Firekiss

[34th Brigade]

"What do you mean by all this, Koji?"

Darkness.

"So that's it..."

Andrea kept waking up and then drifting off to sleep again. Each time she heard fragments of something.

"...Waldemar, we have to..."

"Here, take it..."

...

"We'll be fine.

Don't worry."

...

Opening her eyes again, Andrea found herself in her room. Everything was arranged the same way. Clean. Tidy. As if all the past weeks had been a nightmare, and Andry Scott had never existed. She'd never felt so calm.

Only...

The handcuffs. They were still behind her back. No, no, no. Something had to be done. Her legs, they tied them too! At least she wasn't wearing a mask. The door hissed open... Again?

Waldemar entered the room, chatting over the neural link.

"Sir, I was told to take over, and I did. No, I don't know where they went. They said they'd contact me soon. Yes, we need three days off. That's right. We just pulled you out of Vespucci.

What? They have a shitload of patrols hanging out near Yuma, and they seriously can't spare any men to protect Atum? This is fucking nonsense, how can anyone believe it? My apologies.

Yes, thank you for the rest. As soon as we're done, we'll get back to duty." He hung up and switched to text input, cursing silently. His gaze was fixed on the pager, his right side facing Andrea, he didn't knew if she woke up or not. Having finished his business, he headed towards her.