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The museum's imposing facade loomed before them, its grand entrance gate stubbornly locked. Rosita exchanged a sharp glance with Satsuki and Zoe, their carefully laid plan rehearsed just hours before, now shattering in front of their eyes. They’ve gotten intel that the AUE was sent to acquire this jewel for a superweapon of some sorts so they came to collect it first. Confusion clouded Zoe's features as she rattled the unyielding bars. They had secured official clearance for this operation, ensuring unobstructed entry, so why were the gates locked? The complete absence of any visible security only deepened her bewilderment.
"Entry or not, we need to be inside," Satsuki's voice cut through the tense silence. She twirled her left hand swiftly, and from the thick grass beneath their feet, thick, thorny vines erupted, snaking upwards and tangling around the brickwork of the wall.
As the girls began to ascend up the wall the thorns on the vines had pierced the outer skin of their hands as a light layer of Zoe’s blood covered some of them while climbing up. Zoe hopped over the wall, reaching her hand out for Rosita, and helping her leap over to then land on her feet. "Next time you make vines, make sure they’re less thorny." Zoe said to Satsuki with a scowl. Satsuki rolled her eyes as she muttered a sharp insult back at her as they continued pushing forward.
The three of them now on the opposite side of the brick wall made their way down the stonework path as they entered the museum building. Looking around they saw countless priceless artifacts from around the world. Scrolls, tombs, jewels, crowns and papers listing tales of heroes and philosophers in history as if the room itself was entrapped in a time capsule. Rosita spoke up her voice echoing in the room on high alert: “Remember to leave no traces of the mission at any cost we need to do this quickly and efficiently.” Both of them nod at Rosita’s command. The girls were all dressed in identical gear, all black form fitting jumpsuits with clear holographic glasses, silver belt buckles with their weapons on their right side. They all turned on their X-ray vision on their glasses as they began to scan the area. When they looked in the center behind the two large wooden doors with carved crowns on each door etched in gold paint they saw the jewel they were sent to acquire.
They slowly pushed the doors as they entered the large throne room. The shining white marble pillars and flooring glistened all over the room. The room was a relic in itself. Its grandeur steeped in Victorian elegance. The girls turned off their x-ray vision as they began to approach the podium holding the jewel which shone a bright red hue in the center of the room. As the girls slowly approached it the silence grew eerie; the only sounds being made were the footsteps of the trio making contact with the marble floors.
Even though they were so close to completing the mission the trio was at a loss. Something about this operation felt wrong and the aura of the room felt suspicious. Rosita knew what she had gotten into when joining the PSE, the Protective Surveillance Enforcement, an organization dedicated to safeguarding the world from the malevolent Allied Underground Empire. She knew any operation could be her last but this one felt specifically intense.
Moonlight illuminated the skylight, casting beautiful hues of red velvet and white onto the floor through the colored glass. Rosita began to approach one of the pillars when a sudden shadowed figure dashed from behind the pillar. Satsuki looks around and exclaims “It’s an ambush defensive position.” Multiple shadows began to appear from behind the pillars as the girls stood back to back with each other in a triangle position. Zoe turned her head when she noticed a sudden whip of water slammed into them in full force. Zoe grunted, blocking the hit with her forearms, but the sheer power pushed her down to the floor. Satsuki attempted to help her up when an assailant slammed his foot towards the ground as magma started to erupt from the floor suddenly. With a slight panic in her eye Satsuki managed to get to Zoe and help her back up. Rosita, seeing the bubbling magma, stomped her foot on the ground sending a blast of ice towards the magma cooling it immediately into obsidian.
Looking around the trio saw four attackers. The four assailants surrounded the podium as the magma user proceeded to put the jewel in a satchel of some kind. Zoe immediately began to sprint towards them. One of the assailants tried to blast a gust of wind at her but was immediately shot in the face with an icicle from Rosita’s hand knocking them backwards onto the ground.
The other three assailants headed towards Satsuki and Rosita; Zoe, meanwhile, kept heading towards the assailant with the satchel. The satchel assailant slammed his fist into the ground as the stone boiled and melted into a ring of magma around Zoe. She swiftly jumped out the ring, twisting into an aerial kick above the assailant and with a guttural roar unleashed a surge of fire from her mouth like a flamethrower.
On the other hand Satsuki and Rosita were cornered, fending off the attackers as best as they could. However, they were outnumbered. Rosita grabs her weapon from her belt strap; an ax handle with an ice crystal symbol engraved on it. Rosita gripped her ax handle, and with a surge of cryokinetic energy, an axe of pure ice formed, intricately engraved with heart symbols and swirls.
Satsuki struggled to summon her vines as the whole throne room was enclosed with no way to access nature that was locked behind the walls that blocked them in. She noticed the whole throne room was quickly surrounded by more assailants, now at least five. In a desperate attempt to protect Satsuki and Zoe, Rosita summoned a large ice dome entrapping the three of them to hold off against the assailants' throws temporarily.
Two of the assailants start blasting wind gusts with their hands as the one with the satchel tries to smolder the floor once more but to no avail. Rosita’s dome shimmered, ice slowly chipping away but hastily mending, holding off the relentless attacks. The assailant with the satchel and the other two wind throwers escaped out the center doors and exited the museum, as the last two assailants were still trying to break down Rosita’s dome. One of the attackers made a swift throwing motion which made a giant boulder burst from the concrete wall colliding with the dome and shattering it into hundreds of icy shards. The wall now gaped with a massive chunk missing. The trio was launched back into one of the pillars.
Zoe scrambled to her feet, her face boiling with rage, her usually vibrant green eyes now stormy with fury. She mustered all her breath to shoot, but before she could unleash it to her dismay, an attacker avoided her and kicked Zoe directly in the face, launching her backwards and hitting the wall. Satsuki turned her head to stare at the assailant who kicked Zoe as she recognized the woman. The woman turns towards Satsuki as she kicks her in the ribs, launching her across the floor. Rosita grips her axe tighter as she proceeds to start swinging at the woman. The last assailant manages to make it to the center doors and calls the woman. The woman lunges at Rosita giving her one quick punch as the last two assailants make their escape.
Zoe and Satsuki weakly got up, clutching their bruised ribs and wincing with every shallow breath. A bruise was already blooming starkly on Rosita's cheek, and her arm throbbed where she'd hit the pillar. 'They escaped,' Zoe said frustratedly, her voice tight from the pain in her nose. Satsuki, despite her rough kick, still tried to stay stoic, but Rosita could see the tremors in her hands as she gripped her side. 'Let's just return to the base, all right?' Rosita stated, her own jaw aching as she spoke. The girls limped out the building, their aching bones just waiting to collapse under their weight but this is nothing they haven’t trained for. Rosita pushes her PSE logo on her sleeve signialling a rescue chopper to come retrieve them.
The helicopter arrives after a few minutes dropping a ladder for the girls to climb on. Satsuki went up first followed by Zoe who needed more assistance from Rosita. As Rosita climbed up last, she looked around at the messed-up room. The doors still swung open, shards of glasses scattered on the floors, walls with craters in them, remnants of ash on the floor. She sighed defeatedly as she climbed up the ladder.
During the helicopter drive back to the agency, Rosita could not help overthinking the mission's failure. How would she explain this to Neveah: the constant struggles of the last few operations were holding the agency back from achieving its goal; protecting the world from the AUE. They’ve gotten into fights before, some ending up in injuries but this was something they were completely outmatched for. Rosita looked up to Satsuki and Zoe. Zoe clinging to her nose as tiny droplets of blood leaked from it, her usually bouncy brown ponytail now matted with sweat. Rosita noticed her pinching her nose as if trying to stop the bleeding. Satsuki, despite her rough kick, was still trying to stay stoic, her dark, straight hair falling across her stern face, but Rosita could hear her breathing, shallow short breaths and winching a bit as she moved.
After about thirty minutes, the helicopter landed on the helipad outside the agency base. As soon as the helicopter landed the trio exited trying to make themselves look a bit presentable before Neveah’s arrival. Neveah walked towards them with a bit of an excited look. Neveah was in her usual outfit, a stylish white suit shirt with long white pants with white heels, a pearl necklace and pearl earrings with golden nails and cufflinks.
"How did the mission go, agents? Did you successfully recover the jewel?” Neveah asked sternly. All three girls looked down, embarrassed and disappointed at the ground. Neveah's expression instantly fell flat. “Honestly, girls I expected more out of you all. Being some of the top operatives of the agency, this is extremely disappointing to see the failure of today’s mission. Your last few missions have barely been producing good results.” Neveah, noticing the girls' beaten and bruised states, decided not to tear into them any further. The four of them begin to head into the agency’s main building. Following down a long winding corridor into the main lobby. Neveah leads them to the center of the lobby pressing the giant PSE logo in the middle of the wall. The wall opens to the sides like a curtain revealing a glass elevator in the center of the wall. Inputting the code the elevator opens, and Neveah and the girls enter.
Traveling through the elevator, the girls return to their base of operations. In the corner of the room was another fellow operative by the name of Genevieve, her thick curly brown hair contrasting to the fluffy black couch she lounged on. She noticed their beaten states, and smiled smugly at them exclaiming, 'Another mission gone wrong Rose. Maybe you should take a break; you look like you need it.' Her voice oozed with sarcasm. Another operative by the name of Velvette appeared from behind Genevieve, her dark brown fixing on Genevieve with a disapproving stare."Unlike you, Genevieve, we've proven to have higher success rates on operations than you." Zoe snapped back aggressively. “Girls, stop it. This is no time for bickering. These constant mission failures are holding us back," Neveah expresses with a firm tone. All five girls nod and follow her into the next room with their mission objective table prepared with a hologram design of where their next mission will take place. Two more operatives walk in the room Artemis and Charlene. They are both talking and giggling with each other.
" Those two are always giggling around, acting like we have nothing to do," Astrid, who appeared from the dorm above them, says annoyingly. Charlotte, another operative, appeared next to Astrid " Ignore her" she exclaims quickly.
"She’s just being her judgmental self as usual." Artemis sighs. " Enough," Neveah yells. " You’re all PSE operatives, you all need to act like it." The girls look at each other with embarrassment and nod. " Now onto our next mission, I am assigning it to Genevive, Artemis, and Charlotte.
Zoe looks shocked and a bit appalled as she starts arguing with Neveah. "How come they get a new mission after we just failed one? Are you trying to rub the failure in our faces!" Neveah scowls and yells back. "THAT'S ENOUGH I'M TIRED OF RISKING MISSIONS I NEED ANOTHER TEAM I KNOW CAN PROVIDE RESULTS." All the girls looked shocked and a bit scared as they had never seen Neveah this angry, especially at Zoe. Zoe storms off to her locker, annoyed, as Neveah keeps debriefing the mission.
“As I was saying you three are to travel to the Siberian Tundra to find the rare Siberian Ice Crystals. We’ve gotten intel that the AUE is going to use them to destroy historical temples in the Middle East, but we don’t know how." Charlotte speaks up, "With all due respect, ma’am, why would my powers be useful in this situation? I don't think sand and ice mix well together." "Now is not the time to be doubtful Charlotte, go load up into the helicopter with the others and start heading towards your mission," Neveah says. All three girls nod and head to their lockers to collect their mission suits. "While those three are on their mission the rest of you are dismissed for the evening you may return to your quarters," Neveah states. After the mission briefing Rosita went to comfort Zoe after the slight disagreement between her and Neveah. Zoe lets her as she is calmer and more collected. Zoe agrees to apologize to Neveah as she follows Rosita into the main dorm with the others.
"Bye everyone," Velvette and Astrid say in unison. All the girls smile at one another and head their diverse ways. Rosita, Satsuki, and Zoe head back down the hallway and meet up with Neveah. Neveah was standing at the end of the hallway smiling as she sighed, "Honestly I would have never expected to be a mother of three at forty-three because you three are sure to be the death of me.
These constant mission failures are not like any of you at all." All three girls look disappointed with themselves. "We will do better." Satsuki states. “We have to do better.” Zoe added. Neveah nods and walks down the hallway as the girls follow her into the car parked by the building as Neveah starts to drive them home.
When they arrive home Neveah heads straight to her office with Satsuki following behind with her. Rosita and Zoe head to the kitchen to make dinner. Zoe grumbled under her breath probably about Satsuki’s perpetually serious face, a giant letdown as Zoe often called it. Rosita was not really paying attention to what Zoe was saying; she tended to be a bystander to Zoe and Satsuki’s weird “sibling rivalry.”
Zoe grabs the seasoning out of the cabinet and grabs a bag of frozen salmon from the freezer. Zoe heads to the bathroom while Rosita waits at the kitchen counter for her while scrolling on her phone. She releases how late in the evening it was with it already being 8:47 p.m. she scrolls on social media apps for a while when she gets a message from an unknown number.
She reads the message “Give up please I do not want to hurt you. From E.” E? She thought who’s E? Rosita thought and more importantly what the message could mean. Give up on what? The PSE program? So many thoughts ran through her head she did not even realize that Zoe returned from the bathroom and was talking to her. "ROSITA!" Zoe yelled to get her attention. "Yes, sorry just something caught my attention you were saying?" Rosita answered.
"Are you ready to start cooking?" Zoe asked. Rosita nods as the salmon has thawed out and she starts seasoning it while Zoe chops the vegetables and begins to sauté them. After cooking the salmon and adding the vegetables Satsuki and Neveah exit her office to eat with them. At the dinner table Satsuki is reading while Zoe is watching videos on her phone. Neveah is eating in her room and Rosita is combing her hair. After dinner Satsuki washes all the dishes to make up for not preparing dinner while Rosita heads to shower. She undresses and ties her hair in a bun before stepping in.
While in the shower she feels her confusion and worries slip away as the water runs over her body. She washes her hair as she detangles her curls as another message notification pops up on her phone. She finishes quickly only to find it was the group chat she had with the other operatives wishing her a goodnight. She responds before putting on her silk pajamas and heading upstairs to her room.
While in the frosty tundra Genevieve, Artemis, and Charlotte are climbing the side of a mountain during a snowstorm. Genevieve scouts around the area looking for rock ledges to lean onto and climb further up the mountain.
Artemis finds a loose ledge of icy rock and holds onto it while holding onto the rope around her waist and Charlotte’s waist to lift Charlotte up higher. Charlotte used her hologram scanner on the mountain walls to see any remnants of the ice crystals. A glimmering sparkle in the distance caught her eye. “Are those the ice crystals ahead?” Charlotte exclaimed excitedly.
Genevieve climbed further up the mountain to examine them to confirm their authenticity. Slowly approaching the glimmer closer and closer a loud whirring sound starts to be heard getting louder and louder as they reach the top. "Sounds like a large pack of birds or a helicopter?” Artemis exclaimed confusingly.
“Look up above us,” Genevieve shouted. Above the girls is a helicopter with two operatives above them exiting the helicopter. "Quick we need to hurry; they're making it to the crystals” Artemis states in a rushed tone. They all start heading towards the top of the mountain quicker and quicker. The whirring gets so loud until they can see the helicopter in the distance as the two operatives land on the snowy cliff top.
Artemis, being a quick thinker, grabs a vial of blood from the side pocket of her suit, freezing it into an arrow shape, and throws it towards the helicopter propeller jamming it. The whirring suddenly stops, and annoyed grunts and groans can be heard from above. “The propeller; we have to repair it quickly.” a man with a gruff voice said annoyed. “How are we supposed to repair in the middle of the fucking tundra?” a woman said with a very sarcastic tone. “Look over here.” the man with the gruff voice said. As their voices started to distance away from the girls. Taking this chance of distraction the girls climb to the top as quickly as possible only to be seen by the man and woman holding the arrow Artemis made.