If you run across something you can't handle, it'd be better to have someone there with you." Ritsuka replied. "I think we should play it safe."
"I agree. Plus, it is your first mission with us. I think you should build some teamwork with someone you're familiar with." Evan added. "We'll have to work together anyways, so let's build on that as much as possible. I know you're capable of doing things solo since you're a Specialist, but let's be on the safer side."
"Mmm, I guess." Keng nodded. He didn't want to be alone with Manny. Manny nodded and looked the rest of the team.
"We'll split three different directions?" Manny suggested. Olivia lifted the holographic map between them.
"Come here, Lee Seng." Olivia motioned him over. Keng pushed himself away from the cold window and wandered over to the huddle. Olivia zoomed the map out. There were blinking lights in the middle as she zoomed out, eventually stopping. "There's towns here, here, here and here. I think they might be connected. Should we split off to go to those parts of town? Maybe our VIP is in the town hiding."
"True." Evan nodded. "There's monsters in this place, so hiding somewhere in town would be the go to if you couldn't make it to a teleporter hut…" He brushed his chin. Something was bothering him about this whole job.
"But?" Liz asked, pushing Evan to continue.
"But it's strange. If Gloria is someone with access to teleporters, shouldn't she have been able to see one on the maps?"
"What if she's someone who either lost that access or isn't able to travel far to the huts?" Ritsuka asked. "She could be hurt or stuck because an ally or person is injured."
"There's a lot of what if's with this one." Manny nodded. "We should keep these in mind and act accordingly. Let's just split off to different parts of town and see what happens from there."
"Locating teleporter huts would be nice, too." Olivia nodded, dissolving the holographic map. The group nodded.
'They seem like a well-oiled machine.' Keng observed. Keng's eyes landed on Manny and his mood soured. 'I can't… I can't do this… Ugh…. Think of him like… Like… Like Calis! It's just for a mission that's it!'
"Good to go then?" Manny gave a thumbs up at everyone. The group began to thumbs up until Keng was the last one. "You good, Lee?"
"Mmmhm, let's go." Keng spun on his heel towards the door. The group filtered out into the Midwest cold. It was April and there were still signs of snow around. Keng wondered if the Biohuman serum had altered the seasons or even the weather in anyway.
"Beautiful, huh?" Manny asked, elbowing Keng. A cold breath came out of his mouth as he looked around. "There are some other districts we've been to that has such amazing sights. District 97 is more plain like some of the other districts, but you can't deny the scenery change."
"It's more quiet." Keng replied. Manny nodded. He stared at the sky for awhile until Ritsuka's voice pulled Manny back into Job mode.
"We're heading off to the North then!" Ritsuka shouted.
"We'll go Northeast!" Liz shouted.
"That leaves us with West then!" Manny waved.
"Good luck!" Liz waved. "Hit us up on comms if you run across anything, okay?"
"Alright!" The group shouted. They all split, leaving Manny and Keng alone.
'Just like Calis.' Keng reminded himself.
"Let's go, okay?" Manny patted Keng. He smiled at him before leading the way. Keng could've gone faster and made it to the city in a shorter amount of time, but Manny and the others had insisted him to work on teamwork. Keng had obliged to the request even though he wanted to stay as far away from Manny as possible.
Despite it all, Manny and Keng made great time. Manny was quick and Keng couldn't deny Manny's ability to pinpoint things out Keng hadn't even seen before. Manny took the time to explain to Keng about the different things he should be looking out for while on a job.
"Traps, monsters, where monsters live, where people have been — These are all things you have to look out for. I've done this for a couple years so it's become habit, but since you're basically a scout of sorts, I'll impart this knowledge onto you. Think of it as a refresher course." Manny commented. Keng nodded at him. He knew about all of this stuff and could easily track due to the use of Energy Sensing, but Manny had good intentions.
"I'll keep that in mind." Keng told him. They moved through the snow for awhile, avoiding needless chatter. Manny was perceptive enough to know when Lee Seng didn't want to talk. "Hey, Manny."
"Hmm?" Manny glanced at Keng. Keng kept his eyes in front of him as they ran.
"You wouldn't betray me in anyway, right?" Keng asked, looking at him.
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