~WARNING: Mature/triggering scenes (specifically, violence) will be found within this chapter!~

Previously

Chiara's shirt at the right shoulder was quickly turning red with blood. The blood began to run down her arm and was dripping on the floor, forming a puddle. The girl gripped her arm tightly, but the redness seeped through, staining her hands.

Smith ignored the scream and continued as if the girl was simply a fly buzzing around in the background. "Answer me! Who here is a Blank Slate?!"

Silence.

Smith narrowed his eyes dangerously. "No answers?" He asked rhetorically. In a swift motion, he cocked his gun again as another bullet entered the chamber. "Very well," He casually held his right arm out, the gun took aim at Chiara's head. "The girl can pay the price for your silence..."

Another girl with flowing silk-like black hair ran to stand between the gun and Chiara, her arms were held outstretched.

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The girl's long hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail that sat atop her head. The strands of hair fell just past her elbow. She was wearing grey jeans with a silver belt. A small tool belt like object hung low on her left thigh. But the most mesmerizing feature was the girl's bright violet eyes, that displayed nothing but fury as she glared straight at General Smith.

"Stephany, no!" the orange-blonde haired woman screamed in panic.

The woman spun on her feet and began to charge toward the commanding officer, intending to punch him.

"HOW DARE YO-" Ana howled as she gained momentum.

As her body was about to run past the front door, it swung wide open, hitting her in the head. The impact forced her to stumble backwards. She fell to the ground and clutched her head in pain.

"What's going on here, General? Who fired their gun?!" the green outfitted man called out, turning as he felt the door shake when he opened it.

Noticing the woman, he walked over and knelt down to inspect her injury. He carefully moved her hair out of the way to get a closer look at her head. He met her eyes and noticed they were not entirely focused. The man waited for a moment and saw her eyes began to clear.

"It's not a big deal." General Smith whispered to himself, loudly, "We were just rounding up the Blanks, but they were being uncooperative and-" he continued in a louder voice, but got cut off.

The other man abruptly stood up and started walking towards Smith, his eyes showing his fury.

"I DON'T CARE!" he roared, "You should not have used your weapon on innocent-"

"Ha! Innocent?" the General coughed out, clear disdain in his voice. "They are Blank Slates. Just them being here justifies the death sentence. You know this!"

The other man gritted his teeth and snarled his reply, "That is NOT for you to decide, General! I will be reporting you to-"

A shrill ring pierced the argument, halting him mid-sentence.

With clenched fists, he walked out of the house, grabbing the ringing communication device that was attached to his waist and answering it, "This is Smoot, here."

Smoot's mumbling could be heard, but he was too quiet for his words to be understood. Everyone was frozen during the heated exchange. Once Smoot was outside, some of the soldiers began to move, this time taking care not to use unnecessary force against the humans.

Stephany, who had been standing in front to protect Chiara, lowered her arms, but remained in a defensive position.

"This is why I hate working with other teams." General Smith muttered darkly, and began to pace back and fourth, impatiently. "They're just Blanks. They are nothings," He snarled to himself. 

General Smith looked over his shoulder to glare at Smoot, who was still outside talking on his communicator. As he rolled his eyes, he continued to mumble to himself out loud. "He's so weak and-"

One of the officers who was standing by the door watching Smoot stepped away. As the officer looked up, many eyes widened as the group realized something. The officer was a female. The woman whipped her head around at those words and glared at the General. Walking up to him, she stood face-to face, clearly not planning on backing down. Her height of 5'8 almost matched his at 5'9.

"Watch. Your. Tongue." the woman hissed venomously.

At the undisguised threat, General Smith directed his glare toward the woman.

"I am the commanding General here. You will NOT disrespect me, or else-"

"Or else it'll be my pleasure to put you in your place if you ever speak to Minerva like that again." a voice rung out from Smoot, who was walking back inside having just finished his conversation. 

Silence descended.

After a few tense seconds of a complete standstill, Minerva sighed, "So, what did our Leader say?"

Smoot stopped glaring at General Smith and addressed the whole room. "It seems... one of the Guardians has suddenly become ill. And... It's very serious. He is in Intensive Care as we speak. But, in case he does not pull through, all teams have been ordered to round up the Blank Slates for Seven."