5th July, Year 714 A.G.

It was a Saturday morning, Leon's first Saturday in Leviathan Quay.

He woke up late. Hunger woke him up as his stomach growled, clearly not shy of protesting its need for food.

Leon rubbed his stomach as he turned on the bed, then he saw Daren on the corner of the hotel room with his black leather backpack. He already overturned all the miniature contents inside the bag as he scrutinized them curiously.

He looked like a toddler playing with toys.

"What are you doing?" Leon rubbed his sleepy eyes and asked.

Daren raised his head from the miniaturized gadgets and looked at him. "You finally woke up". He stretched and commented nonchalantly. "Throughout the night, you were snoring like a f*cking pig. I couldn't sleep".

Leon's face froze.

Unable to retort, he glared at him and cursed. "You f*cking bastard, this is my hotel room, not yours!"

Daren chuckled, then he raised the tiny sword and showed it to him. "This is one of those gadgets of yours that fly right? I think it's also that gadget that enabled you to fly after the terrorists, right?"

Leon nodded.

Daren scrutinized the device carefully. "How is it so small?"

Seeing how genuinely puzzled his friend was, Leon chuckled. "That's all on me, Leon the indomitable!"

Daren immediately rolled his eyes. "Is it an E Rank ability?"

Leon nodded then he looked towards the corner of the hotel room where he suspected there was a hidden camera.

"I'll tell you everything when we go to my workshop".

"Ok". Daren nodded.

Ding! Dong!

Hearing the electronic door sound, Leon immediately looked towards the door then he looked towards his smartphone that was on the desk in the room.

"Davis, what's the time?"

DING!

The smartphone projected the time.

[09:18am]

"F*ck, I woke up late again". Leon grumbled. "No wonder I'm so hungry".

He stood up and in his black singlet and brown boxers and walked towards the door, wondering who came to see him at this hour.

He was a stranger in Leviathan Quay, he couldn't think of anyone familiar with him enough to come.

But the moment he opened the door, he froze.

Sergeant Tyla stood at the door with a tray of food in hand, the aroma instantly made Leon salivate.

At this moment, staring at him thoughtfully, she smiled and said. "How long do you need to dress decently?"

Noticing where she stared at, Leon looked at what he wore and his face froze again. He felt embarrassed but he was too shameless to acknowledge it.

He coughed, then he looked her in the eye and grinned. "Thanks for the food! Give me a second to change". With that, he closed the door.

Bam!

The moment he closed the door and rushed to his wardrobe, picking the single all-black attire inside, Daren inquired curiously. "Who's the beauty?"

Leon glared at him. "She's a soldier!"

"Really?" His eyes twinkled. "They're even more charming".

After changing into the clothes, Leon was about to rush back towards the door to open it when he remembered something.

He looked at Daren and cleared his throat. "Do you use a perfume?"

Daren looked at him carefully, then he answered. "Of course, how else do you expect me to pull the ladies?"

Leon forced a smile. "Borrow it to me".

Daren gave him a meaningful glance, a glance that all men understood then with a chuckle, he produced a small bottle and passed it to Leon.

That chuckle made Leon feel embarrassed as he glared at him. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing". Daren chuckled again.

Leon snorted and took the perfume, spraying a few times on his clothes before tossing it back to him then he rushed towards the door and opened it.

He flashed a smile at the Sergeant.

Sergeant Tyla didn't enter immediately, instead she scrutinized his clothes carefully and asked. "Do you have only one set of clothes?"

Once again, Leon froze.

"Pfft!" Daren almost choked from his laughter.

Leon's lips twitched, he didn't know how to respond. In the end, he laughed shamelessly. "I've just not had the opportunity to go shopping yet, I'm a busy man".

She nodded calmly in understanding, then she suggested. "Why don't I take you to a reputable clothing store to change your wardrobe? Bills on me".

"Really?" Again, Leon was stunned.

He felt like he couldn't understand her today. 'Is this the same Sergeant Tyla that I've been interacting with since?'

Seeing the look on his face, she smiled and finally entered the room which jolted Leon from his daze and made him follow behind her.

The food she brought was for only one person but of course, Daren was not just going to watch as Leon ate alone.

After introducing Daren to the Sergeant and vice versa, the two friends shared the meal, occasionally smacking their lips at how delicious it was.

After that, like Sergeant Tyla said, she really took him to a clothing store where she bought a set of 10 different clothing attires for him with 5 different colors of black, purple, brown, gray, and beige.

Leon was in a daze throughout. 'What's going on?'

He was stunned. 'What changed?'

Only after dropping the new clothing attires in his hotel room did they finally drive towards the caravan. Throughout, Daren didn't utter a single word, only winking at Leon occasionally.

Leon felt like punching him in the face.

When they arrived at the caravan, Sergeant Tyla's subordinates finally moved the crates of raw materials inside.

This time, Lieutenant Johnmark provided 10 crates. Tyla quickly explained the intentions of the Lieutenant with the crates; this time, the Lieutenant didn't just want Terra Nova 71 weapons anymore.

"By evening, we're scheduled to bring more crates".

Hearing that, Leon felt a headache coming but he didn't reject it. He relished the challenge instead as he readily agreed to it.

After that, the Sergeant looked at him. "The Lieutenant said you needed my help for a certain construct of yours".

"Yes". Leon said as he instantly entered work mode.

For confidentiality, Sergeant Tyla instructed her 2 subordinates to return to the military truck and wait for her, then she stayed behind to work with Leon.

The moment he approached his work desk and arranged his available C-5 drones on the table, Leon quickly entered the zone as he forgot Daren's presence which told Tyla that he could be trusted.

Leon quickly explained the concept of the drones to her, including why he needed the input of a NetRunner.

"You need Ghost Line to complete the construct?" Tyla was surprised.

"Yes," Leon nodded seriously. "A friend helped me modify the blueprint. With Ghost Line, the drones can turn invisible at will".

"I intend to replicate the same with the new ones that I crafted".

Once Tyla understood what she needed to do, she nodded, showing her intention to help as she waited for Leon's instructions.

Leon already had a few C-5 drones on hand. With Deconstruct, he carefully reverted the first drone back to its base construction phase and then he instructed Tyla to use her Ghost Line ability.

Neon green ADE flowed around her body, converging on her hands and then around the drone. After a few minutes of keeping at this, Leon finally completed the construct again.

The whole process didn't take more than 10 minutes.

A familiar HUD screen lit up.

DING!

~----~

[You have constructed a complete C-5 Drone!]

~----~

With Drone Control Matrix, Leon carefully controlled the drone to hover above the work desk, then with a thought, he gave the drone an order.

Instantly, something changed as silently, the drone became invisible like it was erased from existence.

Seeing this, Leon smiled. "Success!"

Sergeant Tyla was amazed. "It really worked! This is revolutionary, I don't recall the Gene Army having drones like this".

Leon smiled. "The C-5 drones is also part of the commissions that I made available to the Lieutenant, you can tell him about it".

She nodded.

Making the C-5 drones invisible was Ghostwire's idea, but it was a technology that originated from the Omnicore Federation through Parasite's sponsor.

Leon's guess was that the Federation already had invisible drones, so there was no need monopolizing the construct for himself. So long he was not selling the blueprint and only the constructs, he was ok with it.

After the first one, they worked on the other drones one at a time. Leon also took the opportunity to create a few more drones, raising the number of C-5 drones to 8 and they were all complete constructs.

After that, he looked at her and revealed a new idea to her.

In the past week in his shelter while he contemplated his next step forward, after creating the sword drones, Leon also thought of making them invisible.

And now, it was time to try and see if he could alter the blueprint and make the swords invisible. Making them invisible would make the sword drones at least 3 times more effective in battle.

It would add an element of stealth to their offensive usage.

But to his dismay, despite spending over an hour discussing and modifying the blueprint alongside the Sergeant, Leon failed to create an acceptable modified blueprint that could integrate Ghost Line.

In the end, he gave up. 'To modify this blueprint, I'll probably need to seek Ghostwire's input'. He thought.

'Afterall, he's the one who made the C-5 drones invisible in the first place'.

He felt a bit disappointed but he didn't let it weigh him down. After that, Leon expressed his gratitude to the Sergeant once more.

She smiled, then she said. "The Lieutenant wants to meet you".

"He's here?" Leon was surprised.

Tyla nodded as she led the way outside. When she opened the caravan door, Leon noticed that there was another brown military truck outside.

He looked at her then he walked towards the truck and opened the back door before entering inside. Inside, Lieutenant Johnmark was seated just across him.

"Lieutenant". Leon greeted in a respectful tone.

Seeing him, Lieutenant Johnmark flashed a smile. "My friend". He responded.

Leon waited for the Lieutenant to initiate the conversation.

After a few seconds of silence, the smile slowly faded from the Lieutenant's face as he looked outside the military truck at the bustling street outside.

Sensing his mood, Leon didn't break the silence as he also looked outside.

After about a minute, Lieutenant Johnmark finally broke the silence. "You saw the live video right?"

"The video of the terrorists?"

"Yes".

Leon nodded.

The Lieutenant smiled again. "First, let me thank you for what you did on Wednesday. When the top brass learned that I have connections to you, they made me your contact with the army and in a way, this feels like a promotion".

He sighed. "The city may seem normal but that's due to our efforts to bury the unrest underneath a mountain of propaganda".

"The protesters only stopped for now. If there's no news soon, riots may erupt around the whole city. Not just the civilians, the top brass in the army in Leviathan Quay are demanding answers".

"The whole city's on a countdown till Day 5 that the terrorists promised. Right now, the army is on a crackdown around the city".

"Not many know but we've found a few clues to the terrorists already, but we're keeping it secret". Lieutenant Johnmark's face turned solemn. "This is because we believe that there are traitors in the army ranks".

Leon was taken aback. He was no soldier but even he could understand just how much traitors could affect an army.

He listened seriously.

"Due to this reason, my direct superior, Major Roshfield is secretly assembling an elite squad on an important mission for when the clues finally lead to a location inside the city".

The Lieutenant looked at Leon then he said seriously. "I vouched for you before the Major, and she approved you to be part of this elite squad".

"If you agree, this will count towards your contribution points and I can help you ask for an advance to help with your constructs".

Hearing this, Leon's eyes instantly lit up. "I agree!"

Lieutenant Johnmark shook his head. "There's no rush, we don't yet have a date for the mission. Take your time and give me your answer by tomorrow".

Leon nodded.

"One more thing," Lieutenant Johnmark looked at him sternly. "This is a highly confidential mission, don't mention it to anybody, not even your family".

"Understood". Leon nodded seriously.

After that, he left the truck and the Lieutenant finally drove off. He also bid farewell to Sergeant Tyla who also drove off with her subordinates.

Standing alone in front of his caravan, Leon looked at the sky and observed the airbuses and Aerodynes zipping about, wondering what exactly would happen after the 5 days given by the Extremist Movement.

'Countdown huh?' He thought, eyes gleaming. 'Let's see what I can do before 8th'.

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