Altin's death ?

A day later.

A young woman, looking 16, with blond hair, laid flat on a white hospital bed.

Her left wrist was linked to an IV fluid bag by a white transparent tube; nonetheless, it was the only restraint on her body.

Although painfully, Eléonore could now stand up and even walk feebly in the hospital. Her abdomen wound was far from being fully healed, but it had at last stopped bleeding, and it had been stitched clean. The end of the inflammation and of the fever that tortured her the previous few days was a strong signal that she would be able to leave the hospital soon.

Despite the progress of her recovery, she did not feel better.

She was worried.

When she decided to join the Espadon platoon the day before, she had called Julien to tell him about it, but her calls had been ignored so far.

She had wondered whether Julien, Paul, and Altin had been busy at something until Julien finally texted her. He had written that they had to talk in person about something important and that he would meet her on the 16th -- today.

"It's already noon. When will they be coming?" Eléonore wondered.

It was not the only thing that perplexed Eléonore.

Marie was still in a coma, even after 5 days.

And... "Where did the orb go ?"

Eléonore had received word from Juliette yesterday that the orb had mysteriously disappeared. It was being transported from Paris to the new hub at Pascal's residence by Bastien and Isabelle.

Supposedly, it had disappeared "out of thin air." The news had been astonishing to Eléonore. When Juliette told her, she had reacted by saying: "But... but why now ? And HOW ? This has never happened ! In 10 years!". But, of course, Juliette had no reply as to why or how.

On another note, during these days at the hospital, Eléonore had spent her time looking at the news.

Grim news.

It was all the same stories all over: people mysteriously disappearing, consecutive mechanical outages, random destructions here and there, increased crime and vandalism, pleas that the apocalypse was coming, etc...

Plenty of subjects to be depressed about.

If there was anything good about this situation, it was that the school had never called her, not even after skipping classes day after day.

"I guess everyone is too busy to care. I'm probably not the only student miss-"

Eléonore didn't get to finish her thoughts.

Knock knock.

"Eléonore, it's Paul and Julien. Can we come in?"

Eléonore recognized the voice as Paul's.

It sounded tired... and pained?

"Come in," she said.

The door opened; Julien and Paul entered.

Both looked very different in nature; Julien had the lightest body built, wore glasses, and was dressed smartly. He had blond hair, just like Eléonore.

Unlike Julien, Paul had brown hair and the most horrible sense of fashion Eléonore had ever seen... Today, he was wearing a purple tee shirt that clashed horribly with his white and blue pants.

Despite looking different, something caught Eleonore's attention.

How did they look similar today?

Finally, she realized: "They both look as if they didn't sleep last night."

Indeed, their eyes were red and tainted by deep greyish dark rings.

A question came: "What happened?" She asked.

Paul and Julien exchanged a look, almost as if asking each other who would answer.

Paul opted to talk: "Altin..." He paused, seemingly struggling to continue. "He's... "

Eléonore foresaw the worst.

"He's dead." Paul finished.

Eléonore was first stunned by the news, but as if infected by the sadness encompassing the two friends, she...

... started to cry.

The sudden news was brought out of nowhere, but Paul's attitude convinced her that it was confirmed right away.

"He's dead...?" She asked, tears already gathering in her eyes without her knowing it.

"We're not sure..." Julien answered; he seemed a little less sad than Paul's, but his voice was heavy of doubt.

"But Julien... he is." Paul disagreed, his voice shaky, eyes lowered. He disagreed, but he seemed unwilling to do so. It was almost as if he had to reluctantly accept Altin's death.

A short silence ensued.

"Is he, or is he not dead?" Eléonore thought. The doubt in Julien's voice gave her a glimmer of hope.

"Nobody saw him dying... we're not sure." Julien counter-argued.

Eléonore was further confused. She asked: "What makes you think he might be dead?"

Julien turned to Paul and put a hand on his shoulder. He told him: "Let me say it."

He then explained to Eléonore: "He called us, saying he had to go home to confront Jurgen, who abducted both Mr. and Mrs. Durand. Do you remember him? It's that asshole that kidnapped us back then. We called the police, but it was taking too long to bring in the special forces...By the time they came, a bomb had exploded near the garage of the house. It mostly collapsed the garage, but the blast came from outside, so Mr. Durand survived and was able to tell us what happened." He paused.

"The bomb was initially put inside the garage. It was Altin who took it out, but..." The words seemed to be stuck in Julien's throat.

Paul took a deep breath to take over: "Altin... he was seen leaving the garage with the bomb, and right after, the bomb... exploded."

Eléonore felt as if she was falling into a pit. There didn't seem to have much hope. But, she still asked: "What if he got away in time?"

Paul shook his head. He argued: "If he had enough time to get away from the blast, he would have contacted us, or the police would have found him one way or another. But we still have no news..."

Julien didn't say anything. He was keeping to his own thoughts.

Eléonore lost hope. Of course, Altin would have contacted them somehow or just wait at the scene to rescue Mr. Durand if he was still alive.

A thought came to her.

"You said Mrs. Durand was kidnapped as well. What about her?"

Paul and Julien were unwilling to answer the question.

Their eyes were lowered.

Still, Paul said in the end: "The walls of the garage protected them from the blast, but not fully. Mrs. Durand was killed by a tool that flew in her. Her husband is the sole... survivor..."

Paul seemed to refrain from crying, but he failed.

He hid his eyes with his hand, turned, and cried.

This triggered Eléonore into crying as well.

Julien was the only one not crying; he seemed to hold on to the possibility that Altin was alive.

***

A long moment passed.

A long, tearful, and painful moment.

Finally, Paul said: "It's just the two of us now..." He was addressing to no one in particular, or maybe himself, but it caught the attention of Eléonore.

"Not just the two of you. I'm joining your squad." She passed her hand on her eyes to wipe her remaining tears, and raised her head to face at Julien and Paul.

"WHAT?" Julien and Paul both exclaimed.

"Yes. I had been trying to call you to tell you about my decision. I'm joining your squad, and therefore the Espadon platoon." Eléonore re-affirmed her choice.

Julien didn't expect her to make this decision. He asked: "You're not following Juliette back to the community?"

Eléonore shook her help. "I am not," she said, "I'm not the scientific type; I can't help them much. I think I'll be more useful using my powers to save people. It's what Altin... wanted."

Bitterness and sadness returned, albeit lightened by new bonds forming around the young adults.

"Thank you, Eléonore. I mean it. Yes, we'll need you. You can't even begin to imagine how much. With Altin gone..." Julien's voice broke.

"Julien's right," Paul replied, "just yesterday, we had to leave dozens of people to their death... We're so few, yet there are so many anomalies nowadays."

Eléonore felt more confident that her choice was correct.

She said: "I'll do my best. I've seen how anomalies can be dangerous. My own grandma is in a coma because of one. I don't want that to happen to other people."

She paused to accept the bitterness in her words. Then, she made an effort to brighten up a little the mood: "Besides, it'll be more fun with you! The man and women of the association are a little old for me as friends, but you do just fine!"

Finally, she smiled.

"Hey, your team got a name?" She asked.

"We're just the '1st' squat of the Espadon platoon," Paul replied. He had done his homework well and learned how to differentiate squads, platoons, company.

"Too boring. How about we give it a name?" Eléonore stopped half a second before sudden inspiration came to her. "Hey, how about unicorn squad???"

Julien and Paul were puzzled, not taking her seriously.

"No way," Julien said with a strong questioning look.

Eléonore kept smiling, staring at them without flinching.

"No way...?" Julien started to doubt.

Eléonore smiled even harder.

Paul and Julien kept silent, looking at each other.

Finally, Paul conceded: "OK but just...."

"Paul!!!" Julien interrupted Paul before it was too late.

"Why not? It just fits my style well today." Paul said while looking at his unusual set of pants & sweater.

Julien, realizing how Paul's sense of fashion was screwed, gave up on finding a good name.

He accepted defeat. "Fine. For now."

Eléonore laughed. She didn't really expect the name to pass, but she welcomed it anyway.

"I love the unicorn squad already!" She said.

She then offered to shake hands;

Julien and Paul accepted.

They formed a circle by locking each of their hand to another hand.

"Welcome," Julien and Paul said.

It was a moment of friendship and bonding while the end of modern times unfolded slowly... but surely.

In this moment of grief and confusion, they formed a new bond as solid as iron.

---

The next few days were not relaxed in any sense.

Julien and Paul had introduced Eléonore to Brener, the officer in charge of managing the Espadon platoon and the three squads it was made of.

Brener was a middle-aged man already decorated for his courage in Afghanistan. He had unfortunately lost a leg while saving one of his men.

He was a veteran who was admired for the respect he inspired in his men and the trust he put in them. He was the typical image of a prominent, well-built veteran, except he didn't have a scar and had no beard.

His hair was cut short and of equal length all over his head. He adhered strictly to the military code of fashion.

Because of his injury, Brener was transferred to France's management and training position after the war. He became in charge of training the new cadets.

Then, after the upheaval that the black hole created back in January 2026, he was offered a position as supervisor for the Espadon platoon.

The position would come to trusted officers who had an ounce of sensitivity to the 5th force.

Luckily, Brener had been tested positive for this: he indeed had a predisposition to feeling the 5th force.

Just like that, Brener - 40 y.o. -obtained the unique position of supervisor of the unique Espadon platoon, a special half civil half military platoon that required no formal military to join; only unique abilities and a trusted background.

Every new recruit would be thoroughly interrogated and investigated by the Department of Foreign Intelligence.

Regarding Eléonore, it came without saying that Brener immediately approved her to join the platoon.

Firstly, he had seen her flying out of the gravity anomaly back then. So she qualified as an ability user.

Secondly, she was part of the 5th association. As the granddaughter of her co-founder, Marie Bellard, she was an asset to connect to them. So there was no problem with her background.

Thirdly, she was already a good friend of Julien and Paul. So she was already in the know and had some sort of bond with the rest of the squad.

There was really no reason to not accept her.

The life of Eléonore as a member of the Unicorn squad of the Espadon platoon started.

Why and how the teens had named their squad the Unicorn squad, eluded Brener, but he didn't care too much.

Despite her still-feeble and recovering body, Eléonore had proved very engaged from the get-go. She had attended every training and every class she could.

---

"Eléonore, you OK?" Paul asked worryingly.

"Yeah. Just tired." Eléonore replied, casting a shy smile. Despite her saying that, her face was pale.

"We've been sitting here for 4 hours already. Pretty tiring." Paul said again, all while packing his stuff.

"Yes, but I understand why we need to follow these classes," Eléonore commented.

"Military classes, I understand, since we're part of the military. But English, what the hell?" Paul looked down at his notebook, full of obscure notes on the 4 hours of English class that he had just followed on this Sunday morning.

Eléonore disapproved of Paul's remark. She argued: "Learning English IS important. It's something my grandma has always insisted on. It's a given nowadays. You know that most of the web is in English or in Chinese nowadays, right?"

Paul shrugged. He didn't care much; he was happy with his current English level, good enough to play most video games.

He looked around; Julien wasn't in his seat.

Other people around them all wore military uniforms. They were packing up to leave. Although the room was full of young adults, Paul and Eléonore were the youngest.

Paul changed the subject:" By the way, where did Julien go?"

Eléonore replied: "I saw him leaving in a rush when his phone rang minutes ago... Oh, he's coming back!"

Eléonore and Paul turned towards Julien; he was practically running towards them, phone in hand.

He wore a pronounced smile.

"Paul! Eléonore!" Julien walked to them and stopped.

He exclaimed: "I knew it! Altin must be alive!"

Paul was about to open his mouth when Julien resumed: "Wait! There's proof now. The police has omitted an important detail: They found no body part, no blood matching Altin's... they say it's impossible a blast leaves nothing behind, even at close range. So Altin wasn't caught up in the explosion. It's certain."

Paul took a moment to digest the information. He could only accept Julien's reasoning. No blood meant no hurt. Perhaps Altin was really alive. But then...

"But then, where is he?" Paul asked.

Silence ensued.