Waking up from his sleep, Robert gently rubbed his eyes to get rid of anything that might have been in them before staring over at his roommates bed, seeing his long legged partner seemed to still be sleeping. They had been working a bit hard for the past few days so it was understandable if he slept all day. He soon got out of bed and picked out his clothing for the day before dragging himself to their bathroom to shower. The hot water felt like bliss to his morning body, pelting all of the stress he may have felt from his punishment from his little event in Future City. Robert had remembered It had been a few days since he and his partner Elliot had given there reports on what had went down in Future City. Most couldn’t believe that had taken on criminals already without a problem and on the territory of the Happo army as well, even though that was a mistake. They had been felt some punishment for infringing on another organizations territory but somehow, their little adventure managed to spread and they both had gotten a bit more respect with the other recruits in their base. Even some of the commodore in the building where impressed and more than likely believed that they could be ready for more than just patrolling missions.

“Robert Weiss, report to Commodore Eric’s office immediately” the sound blasted through the barely awake base, scaring Robert just a little. It was pretty early to be calling him to the office but as a marine officer he should know that he really has no days off. He hurried and finished cleaning himself before quickly throwing on his clothes, doing his daily hygiene routine and grabbing his favorite marine jacket just in case he would be heading out into the snowy island. What could Commodore Eric want with me? Robert said as he exited the room, making sure to close the door softly so that he didn’t wake up his sleeping roomie. Commodore Eric was one of the most ruthless higher ups in the base. He spared no one when they messed up and never gave anyone the time of day if he didn’t feel like being bothered. He was also the one that would hand out the punishments when they messed up and had been the ones to give him and Elliot their punishment. Whatever it is, I just hope that it isn’t one of his punishments He continued as he navigated through the various hall ways to reach his destination.

Robert finally reached the door of Commodore Eric and knocked on the door, gulping a little to what might happen when he walked in. “Come in” the stern voice of Commodore Eric sounded through the door commanded and Robert followed it, swinging the door open not too many seconds after. “You’re late, Weiss” Eric said as he sat, his dark blue eyes ripping into the young boy. “Sorry sir, I was in the shower when I was called!” Robert said as he stopped a few meters away from the Commodores desk, making sure his posture was as straight as a pencil and that his hands lay flat at his side. He tried to sound as respectful as he could to his higher up, mainly out of the fear if he didn’t Commodore Eric might have chewed him out. The dark haired man just looked at Robert, no emotions showing as he looked the young man up and down. The commodore chose not to respond for a minute and the air around them became a bit tense as Robert kept his tight stance.

“Mr.Weiss” Eric said calmly, his eyes still staring into Robert like daggers as he began to stand up. The commodore stood at an amazing height of 6’7”, he may not have been as tall as Elliot but the man had such a presence that it seemed like he was even taller. If Robert was to be honest, the man did scare him. He slowly made his way to the front of his desk, standing directly in front of it in the direction of Robert, their faces staring into one another’s. “I’ve called you in here today because I have a mission for you” his superior would say rather flatly. A mission? Robert thought to himself as he looked at Eric, what kind of mission could it be? It had to be important as Eric had called him in this early about it. “What kind of mission, sir, if I may ask” Robert said as he gazed back and forth from the ceiling to the scary gaze of Eric.

“It’s a rather simple one I think someone of your low calibur can handle” His sentence didn’t really answer his question and in turn annoyed Robert just a bit but he said something as he waited for his real answer. “It’s a simple check in with one of the Marine’s informants in a city not too far from here called Cellulite City” Eric said rather quick. A check in with an informant of the marines? Was this a joke? Robert couldn’t see himself in anyway getting a job that was rather small but of a big importance. If Robert did take the mission, he would probably learn some big news to share with Elliot. Maybe this could be his big break into the real good stuff of the navy! But his stomach was filled with butterflies, he was quite nervous with such an important mission laying in his hands now.

“So will you do it, Mr. Weiss?” Eric said with a sort of pressuring tone, it was like he had no chose but to do it. “Yes sir I will!” Robert said loud and clear, taking a saluting stance while doing so. Eric just grinned a little before talking again “good, now go back to your door and put these on” Eric went back around to his desk and pulled out a simple brown shirt, black pants and a hooded black cloak. Why did it feel strange that Eric had these already prepared? Maybe because it was but he didn’t think much more into it as he grabbed the clothes from the commodores hand. “After you put these on, come right back here so that I can brief you on where to go and where to find the informant” Eric said spat “and one last thing, don’t tell anyone including Elliot about this mission or else Mr.Weiss” He said with an almost threatening tone as he finally dismissed the young marine, Robert quickly leaving as he did so. As he walked back to his room with the clothing in hand, he simple thought about the last words Eric said to him, making him realize that the mission was more important than he had thought at the time. Fear coursed through his veins a little as he didn’t know if he could actually go through with it but he had already said no and he didn’t want to go back on his word.

He quietly entered the room to see his buddy still fast asleep, snoring just enough to make Robert want to laugh. So he wouldn’t keep
Eric waiting for too long, he quickly changed in their bathroom. He did ,however, realize how long it had been since he wore civilian clothes like this, as every since he became a marine he wore his uniform. His outfit seemed to be shady as well but since it was a mission to meet with someone who has important information, he knew it wasn’t best to wear something that everyone would notice. Almost forgetting that he had someone waiting, Robert quickly shook his head and dismissed any further thoughts on his look and simply hustled his way out of his room once again and towards the office of the commodore, let’s hope that his instructions weren’t too hard for Robert to follow.

——

A moderate amount of snow feel on Karakuri as Robert left the base. Eric had briefed him for about thirty minutes on what to do, where to go and the password to get the informant to trust him. It all seemed like a lot but for right now all Robert really had to remember was to head east towards Cellulite City, where the informant would be waiting for him. It seemed that the place was sort of special, seeing as Eric told him that only a few hours out of the day that it isn’t completely shut down by crazy snow flurries that frequent the city more than any other place on Karakuri Island. The strange timing of flurries around the village was also what made Eric call Robert to the office so early, giving him enough time to prepare and head out just as the flurries were ending.

Robert pulled out a map given to him by the Commodore, the way to Cellulite City being highlighted so that it was easier for the ensign to follow and remember. After studying it for a minute Robert folded it up, put it in his pocket and finally set off to his missions destination. As the young marine walked closer and closer towards his desired destination, he became a bit more nervous again. The thought of this being a very important mission and that if anything happened would result in a whole world of mess. The boy was also pondering on why he had been chosen for this mission, he knew a few other recruits that could do something like this without overthinking it like him. Hell, he even thought Elliot could probably do a better job than him but it was he who had the job.

He eventually had to block out all thoughts while walking so that he wouldn’t continue to overthink everything, only thinking of his surroundings and where he needed to go. About an hour passed since he had left the base and everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly until an eerie feeling of being watched hit him as he was reaching the final pathways to Cellulite City. He looked around a few times too see if he could possibly see anyone but all he could see was a White Sea if snow. Maybe his thoughts had made him paranoid but it wasn’t everyday he felt like being watched. Since he couldn’t see anyone or anything besides himself in his vicinity, he just kept the feeling in the back of his head and hoped that he was just being paranoid.

About thirty minutes later, Robert finally reached where he needed to be, Cellulite City. He could tell by the “Welcome to Cellulite City” sigh that was posted not too far from the entrance. “Remember Robert, don’t mess up” he told himself as a loud crunch sounded from behind him. “Huh” Robert said as he quickly turned around to see what it was but saw nothing once again. Things where starting to get a bit strange but he had something to do so he couldn’t stay focused on the thought for too long.

Robert made his way into Cellulite City and was a little disappointed, It wasn’t as huge or as beautiful as Future City as he hoped it to be. Common building materials seemed to be used to make the buildings that lay throughout the small city unlike Future City that used mainly steel and glass for a very futuristic look. Also from what Robert could tell as he walked deeper into the City was that most of the buildings seemed to actually be laboratories, counting 5 of them as soon as he walked in and more as he walked down. It shouldn’t have been to big of a surprise though, as Commodore Eric did tell him that Cellulite City was more or so a workshop City for scientist and doctors from all around the world. Another thing that he noticed was that there wasn’t many people out and about in the city and those who were seemed to be rushing to get to somewhere. “What a strange place” Robert said as he began to pull more information from Eric in his mind. Eric told him his destination would be about 10 meters into Cellulite City and would look like a giant storage space with a green roof.

As he finally approached the ten meter mark, Robert looked around for the building that was described to him and found it to the right of where he stood, only about five meters away from his position. It took no time for him to find his way to the building, taking an ally on its side to look for a door that lead into it. Once he found it, Robert knocked on the door three times in a specific beat that he was told too so that the informant could know it a member of the navy he needed to met. A small space for the eyes was built on the door and soon a pair of sparkling green emerald eyes looked down on his cloaked face. “Password?” Ah yes, Eric did tell him he would need a password too just in case. “Blow your whistle, whistleblower” Robert said as the door made a sound and swung open, allowing him to step inside from the snow and cold.

When Robert made his way inside he  took off his hood and noticed that the informant was a very muscular male with a giant scar across his face. The man also seemed to be wearing a cloak like him with all black clothing. The man’s emerald eyes just tore into Robert as he looked at him, almost as if he was disappointed. “They sent a kid?” His voice was filled with amusement as he shook his head, it was like he couldn’t believe that sent someone like Robert on the mission. “I think you need to go home kid, the information I have should not be in the hands of a punk like you” The guy said as he did a motioning gesture for Robert to go back without what he came for. This annoyed Robert a bit, as he had just had to walk over an hour and thirty in the freezing cold to come to a city foreign to him on a mission for his superior. He wasn’t going back empty handed.

“I’m not just a kid, I am a marine and was specially chosen by Commodore Eric to come here and get the information you need to provide them with” Robert spat out with a bit of anger “so weather you like it or not I’m leaving without with what I came for” he finished saying as he looked the man straight into his beautiful eyes. The two had a staring contest for a second “fine, I’ll tell you what I know punk” The man shifted his stance a little before talking again “to start off my name is Erin and I am a spy in the revolutionary army”. Revolutionary army? He hadn’t ran into one of them before today and only knew that they where enemies of the marines and the world alike. “From what I’ve been seeing, they are building weapons with massive destructive power but have yet to complete them but for a reason” Erin cleared his throat and looked Robert dead in the eye with a more serious face than he had ever seen. “They plan to come to Karakuri not too long from, exactly four days from now, to kidnap a marine personnel to help them do so” as Erin spoke Robert couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Revolutionaries where coming to the island soon and he was no where near strong enough to fend them off. “One last thing, I believe that the base where you are from has a mol..” Erin’s words suddenly stopped.

“Erin?” Robert said before the man fell down to the ground, motionless with a dagger stuck in his back. Robert was so shocked from seeing Erin’s dead body he almost missed another cloaked figure starting to make a run towards the front door of the building after killing the informant. Robert couldn’t believe the informant was just killed in front of him but he couldn’t just stay still. Using Soru, Robert caught up with his enemy in no time as they were not that fast and appeared in front of them grabbed them by the neck, keeping them from moving. A lone light shone over the two as Robert made the culprit take off their hood, revealing the face of a teenage girl. “Why did you kill him, how did you get here!?” Robert asked aggressively, how did someone even know they where here? The girl laughed loudly and looked at Robert “Because he was revealing our secrets and we couldn’t have that” her voice was light yet stern “and I can thank you for leading me here” she said before quickly moving her hand, making Robert think she was going to attack but Instead pulling out a vile from her pocket and ingested the contents, going limp and cold soon after.

What had just happened? Someone had just killed their informant then killed themselves and from the way she was talking, she worked for the Revolutionary army. Robert didn’t know what to do or how to feel about what just happened, it was all something he had never seen before and he knew that he wasn’t if he stayed here any longer. Dropping the body to the ground, Robert put his hood on and quickly exited the building, making haste towards the base he was so far from. He hoped that no one else was following him and that he could get the information of the incoming revolutionaries and the mole within their base. Was this his introduction to the real dangers of the world outside of the four blues?

-Exit-