Melanie's Adventures

The barbed fence had been cut leaving a rift between the barracks and the outside world.

"Sorry our bonding time was short but we need to report this."

"Right.", Melanie agreed.

On that particular day, good news was a rarity. As they reported to the Commander, he also hit them back with even more disturbing news. The Raineans had managed to poison the closed water supply system of the city where most of the higher-ups were located. Luckily, none of the higher-ups had been affected but for the ordinary citizens, they were falling to the ground one by one like drugged flies.

"The president has commissioned that all the citizens be evacuated. Seems like that hell of a country wants war so bad. Then we will give it to them", the Commander bellowed.

Immediately, all units were informed about a mission. A mission to invade Raine and wreak havoc from within, paying them with their own coin. All units except Lucy and her appointees. The Commander took the report from Melanie and .A. to heart and entrusted it into the care of Lucy hoping that she would sniff out the Rainean who was bold enough to infiltrate the barracks.

Lucy chose to appoint her roommates; Afia .A. for her intellect and sharp observation skills, Afia .B. for her mastery over weapons and pinpoint sniping skill and Melanie. She chose Melanie at first to use as bait but she managed to convince herself that she chose her for her unpredictability. Lastly, the only man in the team, Ampofo. He was chosen for his speed, sheer strength, his ability to counter attacks and many other things he was known for.

After Lucy had addressed all her appointees about their separate mission, they all turned a doubting eye to Melanie and she felt it. You need no special eyes to see that Melanie was outclassed over here.

"We're screwed", Afia .A. wailed before .B. could smack her head forward.

Lucy believed that Melanie needed an unconventional form of training and that she had one in mind. After the address, Ampofo revealed to Lucy privately that he had a suspect.

"Melanie has been looking for a certain Pete but he doesn't exist in our database."

"It's more like he escaped but I don't want to run into conclusions. Investigate this further and whatever you do, do not disclose this to her."

The two Afia's were dispatched to further investigate the cut fence to see if they could find any leads while Ampofo searched through the database to check for recent erasure of data and Lucy, on the other hand decided to show what it feels like to survive, to have the adrenaline coursing through the veins, to not be afraid anymore.

Lucy chose an open field with no obstacles in sight. She gave her a knife and told her not to hold back against her because she wouldn't hesitate to hurt her.

"Wait, what?", Melanie didn't understand, "What if I cut you?".

"Don't worry. You won't be able to not if you put in much effort, now come at me."

Melanie gave a weak start. She ran towards Lucy with what seemed like fear. She attempted a slash at the neck but gave up midway, "I can't do this."

"Yes, yes, you can.", Lucy yelled and gave Melanie a kick in the chest and yelled back, "Do you think you're cut out for this? Do you know the situation you're in? Within that war, no one will show you mercy. Now show me what you've got."

Melanie thought she recovered from those words but she just found out it was still a fresh wound. She picked the knife again and darted. This time it was fueled by anger. She aimed for Lucy's stomach but failed at it. Lucy dodged it and kicked her in her behind.

Melanie fell face first. She was angry and Lucy was pleased because at least Melanie harboured intentions to hurt her.

"You're doing great. Now hit more and get hit less", as she also went straight for her combatant.

"Shut up", as Melanie swept her feet across the ground in an attempt to make Lucy fall over but Lucy somersaulted over it. She was quite the show off. She landed behind Melanie, held her by her hair and pushed it back again.

This continued for a while. Melanie was drenched in sweat. She was panting her life away while Lucy barely broke a sweat. The Afia team found something, an emblem of some sort. It was shaped like a spider on its web. It might have fallen while the intruder was going or rather, coming, since they didn't know yet.

"Send it to Ampofo to run scans on it", Lucy demanded after she had seen the emblem for herself.

Ampofo also had news, he inquired of the 'Pete' guy and luckily enough, he found traces. Ampofo traced the few people who knew him and interrogated them before they left for the mission. He had managed to produce a sketch and now he only needed Melanie to confirm it.

"Yes, this is him but I thought you didn't know him", Melanie asked after taking a glance at the pair of eyes that she would recognize anywhere.

"Yes, well, ermm..., you see, I wanted to you find him so I, I asked the few people who knew him and.... I got this sketch".

But Melanie wasn't that dumb. Any other open-minded would see through this partial lie.

"Is anything wrong? Why are you still looking for him when by now he would have left for the mission. Ampofo! Speak up."

Ampofo hesitated for a moment but Lucy's voice echoed throughout the hall that they were in, "Tell her, she would have found out in the long run".

"No! He can't possibly be your suspect, maybe, he might have run away because he feared the war.", Melanie defended when when she heard the north and south of it all.

"So he left without you, the so-called lover of yours. If that was the reason why he left, don't you think that at least he would try eloping with you or are you more capable than him", Afia .A. smeared the hot facts with a hint of sarcasm all over her face.

"Shut up"

"She's right, if he had gone through the front or the back gates, he would have been stalled because he is not in our database.", Afia .B. tried soft reasoning, "If his intentions were right, he would have resigned and left the grounds properly."

"But that's the point, which officer in his right mind will permit resignation when is looming around", Melanie retaliated.

"Melly, calm down.", Lucy said as she her hand on Melanie's shoulder.

....In the next moment, Lucy found herself on the floor face first. Huh, instant karma I guess. Melanie had carried out one of the most advanced manoeuvre techniques and Lucy of all people did not see it coming.