May 26, 2045 - 00:09
South Central Coast, Vietnam - Location [Redacted]
The squad sped through the hallway, quickly reaching the end of the hallway where there was a T-junction. Harry tried his best to discern the direction of the scream, but he hadn't heard anything in a while.
Just when he was about to split the team for more coverage, his headset picked up noise on the right side of his headset.
Without saying anything, he turned to the right of the junction, and his team followed right behind.
As he approached the location of the noise, his headset eventually picked up enough for him to understand that someone was speaking Chinese.
As a former Marine who spent two years fighting against the PRC on the US and Canadian soil, and eventually counter-invaded Mainland China along with allies from various countries, Harry picked up enough foreign languages to understand the voice to be Mandarin.
"Fuck… you little… shit…" the voices echoed in his headset, mixed with some grunting and painful moans.
"Harry, that's Chinese." Said Yuan, who also heard the voices picked up by his headset.
"Yeah, I know, it's close," replied Harry.
Five more cells to go.
The sounds of the scuffle halted. Something was wrong. Harry quickened his pace.
Two more cells to go.
He heard the sounds of ragged breaths, one that didn't sound like the earlier rough grunting of a man.
As he got closer, he could hear a faint voice - trembling with emotion - from the cell.
"Mom… please… don't leave me… please…" It was Vietnamese.
The voice was from a young girl, trembling and sniffling. It sounded like a young girl, perhaps a teenager, if Harry could discern in the short moment he had to process the information.
Harry's footsteps stopped right outside the door. He could hear the cries and sniffles of a young girl. He checked the door to see that it was already unlocked.
'Goddamnit, you better be alive, kid,' he thought to himself.
Time seemed to have slowed down as Harry's hand was reaching toward the door. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest, his pupils dilated, adrenaline filled his system.
'Now or never!'
Harry yanked the door outward and pointed his rifle inside, illuminating the room.
The inside contained a sight that would be forever burned into Harry's memory.
There was blood everywhere. Puddle of blood seemingly coated the floor, oozing out from the corpse of an Asian male. His chest and abdomen were filled with stabs and lacerations, as well as some pieces of glass still stuck in his flesh. The man was literally caught with his pants down, as evidenced by the pants down by his ankle.
Nearby was another body, a young Asian woman, no older than 30. There were numerous scars and bruises on her body, and most noticeably, handprints around her throat. Her clothes had been ripped off and scattered all over the floor, drenched in blood from the man's corpse.
There were quite a few bottles of alcohol lying around the room. Harry could already piece together what had happened in the room. The only piece of the puzzle left to be comprehended was right in front of him.
Next to the woman's body was a young girl, around twelve or thirteen years old, who was standing and crying next to the body. Her body showed signs of malnutrition and abuse, like most other hostages here. The only thing that set her off from others was the excessive amount of blood covering her face, clothes, and the broken bottle she was holding in her right hand.
Harry's eyes widened at the sight, and he lowered his rifle slightly and flipped the safety on.
"Holy… fucking hell…" he whispered, his voice strained.
There are a million thoughts in his head all at once.
He slowly stepped into the room toward the young girl. The sound of his footsteps seemed to startle the girl as she turned to him.
She held the broken bottle with both her hands, her breath ragged, and her green pupils stared daggers at Harry. Harry could feel the rage in those eyes.
"You Monster! Get away from me!" She yelled with all the might she had left.
Before Harry could say anything, the girl suddenly charged at him with her broken bottle, like a cornered animal when it has nowhere else to run.
Harry regained his senses and brought his rifle up just in time as the girl lunged at him. His rifle blocked the bottle from making contact with him, an unnecessary action born from the instinct of a soldier.
However, the young girl's body slammed into Harry, causing him to slip and fall onto his ass. His back firmly planted onto the ground, and his back was drenched in blood while the girl was still straddling on top of him, her sharp, broken bottle still pushing against his weapon.
As he was thinking of a way to deal with the girl, he suddenly heard footsteps from the direction of the door. He glanced at the door to see Katrina already aiming her weapon at the young girl.
Instinct kicked in again as Harry quickly grabbed the young girl's wrists and yanked her to his side, barely dodging a bullet as the shot echoed throughout the room.
"CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE! STOP!" Harry yelled out frantically.
"She was attacking y… oh" Kat's reply stopped abruptly as she finally ID-ed her target. "Fuck me, that was close."
She lowered her weapon.
Right behind Kat was Yuan, who whispered under his breath as he comprehended what was in the cell, "他 妈 的...what in the…"
With the young girl on the ground and his hands holding her wrists tight, Harry disarmed the girl, throwing the broken bottle away. The young girl growled at him, her face still full of rage and fury.
"It's ok, calm down, you're safe now," He tried his best soothing voice to calm her down.
She still growled at him and struggled against his grasp, albeit, Harry could feel that she was losing her steam, either from her adrenaline running out or her feeble body slowly succumbing.
"You… Safe now!" Harry spoke in his broken Vietnamese accent.
He reached up to his face to pull down his mask, showing her his face.
"We, here, rescue you!" He pointed to himself, then at her.
Harry hoped that the little Vietnamese he spoke would be understandable to the young girl. Luckily, it worked, as the girl slowly calmed down. Her emerald eyes no longer filled with rage.
"I don't want to ruin the moment, Harry, but we still have a building full of hostile. It's not safe for both her and us," said Kat in a rushed tone, gesturing for them to leave.
"Yeah, I know… Just give me a moment."
"Alright, I'll wait outside." Kat turned around.
He then turned his attention back to the girl, releasing her wrists, "Shhh… you'll be okay…"
The young girl slowly gave up resistance.
"No one's going to hurt you… You'll be okay…" He helped her sit up.
Suddenly, she leaned onto his body, her head buried in his shoulder, and began to cry and wail. A torrent of tears came, and her cries of anguish and sorrow came bursting forth. Her body began to shake, and she wrapped her arms around him.
It was surprising but understandable to Harry. No matter how strong and furious she was, she was still a young girl, vulnerable and in an unimaginable situation.
He placed his hand on her head and stroked her hair. That was all he could do.
May 26, 2045 - 06:25
South Central Coast, Vietnam - Location [Redacted]
Outside of the old fort, the area was filled with activities, unlike hours ago, when the area was silent and only occupied by a few drunken guards and bandits.
Black Angels operatives were busy setting up temporary camps and medical tents. The medics were looking through the victims and treating them accordingly. There were even a few Vietnamese SOF soldiers and officers around to detain surrendered bandits or transport illegal contrabands away.
In the middle of the camp area was a mobile command truck. The vehicle was set up after the site was confirmed to be cleared.
Harrison was inside the truck, a mug of black coffee in his hand. In front of him was a set of large monitors displaying all the operation's information, as well as several staff who were working and directing the operations outside the truck.
Displayed on the monitor was a well-dressed woman with a stern look on her face. She was wearing a unique blue cape coat, a plain white shirt, a black and white striped scarf wrapped around her neck, and a pair of round glasses on her face, which was a stark contrast to Harry's simple uniform. Her hair was black with a streak of white highlight on her right side tail, a nice compliment to her scarf.
'Now that I think about it, she's always wearing that scarf and coat no matter the weather or situation.' Harry was musing at the sight of the woman.
Her icy blue eyes were glued to the tablet she was holding in her hands. She paid no mind to Harry, not that he minded. He had been working with her long enough to know her eccentricity, and this was a common sight for him.
It took a while before the woman placed the tablet down and adjusted her glasses to look at Harry.
"Well done on this mission, First Lieutenant," Her voice was sweet, unlike her serious look.
"Just doing my job, Minerva,"
"What about the information we've obtained? Were you able to validate the information?"
"Yes, ma'am, the information is correct. A huge amount of chemicals and truck being transported from this base, as well as a lot of human trafficking victims. Although we could not find the destination where they would be transported to, it seems that the server was set to wipe itself in case of a blackout."
"Hmm… so it seems that Poseidon's Trident is expanding its operation," Minerva commented. She took a short moment to contemplate something before continuing.
"Either way, you deserve some R&D time. Once again, good job."
"Thank you, ma'am, I'll see you back at base," Harry gave a half-hearted salute while still holding onto his mug.
The display was then disconnected and returned to display administrative information. Harry let out a long, tiring sigh.
He exited the mobile command truck and walked toward a nearby tent. It was a large tent with red crosses printed all over it. He was greeted by a medic as he entered the tent.
"Welcome back, lieutenant," said the male medic in front of him.
"How is she, doc?" Harry asked as he approached a portable hospital bed where the young girl was sleeping.
"Well, currently she is doing ok, her vital signs are ok, her blood test comes back negative for major diseases. Other than anemia, she's miraculously doing well. All she needs is supplements and a healthy diet, and she should be a healthy girl again. Though I can not comment about her mental health, considering what she experienced."
"Well, that…certainly is good news, 'preciate it, doc." Harry expressed his gratitude as he sat down next to the sleeping girl, his rough hand was stroking her hair gently.
After Harry cleared out the facility with his team, he came back to carry the young girl out to get medical help. It was only then that he noticed that she had a large white bow tie on her ponytail.
He didn't get a good look at it, but now that he had a chance, he picked up the bow tie to observe it. It was a simple white bow tie; nothing else was fancy about it.
He was about to place it back down when he had a glimpse of the inside of the bow tie. It was a Vietnamese phrase.
"To Phan Anh Mỹ, no matter what, you will always be my daughter."
Harry furrowed his brows. He couldn't imagine the pain and suffering Mai must have experienced. No one deserved to lose their parents at a young age, let alone witness their parents' death in front of their eyes.
Something inside of him was triggered at that moment. It was then that he made a promise to himself.
"I'll do my best to take care of you! This world may have been cruel to you, but you deserve to live a good life. I'll make sure of that."