Hina and Akira walked towards where Rei's voice told to go.
They walked in silence, wondering what their temporary leader was gonna say.
The Main Hall was a vast underground space that served as both a hangar and a meeting area.
The noise was deafening: boots hammering on metal, the low rumble of diesel engines in the distance, and the rustling of hundreds of armored jackets.
Rei stood on a raised platform, his impeccable figure contrasting starkly with the mass of brutal men surrounding him.
Next to him, Hiromi Tanaka held a digital folder, wearing the same coldly smug expression she had shown Kai.
Hina positioned herself at the edges of the assembly, keeping space between herself and the crowd.
She wasn't a follower; she was an asset, and Rei knew it.
Kai was absent, since he was probably still taking a shower.
Hina felt a brief pang but dismissed it.
She knew Rei was keeping him hidden or moving him separately for "protection."
"Good," she thought, "I know Akira is gonna protect him."
A blinding flash of light reflected off her face as Rei activated a massive hologram suspended above the assembly: a three-dimensional topographical map of the area surrounding Sabushi's headquarters.
The noise subsided as Rei raised a hand.
Silence descended upon the bunker.
"Thank you for coming here," Rei began, his amplified voice speaking with the austere calm of a preacher. "We are about to embark on the most critical mission in the history of the Vigilantes."
Rei paused to let his words sink in.
"For too long, this man—Sabushi The Brutal—has polluted our city with his cowardice and greed. For too long, he has manipulated forces, governments, and innocents for his Requiem Project."
"Requiem... project..." These words echoed in Hina's mind.
For some reason, these words were familiar to her, considering the fact that her "father" usually mentioned them.
Rei turned and pointed sharply at the holographic map.
"Tomorrow, before dawn, we will liberate Tokyo. This will not be an operation of brute force, but a surgical execution. We have the Trojan Horse we need: the woman Sabushi still believes is his daughter."
All eyes turned to Hina.
She met every gaze, expressionless.
"Hina will enter his fortress. The evidence she brings—a necessary sacrifice—will make him believe that his biggest necessity, the Suzuki boy, has been eliminated. This will create a window of vulnerability in internal security that will never recur. To be specific, if he believes he has the DNA of the boy, he will think that the Requiem project is complete and will start to negotiate with the influent family: Suzuki."
Rei focused back on the map.
"Here is how we will proceed."
Rei's finger traced the lines of a pincer attack on the holographic map.
"Units Alpha and Beta will execute diversionary attacks on the South and East fronts. Our spearhead, the Bloody Tactical Squad—led by Akira, alongside other elements, including the project's ultimate resource—will attack the northern flank to draw Sabushi's countermoves and secure an extraction point. Precision is everything, Akira," he said, glancing at the girl, who slightly inclined her head in acknowledgment.
"My target," Rei concluded, his voice turning grim and vengeful, "is Sabushi himself. When the deception is revealed, we will flush him out of his hole. And I will end his existence for the good of this city and the whole world."
Hina clenched her fists at her sides.
The plan was exactly what she expected: cynical and manipulative.
But the most crucial thing was that the plan gave her access to Sabushi for her emotional reckoning, and even more importantly, it gave her the opportunity to disable the plan and escape with Kai.
Her mission was not to serve Rei.
Her mission was to betray everyone.
-----------------
Kai arrived at the Main Hall a few minutes late.
The vast hangar was packed tight.
The air vibrated with suppressed tension, the crowd a sea of dark combat gear.
He quickly located a spot near the back, his eyes frantically scanning the platform.
Hina wasn't on the stage; she was standing near the far wall, a pillar of pure, cold focus.
He felt an urge to push through the crowd to reach her, but he knew he couldn't interrupt the briefing.
On the platform, Rei was already speaking, his voice authoritative and sharp.
The massive holographic map shimmered above the assembly, displaying tactical lines and points of penetration.
"...the coordinates are locked," Rei announced, his face grimly satisfied. "We have received confirmation of Sabushi's exact location. His command center is deep beneath the old industrial docks on the bay, but one of my spies confirmed his presence in one of the main skyscrapes of Tokyo. He is vulnerable, exposed, and he's surely waiting for us."
He tapped a point on the holographic map, and the section of the docks flashed a stark, angry red.
A ripple of low-pitched murmuring went through the crowd.
"We will attack on all sides, at dawn, and we'll take advantage of this short time we have until tomorrow to organize the teams." Rei said.
Kai was still hearing his words in silence.
Hina was looking at Rei with open wide eyes, with an empty-almost predatory-expression.
The expression of someone who clearly wants to kill.
"How stupid... Father is too intelligent to make other people find him..." Hina repeated in her mind.
This was unprecedented; Sabushi was notoriously elusive.
Hina, standing across the hall, felt the ripple of satisfaction from the crowd.
She watched the red dot on the map, and a chill of profound realization washed over her—a coldness far deeper than the air in the bunker.
Her focus, absolute until now, narrowed into a sharp point of understanding.
Sabushi has an exact location.
Sabushi is exposed.
Sabushi is vulnerable.
It wasn't possible.
Sabushi never made mistakes.
He never relied on luck.
He never waited to be found.
Hina's eyes narrowed into slits.
She remembered her father figure's inherent arrogance, his deep, calculated intelligence, and his need to control every single variable.
A small, almost imperceptible smirk, tightened her lips.
It wasn't Rei's plan that was unfolding.
It was Sabushi's counter-plan.
"You didn't find him, Rei," Hina thought, the conviction absolute. "He chose to let you find him."
Sabushi hadn't been tricked by the decoy head.
He had orchestrated the entire exposure to lure Rei into the docks, likely onto terrain where Sabushi's own forces (or hidden traps) had the absolute advantage.
The "window of vulnerability" Rei was counting on was a magnificent, deadly trap.
A surge of protective adrenaline hit Hina.
If Sabushi had anticipated Rei's attack, he might have also anticipated Hina's deception.
She needed to warn Kai, but she was trapped.
Rei, oblivious to the storm brewing in his best assassin's mind, continued, his voice ringing with false triumph: "The plan is corrected, finalized. Sabushi's carelessness has delivered him into our hands. We move at dawn. Operation Purge is a GO!"
The assembled soldiers cheered, the noise drowning out the pounding fear in Kai's chest and the silent, deadly calculation in Hina's mind.