Arknights : the broken fate

Chapter 10: A Spark in The Dark

09:12 AM.

Lungmen city.

Somewhere in the slums.

Inside a room in one of the many forgotten underground facilities of the slums. A group of masked and armed man were moving around like flies doing different tasks from carrying tightly sealed metal crates to cleaning weapons and making sure their equipment was in a high state of readiness.

Whatever they were up to, it was surely nothing good.

In the middle stood a masked man near a bearly standing table with the map of Lungmen on top of it, filled with markings and notes. He was wearing what looked like unregular military clothing and armor striped with reddish stripes, unlike the others, which had the orange color instead. Indicating that he was perhaps of a higher rank than the rest. Setting him apart from his comrades. 

Suddenly, a door was opened. And through it came out a similar-looking individual who moved straight to the table in the middle of the room.

"How are the preparations for the plan going?" The newcomer asked.

"Other than a few solvable problems, everything is going smoothly. We should start at the time we agreed on." He answered him while looking at a map of Lungmen.

"Problems? What do you mean by that?" He did not seem amused with hearing about there being some problems.

"Nothing important-" He was cut off before he managed to finish his sentence.

"Dimitri. I don't care whether it's a small problem as you say or a big one, a problem is a problem. We must make sure that nothing unexpected happens before we execute the plan. So tell me, what are these few solvable problems you talked about." With a demeanor both serious and tinged with a hint of paranoia, he demanded an explanation.

"Sigh...We had lost contact with some of our operators. We are still trying to reestablish contact with them..." Dimitri answered fully expecting a bad reaction from his comrade. 

"What!? You lost contact with our operators and yet you still dare call this unimportant! What will we do if the LGD catches them?" His outrage made those in the room stop for a moment before going back to work. "Why did you not tell me earlier?" 

"As I said, this is not that big of a deal. Although we lost contact. We are sure that they weren't busted. We believe that it is merely a communications equipment problem and that they chose to go radio-silent so that they don't risk exposing the plan." Dimitri turned his focus from the map in front of him to his panicking comrade and tried to assure him that there were no problems. 

"Are you 100% sure of that? If anything wrong happens it will be me who takes the blame. The boss won't forgive me if I let anything disrupt the plan, do you understand?" Fear of the plan getting exposed started getting into his head.

"Relax comrade, everything will be fine. We already have every piece set in its place for the grand show, we just have to wait for the right moment." He put his hand on the other's shoulder attempting to calm him down.

"...I hope it will be as good as you make it to be." 

"It will be, don't worry. Now go, make sure that the others are ready. I will join you after finishing the work I have here." And with that, he left the room as fast as he entered it.

After a big sigh, Dimitri returned his attention to the map of Lungmen where he reviewed the plan one last time...Today was the day for them.

Today was the day they had planned for months. And they weren't going to let anything go wrong before they executed the plan. Dimitri looked at the wall in front of him. A large graffiti was drawn on it, an infinity sign put upside-down.