XL ‖ quiet moment

HILVERSUM
June
Location: Elysium's Neutral Territory

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Time Elapsed: 22:58:47 | 02:43:46 PM

All of us arrived in Hilversum and were immediately transferred to the assigned premise. Once in, everyone unloaded their stuff and set everything up. Gathering at the main meeting area, the final briefing began.

Porter pinned several flags on the blueprint on the holographic display. As he pointed towards each flag, he explained, "We would infiltrate from different entrances and move in tangent. With the layout of this mansion and the mapped route, all of us would eventually meet at this point."

Then, Veronica stood from her seat and distributed a list to everyone around the table. My eyes scanned through the content and everything was written in detail on the list of weapons and specific accessories. Meticulous enough, the trio also added an overall performance description of how the combination would work perfectly for us, based on our strengths.

"We have fitted everything with accordance to everyone's capabilities via assessment of combat training and firing range performances," Nash explained. "Please gather in the evening to run a drill."

Once Esme issued the time slot for our firearms testing, I gripped onto the table ahead of me and pushed myself to stand. Flashing a series of information through the screen ahead of everyone, I explained, "The Titaness movements were erratic but it follows that every 23:30 to 04:00 she would return to the mansion. Through her call registry and inboxes, she doesn't have any arrangements for the next two days, making it ideal for us to move within the specified time frame I have mentioned earlier."

"Don't screw this up, underlings," Micah taunted, facing Vivienne and me.

"Worry about yourself, Micah," I smiled politely.

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Time Elapsed: 24:46:09 | 04:31:08 PM

"Start!" Veronica signalled.

I slung the rifle around and wrapped my hands on the arm grips. Tilting my head slightly, I looked through the compact red dot scope and pulled the trigger. Each round fired sharpened my senses with adrenaline as I kept my aim on the target stand right ahead of me. Dropping the rifle, I quickly pulled out my secondary weapon and continuously fired five more rounds. Alternating between both weapons, I moved fast ahead and threaded through the training ground while aiming towards the various targets planted at different places.

Once I was done, I pulled to remove the earmuffs as I stepped out of the grounds. Nash asked, "Usability?"

"Perfect," I responded simply, before heading right into the house to gather with the rest.

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Time Elapsed: 27:55:20 | 07:40:19 PM

Everyone grabbed a light dinner separately, of course. Thereafter, all of us returned to our assigned rooms to have quiet moments. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I turned my wrist over to stare at my brace and realised that we have two hours before needing to set off.

Exhaling a sigh, I adjusted my gaze and peered out of the window with no thoughts in my mind. My eyes fixed on the bright full moon upon the sky and paced my breathing according to the tranquil silence in my room. Then, a sudden sound from my door clicking open startled me and I whipped my head around to find Seth and Vivienne appearing behind the ajared door.

"Can we come in?" Vivienne asked politely.

"Of course," I smiled.

The three of us sat on the large bed, facing one another and Seth was the first to drop his head low as he reached to hold onto our hands. He gripped tightly, just like how he had back in Lethe. In a pleading voice, he said, "Please come back safely."

I removed my hand and wrapped my hands around to pull them into my hold. I exhaled, "No matter what happens tonight, know that both of you are my family and I'm always grateful to have met you guys."

"Why do you always speak like you're going to leave?" Seth frowned.

"Better to say everything than to regret not saying it at all." Vivienne ruffled her hand through his hair as she tittered playfully. "But we will go back home together, we definitely will."

They rested their head on each side of my shoulder and shared a moment of silence together. I was sure that we would all return but life is a chanced event and in an unexpected case, I would hate to leave my goodbyes unannounced. I held them closer and said in hushed tones, "Yes, we will."

After a few good moments, they returned to their rooms and I decided to walk down the hallway to find Jax. I pushed on his door and popped my head into his room, calling him softly, "Jax."

Surprised, he turned his head around sharply but his expression softened immediately when he realised that it was me. I noticed the phone that he held towards his ear and decided that maybe it would be better to visit him later. Just when I was about to close the door, he stopped me, "Iva."

I lifted my gaze to meet his and he said quietly, "Come inside, sweetness."

Shrugging my shoulders lightly, I walked in as he requested and he was back to speak on the phone. His voice was faint and his tone was endearing when he cooed, "I would be home soon, ángelé."

My eyes traced the gentle smile on his face when he talked to Thea. While he had his attention still on the child on the other end of the line, he had also walked towards me and sat with me on the edge of the bed. He circled an arm around my waist and pulled both of us back. His back rested against the soft leathery headboard and my back rested against his body. He drew circles against my side idly and passed the phone to me, saying, "Thea would like to speak to you."

A soft chuckle bubbled off me and I greeted her, "Hello sweetheart."

"Iva!" The child shrieked my name excitedly and she rambled on, "Daddy said that you're on a trip with him! Have lots and lots of fun!"

"Sure!" I laughed.

"Would you come and play with Thea when you're home?"

"Of course, I would love that," I grinned, wiggling closer into Jax's embrace and he reciprocated by holding me tighter against him.

"Pinky-promise!" Her laughter filled warmth into my heart and she smacked a kiss before giggling playfully, "Thea is going to bed now, I love you!"

"Pinky-promise," I responded. "Good night, sweetheart. I love you too."

"What did you promise her?" Jax asked, his voice slightly nasal as he took in a deep inhale and pressed his nose against the curve of my neck.

"Daddy shouldn't pry so much, you know?" I chuckled cheekily and turned myself around to face him.

"Seriously," he laughed and turned me around to pull me into a kiss.

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HILVERSUM
June
Location: Myerscough's Mansion

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Time Elapsed: 31:45:01 | 11:30:00 PM

All of us were split into pairs and I turned towards my side to look at Jax. He had his focus ahead and his hand reached to sling his rifle forward. I followed suit and directed my attention back to the front.

"Go."

A voice sounded from the earpiece and it was Micah's cue for all of us to move. Jax and I emerged from our hiding and entered the mansion through our planned entrance. The Titaness' stronghold was so much more different than the Lillian Myerscough's mansion. More cacs roamed the premise and when we entered, four already caught us as we attempted to move down the hallway.

One of them lunged forward and jumped towards me but I raised my elbow and threw him aside before he could flatten me down to the ground. I spun around and aimed my rifle at him, pulling the trigger in a trained manner and without a single hesitation.

We cleared the cacs in waves as they continued to swarm in our direction. Yet, moving deeper into the mansion only caused the panic within me to dig deep. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, heightening my senses and pumping more energy into every muscle to propel me forward to fight with all the might my body could afford. The dark, diabolic dust continued to accumulate and obscure my vision, all while a sudden tackle caused me to jolt. A hand appeared within my line of sight and I quickly dropped my rifle to grip hard on the wrist. I pivoted my heel and swung the cac around before pulling out my dagger and thrusting it deep into its shoulder, carving into the heart. Again, another ear-piercing cry tore through the chaos before dark dust plumed right in front of me.

Time stretched but we finally reached the third point and all of us communicated with each other accordingly, leaving ourselves with one last lap before gathering again. I slumped against a wall at the corner to reload and pulled out a roll of bandage to wrap around my right arm that was clawed deep by two cacs earlier on.

"Let me help you," Jax offered. He took the bandage from me and wounded it tight around my arm, going a few more rounds than needed but the gauze was quickly dyed red from the amount of blood that was flowing from the laceration. His brows pinched tight together and he asked in a low voice, "Iva, are you still hanging on?"

"Yeah," I huffed, slightly bothered by the pain but more of it, I was trying to pace my breathing because I lost a significant volume of blood and my head was growing a little hazy.

"Pull through it, please. We can't lose you here," Jax pleaded, sounding anxious. "I can't lose you here, latreía mou."

"I know," I managed to pull a slight smile through my shortness of breath. Pushing myself off the wall, I nodded, "I'm good, let's go."

Once again, we appeared right out of the dark and another wave of cacs caught us again. I went to the one closest to me. Ducking under his outstretched arm, I pushed my feet forward and knocked him back to a distant before I raised my rifle and gunned him to his death.

I had no idea what pulled me through this last lap. Perhaps it was fear and all the adrenaline running in my blood. But for the first time in my life, the idea of dying terrified me — so much that I called on every bit of strength I had to fight to survive. 

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