NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66: Orders?
Ben clenched his fist as his expression turned sour, "jeopardize the lead?" He asked with a snarl, "What about jeopardizing Alexander's life?!"
Antoinette sighed, her expression becoming slightly irritated, "If you think rushing the first actual lead will solve anything, then allow me to assure you, it won't."
Ben gritted his teeth as he stared at Antoinette, his expression a mix of exhaustion and frustration.
Antoinette returned his gaze, her expression calm and gaze stern. "Stand down Ben, this isn't a fight you'll win."
After another tense round of staring Ben finally snarled, turning his head as he waved Antoinette away dismissively. "Fuck!" He hissed loudly, walking away from her with a hand over his mouth.
Antoinette sighed as she turned back toward the desk, grabbing her fountain pen and a small sheet of paper.
She then began to write out the return orders as follows:
Command
Arrest suspect, return to base, do not interrogate, repeat, do not interrogate.
With the orders on the page, Antoinette quickly rolled up the page and slid it into the small wooden tube.
"Ben," Antoinette called out, before tossing the tube in his direction.
Ben gave a brief glance to Antoinette.
Spotting the small tube fly towards him, he moved to quickly snatch it out of the air.
He then paused, looking down at the small wooden tube in his hands.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing as he turned to look back at Antoinette, who was already using the telegram to send a message back to HQ.
Her hands moved on the keys with practiced precision.
"Tch–" he muttered under his breath, before turning his attention back towards the Rena bird that sat on the windowsill.
The bird studied Ben with a curious head tilt as he approached,
"Leg," Ben ordered.
The bird chirped as it extended its long black leg out for Ben, its sharp talons reflecting the light of the sun.
Ben sighed as he placed a hand under the bird's leg for support, he then applied the wooden tube.
With it firmly strapped and attached, Ben released the bird's foot and pointed outside. "Go." He ordered, his tone boiling with underlying anger.
The Rena bird chirped as it turned around with a hop, it then lept out of the window, spreading its wings wide as it took to the sky.
Soaring high above the bustling city streets, the bird began its journey back to team four.
Team four meanwhile, were all standing around a man dressed in civilian clothes.
His clothes were ripped and torn from his earlier attempt to escape the Pathfinder squad.
His blood lay splattered around the cold stone floor of the factory where he lay, with labored breaths and tears in his eyes, it was obvious team four didn't let the man's escape attempt go unpunished.
And from the distress and curious expressions of the factory workers, it seemed to have been a spectacle.
"Mate…" a pathfinder finally spoke in a tone of soft Reflection, "I think you may have gone a little overboard."
The culprit of the man's beating, a female pathfinder of a smaller height and build, shrugged as she gripped her rifle tightly.
Blood still lingered on its butt.
"So what?" She replied, "he shouldn't have run, innocent people have nothing to fear, but child kidnappers do…"
"Sergeant, how do you even know?" Another pathfinder asked curiously, "he could've just been a scared bloke."
The small sergeant frowned as she turned towards the pathfinder. "I suggest you shut your damn mouth." She replied threateningly.
The pathfinder nodded, taking a step back from the sergeant. "Yes ma'am." She mumbled sarcastically.
The sergeant rolled her eyes, before turning her attention back towards the beaten suspect. "Besides, what's done is done, now we just have to wait…"
Before she could finish, the sound of wings fluttering filled the air as the Rena bird soared through the large factory window.
"…for orders." The sergeant said, finishing her sentence as the Rena bird landed on her shoulder.
The sergeant gently retrieved the wooden tube from the Rena bird's leg.
Her expression hardened as she pulled and unrolled the paper out of the tube.
As her eyes scanned the page, she let out a relieved sigh. "Alright, get him on his feet." She said, gesturing towards the groaning suspect.
"Alright." A pathfinder said, moving to help up the suspect, as he helped him up, his expression grew curious. "So, what are the orders?"
"We're to return to base, no interrogation."
"What?" Another pathfinder said in slight disbelief, "You mean after all that, we're just supposed to RTB?"
"Yep." The sergeant replied, now secure the suspect for transport, and for the sake of the goddess, let's keep this organized."
One of the pathfinders chuckled. "That's rich."
"What?!?"
"Nothing Tanya." The chuckling pathfinder said with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, who's performing CC?"
"I'll handle it." A pathfinder of a tall height and lanky build replied, gripping his rifle as he approached the crowd of on-looking factory workers. "Alright!" He called out, "What you all just saw was official business on a pending investigation…"
While squad four performed clean-up and retrieval duties, Alexander had finally thought of a counter for Zara.
— — —
The duo had been sparring for about thirty minutes at this point, with Zara chasing and Alexander running and dodging.
But Alexander wasn't doing just that.
He had also been watching her attack patterns, and now finally realized a counterattack.
It was quick, and to the untrained observer would be almost impossible to break down.
But with Alexander's slowed vision, he saw everything.
Zara's attack pattern went as follows, charge, dash, then a kick or slash.
She would perform these moves over and over after each miss, and she got faster each time.
But, all her momentum was lost when she stopped to charge her next attack.
This left a short pause in her pace, and if Alexander could exploit that opportunity by closing the distance and attacking.
He could put Zara on the back foot.