Silent Approach

Long confused hours passed since the unnerving end to the interrogation. Only a small piece of new information came out of it. A piece that didn’t have a defined edge. No edge or shape, it meant it had no hint or clue to how it fit together with everything else. Unfortunately, the piece was important and critical. Everything else used it to hold together. If it wasn’t present, all of the rest of the pieces already put together held no meaning. The significance of the piece demanded its use immediately. Yet in such condition, the piece had no means of use.

Such was the state Simonides’ mind was in since he gained the new puzzle piece. All he had was a torrent of dependent questions with no answers.

He couldn’t sleep with such questions.

Isolated in his tent for the empty hours, he had enough of the restless. Simonides stood up from the chair in the mostly empty space. “I need more pieces. This won’t be solved on what I have currently.” He straightened his step and smoothed out his stance before exiting his tent.

Across the camp, Simonides waved his hand in acknowledgement of the soldiers that passed him. After they passed he turned to face the tent next to him. He still had to move ahead with the next stage of the plan, even without knowing all of the answers. ‘I’ve already set the pieces in motion. I can’t undo it now.’ Simonides pushed open the tent to one of the many men’s tents that acted as their barracks for the camp.

“Attention! Captain Simonides is present!” shouted a lower officer that saw his arrival. It signaled a mad dash throughout the long tent. A few seconds passed to present all of the men in the tent standing out in front of their beds.

Ignoring the stillness of the room, Simonides walked in strict silence with each step filled with purpose. It made the tension in the tent increase, as none of them knew his reasons to enter the tent at such a late hour. He saw the looks in their eyes that followed him, while trying to maintain their discipline. Their unease didn’t surprise him. While they all trusted him, he knew, taking actions without notice made questions surface. The entire mission was one big question for them. He wasn’t acting like the Captain that they knew. He knew all of this too well, but had too few answers for them. Confusion in questions was preferred to confusion in comprehension.

A gap in the even line appeared in his march. It stopped him, but not for the reasons the rest of the men thought. Simonides turned to look down at the man wearing a white military uniform. The blonde haired man with dark blue eyes, almost black, lounged in his cot with one leg crossed over the other. A book, with a thin ribbon bookmark dangling from the spine, covered the lower part of the man’s face. “First Lieutenant Vangelis…” he spoke with the expectation of getting his attention.

The man’s legs shifted a little acting as a response and signal of life. “…hmm…” uttered the man, still not acting in attention.

“You have new orders. Follow me.”

Vangelis’ book shifted a little acting like a twitch. “Oh? You don’t sound like a messenger. Since when did the Captain start going around speaking to the men directly?”

Simonides restrained his annoyed mood. He always had to deal with the man in such a frustrating manner. “Since when did lower officers not give the due respect to their Captain?”

“The same time I got stuck in this backwater posting.”

“This posting is important to the safety of Atlantis and you know that.”

“A bunch of pathetic researchers. It’s a waste of my talents to deal with lowly humans.”

Narrowing his eyes a little, Simonides prepared for the finish. He hated having to provide motivation to Vangelis. “Then you should be pleased with your new orders. I want you to gather a team of MPs and go deal with the rebel MPs.”

The book closed with a punctuated thud to accent the change in mood. Vangelis’ interest piqued. He lifted himself up from the cot to lean forward with his arm resting against his knee. An excited and pleasure seeking grin drew across his lips widened with his new attitude. “Oh? Tell me more, Captain!”

Chapter 138 – Silent Approach

Yumi didn’t expect to see such a sight when she came so close to rescuing her brother. Only a few attacked them, she thought that they would still be holding him. Yet she found something worse.

From their view, only so much was visible. The night made it difficult to see everything clearly. However, the fires around the camp put the scale into perspective for everyone. Small pools of light cast shapes and shadows around painting a rough scene. Numerous tents lined the field spreading out far. Moonlight only gave highlights to everything with its warm bathing glow.

Yumi feared their chances of finding her brother and getting out. ‘So many soldiers…Yori’s in there…’ She closed her hands and pressed them against her chest. The shaking in her muscles returned as a familiar companion.

“Yumi?” said Fumiko, a little worried. She noticed that Yumi disappeared from her sight. Turning around with the others, Fumiko found her on the ground. ‘She’s shaking…I’m not really sure what I expected to find, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…’ Fumiko leaned down to meet Yumi. “Yu—“

“Already losing that empty confidence of yours?” interrupted Chiharu. She almost stood between the two girls, but made it clear that she didn’t want Fumiko’s aid. Chiharu crossed her arms, staring down over them at Yumi.

Amongst the blanket fear threatening her, Chiharu’s words cut through to Yumi. When she heard Chiharu speaking, everything else in her mind ran blank. She forgot about the fear that already began to shackle her. “What?”

Fumiko pulled up her arm trying to get in front of Chiharu, but she protested. “Chiharu! What do you thin—“

“Silence.” Her voice didn’t even rise above the tone, but still had the same impact. She noted the hand that pulled away with unease, but kept her gaze fixed downward. “Don’t act oblivious. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

Yumi didn’t know what felt worse, the penetrating words or the piercing stare. Both baked her under pressure. She knew what Chiharu talked about in her words. It made her turn her head away. Nothing managed to come out of her mouth.

“Can’t say anything? You know it’s the truth. You’re just going to keep repeating this act over and over again.”

‘I really am all just talk, aren’t I?’ As much as she wanted to deny the words, the truth could never be covered over. She saw it all too well. Yet her fear was too strong for her to resist. She couldn’t stop it. ‘…it’s too heavy…’

“This as far as you go? The impossible is the impossible. Otherwise it wouldn’t be called impossible.” Chiharu turned away from Yumi. Before she could continue, she found Fumiko and Seiji stared down at her. Their glares made her raise her eyebrow a little curious to their purpose. However, she didn’t let it stop her. “There’s nothing you can do. I knew you couldn’t do it.”

Hearing the words from Chiharu sent Yumi into shock for a moment. Her eyes widened and pupils shrank at having her words returned to her. It felt like a slap in the face. The sting still lingered even after the verbal attack. Yumi subconsciously touched her cheek as she stared at Chiharu’s back. ‘…the impossible… I said I wanted to do it…but…Chiharu…’ The tall and imposing back made Yumi’s blood boil a little. ‘Don’t look down on me…I stumble, but I’ll stand back up!’ Yumi forced her legs to push herself up, still a little wobbly.

“Yumi?” questioned Fumiko, leaning over Chiharu a bit.

Yumi’s head tilted forward a little, not quite hanging from her shoulders. Her forehead cast a shadow over her eyes, blacking them out from sight. “…I-I…I-I…” She couldn’t stop the shaking in her arms.

A verbal tic came from Chiharu’s lips. “Got something to say?” She kept her back to Yumi and faced ahead towards the camp. “Just because you stand doesn’t mean anything. You’re still weak.”

Seiji grabbed up a free piece of Chiharu’s ninja garb she wore to get her attention. “I’ve had enough of you! Just stop—“

“Chiharu!” shouted Yumi, interrupting Seiji. The volume on Yumi’s voice surprised Seiji and Fumiko. Yumi’s face ran red and her breathing shallow. Even after her shout, it felt like it drained everything from her.

Chiharu flicked her hand against Seiji’s fist to bat him off. His distraction with Yumi made it easier for her to free herself. She tilted her head over her shoulder to Yumi. “What? Going to actually say something?”

“Yes!” Yumi fought to reign in her body’s shaking. She needed to keep standing on her feet. The dominating presence of Chiharu wouldn’t allow anything else. She needed strength. “I’ll show you! I’ll show you that my way will work! So just watch!”

“Oh? And how long will that confidence last you before you lose it again? I’m not fighting with someone that wants to run away once things get serious.”

Each shard of truth thrown hurt in its own way. Her weakness turned into a weapon to slash her down before she took a step. It was all used against her. Yumi knew it. She knew she couldn’t let it keep hurting. She stepped up to Chiharu desperately holding on to her strength. “I won’t forget it. I will make the impossible happen.”

The confidence in Yumi’s words warmed to Chiharu. She heard them before too easily from her. It wasn’t enough. Chiharu turned to face Yumi fully. “You always can speak with conviction, but that won’t last. You’ll fall—“

“I won’t!” She stopped Chiharu before she continued her abuse. “You think I’m weak. I am weak, but I can find strength in it still.” Yumi hardened her expression and faced the rest of her friends. They all supported her and depended on her. She had to start trusting in their faith. “You put me in charge, right? I’m the leader!”

Chiharu threw her hand back behind her pointing her finger at the two others. “They did, I haven’t. You have to prove it to me.”

Yumi stepped ahead of them looking from the small hill they stopped at before. The camp reflected back in her eyes. Their goal stood in front. She didn’t need hesitation anymore. “We need to find out the situation in there, right?” Her words bounced back at them with an intended recipient, even though not made expressly clear.

“That is the first objective for anything like this,” replied Chiharu.

“Then go in and find out what we’re dealing with. We’ll need information to make a plan.”

“Using me to satisfy your emotions isn’t wise.”

She turned back from the hill to look down at Chiharu. A clear and calculating almost cold look shined from her eyes. Her strength resurfaced. “I’m not sending you because you made me mad. I’m sending you because I know you’re the best suited for this job. You can use your shadow ability to remain out of sight while gathering the information.”

A twitch flicked along Chiharu’s eye. ‘This is her strength that I saw before…however…’ Chiharu took a step forward, bothered by something Yumi said. “What do you know about that? I’ve told no one what I can do.”

“I’ve seen you use it enough recently to figure out how it works. You can do it, right? Not going to back out.”

“Of course,” snapped Chiharu, “This is too easy.” Chiharu disappeared from sight already on the move. She looked forward to an interesting challenge.

Fumiko smiled a little realizing what took place. Yumi already started walking towards the camp. Even Seiji, confused as he was, began to resume following Yumi. However, he turned back to Fumiko when he noticed she didn’t move. He raised his hand up pointing at her with a flat expression. “What’s with the smile? You scheming something?”

“Hardly. Chiharu already did everything that I might have needed.” Fumiko laughed a little to herself. After she felt pleased with the situation, she moved on to catch up to Yumi.

Seiji felt lost with her response. The way the situation turned out bothered him. “Hey! What just happened?”

Inside the camp, Athene stumbled out of the medical tent. She woke up recently and waited for the doctor to leave. They refused to allow her to leave, but she had something more important to do. She tripped over the cords that held up a tent. The fall threw dirt up into her mouth and rubbed over her face. She tightened her hands in the grass. ‘Damn you…taking my sight!’ Athene staggered around the camp until she made it to the tent she desired. Her powers confirmed it for her when her sight could not.

Using her powers, a new tent flap appeared in the back of the tent. Directed by the new Addendums she made in her Field, Athene guided herself to the tent. Her hand pushed through the tent separating the flaps. She knew he was near. “I’ll have my answers, Yori Mizuno!”