Editing City Series:Volume6d Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

The sun shined down through a dry easterly wind.

With the blue sky above and the red ground below, the wind arrived at some white and gray structures.

The gray was a long runway and the white were the several buildings at the end.

The wind swept across the white letters spelling out “USIF Arizona – Area 001” on the runway.

The wind crashed into a building, making its white wall creak before blowing in through the windows.

There were no lights on within the large space inside.

The wooden building was the mess hall for the AIF’s US branch. There weren’t many people inside. But the wind passed ticklishly between the few people who were there and then gently settled down.

At the same time, the clock on the north counter began to ring on the hour.

It rang four times.

The loud ringing was joined by the rustling of dry clothing.

The ten or so people in the mess hall were all wearing gray military uniforms and they were now headed toward the counter. Toward the table placed below the clock on the counter.

Their eyes all gathered on the table for a brief moment. The table was big enough for eight, but only two people sat at it. They sat on opposite sides, facing each other.

One was a large elderly man. He had short, gray hair and two prosthetic arms.

The other was a well-built middle-aged woman. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a green flight jacket.

Several cards were lined up in front of the woman.

She spoke while viewing the face up cards.

“Two weeks have passed since Hazel accepted that request from the Allies. Do you think she arrived in Germania today? To give Berger his orders from the Allies.”

The man nodded once and then raised his right arm to place it on the table.

The table creaked below the large metal prosthetic.

But he ignored that as he extended a metal finger to tap one of the lined-up cards.

It depicted a group of people in black with another person standing above them holding seven reddish-black stars.

“Corelle, what’s this card?”

“I know you know that already, Pale. It’s Noisy Card #5, the Disavatar. Those are the people above Hazel.”

Pale pulled his arm back, frowned, and crossed his arms.

Corelle hit him with more words.

“I get that the Allies want Berger’s help as a guide for their bombing of Hamburg on the 24th. After the success of Cologne, why wouldn’t they? But doesn’t it seem odd for the Allied European HQ to personally name Hazel as the one to send that dumbass his orders?”

“…”

Pale said nothing and Corelle stared at him with puzzlement in her eyes.

He kept his frown as he looked back at her with his one eye.

She shrugged.

“There’s something else I’ve found odd. Pale, ever since you returned from Borderson last year, you’ve been awfully interested in that girl.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“When you’re in your fifties, it makes you look like a pedophile.”

“Sounds like you want to die.”

“I’m only kidding. You’re supposed to laugh at women’s jokes even when they aren’t any good. It’s called being polite.” Corelle gathered up the cards on the table. “But back to Hazel and her current mission. Ever since Borderson last year, I get the feeling you and M. Schrier have been hiding something about her.”

“Me? What would I be hiding about the AIF’s best Tuner?”

His response was answered by a solid clack as Corelle tapped the deck of cards against the table to straighten them out.

The pleasant but neurotic sound repeated itself a few times as she asked a question.

“I know the Geheimnis Agency is doing everything they can to get their hands on Hazel. But she isn’t stupid. Even if they do abduct her, she’s already made up her mind about what to fight against and what to follow in this war. She’s not a little kitten who will do whatever someone tells her to do.”

“But it would invigorate them if they acquired their Messiah.”

“So you want to eliminate that possibility? What a lame excuse.”

Corelle’s expression changed from confusion to a smile.

She took a quick glance around at the soldiers looking their way.

“Everyone here has had their life saved or been rescued from a tight spot by Hazel’s Tuning on more than one mission. She’s done a bang-up job ever since she survived Cologne last year.” The smile left her face. “Why don’t you trust the woman who has done so much for the AIF, Pale? Do you have reason to think Hazel of all people would betray her beliefs and oppose us if the Geheimnis Agency got her?”

Pale said nothing, but that didn’t stop Corelle.

“I hear you and M. Schrier negotiated with the Allies to keep Hazel away from Germania, but the Allies hinted they would refuse to let us join any future operations if we didn’t send her. Why was the bet raised so high over just one Tuner?”

“Don’t believe all the silly rumors you hear.”

“Hazel is too easygoing for her own good, so it’s up to the older generation to worry for her. …She was ecstatic that she could bring Berger the serum for those Live bullets. She legitimately thinks she will simply hand that off to Berger and then be rescued by an Allied aircraft on the Swiss border.”

“…”

“I hear the Allies have already contacted Berger once and they chose a hideout in Germania for their rendezvous point. He’s expecting ‘a contact’ to arrive with his orders the day after he arrives at the hideout.”

Corelle paused there.

She looked away from Pale and at her left hand holding the cards.

“Why were the Allies so insistent on Hazel doing this? Why were you and M. Schrier so insistent on hiding her? Is this about the bombing of Hamburg? Is it to keep her out of the Geheimnis Agency’s clutches? Or-”

“I can tell you one thing.” Pale cut her off. “M. Schrier and I are not in league with the Allies here.”

“In that case,” said Corelle, pulling a card from the deck. She flipped it upside down and slammed it onto the table in front of her. “M. Schrier told me something this morning. Operation Gomorrah, the upcoming bombing of Hamburg, is an experiment for the bombing of Germania planned for August. The data acquired there will be used for the ACBS being developed by the Allies and for the new bomb being developed at Detroit.”

She viewed the card in front of her.

“With every tick of the clock, we approach the moment in August when the world’s History Lives end. He said if I have the will to fight the destiny I’ve seen in the cards, I need to join the Allied 8th Aerial Fleet as a support craft during Operation Gomorrah.”

“The will to fight?” echoed Pale.

Several other sounds filled the mess hall then.

The sounds of chairs moving and of people standing, walking, and running.

Among it all, Corelle placed the card on her hand.

She flipped it over.

A ring of people had formed around them and they groaned when they saw it.

It depicted a naked man and woman sleeping back to back on a waveless beach.

“Noisy Card #13, Laziness. It indicates stagnation and decline.”

“Are you saying that’s our fate?” asked Pale.

He was answered by some sighs in the surrounding people, but Corelle smiled a little.

“Don’t be silly, Pale. I’m the only one who flipped it over just now. This is my destiny – our destiny. But…listen, Pale. If you can turn us into a proper team, then we can change this destiny. Add your own destiny on top of this, and you can change it.” She took a breath. “Pale, tell us about this secret of yours. I want to see our destiny when it includes you.”

Pale viewed the card in front of him and Corelle continued speaking.

“If you do that, then we can create something else. Are you interested in changing our destiny?”

Without answering, Pale suddenly flipped the card upside down again.

He gave an uninterested snort, but he did flip it face up again.

The image hadn’t changed. The surrounding ring of people gasped. But…

“I knew I could count on you,” said Corelle.

The card’s image slowly changed before her eyes.

The change started at the bottom. First, the ocean vanished and a lion was drawn in its place. A hand was holding down the lion’s head. The hand belonged to a young woman and she was holding a sword in her other hand.

“Harmonic Card #5, Strength. The lion and the dragon are both symbols of the Geheimnis Agency.”

With that, Corelle stood up. Pale did the same.

An uncertain stir ran through the ring of people.

Corelle turned toward them and raised her voice.

“What are you loafing around for!? It’s time to go meet the bearer of the Wheel of Destiny!”