Kozuna
Silence fell over the group for all of three seconds… until Nikai lifted his feet to the buggy dashboard with a cocky grin.
"Yeah, yeah. We'll be fine. I mean, we do have ME after all."
My quiet gaze fixed ahead; I merely shook my head as we descended the mountain. Going into another clan's ground reminded me of just how much time had passed since my squad was on a mission. And to think we'd be sent on one so important.
***
Upon gaining visual acuity on our target location, my eyes scrunched at the strange design. Four towers laid in a square formation, serving as the corners to a set of walls that naturally connected to one another. Two of the walls even bridged across the canyon, leaving the gap below still visible from the outside.
"Looks like this place is well defended. Let's get to fighting!" Nikai pulled a large assault rifle from his holster and climbed onto the bars above our heads with a toothy grin. "Get up here, Kozuna!"
I sighed and smirked, following Nikai's lead, allowing my hair to blow further in the wind. At the same time, I also took hold of some bindings under my seat and tucked them in my belt.
"I'll use my grappling gun to swing over the walls on the left side... You guys take the towers to the right."
"By yourself?" Anari slowed the buggy slightly, changing gears momentarily. "There's two watchtowers on each side. Don't you think that's a bit risky?"
"Anari, you know I work better by myself. Anyway, once I'm off, just go straight for the eastern towers."
Cheerful as ever, with a happy-go-lucky tone, Yvira opened her mouth with words that just felt... strange.
"Good luck, and don't get killed! That would suck."
Thanks for the... unnaturally jovial encouragement.
I exhaled deeply and crouched atop the buggy, preparing to basically go flying.
Nikai lightly punched the back of my shoulder.
"Go get em' bro."
Anari sped toward the eastern wall and quickly turned, avoiding plummeting into the rippling start of the canyon in favor of her and Nikai's destination towers. And aiming in the opposite direction of where Anari drove, I fired the hook of my grappling gun toward the closest spire. Almost instantly, I clicked the trigger again and went flying clear of the vehicle, over the wall. In those few seconds, I crash-landed through the highest level of the tower, directly beneath its roof.
Without realizing it at first, when I flew in, my foot slammed into someone's head and knocked them unconscious. They weren't bleeding but quite obviously out cold. Taking to my feet, I realized that no guards were patrolling the walls. There were only watchmen in the four towers.
I didn't see anyone wandering around outside on the ground level either. They probably only have guards in the towers... Weird. And these towers are only accessible via the interior of the walls. They climb a staircase onto the walls and then ladders to get up these watchpoints, respectively. Not a bad design, but… definitely lacking in sufficient soldiers. Wonder why.
With the first point of interest secured and the guard tied, I aimed my grappling gun directly at the other tower. I didn't care to sprint across the wall and risk being easily seen. Frankly, the only reason they probably didn't see me coming was the sound of the buggy going in another direction.
At the second tower, the guard heard my hook latch and watched me swing over. Gun in hand, he peeked over the railing, only to be punched in the nose, and drop the firearm. Like a fucking dunce straight out of a movie.
I climbed through the opening since, apparently, all the towers were set up the same way. Each had a top floor with rails along the edges, utilizing columns at only the corners to support the hipped roof.
"Sorry, man… but I'm kinda in a hurry."
With the second tower, I did relatively the same thing as the first. I knocked out the watchman, only that time with a few well-placed punches. But while I was sparing the lives of the Bahsin… gunshots rang on the other side of the walls. Nikai and Anari butchered with no mercy.
Aside from the fact that they always feel the need to kill… They didn't even bring silencers? Seriously? That's just sloppy work.
Once the sound of gunfire was no longer in the air, I decided to meet up with the others. Promptly, I went down the stairs and met up with my squad on the small wooden bridge at the canyon's center. Just to the right of said bridge, was a path leading down toward our supposed goal.
Nikai gave me a fist bump.
"Didja knock em' dead?"
Eyes shut, I chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, something like that..."
I don't understand why you all feel the need to kill every person you come across...
Anari clapped her hands together, her gazing swapping between each of us.
"Alright, enough chatter. We're going in on foot. There might be more enemies, so weapons at the ready."
We entered our formation, with Anari in front, Yvira in the back, and Nikai and me at the sides. And once everyone was ready, we proceeded.
For the sake of the people who died defending this place, I sure hope there is water down there...
We crouched and proceeded on the route leading underground. The wind began echoing as we walked further in and started to sound like the howling of a beast.
Before long, Yvira glanced around fearfully, clinging to my arm.
Oh, great... Here we go...
"Wh-Whats going on?"
"Heh. It's probably a sand platypus."
"That's not a thing, Nikai. Platypuses don't-"
Anari turned back to both Nikai and Yvira with a chilling gaze.
"Both of you. Do me a favor and shut the fuck up, 'kay? And Yvira, it's nothing to get worked up over. It's nature we don't- hold up."
We were halted by Anari's sudden stop of movement.
Nikai cupped one hand near my ear and whispered, "Aha, time to break formation."
Our path narrowed insanely fast. The only way forward was to put our backs to the sandy, bug-infested wall of the canyon and step to the side, one foot at a time. We barely had room to even walk next to each other since the cliff was far too steep.
Anari changed direction to address all of us.
"Yvira. I know you're afraid of heights, so if you want to stay back and keep an eye out for enemies, I'd be fine with that."
Yvira took a brief glimpse over the edge of the cliff; she got noticeably woozy.
I hastily pulled her away from the edge, since her arms were still clutching mine.
"If you need to stay back, it's fine."
Yvira shook her head violently.
"N-No... no... I can… I can continue..."
Before anyone else could say a word, she stepped to the cliffside and pressed her back against the wall, forcing herself to let go of me at last. Yvira gazed below for a moment and quietly gulped. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then moved to the side... ridiculously slowly...
Pride is a powerful motherfucker...
After a few steps, Nikai stupidly decided to speak, half-shouting, "You got this Yvira!"
She glared over, but the sudden loss of focus caused one of her legs to wobble. And in a flash, Yvira slipped and fell off the tiny walkway. Barely catching it with one of her hands, she screamed in dread, unable to get a grip with her clammy palms and fingers...
She was slipping while Nikai hastily started going along the path to reach her. Yet despite that, she lost her grip and fell into the canyon.
Shit!
The three of us who remained standing all shouted her name in unison. And without thinking, I dove after her.
Anari's voice bellowed through the canyon, bouncing off the walls like the wind. "Kozuna? What do you think you're doing?"
...being the only one capable of saving her, Anari!
My arm extended as I forced myself to fall faster.
"Yvira!"
Yvira looked in my direction with tears blowing out of her eyes and reached out to me. She was somewhat far away, while I was close to the canyon wall. With my grappling gun in one hand and the other hand stretching even more, I propelled myself further using my legs. The rocky wall came in handy as a means of helping me spring toward Yvira faster.
How... did I just move so fast?
I wrapped my free arm around her and immediately shot my grappling gun up to the spot she initially fell from.
The hook sunk into the wall, and we bounced up and down a little from the recoil. Yvira was breathing hard and fast, her heartbeat showing zero signs of slowing...
She was breathless, sweaty, and in tears. Her brown curls were a frizzy mess, covering her face substantially.
"Kozuna... thanks."
I pressed the trigger on my gun while glancing between her and the grappling hook.
"Hold on tight..."
Gradually, we were pulled up to the hook. And from my peripheral vision, I could see Yvira constantly looking at me and looking away. She was blushing a little, though I said nothing in response as we continued…
Now this dummy's gonna fall deeper in love with me. Great.
Once we were in sight, Nikai and Anari were already on the other side. Nikai was busy yelling loudly as usual.
"YEAH! My boy Kozuna! Nice move, bro!"
Yeah. But only necessary because of your mouth, dumbass.
When we finally reached the hook, Yvira climbed off first, giving Nikai and Anari her hands to pull her up. I climbed up after and retracted the hook into the gun.
As I placed the gun back in its holster, Anari shook her head.
"That was reckless, you thick wit." She smacked the back of my head like what I imagined a mother would do. "But... good job."
Yvira apologized but still wanted to keep going, while Nikai grabbed her shoulder gently.
"I'm sorry too. I should've kept my mouth shut... I may have taken your concentration away, so... sorry."
Yvira smiled at him but said nothing.
Anari cleared her throat loudly, once again exchanging glances with everyone.
"Enough of the distractions. We know she almost died. That's not something that should be unusual for a scout. Let's keep moving."
***
Upon delving deeper into the canyon, the wind grew louder and more fearsome. And at the bottom of the canyon was a small square brick building, almost right up against the rigid canyon walls. It was a station for the Bahsin Clan scouts, similar to how we had lift stations. We could see movement, people carrying water buckets in and out of the building. Not only that, but they were on high alert.
The screams from earlier no doubt traveled to the canyon's base...
"Yvira. At this point, I want you to stay back and observe. Feed us info on their movements."
Yvira nodded and knelt away from the edge, listening to the squad leader's orders.
Anari reached into her pockets in the following moments, showing us a set of communication devices.
"Alright, you guys, the quartermaster gave me headsets so we could communicate remotely, without the need of using a cellphone. Now, I'm giving them out to you all; the big button needs to be pressed so we can hear you. Pressing it twice mutes yourself. Volume and power buttons are on the back."
Once we had our headsets on and configured to the same frequency, Anari led Nikai and me to the canyon base. We stayed low behind some rocks, desert bushes, and rubble while Yvira watched from above.
She had access to a clear line of sight of the Bahsin encampment, and from a spot where they likely wouldn't see her...
"The two guards at the front are both packing assault rifles. There's a machine gun on the roof and someone not paying attention. Sneaking by might be the best option. I'd advise finding a way up there, though I don't see an entrance from the outside..."
Anari held the headset, making sure she could hear everything. "Got it... Kozuna, time for your specialty. Use stealth, climb the wall, and take out the guard. Do NOT let them see you. Yvira will watch your back."
Did you really have to tell me to not let them see me? Do you really think I'm that unprofessional, Anari? Oh, whatever...
"...finally... I've been waiting for this..."
Yvira's voice electronically buzzed in my ear as she fed me commands.
"Okay, Kozuna, stay behind cover and only move when I say."
"Alright. Let's do this."
Following Yvira's instructions, I moved only when she directed and effectively stayed out of sight. As I reached the wall, I pulled my hood up and began climbing, digging my fingernails in like little hooks.
Not as easy as I'm probably making it look...
Anari smirked and grabbed her pistol, her voice appearing in my ear momentarily.
"Good. He made it. Now when he takes out the guard above, we can quickly take out the guys in the front without getting shot."
"The guard above isn't looking in your direction. Make your move, now!"
Thanks, Yvira.
I pulled myself onto the roof and abruptly rushed the guard before he could react. Upon catching sight of me, he tried to yell, but I yanked the garrote from my glove and wrapped it around his neck, bringing him to a kneel instantly.
"...I don't want to kill you, so please... just go to sleep easy."
He was silently choking and trying his hardest to make a sound, so I put my arm around his mouth while using both hands to cut off his airflow. Eventually, his body stopped fighting back, and he went unconscious. The garrote proved very useful at times like those.
And then, Yvira quickly relayed the next set of information to the others.
"Anari, Nikai, you two can attack now!"
To my surprise, they both ducked out from hiding and shot the guards using silenced pistols. I literally knelt there, mouth agape.
What was the point in complicating things by making me climb a damn wall? Did Yvira just want me to show off? Also… Why choose to go in guns blazing back on the surface if they had silencers?
Those same guards fell to the floor without even a chance to respond. And both Anari and Nikai picked up the bodies and carried them behind the rocks to hide them at least a little... They then climbed the wall and crouched at my sides, while I gazed at the rest of the base behind the brick building.
"...wherever they're extracting water from, it's somewhere beyond this facility..."
Nikai pointed toward the cavernous hole in the wall, while Anari instantly had a blood-soaked plan.
"...this rooftop machine gun seems to have been their only major artillery... We could turn it on them, use it to wipe them all out..."
I looked Anari in the eyes with the intent to stop her.
"No... We're not taking any more lives..."
Anari angrily squinted as if she wanted me to repeat myself.
"Are you disobeying my orders?"
That was the start of a significant problem, one disagreement. The same thing affected our entire clan. Almost everyone was so happy to kill. Only a handful of us wanted peace between the seven warring clans. And those people were often alienated, more than those who weren't outright killers...
"You know what will happen if I report this back to the clan leader, right? You know the type of death you'll suffer for mission disobedience. Correct?"
Clan leader? So you're just gonna skip over the commander since he's a reasonable guy?
"...yeah, I know all of that... Still, it isn't right for us to decide when and how someone should die..."
"Then what are you here for? To capture the water of another clan, essentially taking their lives slowly. In exchange for them dying of dehydration, we survive longer. In our world, the strong survive, not the weak."
I hesitated for a second because... she wasn't wrong. We were there to take their water, to kill them, essentially... just not immediately...
Anari threw my concerns to the wind in a split-second.
"Nikai. Man that gun and mow them down."
"DON'T!"
Anari unexpectedly kicked me in the side of the head with extreme force. I fell backward and hit the roof hard, making a loud thud, and smashing into a few ammunition barrels... The guards on the other side turned their gaze to us, and as they did, Nikai took hold of the gun and pulled the trigger as Anari ordered.
Standing up and bleeding from my ear, bullets rained down on the Bahsin, who were just trying to keep their clan alive… Conflict quietly started to well up in my throat.
Doing nothing but minding their own business, in their land. We were the intruders. We were the villains. The sound of speeding bullets was followed by screams of anguish and splashes of blood everywhere the eye could see… A sandy field of red filled our view; even Yvira went silent. There was no way she hadn't seen what happened.
Anari and Nikai hopped down from the roof and walked past the bodies without even batting an eye. Nikai made sure they wouldn't be able to stand and fight. He had a willingness to abandon his morals when the time came, and that was something about him that scared the absolute shit out of me… Chills were spiraling down my spine as I followed them...
I jumped to the ground after them, covering my ear with a hand. My eyes were locked on the bloodied corpses. They were dead in an instant, which was better than a death caused by prolonged suffering, objectively speaking, but it didn't feel right... I could only hope there might be other water sources in their territory, so more innocents wouldn't have to die for the Ozukashi's sake...
Anari pointed ahead, her body stiff and her expression still determined as ever.
"There. Let's check out the cavern entrance. Like Nikai said, most likely, the water is inside some sort of reservoir down there."
My eyes remained glued to the ground. All that was crossing my mind were feelings of doubt.
I let those people die... Any one of them could have had family or loved ones...
"Pick your head up, little bro. There's nothing that coulda been done." Nikai grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. "They're enemies and the survival of our clan comes first. I don't want to kill them either, but this water is needed for our people, like my little brother. And if that's the case, then… I'll slaughter every person that stands in the way of keeping him alive... even if they don't realize it..."
From what he was saying, Nikai sounded like he had his reasons, but at times like those, neither of us could ever think straight...
Anari took a few steps away from the cavern, reaching for her gun yet again.
"Something's glowing and... moving down there- the color orange..."
A low growl came from the cavern entrance, and while Nikai and I began to step away, Anari stood stalwart in a defensive position, her arms slowly rising...
Ah, fuck. Now I know why the Bahsin had so few soldiers above ground...