Danger

In missions like these, where we have to go to other countries, we usually take this helicopter. It is faster than a jet and we can reach almost anywhere in thirty minutes.

Maybe someone interested in mechanics can explain the working of this helicopter and why this is even possible. But I am not so I won't even bother.

Since we do not go out to other countries often, we are usually allowed to stay in that place until the next day. Walking around the town.

This may sound like a nice thing the higher-ups are allowing us to do, it is just to keep us here. In this place that sees us as disposable things.

Paying us a lot of money and allowing us to go around the country, doing whatever we like. That is all to make us not want to leave this organization or even try to riot.

But every mission they sent us on, there is always an eight per cent possibility of us dying. The 'Hunters' are the adults and they take care of the immediate problem in front of us.

Bigger toxins that have their own minds, attack patterns and abilities.

Us 'Cleaners' take care of everything else after. Like getting help for the injured people and making sure the toxins are really dead.

If they do end up being alive, which happens sometimes, we have to get rid of them or die trying. The latter happens most of the time as we are not entirely equipped to battle a level hundred boss with our miserly weapons.

Sometimes, these creatures break into little toxins and scatter, it is our job to get rid of them. If anything happens after the Hunters leave, we are the ones held liable and, depending on the effect, we will be punished, even killed.

So, I can never happily accept a reward they give me, not when I know their intentions towards us. Annoys me to absolutely no end.

___________________

"Could you brief us on what happened, Sir Jack?" Lucille asked, as the helicopter took off.

"There was a toxin, about the size of three elephants stacked on top of each other." He said, looking at every one of us. "The Hunters came and took care of it but it broke into several hundred pieces."

"Will we be able to catch all of them?" Hudson asked, leaning back against his seat. "Even a hundred is hard, several hundred? I don't know."

"You all have been trained on how to scan the area for those creatures, right?" He asked, grinning at us.

"Yeah. We had to develop quick reflexes and sharp noses for that." Maya said, throwing her hands in the air.

"That training was brutal," Mia said everyone agreeing with her.

"That had to be the worse training I ever had to go through in my life. I thought I was going to lose my sense of smell." Cameron said, sighing deeply.

"It also made us so sensitive to smell that I can't just ignore smells anymore and get overwhelmed by them easily," Maya said, shrugging.

It was pretty annoying. I thought. But I wouldn't say it was the worse.

"We will leave it to you all to take care of everything," Jack said, grinning at us as a beeping came from the top. "We're here. You all be careful. Remember, you can't leave until you finish getting rid of everything."

"Ok."

"Sure."

"Great!" He said as we opened the doors. "Go! Go! Do me proud!"

____________________

Yale and I jumped off first, holding hands.

"Do you think they gave us real parachutes this time?!" She asked as we started descending on the sleeping city.

"I don't think so!" I shouted back, both of us pulling at the strings for nothing to happen. "Told you!"

"Fuck those fucking fuckers!" Yale shouted grabbing both my hands as she turned into a sword.

I pierced the sword into the skyscraper beside me as my momentum slowed down, enough for me to land on my feet safely.

Turning back, Yale looked me over first before complaining again, "Those annoying people. Are they trying to kill us everywhere we turn??"

"Calm down, Yale," I said, shaking my aching hands. "Let's hope no one dies tonight."

_______________________

The first time we went on an abroad mission, we were told to jump out of the helicopter as well. The parachutes were fake and at least eight people died from falling in that height.

Yale was able to save me by forcing her body to turn into a hook and chain that I threw at the side of a building, though it took some time to stop the swinging and the shock that came after.

My entire concern was on Yale that time though. She never turned to something like that before and, turning back, she was utterly exhausted and in pain.

My hands were also burnt from trying to grip the chain as the force from the fall worked against me. But I could move and we still had to get rid of some of the toxins.

Fashioning a weapon out of ice, I used that as bodies fell from the sky, some of their blood splattering on us.

Fortunately, enough teams were able to recover and we got the work done. But we were too exhausted to go back that day itself so we stayed the entire weekend.

Yale took a while to recover, earning marks on her body from suddenly forcing it to turn to something it was not even prepared for.

But she said that she liked the marks. Not that I believed her.

We were all given bonuses but I was not happy. That many people, dead and they think two days off in a city with a bunch of money is going to be enough to compensate for what happened?

It worked for most groups and I was able to treat Yale to so many things, that part I was grateful for. But I could never fully trust them anymore after that day and I am sure Yale shared my thoughts.

The remaining teams got together on Sunday night and we held a small funeral for those that died. No one would ever remember them anymore, no one except us.

So, in honour of them, I got their pictures and wrote their names on the back. As much as I didn't want to remember that night, only eight of us witnessed them die.

I couldn't help them, so the only thing I can do is remember them. That they existed.

___________________

"Good job, you two," Lucille said, landing in front of us in a parachute.

The parachute turning to Hudson, stretching.

"That was … harder than I thought it would be." He said, rubbing his sore shoulders.

Two down. Two more.

I looked up to see Leonel moving the shadows in the city, catching the two and carefully placing them back on the ground.

Three done. Just one more.

"Zion," Yale said, pointing to the two falling from the sky. "Mia and Maya."

I looked at the twins pulling at their parachute strings over and over again but nothing happened.

They held hands the braced for impact instead.

"Are they trying to land on their feet??" Lucille asked, gasping. "The impact will kill them."

"Is this their first mission abroad?" Yale asked as Leonel and Cameron appeared.

"No. But I think this is the first time their parachute failed." Hudson said, frowning. "Maybe I can-"

"If you turn now, you will not be able to help Lucille in a bit," Leonel said, frowning. "Maybe I can-Ow."

"You overdid it just now," Cameron said, shaking the boy. "Wait a minute or two."

"But, what do we do then?"

They are wasting time thinking. I ran to the spot the twins were falling to, the others following after me.

Calculating the speed they are falling in and the angle that they are falling, I rubbed my hands together, creating a gust of wind to slow them down and then a slide reaching all the way to the ground before collapsing to my knees, breathing heavily.

"Zion!" Yale reached me as the twins slid to us. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I said, breathing heavily. "Just fine. Don't worry about me."

"That is a massive ice." Cameron whistled at the slide I created, almost reaching the tallest building.

"Are you two ok?" Lucille asked, helping the twins up.

"Yeah." The two said at the same time, looking at me trying to catching my breath just as my phone rang.

"What-?"

Yale took my phone from my pocket and looked picked up the call. "Yes, Alexis? What do you mean, 'Wendy's hospital is in a hostage situation'??? Terrorist attack?? Ok, stay put. Ok. Yeah."

"What happened?" I asked, cold smoke escaping my lips.

"This is bad, Zion," Yale said, furrowing her brows at me. "Wendy … Wendy is in trouble. We … we need to do something."

Well, shit.