/~Jennifer~/
The war room was humming with tension this morning.
The chairs around the obsidian round table were filled except for two. While they waited, I could feel it in the silence, the way the gazes avoided the empty seat next to the one meant for Renn.
And my gaze fell on him and my heart skipped a beat. Contrario.
Seated at the far end of the table, with his hood halfway over his face, he had one earbud in, his head moving up and down faintly to whatever track he was drowning himself in. It would probably be rap, judging from the tiny muted bass lines from the earbud. I could almost feel it more than I could hear it.
He didn't look at anyone. He didn't really have to. He just sat there with confidence and an aura oozing from him that almost made me wet.
They were all looking at him and he just didn't give a damn. Some stared with thinly veiled amusement. Others stared at him with visible disgust. And I hated it. I hated every goddamn second of it.
Then Renn, the last person we were expecting, entered. I nodded at Renn and walked in.
"Alright," I began calmly, pulling up the holo-map at the center of the table. It came to life with a low hum as it projected a detailed terrain scan of a Nova City border sector.
"This is going to be a joint-op strike. The objective here is one of Nova's lesser-tier clan outposts. The clan Omega-5. They're low-tier, currently under-resourced in manpower but overstocked in rare gear and are expecting another shipment tonight. We don't know what it is but we'll get it as soon as it reaches their outpost."
"Armor crates?" asked Lyze, our support tech.
"From Renn's Intel, they have Four crates of legendary-class armor. One crate of unbonded combat enhancements. And a small AI core that we believe is coded to unlock tournament bracket bonuses. We'll find out if we acquire it."
"How secure?" asked Desmo, cocking an eyebrow.
"The outpost, though understaffed, is very secure. They have 24-hour external patrol guards. After the first gate, they have drone defence. Three combat units posted around the gear vault."
I tapped and stretched to zoom in on the vault diagram.
"So what we're doing sounds easy in order. We break in, Renn, who has been there, neutralizes resistance at the gate, we extract supplies, and we go ghost before Nova sends in an emergency response team. Tournament's in 285 days. Every raid matters."
I thought I was done but that's when someone said it.
"Wait...is...is One-slot coming with us?"
The tone was smirking. Very condescending and meant to get the others to laugh.
I stayed silent for a short time before I could respond, I leaned forward, my voice calm but sharp like a blade.
"His name is Contrario," I said.
But Renn didn't let me finish.
"Cee for short," he added. "And he's my best friend. Not One-slot."
The silence in the room after that was so loud and awkward. Even the air paused.
No one said another word. Not because they agreed, but because Renn meant what he said and in this squad, no one opposes Renn. Renn's words meant something.
The meeting wrapped in silence.
"See you soon players."
---
We met at the hangar by noon.
The dropship drone was sleek, matte black with blood-red prints. The engines gave a low hum, it was eager to lift us out over the storm walls, if only machines knew what war felt like.
As we checked our gears and avatars, my gaze caught something I didn't expect.
Contrario leaned closer to Renn and muttered, "You didn't have to do that, my besto friendo."
I paused for a minute. I would never have taken Contrario as someone who would even use the word "friend," let alone have one. Something sparked in my chest. Curiosity, maybe. The boy was complex. No doubt about it.
--------
The operation began smoothly.
We dropped low into Nova's desolate zones to avoid being detected early. Omega-5's base was hidden under scaffolded wreckage and they used holo-masking to hide, but we cracked the visual cipher in five minutes.
That's when everything went sideways.
Their drones moved faster than we'd calculated. Two enemy tanks that shouldn't have been online were fully activated. There were no patrols because they were all waiting inside. It was almost as if they knew we were coming.
Contrario charged in without hesitation. His Stray moved like it had something to prove. He moved in calculated jumps, counters, and even vicious strikes I hadn't seen him use before.
"Fall back Contrario!" I shouted as I saw a player toss out a plasma grenade.
But it was too late, the plasma grenade hit the wall near him. The blast tossed him into a rusted-out container. That made his HP dip dangerously low.
Someone called Nash scoffed. "You guys, One-slot's down. Told you he'd fold first."
"After the battle, you owe me 20,000 Starlos, Simon", he added.
"Shut the hell up," I snapped, my voice loud and sharp.
Nash froze.
"He's still standing, is he not?. And on top of that, he's been hitting harder than half of you."
No one argued. But the shame hung thick in the air.
We fought hard. Grenades. Pulse rifles. Melee sync combat. It took us hours to clear the gate before we breached the vault, but by dusk, we'd done it. The crates were secured. We converted one of their barracks into a temporary camp to strategize and map out our next move.
---
As night fell, the whole building was quiet. Med drones buzzed gently over several players with injuries. Players switched avatars, cooled down and Arielle ran diagnostics.
Then…..it happened.
Suddenly, we all heard a loud, sharp crack.
The eastern wall shook and two shadows stepped through the smoke of our disintegrated barrier.
Just two.....just two players were coming at us
That should've been laughable and I immediately had orders in my head I was about to send out. But then I paused when I saw Contrario freeze, every bit of colour draining from his face.
He dropped totally to his knee.
"What the...…?" I began, stepping forward.
Then one of the shadows spoke, the voice smooth, amused but cold as digital death.
"Well, well, well. You've come to rob us now, Conny?"
Had Contrario's past returned to hunt him in the form of two elite Nova hunters?
Who are they? And why do they call him "Conny"?
The more I tried to wrap my head around it, the more questions I had.