Yacine hoisted Valkyrie high into the air, his face twisted in absolute frustration.
« Explain to me why you tried to save him! »
« I… I… I didn't try anything, I swear to you », she choked out, her voice thin and strained.
Yacine lunged upward, lifting her even higher.
« Don't you dare play me for a fool! Your warhammer caught me straight in the head, and your shield slammed into Virmo's neck right as he was about to sever his hand. How the hell are you going to explain that away? »
Valkyrie's face bled into a deep crimson.
« I can't… I can't breathe… » she gasped, clawing weakly at his grip.
With a sharp, dismissive jerk, Yacine dropped her like a piece of useless cargo. Collapsing heavily onto the concrete, she remained on all fours for several long seconds, desperately sucking air back into her lungs before whispering weakly:
« Hhh… Th… hhh… Thank you. »
For all response, Yacine brought his heavy boot down brutally onto her back, pinning her flat against the concrete floor.
« I asked you a question! Do not dodge it! »
« It was a… it was a mistake! I wasn't targeting you on purpose, it was dark! »
Driven to pure fury, Yacine roared:
« Stop lying to yourself! For someone of your caliber to miss a target is flat-out impossible. And besides, out of the two of us, you are the most powerful. Your ability is the perfect counter to his darkness, yet I didn't see your wings of light manifest a single time! »
Valkyrie screamed back, her strength entirely spent:
« Because I am sick! You know my medical condition perfectly well! You all know damn well that I am not fit to endure everything you demand of me! You know that if I were at full capacity, I would have torn your leg off by now. Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean you get to push me around! »
Right beside them, Meta was just beginning to regain consciousness. He cracked his eyelids open a fraction of a millimeter, stealthily tracking the conversation from the corner of his eye.
The exact moment Virmo turned his gaze in his direction, Meta instantly snapped his eyes shut, executing a flawless simulation of an unconscious state.
Virmo jaundiced him for a brief moment, then addressed his cohorts:
« Hey, guys, we should get the hell out of here before he wakes up. Otherwise, I'm going to end up smoking one of them on the spot. »
Yacine cast a look of pure disgust at Valkyrie, then finally withdrew his foot from her spine.
« Yeah, you're not wrong. »
As the young woman pushed herself up painfully, he crossed his arms, demanding:
« Where are the Cold Warriors? »
« In the vehicle. And where is Nerot? My weapons? » she asked, brushing the concrete dust off her clothes.
He turned and began walking toward the exit of the facility.
« He's knocked out over there. I hit him by accident while attacking the other guy. As for your weapons, I had them suppressed. You can recall them now. »
She extended both hands toward the back of the warehouse. Instantly, the warhammer and shield flew across the space, locking perfectly into her palms before dissolving into a fine, glittering golden dust.
As the trio walked away, Virmo dropped a sentence that hit Meta's mind like a high-explosive missile:
« Before we head back, we need to stop by the Nova pill warehouse. It's six minutes from here. »
« Yeah, smart move », Yacine agreed.
A freezing shiver shot straight down Meta's spine. He opened his eyes, watching them retreat into the distance. Activating his reflexes, he quickly pressed his own palm with his fingers, inputting a hidden tactile sequence.
The moment he finished, a tiny orange beacon began to blink discreetly on Ghost's armor.
Hearing the vehicle's engine roar to life and speed away, Meta vaulted to his feet, casting a fierce, determined look at his fallen comrade:
« I'll be back, brother. »
He sprinted toward the exit. Emerging from the warehouse, he spotted the vehicle tearing away through the industrial grid. Rallying every ounce of his remaining strength, he shifted into his metaphysical form, launching himself into the air in hot pursuit.
Catching up to the speeding car, he slipped into total invisibility and dropped smoothly onto the roof. It was then that he noticed a bizarre red emblem etched into the steel: a smiling smiley face sporting pigtails and dark sunglasses. Surrounding the logo, a series of sinister phrases were aggressively carved into the metal: "not okay", "help", "nayebaki oko landa", "coalition", "scarlet", "dies".
Meta pushed the cryptic text out of his mind and tightened his grip on the chassis. The priority was clear: locate this drug stockpile and obliterate it immediately.
Four minutes later
Ghost remained motionless on the warehouse floor, his breathing ragged and shallow. Slowly, his consciousness began to claw its way out of the abyss.
Yet, when his eyes finally fluttered open, the gritty landscape of the warehouse was nowhere to be found. He was standing at the absolute peak of a towering skyscraper. Around him lay an infinite void, illuminated only by the harsh glow of a massive neon billboard. Looking down near the edge, two silhouettes caught his attention. He stepped forward slowly and recognized himself, standing right beside Valkyrie. They were facing each other, their fingers tightly intertwined, radiating pure happiness.
« Rayan, do you promise me that after this mission, you're dropping out of this life for good? », Valkyrie asked softly.
Rayan, fighting to mask the raw emotion in his voice, replied gently:
« I promise you. »
Valkyrie smiled, a bright, hopeful gleam in her eyes:
« I can't wait for us to be done with all of this... And as promised, are you finally going to build up the courage to marry me? »
Rayan tried to maintain a serious expression, but a sudden burst of laughter betrayed him. The two accomplices broke into a synchronized laugh.
« Hahaha, I'm the one who's supposed to propose to you normally! », Rayan fired back.
« True, but since you never have the time, I took the initiative! »
Contemplating the memory from the depths of his mind, Ghost let out a faint, bitter smile.
« Hh… how incredibly naive I was. »
Without warning, an invisible force yanked him violently backward. The dreamscape warped, fractured, and in the space of a single heartbeat, total darkness reclaimed him.
Then, with a massive gasp for air, he snapped awake. He took a few frantic seconds to stabilize his racing heart rate.
Inspecting his surroundings, he found Vega sitting right beside him, calmly packing a medical syringe back into a small tactical case. True to form, Vega wore his standard issued black uniform, his eyes completely obscured behind the black visor integrated into his facial marking, topped with a red bandana.
Without even looking up at Ghost, Vega snapped the case shut and delivered:
« Don't sweat it, pal. You're not dead, but you're definitely still in hell. »
Standing right in front of them was Odin, his hands crackling with volatile arcs of electricity, looking thoroughly impatient:
« Come on, tell me I can tase him awake, Vega! »
« No, drop it, he's already fully conscious. It wouldn't even be fun », Vega shot back, rising to his feet.
Ghost scanned the room, and the chaotic sequence of events immediately flooded back into his mind.
« The enemies! Where are they?! » he demanded, jolting upright with an alert gaze.
Vega placed a grounding hand on his right shoulder.
« Easy. They packed up and rolled out. Meta is currently on their tail, tracking them down. »
Ghost spun around, a mix of shock and terror painted on his face:
« No! They are way too powerful. He absolutely cannot engage them in combat! »
Vega withdrew his hand, his tone perfectly reassuring:
« Relax, he's not stupid. He's just gathering intel so we can finally figure out who we're dealing with and where they crawled out from. He's the best asset we have for this type of operation. »
« Right… I see… » Ghost muttered, rubbing his temples in an effort to ease the throbbing pain.
Odin, meanwhile, was surveying the absolute wreckage around them.
« It's obvious you guys took a heavy beating. But it's practically pitch black in here and the floor is a disaster area. How did you manage to bite the dust and end up in the fetal position like this? Worse: how many of them were there? »
Ghost slowly raised his head, then held up three fingers on his right hand. The gesture instantly dropped a freezing chill into the room. In the near-total obscurity, knowing that Ghost had almost been liquidated by a mere three opponents was utterly unthinkable.
Ghost slumped back onto the floor, staring into the void with a dark, predatory gaze:
« And I swear to you… on Liam's grave, no, on the very flag of the DHA… the day I get those three in front of me again, I will dismantle them down to the last molecule. » Then, visualizing Valkyrie's face, he added strictly for himself: "And for you, it will be death. A slow, agonizing death."
Suddenly, a sharp static hiss rang through their earpieces. Meta's voice broke through the tactical comms channel.
Meta: « [ Guys, do you copy? ] »
Ghost hit his comms button instantly:
« Yeah, we copy. What's your status? »
Meta: « [ Well, the problem is… things are bad. Things are really, really bad, guys. ] »
« Have you located their base of operations? »
Meta: « [ No, it's way worse. I found crates… hundreds of crates. Loaded with tons of Nova pills. ] »
A cold spike of absolute horror shot through all three soldiers simultaneously.
« Wait, wait… is this a joke? That's impossible, you're pulling a cheap prank on us », Odin stammered, a nervous, disbelief-filled smile forming on his lips.
Meta: « [ Oh yeah, exactly, it's a hilarious prank! Right now, I'm just chilling with Santa Claus, Batman, and Rainbow Face smoking some chicken! Of course it's not a joke, you absolute moron! I'll explain everything in detail back at HQ. See you guys there… ] »
The transmission cut off cleanly into static. The three men remained frozen, paralyzed by the gravity of the intelligence. Their faces had completely drained of color, as if they had just stared directly into the abyss. Nobody dared break the suffocating silence, but in every single mind, the exact same words played on an endless, terrifying loop:
"Hundreds of crates of Nova pills?"