Chapter 122 - Resolve (3)

Ami and Riccardo were the first to react.

While the other Badgers gaped in surprise, the two went over to the new recruit, who was bent double with his head down. The Badgers all reacted differently, but only those two left their places. Ami rubbed his back and checked his complexion, while Riccardo gripped Hilde's torso and pulled him upright.

"What, did the corpse scare you?"

Jason shoved his hands into his pockets and snickered.

"You've still got a long way to go!"

"That was a little too graphic, Richard."

Aki rose and turned to Richard.

"It looks too much like a human neck."

An inscrutable expression crossed William Walker's face.

But for a while, he said nothing of note. Instead, he silently scrutinized Hilde as he coughed and emptied his stomach of every last drop of acid.

Ami rubbed Hilde's back, offering him a water bottle whenever he lifted his head.

Silence settled over them. For a while, everyone watched Hilde. Richard frowned at him and grumbled, "I didn't realize he was this much of a weakling."

No sooner had he finished than Gale Dawson hastened to add his own comment.

"I don't know how he expects to go on missions if he can't even look at something like that."

"Isn't it amazing that he's still more useful than you?"

"That rookie was perfectly fine watching an illegal enhanced-body recipient burst like a balloon."

Yun murmured indifferently up at the sky, and Walker bluntly joined the conversation.

Dawson flushed scarlet.

Paying him not a shred of attention, the former fixer flexed his fists, each the size of a small child's head, cracking his knuckles in rapid succession.

"But now he's throwing up like that over the head of something that isn't even human?"

"Could he have serious internal injuries?"

"Brother! Have you got more water?"

Aki muttered the question, while Ami craned her head out.

"Toss it over if you do!"

Yun and Jason pulled out water bottles and threw them to her.

Ami caught both bottles and opened a cap. As soon as one bout of vomiting stopped, she thrust a bottle toward Hilde. Riccardo gripped Hilde's clothing again and pulled his torso upright.

The green-eyed man closely studied the wheezing, white-haired recruit.

Only Hilde and Ami heard what he said next.

"You had no trouble looking at spectators squashed flat or a terrorist with his lower half crushed like a doll's. No way you're throwing up because that thing disgusts you."

Ami remained silent, her face expressionless.

Then Hilde spoke for the first time since he had started vomiting.

The recruit gave a small laugh as he gazed at the ruins.

"I suppose it's because my insides are damaged."

"Ahh. I've heard a similar excuse before... Back then, you said it was probably the aftereffects of the drugs, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Hilde let out a long breath and closed his eyes.

With his beautiful golden eyes hidden, he continued in a whisper tinged with laughter.

"This time it's my insides."

"You were fine running around holding those damaged insides in until now... So just like last time, you suddenly felt like throwing up?"

"Yes."

He answered, then retched and emptied his stomach again.

Even with nothing left to bring up, he kept retching. When that finally stopped, the recruit began to tremble. Ami held Hilde firmly as he started to lose consciousness. Though she had heard his entire conversation with Riccardo, she gave no particular reaction.

Instead, she narrowed her eyes and studied Hilde intently, then brushed his white hair aside and touched the space between his eyebrows.

Her round black eyes grew even rounder.

"He's burning up!"

"Looks like PTSD symptoms..."

Riccardo grumbled as he straightened from his stoop.

As the other Badgers approached, he pulled the recruit away from the ruins, his head hanging as he panted.

"How about we hurry up and open a portal to send him back? He's barely conscious..."

"What's his portal compatibility percentage?"

Richard asked bluntly.

Two Badgers standing farther back flinched at the offhand question.

Yun ignored them completely.

"I don't know. He used the portal before we could run the compatibility test."

"What?!"

Richard's head whipped around.

"You shoved him through a portal without even testing him?!"

The other Badgers turned to Yun in disbelief as well.

Jonathan Kudo blinked, while Riccardo furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. Aki and Walker raised their eyebrows. Jason let out a belligerent "Huh?" and arched his brows.

Ami's mouth fell open too.

After observing their reactions, Yun answered listlessly.

"Gale Dawson and Joe McDonald shoved him into the portal while I was away."

Gale and Joe went deathly pale.

"I already fucked them up once for it."

The important point was that Richard hadn't fucked them up yet.

Richard roared.

Punishment began beneath his furious bellows. Despite the chaotic battle, he had been holding back his lectures because Massu Sarin had died. Now all his restraint was gone. He shouted and stamped his feet, smashing the ruins. Venting his fury without restraint, he punished both the perpetrators and those who had stood by and watched.

He paid no heed even when Lucia burst into tears.

Normally Ami would have intervened, but this time, she showed no inclination to do so.

The small Badger covered Hilde in several layers of clothing as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Let's contact headquarters. If the portal seems too dangerous, we can ask them to send a fighter jet or something. I can carry him to Area E."

"Hey, then could this be some kind of portal side effect?"

Jason jerked his chin at the trembling recruit.

"He's really out of it, isn't he?"

They contacted headquarters.

They started a video call and brought in Doctor Samuel Han and an expert who had previously worked at the Portal Corporation for a consultation.

Both experts were furious to learn that Hilde had used a portal without undergoing a compatibility test. They raged, rattling off one danger of portals after another. Then they vehemently opposed using a portal, saying that just because he had been fine once didn't mean he would be fine a second time.

Samuel pounded the table and shouted.

"Tell Yehyeon to send a fighter jet!"

But when Richard Green actually reported to Yehyeon, the response was the exact opposite.

["He'll be fine. Send him back through the portal."]

It was a concise order.

There was no further explanation. After issuing it, he stopped answering their calls.

Jason Tvein flew into a rage at the commander-in-chief's decision. Hateful complaints poured from his mouth.

"See? That bastard thinks our lives are worth no more than flies'!"

No one responded to his outburst, but he didn't stop complaining. He must be telling them to use the portal because sending a fighter jet was expensive. He wanted to take the easy way out with a portal. He still treated Badgers like disposable supplies...

The others weren't so open about their displeasure, but neither did they seem convinced by the order.

Still, they couldn't disobey it.

"Can I take him?"

As they prepared to return to Area 14, where the portal device was installed, Sylvia broke the silence, looking at Hilde.

Everyone gaped in surprise at her uncharacteristic behavior.

Yun cut in with a curt reply.

"No."

"Why? Someone has to take him."

"Not you."

Yun glared at the woman with visceral disgust.

"Leave that rookie alone."

In the end, they returned to Area 14, where the portal device was installed, and went back through the portal. Yun took charge of the utterly exhausted Hilde. William Walker and Riccardo Sordi had volunteered to take care of him, but both were turned down.

Yun stepped through the portal with Hilde on his back and the bag containing the creature's head tied to his belt.

The other Badgers followed him.

And so the Emergency Mobilization ended, with one fatality.

* * *

After depositing the dazed recruit in the hospital, everyone scattered.

Riccardo and Kudo changed out of their combat uniforms and emerged from the locker room.

Without a word, the two men left the portal zone and headed out of headquarters.

The streets were slowly beginning to wake.

Kudo was the first to break the silence.

"Aren't you going to check on the rookie?"

Riccardo rolled his eyes.

"You've been paying him a lot of attention lately."

Riccardo didn't answer right away.

Dressed in a fitted black coat, he walked in silence beside his comrade for a while. Kudo didn't press him for an answer.

They took their usual route. They had walked it so often they could now have followed the road with their eyes closed.

They continued along until a red light stopped them just before the alley where they always parted ways.

It was early dawn, and both the road and sidewalk were nearly deserted.

The silence of the street mingled with the chill of the early morning.

Riccardo broke it irritably.

"So he's going to hide his problems to the bitter end, is he?"

He was obviously talking about Hildebert Taleb.

"Always pretending he's fine... Hiding problems that have been left to fester. He's so much like you I can't stand to look at him."

Caught by the unexpected jab, Kudo blinked.

But before he could reply, the light changed.

Riccardo strode across the crosswalk without waiting for him.

Kudo followed.

As he walked, he mulled over his comrade's words, then spoke slowly.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Riccardo turned to him in disbelief.

Slowing his steps, he arched his eyebrows, his eyes asking whether Kudo thought that made any sense. But the expression didn't last. He soon gave a snort Kudo couldn't decipher, then set off at a quicker, more irritable pace than usual.

At the fork, he split off and went his own way.

Without so much as a glance at his blinking friend.

* * *

Ska gave Yehyeon a brief report that Hilde had been safely admitted to the hospital.

Yehyeon, who had been waiting for the outcome with his forehead in his hand, raised his head.

His eyes were steeped in fatigue and sorrow.

He looked up at Ska with those eyes.

"All right."

His voice was hoarse.

"Good work."

"The head of HR is handling the procedures for Massu Sarin's death."

"Did you say they couldn't recover his body?"

"Yes. But they have located it. He says they'll notify the bereaved family and recover the body if possible."

"All right. Make sure they recover it unless there truly is no other choice."

"Yes, sir. Also, it seems Hilde's condition isn't due to the portal..."

Ska slowly trailed off in his report.

The office fell quiet. The tall, handsome man studied the holographic panel for a while before asking,

"How did you know Hilde would be fine using the portal?"

"Falcon."

The commander-in-chief's answer was brief.

"I contacted him and asked."

The aides looked at their superior.

But the commander-in-chief did not raise his head beneath their gazes. Head bowed, Yehyeon rubbed his face several times.

Then he murmured wearily to himself.

"No one knows Hilde as well as Falcon does..."