The man always had fun when hunting, but that had been a particularly tiring day. Unwilling to let the fight extend any longer, he ran up to the Vajra, and in one clean motion sliced the beast's head off, exposing its (unusually close to skin) core. He charged up his Predator mode and devoured the core clean, ready for using it later. The figure a few meters away simply nodded to him and they decided to go back.
They had a really busy day, and it was time for each of them to go home and enjoy some rest.
The man ended the day eating some rations and taking a shower. After the shower, he went out of the bathroom, his black hair rising back to its normal, spiky form. After having a good meal with his sister and setting with a shower to take off the dirt of the day, he had no plans beyond drinking some coffee and maybe playing videogames for a while before going to bed and sleeping. But the sound of a rock track coming from his phone warned him he had an incoming call. The name of the caller was simply listed as "Information". Wondering what could possibly warrant that particular call, the man picked up the call:
-Yeah? What's the matter? - His deep voice resonated through the empty house, prompting his huge dog to raise its head and look at him with an almost inquiring face. The man didn't really react to that.
-I have important information. - A female voice said. It was hard to describe, but it had something that made it quite unique. Something that would send chills down the spine of most of the people, but the man wasn't average by any definition of the word, and it wasn't the first time he dealt with the woman in question.
-I had figured as much. - The man replied. - I doubt the likes of you would call someone for wishing them good nights. Right?
-Remember our deal? - The voice said, completely adamant to the man's obvious sarcasm.
-I still wonder why the hell do you ask this to me every time you call. It's not like I never fulfilled the terms, you know... I always pay up.
-Do you remember them or not? - The man couldn't avoid sighing. Being used to talk sarcastically half of the time, sometimes he actually had trouble when speaking to sarcasm-blind people. Although, it wasn't quite the woman was blind to sarcasm, she simply ignored it when she was talking business.
-Yeah, yeah, I don't want you to get nervous or anything. You get me the news no one else can get me, I pay you some hundred thousand Fenrir credits. - The man yawned. It was well past 11 o'clock of the night, and the exchange wasn't getting him anywhere. - What's the cost of this news, anyway?
-750.000 Fc for the raw news, 1.000.000 Fc for the implications. - The price was, for all intents and purposes, ridiculously high, but the man was certain that there was no other source in the world whom he could trust more, apart from his sister, maybe. He did the transaction through the special gadget that woman had left him, and then asked.
-Alright, the higher bid is paid. You'd better bring me some important news, woman.
-I always do. - The woman cleared her throat. - South America Branch was invaded by Aragami. An estimate of 78.5% of the place's population has been exterminated. - While with anyone else he'd have asked something along the lines of "How do you get info that accurate?", he already knew he wouldn't get the answer from this particular person. - The biggest point, however, is that Fenrir is trying to cover all up.
The man coulnd't give credits to what he had just heard, and barely managed to avoid spitting the coffee he was drinking.
-What do you mean, "Fenrir is trying to cover all up"?!
-Although they are still helping the Branch (in fact, they're probably giving it more help now than they ever did), they are covering up everything related to that Branch and disrupting any kind of communication from that Branch to the outer world and vice versa. They don't want negative publicity. Their public image is already too unstable. If someone realized an invasion practically killed an under-supported Branch, things wouldn't go well for the corporation. This arrived to the point that there are some that claim that they saw Fenrir destroying helicopters that were fleeing from the branch, just in hopes of hiding what is happening there from the rest of the world.
-Anything else remarkable? - The man said with a calm he was far from possessing.
-The Cleanup squads from Fenrir HQ were annihilated in the place. Also, I have dropped a message to your phone with the number of the Branch's emergency line. - The woman then hung up, and only then did the man realize how deep the problem was. Cleanup squads were composed of some of the most skilled God Eaters on the planet. If they had been annihilated...
There was no time to waste. The man had contacts, and he sent messages asking for help to everyone who he knew could be an asset for this mission. After that, he called to the number of the line. No one answered, although an automatical voice inbox told him other two numbers he could call too. He picked the one which supposedly belonged to the highest ranked God Eater in the branch. Quickly, a woman's voice answered. It was rough, and had a tone that indicated it had been through hell recently.
-Hello? - She said in Spanish. It was all too lucky that the man had lived his childhood in South America and knew Spanish well enough to speak, thanks to constant practice over the years.
-I was informed you need assistance.
-Yeah, but the best have already failed. - The man grinned, and had the situation been a bit less grim, he would have outright laughed.
-Really? Heh. You're about to find out just WHO are the best.
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