HALF: Dead nor Alive

Archie and the others went to the headquarters to ask Marlon’s permission to get the chemical. Ruby said there were a lot of them in the laboratory and waited to be used, but after knowing they were going to abandon the continent, there were no reasons for them to use them anymore. Ruby believed that Marlon would give them to her since they would be thrown away sooner or later.

On their way to the headquarters, they saw Fanheim was talking with the generals. He looked in Archie’s direction and waved his hand at them, they decided to approach him and listened to what he had to say.

“Are you guys free?” Fanheim asked.

“We have something important ongoing, Sir, do you need help with something?” Ruby asked back.

“The three of you?” Fanheim asked as he pointed at them he then squinted his eyes and smiled. “I can see that something is going on here, what are you guys up to?” he continued.

“We are going to ask Marshall Marlon’s permission to get some chemicals in the laboratory,” Ruby answered.

“Oh? What a coincidence that I’m also planning to go to the laboratory.” Fanheim said. “After you guys have done getting that chemical from the laboratory, can you stop by to the second hall in the laboratory? There’s something that I want to show you guys,” he asked.

The three of them were looking at each other for a moment then Ruby nodded with understanding. “We will be there when we are done, Sir,” she said.

“Perfect, I will be waiting,” Fanheim said with a smile on his face then went to the laboratory with the generals.

“What do you think that he wants to show us that it involved all the generals?” Vincent asked.

“I think it’s something important because it’s never good news if all the generals are involved,” Ruby answered. “Anyway, let’s get going because we have to meet Fanheim in the laboratory,” she continued and then the three of them went inside the main building in the headquarters.

Ruby went to Marlon’s office to discuss the possession of the chemical, and it didn’t take that long until Ruby got permission to grab 55 gallons of Hydrofluoric acid. The three of them immediately went to the laboratory to grab them and visited the second Hall to meet Fanheim.

After getting the Hydrofluoric acid from the storage, Vincent pulled the drum with the manual forklift. Unfortunately, because the second hall of the laboratory was on the second floor they had to leave it downstairs.

The three of them went upstairs and saw Prince and Resse standing in front of the generals. Ruby and Vincent looked at each other and they both had the same bad feeling about this. Archie looked around and could sense a living parasite on the second floor but the preset was so faint that he barely sensed it.

“You guys are here because of Colonel Fanheim?” Ruby asked as she looked at Prince and Resse.

Prince looked at her and shook his head. “No, we are summoned here by Marshall Marlon,”

“So, what’s going on here? Do you guys know anything?” Ruby asked.

Both of them shook their heads. “We just got here as well, so we don’t know yet and Marshall Marlon didn’t tell us anything and just told us to go here,” Prince answered.

“Oh, you guys are here already?” Fanheim said as he walked the hallway. “Come, follow me,” he continued and the generals were walking next to him then Archie and the others followed them from behind.

They entered a big room with a giant square table in the middle, the walls were covered with skeletons of parasites. Fanheim sat down with the generals next to him, he then told Archie and the others to sit down in front of them.

Fanheim had been holding a clasp envelope in his hand and then he put it on the table then slid it to the other side. Ruby grabbed it and looked at it for quite a while then she looked at the others with curiosity.

“It’s a top-secret document that has been sitting in the drawer for decades, why don’t you guys read it first and we will enlighten you about it after,” Fanheim said.

Ruby opened the envelope and saw a few papers, she looked at them and the content was the same so she gave one each to the others. Archie looked at it and read the content, the content was about the landing site that they found in FalCon-3. A landing site that the witnesses saw during their investigation 60 years ago, and 2 years before that, they witnessed an unknown object coming down from the sky.

The information in the document was so little that it was so hard to understand what it was about and what it was for. Ruby looked at Vincent then she looked at Prince and Resse who were confused by the document they read. She then looked at Archie who furrowed his forehead as he read the document as if he knew something about it. Of course, Archie had a hunch about what the unknown object was, and that might be the beings that came down after they chose a Drautnir.

“What is this, Sir?” Ruby asked as she flapped the document in her hand.

“That’s something we believe that the landing site and whatever that object that landed there is something that doesn’t belong to this world,” Fanheim said. “At first, we thought that the landing site was nothing or something ancient but then we received information from other nations that on each Fallen Continent, there’s one that looks similar to what we have here,” he continued.

Ruby and the others were looking at each other with surprised expressions.

“As you can understand why the document is a top-secret, and with the current situation that we are having, we believe that this site might have a connection to this,” Fanheim said as he rested his hands on the table and looked at them with a serious expression. “We don’t know much about the landing site, but the witnesses who saw it, they killed themselves a week after the discovery. Not just the ones from here, but the witnesses from the other nations as well,” he continued.

Ruby put down the document and looked at the generals and Fanheim. “So you want us to investigate the landing site, Sir?” She asked and gulped nervously.

Fanheim looked at the generals and they were all nodding in agreement. “The landing site is quite far but we believe you guys can make it there since there hasn’t been any activity in FalCon-3 ever since the horses attack the city,” One of the generals answered.

“I know that you guys are unwilling to go there because of the fact all of the witnesses killed themselves, but as I said earlier that this might have something to do with the current situation that we are having right now,” Fanheim said. “Also, you don’t have to worry because we are all going to enter FalCon-3 to gather resources for making the ship, so you guys are not alone in FalCon-3. While we are gathering the resources, the four of you will be doing the secret mission to investigate the landing site,” Fanheim explained.

Ruby looked at the others and they all seemed okay with it because they don’t believe in something superstition. “I see, and when do you want us to go for this secret mission?” She asked.

Fanheim leaned on the chair as he exhaled deeply. “Two weeks from now,” he answered. “Can you guys do it? We don’t have anyone who is capable enough for this mission but the four of you and I believe that you guys can handle this after what you saw in the north,” he continued.

Ruby looked at Archie and waited for his response, Archie looked at her and nodded slightly. Ruby nodded and looked at Fanheim. “Understood, Sir, we will accept this mission,” she answered.

Fanheim smiled with relief. “Perfect! We will prepare everything that you need for the mission later. Now that we are done here, you guys are dismissed,” he said.

All of them nodded and left the room and went downstairs.

“So, Archie. Do you know anything about this?” Ruby asked and the rest of them were staring at him with curiosity.

“I do, yeah, it’s something that you might not believe,” Archie answered ambiguously.

They were all looking at each other with confusion. “Like what?” Resse finally asked as she glanced at Archie.

“I can’t describe it with words, but one thing for sure is that whatever that we are going to see at the landing site, I hope that nothing bad is going to happen to all of you,” Archie said as he looked at them with a serious expression. “So, prepare yourself because I can’t do anything once we entered the landing site,” he continued as he looked forward.