The protest was set to begin in three hours.
Hendrix and Taro stood in the hallway in front of Chase's room, waiting for him to finish getting ready.
"Alright, alright, what about this?" Chase swung the door open, revealing the gaiter Hendrix had decorated strung over his eyes instead of his mouth and nose.
"I think you should just wear it the way you did before." Hendrix chuckled as he leaned against the wall on the other side of the hallway.
"Yeah, you look stupid." Taro smirked.
Chase groaned, sliding the decorated gaiter back down over his mouth and nose as the three boys made their way down the hallway.
When the teens got down the stairs, they saw Jason, Bloom, and Alex waiting for them. Alex had her gaiter on, her eyebrows raising as she noticed the colorful gaiters the boys wore.
"Alex'll be the only adult with you guys on this one." Jason spoke. "I don't wanna leave the compound unattended when three of our strongest users are out. This should be an easy mission, anyways." Jason finished as Alex nodded.
Bloom walked up to the boys. "Here. You don't have any type of healer on your team, so you boys should be extra careful."
Bloom handed them mini medkits, which they pocketed promptly.
"Remember what I said. I want you guys back here in one piece." Bloom wrapped her arms around the three teens as they looked at each other in confusion. "I love you kids."
"Love you too." Taro said as he hugged Bloom back. The other two boys followed suit as Bloom tried to hold back tears.
"Alright, I'll be in the car, then." Alex swung the keys around her finger as she made her way out the compound entrance.
The three boys waved to Bloom as they made their way out of the door.
"Wait!" Vida exclaimed as she ran down the hallway, Amora, Akilah, and Kai following suit behind her.
"Babe!" Chase jumped into Amora's arms as she giggled, catching Chase with a smile on her face.
"I'll bring you a souvenir from Tokyo Tower, promise." Chase smiled as they hugged.
"We'll be together on the next one, bro." Taro said as he dapped his brother up.
"Come back safe, okay?" Vida looked up at Hendrix, who nodded as he looked off into the distance.
"I… Yeah. Thanks." Hendrix smiled awkwardly through his gaiter.
Vida wrapped her arms around Hendrix as he froze, eventually returning the favor.
"I'll see you when I get back, then." Hendrix said as he waved goodbye.
He turned around to see Molly, grinning up at him.
"I gotta tell you something! C'mere!" Molly whispered as she gestured for the boy to lean down.
He crouched down to her level, expecting to hear a funny joke.
Molly kissed Hendrix on the cheek.
Hendrix rocketed back up, his face turning red. "Uh- okay. I'll see you later."
Hendrix walked out of the compound behind Chase and Taro, eyes wide as he tried his best not to look back.
Vida wasn't able to see exactly what had happened, but she didn't like it.
Her eyes were like daggers as she glared at Molly, but this time, she felt the same glare back at her.
"I'll see you around, Vida!" Molly said with that same cheery attitude, but a suspicious stare.
The four rebels packed into the van as they made their way to Tokyo Tower.
As they drove, Hendrix couldn't help but feel a certain dread.
This was his first real mission after all, and he hadn't had a real fight without something going… Wrong.
They parked in an alleyway not too far from Tokyo Tower, having to walk a short five minutes to the base of the monument.
They walked through alleyways to conceal themselves, eventually making it to the site of the protest.
The tower sat in the middle of a gigantic park, filled with plains of grass interrupted only by the occasional concrete trail that winded through the field.
On the edge of the park, sat a tiny cave entrance. The cave was heavily guarded, blocked off with black and yellow tape as a construction crew talked amongst themselves around it.
"Such a small cave, what could possibly be so important about it?" Taro thought as he squinted into the entrance of the cave, what seemed to be a completely black void.
The Tokyo sun was in its prime, sitting straight above the red and white symbol of hope.
The scene was almost serene, which was weird. There was supposed to be a protest, but…
"It's empty…" Chase whispered. "There's only a minute until it's supposed to start-"
Suddenly, as the clock struck noon, what seemed like hundreds of rebels poured out of the alleyways surrounding the park, signs in hand, their faces obstructed by the same type of gaiters the teens wore.
The boys watched in awe as people from every background, occupation, and age gathered at the base of the tower, shouting the same thing.
"Bury the cave, bury us!" The protestors chanted.
"C'mon, let's blend in." Alex waved to the kids as she walked forward, chanting the slogan with the protestors.
The boys watched diligently, looking out for any Correctional Forces uniforms.
The crowd continued to chant as another crowd full of onlookers formed, muttering to each other as they pointed to the cave at the edge of the park.
At the cave, the protestors stood up against the tape, chanting their slogan at the armed guards that accompanied the construction crew.
"If you take one step past that tape, we will use lethal force!" One of the guards exclaimed.
"Agh!" A woman screamed, tripping over her foot as she fell on the border of the tape.
She looked up in horror, screaming through her gaiter. "No, please! I have kids! Don't do this to your own citizens!"
The guard raised his rifle, unphased by the woman's pleading.
Bang
The guard let out one shot, ringing through the air-
Ping
A wall of steel separated the guard and the fallen woman, a wall made up of steel guitar strings.
The woman opened her eyes, looking to her left to see Hendrix, catching his breath as he looked to the woman.
"Good… Made it in time." Hendrix said between breaths.
The woman pointed as her eyes widened once again, this time with joy. "You're the pink-haired rebel, aren't you?!"
"What?" Hendrix asked in confusion, fixing his gaiter over his nose.
Another protestor turned at the mention of the pink-haired rebel, jumping up and down as he laid his eyes on Hendrix. "Woah! You're the one that escaped the Officer! I saw it on the news!"
Protestor after protestor turned to catch a sight of Hendrix like he was some small-time hero.
Hendrix looked around, more confused than he had ever been.
"Pink hair! Pink hair!" The crowd around Hendrix began to shout, pumping their fists into the air with every syllable.
"Shit." The cave guard muttered to himself as he pulled out his radio. "The dissenters are here, they've got the crowd even more riled up. Requesting Deputy back-up, over."
"Copy." A female voice rang out from the radio.
Hendrix reeled his strings back as he put his hands up in an attempt to deflect the attention.
Alex, Chase, and Taro finally caught up to Hendrix, looking up as they heard a helicopter above them.
The state news had already gotten wind of the event, their cameras pointing straight down towards the four rebels.
Chase assumed a superhero pose as he noticed the cameras.
Another helicopter entered the airspace, Alex squinting as she noticed the all black design.
Her eyes widened as she noticed the helicopter descending onto the grass, protestors being pushed out of the way by the wind of the rotors.
"Let's go." Alex said, squeezing through the crowd as the boys followed.
"Dissenters, if you surrender now you will serve a temporary prison sentence. If you resist further, much worse will be waiting for you." A familiar male voice spoke through the speakers of the helicopter.
Sev jumped out from the driver seat of the helicopter as the crowd pushed backwards.
Tine and Ocho joined him on the grass, looking around for the rebels, ready to enact their revenge.
A face that none of the rebels recognized joined the three Deputies, a small girl with icy white hair. Tennie.
"Wait for them to make the first move. This mission is about public perception, remember that." Alex whispered as they backed up into the crowd.
"We're not scared of you! We've got pink-hair on our side!" A man screamed from the crowd, holding up a cardboard sign that read 'give me the truth or give me death'.
To the surprise of the crowd, the Deputies' eyes widened at the mention of pink hair.
"Do they mean the kid that escaped the Officer?" Tine whispered to her brother.
"Shit. Maybe. But we've got the four best Deputies in the Japanese sector, so don't worry." Sev nodded.
Tine nodded as she held her glasses, the frames beginning to glow.
Her eyes darted to the right as she pointed into the crowd. "There's a big signature coming from over there. It must be him."
Ocho pushed through the crowd on instinct, following his sister's directions until his gaze met a familiar face.
"You…" Ocho's face twisted in rage as he pointed at Taro. "You'll pay for what you did to my sister!"
Ocho swung his fist back, shooting it towards Taro's gut.
"Like hell!" Taro swung a left hook, his fist glowing as he activated his Mode.