April 7, 2050 - 05:50
West of Da Nang, Vietnam - Black Angels Division Facility
Pvt. My Phan
"That concluded the debrief for this operation. You guys have the weekends off to get some R&R before you're back on call." Luna concluded the meeting and turned off the projector.
The room was then filled with a chorus of tired groans and creaky chair shifts as people got up from their seats and filed out of the conference room. My was in better shape than most others, but one could only stay up for so long before their body and brain start slumping and shutting down. She walked out of the conference room and grouped up with her squad, all of whom were just hanging out in the hallway along with Harrison.
"… There were some hiccups, but I think we can call your first mission a success." Harrison complimented.
There were a few murmurs exchanged and fist bumps here and there.
"Peter, good call at the start to remain stealthy. Max and Katya, you guys did great supporting with the drones and precision hits. Edric, Luis, Enzi, Chisato, Long, good job taking out those goons and holding back the enemy's backup. Kasem, good job noticing and neutralizing those bombs. If it weren't for you, I might have to do a lot of paperwork for the next few weeks."
"Yeah, I was mostly just saving my own ass, but you're welcome for me saving your asses, and you, captain, from your paperwork," Kasem replied, to which he got a few dry chuckles from the team.
My went up from behind Harrison and slapped him on his back.
"Ouch… I'm old, My. Any harder and my back would break." Harrison complained.
"Uh huh, and yet you still haven't retired from this job."
"Someone has to look over you; otherwise, you'd mess everything up, or worse. Hell, you almost got your ass kicked by the enemy's HVT."
"If it weren't for the backup interrupting us, I'd kick her ass eventually." My pouted before glancing away.
Harrison shook his head before looking back at the team.
"Now I've held you guys here for long enough. You guys can go and take a rest for the rest of the weekend. Or, if any of you still have energy, I know this one Pho place in the city that opens all day, and it's pretty good."
"I'll take you up on that offer, captain," Peter replied
"Same here, I'm starving." Long also agreed.
"Sure, I'd love to try out some Vietnamese food." Enzi also took the offer.
Chisato briefly glanced at My to gauge for her reaction. My noticed and nodded to Chisato.
"Sure, if My's going, I'll go too." Chisato acknowledged.
"Wow, look at you two; it's just been more than a month, and you two are already like a couple of inseparable lovebirds." Long teased.
"You're the one to talk. I still see you staring at us girls after workouts or after the shower." Chisato quickly fired back.
"What can I say? Could you blame a man for admiring some beautiful flowers in a garden?"
"Oh my god… you're so cheesy." Chisato blushed as she looked away, pretending to be angry.
"Hell yeah, bro, we be out here admiring some beautiful flowers." My immediately offered Long a fist bump.
"Hell yeah, girl, we admiring." Long offered his fist in return.
"The both of you…" Chisato sighed while still blushing.
Harrison watched the situation with a hint of amusement before asking again.
"Anyone else want to take up the food offer?"
The rest of the squad rejected the offers, either because they were tired and wanted to catch up on sleep or for other unannounced reasons. The group then split into two, one heading for the restaurant for some food, the other heading back to the dormitory.
After parting ways with the other half of the squad, Harrison then offered to drive the group to the city, which, to no one's surprise, all of them took him up on the offer. Harrison led the group out of the building and into the parking lot, passing through rows upon rows of cars before stopping at his. The whole group grasped when they saw the car, except for My, who knew already, and Chisato, who was evidently not into cars.
"Goddamn, sir. A Lunardelli Romero?" Long exclaimed after seeing Harrison's car.
"Yep, didn't expect to see that here in Vietnam, huh?" Harrison smirked as he unlocked the car.
"The newest 2050 model? How much did this even cost, captain? How much do you make?"
"More than enough. Come on, stop gawking and hop on in." Harrison opened the driver's door and got inside.
It took the group a while to stop gawking at the expensive imported SUV and get into the car to go get their breakfast.
The drive took about an hour to get from the PMC base to the city, plenty of time for the group to talk to each other. At first, they talked about Harrison's car, then just about cars in general, before somehow derailing to a conversation about how much cable it would take to fill an Olympic-size pool. No one in the car had any idea how or why the conversation derailed so hard, but it did a good job keeping the spirit up and keeping Harrison awake during the drive. They arrived at the location of the restaurant just shy of seven o'clock, just about time for people to get out of their houses and start their work commute.
"Alright, here we are. The best Pho restaurant in the city." Harrison turned off his car and stepped out.
My stepped out of the car after Harrison and helped her friends get out of the back seats. Once everyone was out, they all checked out the restaurant. It was a quaint restaurant named "Pho King", nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary. The front of the restaurant was packed with motorbikes parked all over the sidewalks, and similarly, the inside was also packed with customers, all chowing down their food.
"Damn, this place is full of people. Will we even be able to find space for our group?" Enzi asked.
"Don't worry, big man, people come and go fast in Vietnam," Harrison answered.
"I'm getting hungry just from the aroma," Peter commented.
"I'm getting horny just from the name of the place." My said in her usual unhinged manner.
"What?" Everyone blurted out in unison, while Harrison could only sigh, and Chisato slapped the silly girl on the back of the head for the joke.
It didn't take long until they spotted a group of customers vacating their tables and the waiters quickly cleaning that table up. Harrison led the group to the vacant table and settled in. One of the waiters quickly handed them some paper menus and cold tea before walking away again.
All of them took a look at the menu before waving back the waiter and giving them their food order. As soon as they finished their order, the seven o'clock A.M news came on one of the TVs in the restaurant. After a short jingle, a pair of male and female news anchors appeared. At first, no one paid attention to the news at all, even the mercenary group, though more so because they had just received their food and were chowing down. It wasn't until one of the news anchors was interrupted during their usual reporting and the breaking news banner was plastered across the screen that the mercenaries' attention was caught.
"We've interrupted your regular news schedule to bring you this piece of breaking news. Earlier today, Da Nang city's police force conducted a raid on warehouse number 30 at Tien Sa port, under suspicion of criminal activities related to drugs and weapons trafficking. The raid was conducted from around 12 A.M to 2 A.M, resulting in numerous casualties among suspects but no casualties among the law enforcement force. All surviving suspects were apprehended, and all illegal cargo was seized. Head of Da Nang's police department, Major General Trần Đức Sơn, has announced to the public that the raid this morning was 'the single largest drug and weapon bust since the end of the Third World War, all thanks to the effort of all the investigators, who had worked hard on finding the hidden criminal hideout, and the bravery and skills of the local police force and SWAT units'. The city's Chairman will have a press conference later today to address this event…"
Harrison was the first one of the group to peel off the news to get back to his food, all while snickering at what he had just heard.
"You guys heard that? You're with the police force now." He chowed down some pho before continuing. "The brave part and the skill part, though, they got that part right."
"Why do they say that it's the police and not us?" Long asked.
"Either to boost their own reputation, hide the fact they didn't know about a huge criminal cell hiding in the city, or keep the PR about the city being safe. Could be a combination of all of them." Enzi answered before Harrison could.
"Yep, what Enzi said. Though, from what I know from the boss lady, the Chairman ordered it to be taken care of quietly." Harrison added.
"Well, it was relatively quiet. Considered Kasem did a good job defusing those bombs." It was Peter's turn.
"Yep, as far as I'm concerned, that's quiet enough, and a job well done from you guys."
"Especially Kasem, since we're still here if it weren't for him." My said.
Everyone in the group hummed and nodded in agreement. Peter slurped up his pho before looking at My with an inquiring look.
"Though, I'm still curious about your situation with that woman back then. I know you debriefed your encounter with her, but I wanted to hear more details."
"Wa' el' is der to add?" My answered with her mouth stuffed full of pho.
Chisato giggled at the ridiculous sight of My trying to talk with her mouth full, while Harrison was being a typical dad, tired of his immature kid. Long was also enjoying the ridiculous sight while Enzi was still enjoying his food.
My took her time to swallow her food before continuing the conversation.
"That woman said she wanted to fight, then we fought, had a whole kerfuffle before you asked me to assist you on the comm. All I did was just ask her nicely to take the hostage, and she agreed."
Peter was visibly confused and trying to wrap his head around the info.
"Then she just left after you asked?"
"Yep, just straight up left through one of the paths."
My could see Peter quietly mouthing 'what the fuuu-' and Harrison patting him on his back while telling him to 'get used to it'. Knowing Harrison and all the stories he used to tell her, he had definitely seen some stranger things during his military years. All the stories about people he had met during his operations, how eccentric, peculiar, quirky, and all the other types of buzzwords people could be. There was something about the way Harrison told his tales and the sheer ridiculousness of the tales that stuck with My. Hell, the reason Luzia even gave My that rare and expensive gun for her birthday was that My kept going on about the legendary assassin and all of his feats, something she learned from Harrison.
My didn't know how long she was in her own thought, but it was long enough for everyone to finish their meal and for Chisato to tap My out of her daydream. My looked around the table, only to find it was mostly empty, with her girlfriend the only one staying back.
"Hey My, Harrison was asking what your plan was," Chisato asked.
"Wha… oh, right, we have a few R&R days."
"Yeah, the guys wanted to get back to base to rest and catch some sleep, and Harrison's going to drive them back. He just needed to know what your plan was."
My thought for a moment before grabbing Chisato's hand and smiling at her.
"How about we spend the day sightseeing? You haven't been around the city a lot, and I don't want to fuck up my sleep schedule, so we could go grab some coffee before going around the city. What do you say?"
Chisato didn't hesitate at all and answered right away.
"Sounds like a good plan; I'd love to see more of the city."
"Alright, let's get out of here."
My and Chisato got up and started walking out of the restaurant, but before they could get out of the restaurant, a waiter called out to them.
"Miss… Miss… Please pay for your meal."
My wasn't the one to be surprised often, and this was one of the rare occasions that caught her off guard.
"Wait, I thought they'd pay already?"
"Oh, Harrison told you to pay for the whole group." Chisato had a half-hesitated, half-smiling expression as she told My.
Chisato wasn't sure why Harrison made My pay for the whole group to begin with, but seeing My's flabbergasted face was entirely worth it.