Altered Cosmos

Chapter 20; Set-Out

Darkness fills space…Nothing to see for miles and the environment completely silent and still……until the light buzzing sound was heard and as time goes, the buzzing sound gets louder and louder until…

A red light suddenly appears, it pulses in response to the buzzing sound before flashing out, illuminating the room in bright red……

Levi wakes up from his dream with his bright blue eyes piercing through the dark room and his aura firing out of his body with a low wind howl.

“It’s getting worse.” He grumbled as he restrained his energy and sits up. He rubs his head and glances at the time which read 4:21am. “Damn it.” He wiped his eyes and falls back to his bed.

But since the sleep doesn’t come, he gets up and heads to the bathroom for a quick shower. 

As he finishes brushing his teeth, a flash of his dream crosses his mind and he stares at himself in the mirror, concern written on his face……until he shakes it off, washes his face and walks out of the bathroom to get ready for the day. 

It’s been a week since the training session with Levi’s new squad and captain, Agent Target.

Since then, none have them have able to contact her nor were any missions given to them unlike squads like Felix and Hana’s squads.

After breakfast, Levi heads over to his first class with Vivian and her girlfriend, Amanda.

An hour goes by as Levi takes notes from Mr Jerry’s lectures when his band suddenly beeps loudly, getting the entire class’ attention. He quickly turns it off and notices the message just sent to him.

Jerry chuckles fondly as he turns to Levi. “Sounds like Squad I has their first mission.”

Levi looks up and notices that all other members of his squad were also checking the message on their bands, making the class murmur.

Levi turns back to his interface and reads the message which read… *Squad T. Rendezvous at Ice cream shop by 12 noon with two days’ worth of clothing… Agent-T*

“Alright, alright. Settle down, students.” Jerry said as he walks back to the board and the class slowly silences.

Meanwhile, Levi stares at his message a little longer, excited but also strangely nervous. “Ahem…” Levi looks up to see Jerry raising a brow at him. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled as he quickly closes his interface with a shy smile. Jerry lets out a sigh before adjusting his glasses as he continues the lecture. 

After the class, Levi heads back to the hostel accompanied by MJ who stretches with a large smile on her face. “Finally, our first mission.”

“Yeah.” Levi chuckled with both hands in his pockets as they approached the building. Once they got on the elevator and MJ hits the top floor button, Levi speaks up. “So what kind of missions do you think it is?”

MJ shrugs. “No clue but it shouldn’t be dangerous, right?”

“I guess.” The doors to the elevator opens and Levi parts way with MJ to head for his room. 

Minutes later, Levi switched out of his uniform and prepared his back-pack filled with two days’ worth of clothing.

He re-joins MJ who was now wearing a casual peach coloured outfit and together, they headed over to the rendezvous point.

When they got there, they meet up with Jake already seated in one of the outdoor gazebos of the Ice cream shop. Some more minutes go by and Veronica arrives with a small handbag with her.

“Looks like I’m not too late.” Veronica said as she glances at her band which read 12:02pm. 

“At least, you’re better than our squad captain.” Jake grumbled as Veronica takes a seat and they all wait some more minutes just as a van smoothly pulls up not too far from the gazebo.

A well-suited man steps out and approaches them with a stern look on his face.

“Are you the squad?” He asked with a surprisingly light voice and Levi nods at him. “Alright…” He looks around for a moment before gazing back at them. “Where is your captain?”

Jake sighs with a hand under his chin. “Late as usual.”

Before anyone else could speak, a sudden ringing sound of a bell gets their attention as the door to the Ice cream shop opens…with Nina stepping out with a hand bag in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other.

“What took you guys so long?” She said as she takes a quick lick and Veronica stifles a laugh at Jake’s embarrassed expression. “Let’s do this.” 

With that, they all entered the van which drives out of the college and onto the main highway.

About 15 minutes later, the van comes to a halt at one of the airports where Nina leads them through the lobby and into a more secured part of the airport where some strict looking guards were stationed.

But when they see Nina, the all suddenly greeted her with salutes causing the others to give themselves looks as she goes over to talk to one of the guards.

Minutes later, Nina leads them past the checkpoint and onto the tarmac highway where different kinds of advanced looking planes were landing or taking off. 

“Agent Target herself.” Levi turns to the direction of the voice where an average-looking man dressed in a standard pilot outfit was smiling at Nina. “I was thinking you weren’t going to show.”

Nina laughs as she gives the man a handshake. “Better late than never, Smith.”

Smith nods with a little chuckle before noticing the squad of young faces behind her. “I’m guessing this is the team.” He said, glancing at Nina who nods with a hand on her hip. “Anyway. I’m Mr Smith and I’ll be your pilot for today.”

He said with a hand on his chest and little bow before suddenly turning to Nina. “Shall we?”

Nina shrugs and Smith chuckles as he walks away with the squad following. Levi’s eyes widen in excitement when he sees the plane he was heading for. 

It was small but beautifully yet strategically designed. Its white body reflected the bright sunlight, its wings each holding two turbo-like engines with two extra turbines on the back of the plane and the Index logo largely imprinted on both sides of the aircraft. 

They board the plane with Smith heading for the cockpit and they entered the slick interior designed cabin after securing their bags.

Some minutes go by and two flight attendants entered the plane as well…just as the plane whirls to life.

One of the attendants closed the door while the other heads to the attendant’s cabin at the back. A static sound briefly fills the room before Smith’s voice was heard.

“Good afternoon, passengers. This is your captain, speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to take off.” The other attendant enters the cockpit, locking it behind her as the entire squad straps in. 

“Whoa…” Levi mumbled as the plane slowly began to rise into the air. He looks out the window to his left and grins at the ground slowly moving away.

The plane continues to ascend and turn a complete 180 degrees until it passes the height of the airport now behind them.

Then all of a sudden the engines revved hard and the plane flies forward making Levi feel a little light as the plane soars into the sky with speeds like that of a fighter jet.

After about 2 minutes, the plane stabilizes and the squad removes their seatbelts as the attendants approached them.

The more cheerful one speaks with a friendly voice. “Hi. I’m Bridget and this is Sam. We’ll be taking care of you guys.”

Sam smiles fondly as she looks at all of them. “If you need anything, just ask.” With that, both ladies went back to the attendant’s cabin while Nina stands up with a grunt.

“Alright, guys. Get comfortable because we’re gonna be here for 4 hours.” Nina pulls out a lollipop and began unwrapping it as Jake spoke.

“So where are we going?”

Nina sticks the lollipop in her mouth and crushes the wrapper in her hand. “Lagos.” They all shared confused looks and Nina chuckles. “I’ll give the details later. For now, just relax.” She said as she disposes the wrapper and heads into the cockpit. 

<4 hours… At least I can catch up on my anime.> Levi thought as he opens his interface and links the display and sound to his eyes and ears as he plays the video.

4 long hours later, Levi steps out of the bathroom with a relaxed look on his face and sees Nina and the rest huddled up in the cabin. Nina gives Levi a serious look as he sits down next to MJ.

“Alright. I’ll explain our mission now.” She folds her arms and takes in a long sigh with her lollipop sticking out of her mouth.

“This is a B rank mission so it shouldn’t be too hard. We got info on an illegal weapon depot in Lagos. Our mission is to locate the place and capture anyone on the premises. The clean-up team will handle the rest.”

“So this isn’t a Web related issue?” Jake asked and Nina shakes her head.

“These guys are among the Web’s arms.”

Once she said that, Levi recalls a lecture about the Web’s Arms; A group of humans and trons who work with the Spider Web for various reasons.

“Meaning, we might get info about the Web’s main forces if this mission goes successful. For now, we just have a general location of the base. We’ll have to find it ourselves.”

“This should be fun…” Veronica grumbled and Jake sighs.

“Oh right.” Nina said with a snap of her fingers as she remembers something. “Before we actually do the mission, we need to establish your agent names.”

Levi smiles with excitement since he had been brainstorming code-names for months. “Got any names in mind?” She asked and Veronica raises an arm. “Yes?”

“Wolf.” Veronica said, coldly and Nina smirks at her.

“Short and intimidating. I like it. Jake?” She said with a hand gestured to Jake. 

“Rubik.” Jake said with folded arms and Nina raises a brow at him.

“Eccentric.” She then inches forward with elbows on the seats as she stares at Levi and MJ behind. “What of you guys?”

“I’m going with Brute.” MJ said with a confident smile and a bicep flex which makes Nina chuckle.

“It describes you perfectly. So, kid…” She said as she turns her attention to Levi. “What you got?”

Levi rubs his chin for a moment before speaking up. “I’ve been thinking of calling myself… Silva.”

Nina shoots him a perplexed expression. “Silva? Where did you pull that from?”

“It’s my gameplay name. I got from an anime I watched years ago.”

Jake turns to Levi with a questioning look. “Anime? You mean those weird Asian cartoons?”

Levi faces Jake with a slightly concerned expression. “They’re not cartoons. They’re animati-”

“Hey. Hey.” Nina said with a calming hand raised to them. “I know how these start.” Veronica and MJ stifle chuckles as the boys silenced. “Silva it is.”

MJ turns to Levi with a smile on her face. “I really thought you’d go with ghost.”

“Ghost…” Levi mumbled with confusion written on his face. “Why would I use Ghost?”

“Because that’s what everyone’s calling you…” MJ said with a surprised gesture and Levi stares at her in shock.

Levi then turns to Jake and Veronica who either shrugged or nodded. “Really?” 

“You seriously didn’t know?” Veronica asked and Levi sighed.

“I mean… Felix mentioned it a few times but I didn’t know he was serious.” He said with a hand rubbing his head and small smirk on his face since even though he didn’t actually plan it, it still sounded cool.

Sam appears and gets their attention. “Hey guys. Please strap in because we’re about to land.” Nina taps the chair’s leather as she moves away to take her seat while the rest just strap in as the plane began to decelerate.

About 6-7 minutes later, the plane lands on the tarmac highway and Sam appears again. “Thank you for flying with us.”

“You’re welcome.” MJ said with a little smile as she grabs her bags just as Smith approaches them with his pilot hat under his arm.

“Welcome to Nigeria.” He said with an exaggerated gesture and Nina chuckles as she shakes him. “I wish you all good fortune.”

“Thanks, Smith.” She said as she steps out with the others following as well.

Almost 2 hours later, the squad checks into a hotel where they had an expensive looking dinner before heading to two rooms, one for the guys and the other for the girls.

Levi looks from his bed to Jake’s bed where he was causally reading a novel before grabbing his towel and heading into the bathroom for a quick shower.

He finishes about 10 minutes later and was just stepping out of the bathroom when the door to their flies open.

“Alright, boys. Meeting…” Nina trails off once she saw Levi standing there with a towel wrapped over his neck and a little embarrassed expression on his face. She then grins as she gives Levi’s body a quick scan. “You’re more ripped than I thought.”

“Uh…thanks?” Levi said, awkwardly just as Veronica pokes her head through the door and sees Levi’s appearance.

“Heh…At least you’re wearing underwear.” She said with a little smug and MJ pokes her head through the door also and sees Levi as he goes over to his bed.

“Couldn’t you just knock?” Jake asked as he closes his book and sits up on his bed as the girls entered the room.

“I told her.” MJ sighed as she closes the door while Levi quickly puts on a short and shirt as Nina takes a seat on one of the lounge chairs in the room.

“Sorry but I wanted to run our objectives for tomorrow before it gets late.”

“Objectives?” Levi asked as he sat on his bed, brushing his hair and Veronica sits beside him with MJ on the other lounge chair.

Nina nods as she pops another lollipop in her mouth and leans into her seat. “We’ll head out to the town to get information about the Arms or their base itself.”

“Should engage we find them?” Jake asked and Nina shakes her head with the lollipop stick twirling in her mouth as she speaks.

“Just follow them and find their base. We don’t want to tip them off that they’re being monitored. Which means, we can’t reveal that we’re trons to anyone.”

“How exactly can we do that? I mean…” Levi points at his blue-glowing eyes and shrugs. “And I think wearing shades will attract attention.”

“You’re right, kid. And that’s why we have these…” Nina reaches into her pocket and pulls out two small boxes. “Catch.” She causally tosses the boxes to Levi and Jake. “Those are contact lens. Put those on and you’ll look like a regular human being again.”

Levi opens the box and sees the synthetic lens carefully wrapped and protected. He closes the box and looks up as Nina continues. “Now for the external features…”

“You mean Levi and I?” Veronica said and Nina smirks at her.

“You both can’t exactly walk out with white hair or a grey tail and be considered normal, can you?”

Veronica sighs as she looks at her tail beside her. “Don’t worry. I’ve been trained to hide it.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Nina said before glancing at Levi. “I think I have something to cover that up.” Levi shrugs and she turns back to the others.

“So rest up because we move at 0900 and remember to wear something casual tomorrow. We need to blend in the crowd so no fancy outfits.”

Nina said as she glanced at Jake before suddenly getting up and the other ladies stood up as well. “Night boys.” She said and MJ waves at them as they left the room while Jake locks the door.

The next morning at 8:54am, Levi had already taken his bath and gotten ready with his jeans and tee-shirt. He opens the box Nina gave him last night and places the lens on his eyes.

“Wow…” He mumbled as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes now brown in colour. <Just like old times.> He thought as he recalled his home before he was taken away and his family……

<Focus.> He thought as he shook his head and moved out of the bathroom to see Jake also dressed in a casual pants and polo shirt.

He also seemed to be wearing the lens since his eyes were now black instead of his normal emerald.

A knock on the door grabs their attention and Levi opens the door to reveal MJ smiling at him with brown eyes as well.

“Let’s go.” She said, glancing at Jake who just finishes combing his hair. Minutes later, all three of them stepped out of the elevator and into the reception where two familiar figures were waiting. 

Nina gives them all a quick scan with her black eye before smiling.

“Alright. Nice job. Oh, before I forget…” She said as she reaches into her jacket and pulls out something. “Here, kid.” She said as she causally tosses it to Levi which he unravels to reveal a grey sweat cap.

“Looks like we’re good to go.” Nina mumbled with hands on her hips as Levi puts on the cap, completely covering his white hair.

As he adjusts the cap, he notices something and speaks. “I know we’re supposed to pass off as normal humans but what of…” He trails off with his right arm raised up to display his Index band.

“Just hit the conceal setting.” Jake said and Levi throws him a confused stare.

“Open up your interface.”

MJ said and Levi opens his interface and after following her directions, he hits the conceal button and the band instantly changes appearance with holographic technology and camouflaged on his skin, like there wasn’t a band there in the first place.

“Dope…” Levi mumbled as he rubbed the band, still feeling its metallic surface even though he couldn’t actually see it. He then notices as the others also concealed their bands and Nina nods at them.

“Shall we?” With that, Nina and the rest headed out where a van was waiting for them.