[note from author: Helloo I am back with the 5th chapter of Do What You Wish. If there are any human beings who are actually invested in this book, please leave a review/comment, at least I know that a real human is reading it and not some bot.]

 

The next morning, they all wake up, the tension still present as they meet in the living room ready to leave.

They were all wearing the Kola’s uniform, high waisted black tactical pants, high black leather military boots, form fitting turtleneck blouse and the short black leather jacket with the Kola’s logo on the back.

Silent, Sylvia walks in the front and they were all about to walk out of the horizontal sliding metal doors of their apartment, when the big screen in the living room starts ringing.

Fedora turns around and walks into the living room, it was Catherine who was calling them.

-“Big mama’s calling us, did you get on her bad side or something?” Says Fedora looking at Sylvia.

-“No…I don’t know why she’s calling us now…pick up.” Says Sylvia.

Fedora walks over to the screen and picks up the call.

She clears her throat and straightens up a bit even though it was an audio only call.

-“Ergarch Catherine, Dahlia Fedora speaking, here with the rest of the team, we were about to head to the meeting room you have told us about, has anything happened?”

-“The misson has been postponed. Together with the Societal Council I have decided that is is much too dangerous and reckless to attack the first known selvim hive without preparations.”

Mary, Linn, Sylvia and Fedora all sit on the Sofa in front of the big screen attentively listening to what Catherine had to say.

-“We do not know what the repercussions of such operation would be, the consequences could be immense, and as such, we must prepare not only the Kola base but the other known communities outside of the Kola base, for they too, are humans just like us. Therefore, before heading to the first hive, I need you 4 to reinforce whatever is left of the known human race.”

-“And what would that consist of Ergarch?” Says Sylvia in a serious tone.

-“We will discuss once we can talk eye to eye, head to the same assigned room, you are dismissed.”

The call ends and Fedora scoffs.

-“Pfffft great, now we are volunteers for the homeless shelters…I thought being an Ergal meant fighting the actual Selvim no one else can fight, not being delivery drivers and girl scouts.”

She stands up and walks towards the door as she sighs.

Mary takes a deep breath, slouching back on the sofa while looking up at the ceiling and rubbing her face with her hands.

-“As if this wasn’t stressful enough already…it’s like she’s trying to make us more afraid or something, making that hive seem scarier and scarier.” Says Mary.

Sylvia stands up, sighing aswell.

-“Better to expect the worst and face less than expect less and face more…”

Linn puts her hand on Mary’s shoulder, looking at her with a smile.

-“Don’t put so much thought into it…it’s going to be just fine…Catherine is just overpreparing because she’s the Ergarch and she’s in charge of everything and she has to look responsible to the people of the Kola Base and those around it.”

Mary exhales, looking forward at her reflection in the dark glass of the screen on the wall.

-“I guess you’re right…better go so we won’t be late.”

Mary and Linn stand up and walk after Fedora and Sylvia aswell.

They reach the meeting room at the base of the building of the Societal Council.

After a few minutes of waiting, a big mechanical door opens on the other side of the room, and Ergarch Catherine steps into the room.

She looked like a woman in her 30s, short straight hair, half of it was pitch black, the other half was stainless white. Her suit had the same color scheme and texture, the left side of her suit was spotless white, the hair on her left side was pitch black, the suit on her right side was complete darkness, while the hair on her left side was bright white.

She walks down the carpet of the room up to the girls, the clicking of her tall heels echoing in the cold room. Her heels were also black and white, the left one being black, and the right one being white.

She walks over to them and is quiet for a few seconds, her brown eyes analyzing every bit of them.

-“Snowdrop Mary, Dahlia Fedora, Orchid Linn, Rose Sylvia, it is a pleasure to meet in person the 4 pioneers of the human race. You 4 represent humanity’s resolve and refusal to let itself be trampled over by the invaders.”

Her voice was cold and powerful, assertive, even more imposing than Sylvia’s.

-“As you know, we have never talked eye to eye, until now, the 4 Ergals were not allowed to have direct contact with the Ergarch, with me, but now, due to exceptional circumstances, that rule was removed. From now on you will receive orders directly from me. I believe you have gotten the report on your abilities, I entrusted Rose into giving them to you, but that will be resolved after.”

She turns around, and takes out a remote from her pocket, a huge screen lights up on one of the dark walls, the girls didn’t even know it was there. On the big screen, a satellite map could be seen, showing an area far south from the Kola Base, apparently it was a small abandoned town, and further south was a small village where apparently lived a small community.

-“As I have said, we must focus on first reinforcing the Kola Base and its trusted surrounding communities. Your mission for today is as follows, you will be sent to the abandoned town of Keshnit, on your way there you must scan the environment and report back to us if the territory is safe and selvim free. Once you have reached the town, you will clear it and make sure that either there are no selvim when you arrived, or there are no selvim after you have arrived. Once the town is clear, you will report back to us so the supplies trucks their security can begin their advance towards the town. Along with the supplies for the village, a large SV-778 carrier quadcopter will be sent your way, piloted by one of our pilots. Once the convoy has reached your location, the supplies will be transported from the trucks into the quadcopter, and the soldiers will head back, they are not allowed to go any further away from the Kola Base, it is far too dangerous for humans, the numbers of selvim could get too large.”

Catherine turns around and looks at them.

-“Which is why Rose will be the one to pilot the quadcopter to the village, while Dhalia, Orchid and Snowdrop make sure she successfully and safely lands, understood?”

-“Understood Ergarch.” They all respond in unison.

They all walk out of the room and Fedora goes off immediately after they walked out of the building and walked a few dozen meters away.

-“They cannot mean that man…like…what are we guard dogs? Come on man” She says frustrated dropping her arms at the sides of her body as she walks in front of the group so they can see her.

-“And what’s her deal? Why is she calling us by the name of our flowers instead of our actual fucking names? What are we just our flowers to her?” she keeps gesticulating visibly mad.

-“Awww come on Fedora are you letting her get to you that easily? Last time I checked it’s not her that fights the selvim, we are, so why would you take her words so seriously?” Says Linn.

Fedora calms down a bit and starts walking in the same line as the other 3.

-“I mean…she’s standing in her comfy chair up in that building giving orders while we have to follow no matter what we think…”

She looks around at Mary and Sylvia.

-“While these two have absolutely nothing to say, one looks like she’d die if Catherine frowned at her and the other looks like she’d kill herself if Catherine told her to do so.”

Mary looks away, her face uneasy, rubbing her arm, Sylvia sighs and looks at Fedora.

-“We must follow her orders Fedora…even though she is not the one who fights the selvim and defends the Kola Base, she is the one with the knowledge of where the selvim are and what strategies to use to win, she’s not there to just give orders to rub her ego.”

Fedora takes off her jacket, all this frustration made her heat up.

-“Jesus fucking christ…you’re defending her like she’s your mother…strategic points? If we didn’t exist her strategies would be just daydreams and nothing more…”

She shakes her head and walks faster, walking ahead of the group.

Sylvia sighs and she looks at Linn.

-“I think you should talk to her…she seems really on edge…the existence of the hives is a lot for all of us to handle…”

Linn sighs, looking at Fedora as she was walking further and further away on the streets of Razum.

-“Yeah…been a while since I’ve seen her this fired up…she feels very deeply…”

About half an hour passes, and the girls where now present in the military dispatch garage of the Societal Council.

They were all dressed in the Kola’s uniform and over it their respective coats. Fedora’s coat was a very dark purple, near black color, Sylvia’s was crimson, Mary’s was a dark green, and Linn’s was a navy blue.

Fedora enters the garage after the rest of the team, and her eyes just light up, her face full of surprise and disbelief.

-“NO FUCKING WAY! ARE THESE OURS?!”

On the small portion out of the large hangar, there were 4 motorcycles parked one next to another.

The first from the left was a metallic, shiny navy blue. The first thing that stood out to her was the fact that the bike had 3 wheels instead of 2. It had 2 wheels in the back, and one in the front. The bike itself was longer than a regular racing bike, beautifully made dark blue orchid flowers were all over the bike, but they were all symmetrically placed. A ring of orchids around the headlights, another line of orchids running along the chassis of the bike, being disrupted where the legs of the driver would sit so they would not bother. The wheels had another orchid right in the center, beautifully arranged. Around the engine there were multiple shiny, spotless metallic pipes that looked just like the aerial vines of an orchid. The exhaust pipes were made out of the main exhaust pipe, and all around it many other smaller pipes were coiling around, all opening at the same length.

 

The second bike from the left was even more unusual. It was a dark, metallic reflective green, this one too, had 3 wheels, but they were placed differently, one wheel in the back, one wheel in the front, and one wheel in the middle. This bike was as well, longer than any regular bike. The handles were decorated with beautifully hanging snowdrops, all around the bike, in different patterns from the previous one, there were snowdrops, made out of carefully sculpted sturdy metal. The wheels were astonishing, even though the other bikes had regular wheels, this one had wheels that were made in the shape of a vortex, painted a vibrant green, a beautiful spiral unwinding from the middle of the wheel. The headlights were also unusual, instead of one big light, it had 2 columns of 3 lights each, totaling 6 smaller headlights.

 

The third bike was the fieriest. It was fiery crimson, the tires looked like they were made for rough terrain with a sharp angle polygon texture on them. Around the wheels there were crimson metal armor plates, and the most striking detail of them all, were 4 long spear like horns pointed directly forward that were attached to the front wheel of the bike. This one too was just as long as the others. The engine seemed to be enveloped in metal rose thorns, and on either side of the head of the bike, there was one big metal rose with 3 grayish silver leaves. On the back side of the back, on either side there were 2 roses, each with 4 grayish silver leaves.

 

But the bike that went straight to Fedora’s heart was the one to the utmost right, the fourth one. It was dark, the paint a shiny void, the rim of the wheel was a reflective deep purple, the headlights were two thin but long purple lights, and on either side of the bike’s head was one big dark purple metal dahlia. On each side the bike had 3 exhaust pipes, and at the very end of each pipe there was a dark purple, blade looking extrusion, those sharp icicle or blade like shapes were also present in the back of the bike where the chassis ends. The engine was the detail that captured her eyes the most, it was encased in a ribcage of dark metal, the rods of metal nearly perfectly imitating a mammal’s ribs. Beneath the ribcage of metal, there was a layer of thick crystalline dark purple glass, which looked like you were looking through a jagged diamond. Just below the fuel tank, close to the head of the bike, smaller metal dahlias were present, one on each side.

 

Just as they were admiring the bikes, a girl enters the hangar. She had shoulder length straight orange hair, her eyes were pink and she had freckles all over her face. She was wearing a loose denim jacket, a black and white stripped long sleeve t shirt, sweatpants and converse shoes. She had eyebags and looked tired, but the moment she came in she was full of joy and enthusiasm.

-“OH MY GODDD! I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE! These bikes are all custom made for each of you so you can carry out your missions more efficiently! I CANNOT BELIEVE I GET TO MEET THE 4 ERGALS AAAA!”

She says jumping around and gesticulating like crazy, her face a bit red from all the movement she was doing.

Sylvia waits for her to finish speaking and then speaks up, Mary and Linn seemed a bit weirded out while Fedora was still busy analyzing the purple bike.

-“Haha hello there, I guess the Ergarch wanted us to get an upgrade…it’s already obvious which bike belongs to who then. Were you sent by her…or?”

The girl’s face turns an even deeper shade of red as her eyes go wide.

-“OH GOSH! I c-cannot believe I forgot to introduce myself, I am Ahvela! I am the Council’s designer…I was the o-one who designed your suits…your coats…and now these bikes…they were a real challenge I must say…and no n-need for you to introduce yourselves, I am very familiar with Miss Rose Sylvia, Miss Orchid Linn, Miss Snowdrop Mary and Miss Dahlia Fedora” she says while counting on her fingers as she was saying their names. “Ahahaha! I’m so happy I finally get to meet you! I am your biggest fan! I think I know more about you all than you know about yourselves! Have you ever wondered how long your calves are? HAHA! Guess I am the only one who knows that!” Ahvela winks, Mary gives her an awkard smile while letting out a small laugh that was just as awkward. Linn slowly walks away and goes to talk to Fedora while Sylvia keeps talking with her.

-“They look wonderful Ahvela, do th-“ When pronouncing her name, Sylvia pronounced it like Ah-vela, and Ahvela seemed to dislike that, she put her arms in an X symbol in front of her chest, the unexpected gesture making Sylvia stop talking.

-“Please call me A-vela, not Ah-vela, many people get it wrong…it’s very frustrating to say the least…” She says, her eye twitching.

-“My apologies, I wanted to ask, do these bikes have any offensive or defensive functions? Or are they just from transportation?”

Ahvela smiles and walks towards the crimson bike.

-“You think I would’ve designed these babes to look so spicy if they weren’t for a reason?” She says as she traces her hand along the sharp spears of the bike.

-“It’s just that for this mission miss Catherine wanted me to disable any function besides transport. What a shame I have to wait even longer to see those fangs in action.”

Fedora listens to Ahvela talk to Sylvia and she joins in on the conversation.

-“She really does hate having fun huh?” She extends her hand to shake Ahvela’s.

-“I’m F-“

-“Fedora! It’s a massive pleasure to meet you! Yeah she really is such a gloomy person, why ask me to make such flashy beauties if you cannot use them?” Says Ahvela.

Fedora looks at Ahvela and smiles.

-“I like you, and by the way, sick fucking work with these bikes man, holy shit, I’ve never seen metal look so sexy.”

Ahvela’s face goes pink again.

-“T-thanks! It means everything to me…knowing that the Ergals love my work…visual design is what I always loved doing…and seeing that someone admires it makes me overjoyed!” Her eyes were starting to get teary.

Linn smiles seeing Ahvela so invested.

-“You really did a great job with everything! I especially love the fabric of these coats, how did you come up with it?”

Ahevla’s eyes light up even more seeing people interested in her work, her eyes were like sparkling like the night’s sky.

Mary also joins the chat and they start asking Ahvela about the design of all of their outfits and various other things, their chat was lively and everyone was invested.

Just when they were starting to get into the good stuff, their watches start ringing in unison.

Sylvia picks up. It was Catherine.

-“Good afternoon Ergals, I believe you have met Ahvela, our head designer. For this mission you have been equipped with custom made vehicles as you can see, they will make your terrain exploration much faster than going on foot, and much more efficient than going by car since your field of view is much wider. The coordinates for the abandoned town of Keshin and the route you must follow have been uploaded to each of your bikes, you will leave the hangar and start your mission once this call is over. Dismissed.”

-“Well, I guess we have to go now.”

Says Sylvia.

-“Ughh what a shame I wanted to talk some more with Ahvela…can you send me that dress design please? I want to see it when I get back home!” Says Mary.

-“Sure thing! I already have you on follow! I sent you a friend request!” Says Ahvela.

Sylvia and Fedora were already getting on their bikes and readying up to leave, putting on their helmets.

-“Hurry Mary, we don’t want the Ergarch to be mad at us for leaving late.” Says Sylvia.

-“Hold on I have to accept her friend request, I have too many requests and I don’t wanna loose it!” Says Mary as she and Ahvela tap around on their phones. Mary scrolls down in her list and nearly scrolls past Ahvela’s profile.

-“Op op op! That one right there! Ahvela’s Workshop!” She points with her finger to the profile Mary scrolled past.

-“whaaat you have a whole workshop here in Razum? How come I never heard of it? You work there or ho-“

Mary doesn’t get to finish her sentence, Syliva calls for her and Linn again.

-“Hurry you two! Say goodbye and let’s go!”

-“Ughhh okay!” Mary turn around and hugs Ahvela tight before heading towards her bike. “See ya Ahvela!”.

Fedora was taking off her glasses, making sure to keep her eyes closed shut, and she put on her helmet, her dark visor perfectly hiding her eyes.

-“For a minute I really thought you were going to put on your helmet while still having your glasses on” Says Sylvia, she already had her helmet on.

-“Wow, this glass is actually custom made to block more light than the average helmet visor…she really does know too much about us…well If the visor wasn’t made like this, I’d rather wear my glasses under the helmet than go blind from the light.”

Just as she finished putting her helmet back on, when she turned around to put her glasses into the trunk of the motorcycle, Fedora sees Linn go in to hug Ahvela as they were saying goodbye. She looks at them, her eyes under the helmet’s visor were a laser pointer to the point where Linn’s and Ahvela’s bodies touched, the world seemed to slow down, their interaction became the only thing her senses were picking up.

-“Alright, see you later!” Says Linn as she walks away from Ahvela, waving.

Fedora snaps out of her focus and closes the trunk of her bike, she turns around and faces forward.

Linn also gets on her bike and puts on her helmet, tucking her long blue hair under her coat.

Mary wasn’t gearing up for some reason, so Syliva looked at her confused.

-“Is anything wrong Mary?”

-“I…have no idea how to ride a motorcycle…”

Says Mary, her cheeks starting to blush, she was looking down, ashamed.

-“No worries, put on your helmet and get on my bike, hold tight onto me.”

Says Sylvia in a really calm tone.

Mary quickly puts on her helmet and gets on Sylvia’s bike, coiling her arms around her waist, and gently placing her head on Sylia’s upper back.

-“T-thank you…” Says Mary.

-“Don’t mention it.” Says Sylvia.

Alarms begin resonating all around the hangar as every human runs inside, the only things left in there being the 4 Ergals and the other vehicles in there.

One of the gigantic metal doors start lifting and allowing the light of the sun to shine inside the hangar.

The engines of the motorcycles purr as they await to run, and as soon as the door was open enough, they hit the gas and drive off, with Fedora in front, Sylvia and Linn not far behind.