The girl jumped down the cliff. Her long blonde hair blowing in the strong wind, her mouth covered in a black mask - holding a sleek, dark rifle with a thick barrel glowing with a faint green light and emitting wisps of dissipating energy from the massive blast it had just unleashed.
"Her destructive powers are as intimidating as ever," Kel spoke over the comms.
Vlad looked confused hearing Kel. A familiar voice called upon him, a flicker of recognition and annoyance crossing his face.
"You look rather unwell Vlad," The girl spoke to him, using a teasing tone.
"Get smacked around and hit in the ribcage then talk," Vlad replied, displeased at the teasing from the girl.
"Hmm, I have a feeling I'd never get hit like that though, I'm confident I'd manage to avoid such clumsy encounters," The girl said with a pleased smirk playing on her lips, even with the lower half of her face masked.
The sound of footsteps getting closer to them louder by the second. They both turned in the direction of the sound. Kel climbed up onto the ledge where they stood.
"Huff" Kel murmured, catching his breath.
"Hey Kel Firouza," The girl greeted.
"Long time no see Miss Lionheart," Kel replied with a smile.
"I didn't expect to see the oh-so-great Adele Lara Lionheart at sector fives MEF," Vlad said, wiping off dust. "And join a year later as well."
"Things happened. You know how the emperor acts towards us," Adele said with bitterness, a hint of exhaustion flickering in her eyes.
"You nobles and your noble problems, we can't relate," Vlad said with a shrug.
"You are not in a position to say that anymore now," Adele said, a laugh escaping her mouth.
A realization dawned on Vlad, he let out a sigh and remained silent.
"Hehe," Kel chuckled, crossing his arms and grinning at Vlad. "My lor-"
"Oh shut up! We have some uglies coming from eleven o'clock," Vlad snapped, his brow frowned and face annoyed. I forgot about 'that' He thought.
"I already told you, you attracted a lot of attention dealing with that mutant earlier," Kel said, grabbing his weapon.
"The ones with the red horns, shoot them down. They'll be a pain in my ass to handle up close," Vlad growled, his eyes scanning the chaotic scene.
"Alright," Kel switched his rifle to single-fire mode, the sharp click echoing in the tense air.
Adele rushed forward with great speed. "Don't fall behind boys! Still seeing zeros on your kill counters," she said with a taunting tone, her voice slowly fading.
"My dislike for her grows with every passing day," Vlad grumbled, "She'll be singing a different tune when I'm the one racking up the kills." He didn't waste time and headed towards the herd of monsters.
Meanwhile, inside the base, Kaff was watching everything unfold outside the gate from the monitoring room – standing with his arms crossed and slight interest in his demeanour.
"Someone catch your eye, Vice-Commander?" a voice inquired from behind him, the tone casual but respectful.
Kaff turned around, "Hax. And I thought the sleepy General went to get a nap?" He asked.
"I couldn't fall asleep," Hax replied.
"You were barely standing in front of the cadets though?" Kaff said, confused at the contradictions. "I was shocked you could even make out the Spectra-Pad in front of you."
"No one besides you even thought I was exhausted. I'm a great actor, you see." Hax said, walking closer to the screen displaying Vlad fighting a mutant. "Vlad Romanov huh? He's got good results in the entrance test. Must run in the family I guess."
"There are a few others beside him," Kaff said, his eyes locked on the screens.
"That's unexpected coming from you," Hax replied, tilting his head slightly. "Usually, you only have eyes for the mission parameters, Vice-Commander."
"…"
"I saw the Lionheart's daughter's name on the list of cadets this year, how's she doing?" Hax asked.
"Just what you would expect from the valedictorian."
"Is that so?" Hax asked, leaning closer to the screen. "But you said you consider Romanov promising. What caught your eye specifically? His aggression? His… recklessness?"
"He adapts quickly," Kaff said, his gaze unwavering. "And uses everything around him to his advantage, a valuable trait."
"I guess. What's his nuclear energy uptake? Most can't use more than 25 kilobecquerel and don't even need a Mark-II Rad suit."
"The NE absorption data will be here in a few seconds," Kaff replied, his eyes moving from one screen to another.
"Though with the punches he's throwing he should be close to double that," Hax said, observing Vlad.
At the same time, Vlad had been fighting two mutants simultaneously. He managed to take one down with a precise blow to its skull, spilling the contents inside. He tried to take out his left arm from inside the slain mutant's skull but it was stuck.
Shit! Vlad thought, panic written all over his face. The sound of steps grew louder, a screech from behind made his head turn instinctively- "Kel! Need some help here!"
The mutant was mere meters away from Vlad, A blue string of light bashed onto the beak of the mutant blowing away the upper part, making it scream in agony.
"Damn it! Missed the headshot," Kel spoke over the comms, frustration and concern lingering in his voice.
Making use of the little breathing room made by Kel's assistance, Vlad struck the skull of the mutant with his other hand, blood splattered onto his face but his hand got free.
Despite having its beak blown the mutant was relentless. It sprinted towards Vlad with its razor-sharp claws. It swiped its claws, Vlad managing to evade it with ease. Vlad punched it, and before it could recover from the recoil another shot came flying hitting its head - the shot blowing a chunk of its face off revealing some bones.
"Got it this time," Kel said over the comms.
"That wasn't enough," Vlad replied. "The bastard's still barely clinging onto life."
Vlad climbed up a rock and dropped down, his full weight crashing down onto the mutant's skull slamming it into the ground in a loud thud.
"Is it dead?" Kel asked over the comms.
"Positive," Vlad replied, letting out a sigh, trying to catch his breath. His attention was stolen by his QC's Spectra-Pad turning yellow from the usual blue displaying; [ Nuclear energy utilization levels exceeding previous parameters. ]
Kaff and Hax watched the entirety of the conflict.
"Well his ego doesn't hold him back from asking for help that's for sure," Hax said with a chuckle.
"Mhm," Kaff murmured with a small nod, his gaze still fixed on the screens.
"Sir!" A staff member's voice grabbed Kaff and Hax's attention. "The data for NE absorption is in."
Kaff and Hax turned sharply, hearing the report. Both in anticipation of the data.
"Displaying the data on the screen in front of you now sir," The staff said, his fingers flickering away at his Spectra-Pad.