Restrains

('7') - (Karina) 

"Here. "Looking up to the strange lower class clone I had heard about from Broke, I took the cup of coffee and simply stared inside while clenching my teeth. 

"What the hell is she… "Frustrated at the fact that someone other than myself can strike this level of fear into me, I was irritated by how crazy stupidly string the first is. "She could have killed me and I couldn't do anything… Not a thing. As if-... Death had shown up himself in place of her shadow. "

Sitting down beside me in the hallway outside of the prison barracks bulkhead doors, I was still slightly trembling as I could see it in the subtle motion on the surface of the coffee. Turning to the low-class worker clone, I could only wonder what made her invaluable to 'First'. 

The First in my memories and the First in the lowest cell are two entirely different beings now. Whatever that was, it was nothing like the Captain from before. Whatever happened to her these past two years, it messed her up bad. I hated it, I hated it so much to the point where my nails dug into my skin when I seemed to recall that mission. I hated how weak and blind I was. 

~•~•~•~•~

(2 years ago) 

[Operation 'Yesterday'] 

Active Live feed- (0.7, Seven) 

March 03, 2023. Old San Francisco

["VAIRE"] Standing behind First, I watched as we heard her unique AI hacking into a secure government vault underneath the water several miles below the surface. ["Intermission-Complete. 'Try not to get yours killed'! "] 

"Thanks, Vie' Owe you one! "Following behind First, our group of eight moved in strategically as we had passed through multiple layers of security already. "Bravo, Ten! Everyone else, on me! "

Splitting into two groups of five, Bravo team which lead by Five moved into the upper office floors as we continued on deeper into the underground structure miles beneath the massive bridge. Moving along with First, we rounded a corner and where we immediately froze before three passing men in high-end clothes. As they passed us by, I could see from the corner of my eye as they did not see us due to the active camouflage shields embedded in our combat suits. 

As they rounded the corner, we waited a few seconds and cough our breath as we continued onto the mission. 

Descending several floors unseen, we avoided few cameras and eventually reached our objective. 

["Bravo-Status. "] While on the lookout from the Karen bulkhead doors in the last floor, I covered First along with Second and Six.

["Security Measures offline. You are a-go. "] Cutting the transmission, First nodded as Six and Second began burning a hole through the massive bulkhead doors. 

A few minutes later, a small thick chunk was pulled from the wall as it took three of us to set it against the side of the wall. Turning the corner once we slipped through, we then found ourselves inside a massive runway several miles wide with runway tunnels and military strategic equipment tactically placed everywhere. 

["Broke-You were right. The Americans are gearing up for war and it looks like at a massive scale at that. "] 

["Aah… I had really hoped my hunch was wrong. This means I'll have to move up my plans… In any case, get out of there after you screen their arsenal. "] 

["Roger. "] "Let's go. "Standing up from beside her, we moved further into the massive tunnel to examine their current strength. "Alright, that's enough footage. Let's regroup and get out of here-"

A sudden rain of bullets caught us off guard. Thanks to our suits emergency magnetic shields, the sensors in the base rang the instant our suits activated to protect us front he gunfire. 

"Weapons Free! "Taking cover rapidly, we exchanged fire with a strange new security measure. "Crap! VAIRE! What the hell is that thing!? "

["Initial-scans-are-unavailable… New-Military-Weapon-is-my-best-guess. "] 

"You useless AI! I'll make sure you won't get any treats when we get home! "Hearing their conversation as two full figured mini guns were facing our direction in full effect. "Show me a map of the tunnel! "

Crouching beside First, I saw her eyes move as if she was reading something we didn't and before long, she shot up and threw a smoke canister from her suits shield battery to make an escape. Rushing on her order, I covered her exposed suit by taking the bullets as we rushed onto a gap on the floor. 

Falling inside, we then rushed down the long straight line while avoiding the death machine above. 

After a long enough distance, we climbed out and walked while catching our breath. 

"What-... The heck was that!? "Exhausted and catching my breath while holding my rifle, Six and Second were on their knees catching their breath. "That thing wasn't even human! "

"Whatever it was… its strong enough to make our EMS active on sight. Had we beef even a few more feet away, that thing could have ripped our bodies apart like butter. "Gulping, we were surprised by how seriously First was spoke. 

["Bravo-Come in. Report… Bravo… "] "They aren't responding. Something's wrong… " ["VAIRE. What can you tell me about what we just fought. "] 

["Initial-scans-failed. However, radiation-readings-confirmed. "] 

"What? That thing is nuclear-powered?! "As six was correct, we turned to First as we waited on her orders. 

"Fine. Fortunately, those things are slow and we have no way of knowing if there are any more. For now, let's meet up with Bravo at the secondary rendezvous like we had planned. "

As we caught our breath, we headed up a tunneling shaft filled with a clutter of stone and heavy mining equipment. Following the shaft, we soon hit several dead ends as we headed further underground than expected. 

"Six!? "Spinning around quickly, Six had collapsed due to a stray bullet that had pierced her suit earlier. "Captain? What are your orders-"

"We leave together. That's my order. Seven, take point. Second, cover our flank, formation 12. Stay alert. We don't know what we might run into down here. "

Carrying Six on her back, I lead us through multiple unstable tunnel shafts until finally finding a shallow draft coming from the end of a dead end. As First analyzed the wall, we soon punched through to the other side where we ran into an iron steel wall. Cutting through with six's iron cutter, we soon crossed onto the long service runway leading straight up. 

Climbing all the way to the top, we discovered this was how they would get their troops to the surface in case they decided to strom an enemy occupied city. There must have been several of these underground bases scattered across the country. Not only were they useful for hiding their forces, but the US was also inventing new and sophisticated technology forbidden by the UN council. 

"300 feet below the surface.. We're almost there! "Our breathing was erratic the father we climbed the concrete runway. 

As we continued for nearly an hour, we eventually reached the top where there was heavy security ever since our presence was found out. Knocking the few guards out relatively quickly and without incident, we laud Six over a leveled platform as we tried to find out what we could using the guards comms. 

It then became evident that Bravo was still in the clear and had made it out safely. All focus was shifted to us and in the excavated tunnels. Learning this, First activated her eyes onto walls and walked over to them where she then punched a hole into the wall. Exposing an electrical powerline, First then hacked the main gate and in that instant, the enemy found where we were. 

It didn't take long for forces to arrive from above the platform and start firing on our location down below. 

Covering fire, Second and me protected six as First took direct fire from the enemy. Unflinching even as bullets struck clean through her arm and leg, she remained resolved in getting us through no matter what. Soon, the large, bulkhead doors slid open and a surging gust of seawater came barreling through the tunnel. 

The ground quake at the hundred sofa gallons of water flooding the base. Though, the tunnel was to be used as a runway, First did not have enough time to activate its ascension program that raised the tunnel  up to the surface. As a result, much of the level became engulfed in water and as we headed towards the surface, I turned to look for First when Second stopped me and shook her head. 

Irritated, I pushed her off and rushed back down to find First. To my surprise, everything was dark and full of muck and dust that didn't allow me to see. Eventually reaching the place she was last at, I circled around looking for her while passing lifeless bodies of guards everywhere. 

Pretty soon, I snapped my rifle behind and dropped down behind the platform while getting grazed by another armored death machine. Its penetrating blue light lit my surroundings as it drew closer. 

('The thing is amphibious… great! ') 

Flashing a stun grenade and swimming up to the surface, a folly of bullet lines streaked everywhere as a few nicked my leg and stomach. Biting my teeth, I covered my wound and headed up to the surface to regroup with Bravo and head back down to find First. 

~•~•~•~•~

"Come on Six! Wake up! "Climbing up from underneath the bridge at the dead of night, Second was performing CPR on Six as I walked onto the surface. 

"G-gah… Aah-hagh! " Six soon soap out the water and woke up while coughing. "Second? Seven? Where are we? Where the First? "

Turning to meet my gaze while in Seconds arms, I could only look away from her gaze while clenching my fists. 

"H-hey… we have to meet up with Bravo at the rendezvous. We have our order-"Snapping at Second about the order First gave us in the tunnels, she lowered her gaze as Six stood up. 

"Seven… "Turning to face her and feeling her hands rest on my shoulders, a powerful blow to my stomach knocked me out as she denied my feelings to find First. "Sorry, Karina… I'm sorry. "

~•~•~•~•~

When I came to, I shot up from the bed at a nearby safehouse. Second responded and held me down as she was assigned to watch me. 

"Sabrina? What… First! Is she safe!? "Holding me down as she slapped some sense into me, I then met her pained gaze as she looked to the sheets. "Second… where's First? "

On the verge of tears, she could only rest her head over mine and apologize in a soft, broken voice. 

"Sabri-" Abruptly feeling dizzy, I pushed Second off and found her holding a puncture sedative we used to incapacitate enemies on recon missions. "Haa.. "

Blacking out, I fell into a deep sleep where I soon found myself adrift in a sea of nothingness. The inside of my head was filled with broken promises and cheeky remarks towards my team yet, despite it all, I probably felt the most love for them as they felt like a new part of my identity. 

The thought of losing even one of us despite the several dozens for missions had never crossed my mind. Including First who I genuinely believed was still alive, the pit inside my stomach only grew into a twisted pain that never faded. I believed First, Alyssa who was invincible and powerful. I slays believed she could go to hell and come right back with a smile and even a souvenir at hand. 

It wasn't until waking up at the Capitol where Broke told me that she had lost Alyssa's life signal as well as VAIRE's communication signal. Broke determined First was MIA and before anything, restricted the use of using my equipment to leave and look for First on my own. 

A year passed and I eventually reached a breaking point where I abandoned Broke and everything else all to search for First. The next year was spent breaking into secure, classified underground bases to search for clues as well as extract information to send back to Broke so they don't repeat the same tragedy again. 

Weather my reports were ever read or used, I had no way of knowing as the only thing that kept me going was finding First. 

Until, a year later, the emergency alarm embedded within my combat suit that should never have rung suggested the Capital was under attack. Rushing home in the days that followed, I dropped down the elevator only to find the aftermath of a massive battlefield within the city. 

When I found Broke and she informed me of what had happened, I was ecstatic to find out First had come home yet, when I saw her through the monitor staring back at me, something felt different as it didn't feel like it was First at all. Her face felt cold and no matter how much I tried to convince myself that it was First, in my chest, I knew it wasn't so. 

Removing my emotions and closing my heart, I went into the cold room where I came face-to-face with First. Instead of comforting her, I could only vent out my frustration as to find out if it was really her who did all that damage above. 

Then, the grip of death wrapped around me like a burning lake of fire as ice cold as hell itself. Her eyes were no longer that of the Alyssa I once knew. And her power was genuine and intense that I was powerless to combat. Whoever was before me now, it lost certainly not the same First I recalled in my memories. 

"It was pure death… "Snapping from my trance on the couch, I turned to the low-class clone and pouted. "Sorry. I heard you were the one who stopped her. Might I ask, how did you go about doing it? From the report Broke gave me, First was on a whole other level that defied normal logic. "

Meeting her beautiful face as she lowered her head slightly, she met my eyes and spoke soothingly. 

"Its as you say, what took place definitely defies logic. However, having stopped only narrowly stopped Alyssa at all is a feat all on its own. I think whatever Alyssa is going through right now, I can somewhat relate as I had undergone the same situation she was in. Though, from what I felt that day when I was fighting her to stop her… even with all my strength, I was no match for her had she decided to crush me when she had the chance. "

Looking to her hands and seeing them shake as she recalled the past, I was astonished and amazed by what I heard. 

"Sorry. I'm not used to hearing a Low-class worker clone talk in such a delicate manner. But, I can understand a little of what you mean. Though it was only a flare, her power is genuine. "Nodding to my comment, I then asked her for her name. 

"I believe I do not have one yet. I was hoping for Alyssa to give me one soon, however. Forgive me, please don't hold it against Alyssa for what she did. "Taken aback by her compassion towards Alyssa, despite what she did and in her current state, I felt a sort of jealousy. 

"How… "Widening her eyes gently, I then continued. "How can you accept responsibility for that 'thing' inside her-"

"I'm sorry! "Her soft voice m was raised enough to feel a sort of torture and anger beneath the tone. "I don't believe I can stop you from sharing your opinion but, excuse me when. I say that I don't believe you are right! Alyssa, she is more than just a 'thing' and I adore her quirks, monsters, and every single blemish. If she goes on another rampage, I'll be there to stop her. I love Alyssa. With or without her demons. That's how I feel! "

Standing up and excusing herself, she left to bring Alyssa a fresh set of towels to clean her off after getting the okay from Broke. All this time and I don't know the first thing about First yet, this woman who has been declared alive for only a while has more to say than I ever could have imagined. 

Scoffing, I lowered my head in disgust as my hands clenched above my legs. I gritted my teeth while trembling with absolute anger at myself. 

For the first time in my life, I truly understood nothing when it came about understanding my feelings toward Alyssa. 

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