Mask

A few days had passed since everyone had returned from the airbase raid. A new operation was set to be issued in less than a day, everyone had grown cautious from the last one, morale had hit somewhat low levels.

Kanesaki wandered into the records office, waving at the officer on the desk at the entrance. He made his way through a few records, mainly on Rogue Chimera. He also accessed the military database - what he could access, at least. Eventually, he found a few records on one Chimera matching the description he was looking for:

He was described as having a long brown trench coat, creased, partially draping over a pair of dark grey trousers tucked into scuffed boots. Short, slightly curly hair and a trim, unshaven beard dusted his jawline.

This is him!

Quickly grabbing the file, Kanesaki turned to leave, but bumped into a rather tall obstacle. They turned with a slight 'Hm?' as Kanesaki saw who was blocking him.

'Sakaguchi! What are you doing here?'

The officer chuckled just a bit.

'Oh, Kanesaki! I was just going through files, looking for reports on that masked guy back at the airbase.'

Kanesaki's mind wandered, he had remembered hearing of the masked intruder, and how they massacred half a platoon of soldiers on their own.

'I see. Have you found anything on him?'

Silence took over for a brief moment, Sakaguchi looked as if he was pondering something.

'I... There's a file here on a masked killer, matches the exact description, too.'

Kanesaki stared in confusion - if it was a file on the killer, why didn't he seem pumped up about it; then the officer continued.

'But this report dates back almost three decades ago...'

Kanesaki's expression barely shifted at first, but his eyes flickered.

'Three decades?' He repeated, voice low, the weight of the words sinking in as he leaned in slightly.

His brow furrowed, not in disbelief, but in calculated concern.

There was no fear in his voice - only curiosity. But his posture had stiffened, just enough to betray that something about this didn't sit right.

'And you're sure it matches your guy?' He pondered over, voice still low, concerned.

'Positive, even down to the mask itself. Only difference is the YNS, report says that it was apparently broken.'

He handed the report to Kanesaki, who read it carefully.

Perpetrator's YNS was damaged in combat around the spinal implant, it wasn't operating. However, perpetrator was still able to recover, around the same rate as Chimera - investigations launched on YNS manufacturers across Northern Valdeia.

'Same rate... You mean-'

'Yeah, we might be dealing with another rogue. Given the time between attacks, I guess it's a gen 6, possibly gen 5.'

Still overlooking the report, Kanesaki nodded to the officer's words. 'Did they draw a weapon?'

'None. Just used a standard issue blade taken from a corpse - hence why I'm guessing a possible gen 6, but they fought and killed with this... Precision. We might be dealing with a rogue gen 5...'

The concern just grew on both their faces, some kind of freezing cold crept up their spines.

'Should we tell the captain?' Kanesaki questioned, a slight whisper in his voice, as if trying to conceal their conversation.

'I'll let him know, and I'll try to pull files on rogues, dating back from gen 5 to now.'

'I've gotta work on my stuff, but I'll look into it too when I've got time, cool?'

The two nodded to one another before turning, leaving to conduct their research - Sakaguchi left the records office whilst Kanesaki stayed, logging into one of the databases again, now knowing which case to look for. He scrolled for a while, opening a few tabs of news, witness reports and any actual files on the rogue, Tashiro Jiro.

He had found the old data logs of Tashiro's incubation and upbringing.

Code - CL7-098

Mother - [undisclosed]

Behaviour levels - standard, slight temper [requires more discipline]

Combat efficiency - efficient, useful with firearms

Researcher notes - possesses a friendship with two other Chimera, CL7-093 and CL7-099. They work well together, may prove useful in a group - must be overlooked by a superior officer for confirmation.

The logs seemed standard, nothing out of the ordinary for a Chimera, so Kanesaki dug deeper, now reading through the incident reports - supposedly the mission where Tashiro went rogue.

Mission log - #8357

Rebel patrol was spotted passing by a canyon near outpost 26. Two platoons were deployed - accompanied by four officers [2 second-class, two first-class], three Chimera and two lieutenant's.

Recon was performed prior to ambush.

Note - one Chimera [CL7-093] was found missing the night before the ambush. Upon returning, he claimed to have been scouting on his own, he was quickly reprimanded and ordered to stay with his lieutenant for the remainder of the mission.

The ambush was quick and effective.

Multiple trucks loaded with illegally owned weapons were confiscated, two out of the six were destroyed.

During the ambush, two officers [both second-class] were found deceased behind a rock formation inside the canyon, no enemies were sighted to have retreated there. CL7-093 was spotted by the corpses, covered in blood. It claimed that a masked individual came by and killed the two, yet no traces were found of a fourth individual in that area.

The Chimera was shot on sight and killed for insubordination.

The other Chimera [CL7-098 and CL7-099] showed clear signs of anger and began to kill allies. Both were shit on sight, but retreated.

Mission was successful - both Chimera are under pursuit as of this report

Mission log - end

Kanesaki rose from the chair, grabbed the files and uploaded the reports to a USB he borrowed from the front desk, now running out of the records office.

Dashing through the halls, accidentally causing an officer to drop his paperwork, Kanesaki found his way to the control room, bursting in to find Sakaguchi discussing things with Yanagi. The two gazed over at the Chimera - he seemed full of both excitement and concern.

Yanagi grinned, teeth glistening white as he shouted over.

'Hey, newbie! Something up that your captain needs to help with?'

Kanesaki found his positivity to be quite a nice relief from the constant melancholic vibes of the place.

'Captain, I have something I need to show you, Sakaguchi too.'

The two quickly wandered over, looks of intrigue filling their faces.

'Sakaguchi, did you tell him about the masked guy?' Kanesaki murmured quietly, trying to hide the conversation from their colleagues around them.

'Oh, yeah. I told him about the possibility of it being a rogue, too.'

Yanagi seemed a little confused by the two, but stayed focused regardless.

'Good. Now, this report I've got could relate to him.'

'Really!?' Sakaguchi looked down, Kanesaki's hand showing the USB.

Yanagi looked around, then back to the two. 'Let's take this to my office, you can show me there.'

***

Kanesaki showed the two the report and the connection between the masked figure and Tashiro. Sakaguchi seemed to be the most in thought of the three.

'He took out multiple troops, a first-class officer and now two second-class? These have to be the same guy, it's no coincidence.'

Yanagi sat back in his chair, pulling out a canteen and sipping away at it briefly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before speaking, adopting a more serious, deeper tone.

'Listen, all this evidence is good and all, but it's gonna have to go on hold for now. New op's coming in today, I need full focus on that, I don't wanna lose another officer out there.'

As he spoke, Sakaguchi and Kanesaki just sat in silent agreement. Now clasping his hands together, Yanagi reassumed his gleeful grin.

'Great! Now the other bases are sending their troops over here. I heard it's gonna be a big op, they're bringing two captains over!'

Sakaguchi blinked, the words hanging in the air a moment before they really hit. Kanesaki's head snapped toward the speaker, brows knitting together.

'Wait - two captains?' he echoed, voice lower, more serious.

'They don't move captains unless it's serious, let alone two.'

Yanagi chuckled to himself. 'Three! I'm going too, remember!'

The air between them tightened, the weight of what was coming slowly settling on their shoulders.

'So we're all going too?' Asked Sakaguchi, eyes now filled with determination.

'Yeah, I'm bringing Nishihara along too, as well as three platoons, commander Horiuchi will be leading them!'

As Sakaguchi nodded, Kanesaki appeared confused, muttering to himself, 'Commander Hori-who?'

The other two laughed for a brief moment, Sakaguchi patting the Chimera's shoulder calmly.

'Don't worry, you'll get to know him.'

***

By the next morning, ships from the other two bases had began flying over, each carrying their captains.

Kanesaki, Sakaguchi and Wachisaka were assigned to one outpost's captain whilst Yanagi and Nishihara went to welcome the other. As the ships rolled in, Kanesaki noticed the words graffitied on the side of the coming ship, his face immediately scrunched up into a mix of confusion, excitement and fear, a small 'Heh!' leaving his mouth.

Outpost 68

'Yasuko's outpost!!!'

Suddenly shouting out, almost in uncontrolled confusion, he proceeded to sigh in annoyance, with hints of joy mixed in.

Chapter 34 - end