I Hate To Say This, But I Told You So
The Diversion Platoon and the Infiltration Platoon powered forward side-by-side on their swift, carved boots. We skied down the steep slopes and dashed up the small hills. We wore heavy backpacks that contained grenades and bombs, extra weapons, and first aid. We kept the ammunition in our pockets. This had to be a very swift operation. I set my watch to vibrate every 20 minutes. That meant that that was the end of a phase. When we got to the dense forest, the diversion team got in place. We kept going and circled to the back gate. This gate was reserved for merchants who sometimes visited. It was hidden away in a small cave, but this made it perfect.
They wouldn't figure out how many of us there were. We got into place. I held up a hand. Captain Elaine didn't seem to mind. My watch buzzed quietly, and there was a small rumble. The entire place shook. Just what did they even do? I held up a hand.
On my earpiece, I said, "Alright, those who are with me, this is the plan. We'll get into the main castle through the bottom entrance. We'll head in directions opposite to the Captain so we don't draw her any unnecessaries."
We then went on the move. I pulled out my pistol, and Captain Elaine and I shot all the guards. There weren't that many back here, which was surprising.
I knew immediately that it was because this was one of the more well-known entry points. It seemed like they concentrated the guards at more of the hidden entryways, mainly because they'd catch more fish. They had to concentrate firepower in the main castle, as they probably anticipated that we'd come in. Besides, they never wanted to prevent us from coming in. They knew it was inevitable. They just needed to protect their leaders.
From there, Captain Elaine and I split off. I did a head count and I saw exactly 6 people. Good, we weren't missing anyone. Bang! There was a stray sniper, and I was nearly shot, but luckily, Bucket pushed me out of the way. We dove into the nearby building, and I got my own sniper rifle out. I saw him. He wasn't a very good sniper since he let the sunlight glint off his eyepiece and reveal his location. I scanned for him, and then I saw a small pair of shades poke out under a tarp. When I was ready to fire, I opened up my eyepiece and fired. Bang! The sniper was shot right between the eyes.
We all headed back down. Soldiers were dying left and right, and I couldn't tell whether they were our own or not. My platoon members were mowing down the troops, too, though. There were surprisingly a lot. Going up with a grapple would be risky, especially since we could be shot while we were climbing. Luckily, North Rock was quite far from the actual city itself. We used cookie crumbs to reactivate our boots, and we were able to get to the actual fortress within 10 minutes. But that only left 3 minutes until phase 3. I suppose we couldn't go leisurely then. 7 minutes later, we had arrived at the fortress of North Rock, and I remembered an idea that I came up with yesterday.
I decided to try it out. The grappling hooks were firm enough so they wouldn't let go while climbing, but they could be released from their grapple point. I then took off my boots and sprinkled cookie dust on them, revealing a second carving. The others did the same, revealing yesterday's preparation.
I mounted two grapple gauntlets onto my arms. I then aimed them upward and shot them. The grappling hook snagged a few feet under a small ledge.
I went back a few meters, yanked, then I ran up and jumped while pulling and retracting the grapple. It was a good thing that your grapple wouldn't come loose unless you manually loosened it. I went up a few feet higher than the grapple was stuck in, and I caught on to the ledge.
The window sill was a short way away as well. As I got ready to jump, I beckoned my squad to follow me. When I got to the windowsill, I peeked. There was a guard rotation. Every 30 seconds, I saw a guard coming my way. Bucket was right under me. I waited. Then I pointed to his back, and he handed me his shovel. I climbed up on the ledge and secured myself to a wall using my grapple. I couldn't have myself slipping off. I pried open the window from the outside using the shovel.
The window broke, but we all managed to make it inside safely. I closed it, but it didn't close properly. I heard a small jingling noise, and it was coming from a keychain with an unusual logo. As I picked it up, Galette swiftly took it and said, "Thanks, I was looking for that!"
I thought nothing of it, and I started to look around, my watch buzzing. Quickly, we moved to another room. There was only one guard at the moment, so Galette beat him up and captured him. Meanwhile, Stem and Lucky placed the geosensors in the room, and they started to monitor the signals. Then, Sergeant Finn started looking out for any guards that were there... wait... Sergeant Finn?! What was he doing here?!
"Sergeant Finn! What the HELL are you doing here?"
"You can't just send me back. I've already made it this far. Just let me tag along. I won't bite."
I sighed and turned my head. I would make sure he paid after this mission was over. I'm sure even the Captain is fuming as well. Galette then came out.
"Alright, apparently, there is a guard shift every hour. So they'll notice if he's missing. We have to do something."
"No... there's actually a solution to this problem," I replied, my smile getting wider and wider to the point where I was soon smirking ear to ear. I pulled the Sergeant and gave him a controlled left hook to the jaw. It was slightly swollen. While he was dazed, Bucket removed his uniform, revealing a black bodysuit. We then stuffed him in the guard's armor and voila! New guard created! We then pushed him along, telling him to act natural. An even better thing was that his face wouldn't be revealed either, so nobody would know that something was up, and so, we continued on.
The entire interaction lasted approximately 3 minutes. We had 17 minutes left to get to their location and finish them off. The readings were up on the 4th floor. Or at least, that was where the most noise and vibrations originated. But that probably wasn't where they were. The piqs were known for being smart, and so that was probably not them. I made the device go a little more sensitive. To search for little sounds like dripping, creaking, pebbles falling, that kind of thing. I asked it to search near the location where we saw the company.
Just then, I got a call from Captain Titan. Whirr! Whirr! I looked up and saw his face and part of his new uniform.
"Sir!" I whispered loudly.
"At ease. Report?"
"We're about to engage. We've avoided most of the troublesome people. Getting out may be a problem, but it may be possible if we carry the Prince hostage."
"Good. Anything else?"
"No. What's that thing on your shoulder? It looks cool!"
"That? Oh, that's the mark of the Leader's inner circle. You want one?"
"Yeah!"
"Graduate, and I'll think about it. Captain Titan out!"
As I disconnected, Bucket tapped my shoulder and pointed to the sensor. To my surprise, there was something. Nearby at that. Lucky then packed up the things, and we rushed up. There were guards at each set of stairs, so Bucket and I each hid behind the pillars by the walls and shot the one opposite us. Bucket was probably the most accurate sharpshooter in our entire squad. He was almost as good as I was, and he was still stuck at Sergeant. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I couldn't tell how much time had passed. My squad and I had killed so many soldiers that I lost count. My watch hadn't buzzed yet, which was a good thing. I could hear some of the soldiers up above. We were finally there. Venus decided it was finally her time to shine because she sprinkled some cookie crumbs on her binoculars, and she could surprisingly see up the spiral stairs. They were indeed a different faction.
The Tide Faction, to be clear. They wore yellow capes, and at the forefront of them all was this rough-looking fellow. He was missing an eye and had scars all over him. Just looking at him gave me shivers. We didn't go upstairs. Instead, I knocked the wall in front of me and placed a sound sensor next to me. It could judge distances based on how long and how loud the signal it receives is. The sound came back quickly but very quietly. I knew there was nothing on the other side. Which meant only one thing. Secret Tunnel.
Stem pulled out his weapon. He pulled out a rod that had a tricky circuit called butter. What this circuit did was make anything that it cut kind of melt away. The reason why this wasn't a more popular weapon was that it was EXTREMELY difficult to write. If you got it wrong in any way, your weapon would just melt. He stuck it into the wall, and slowly but surely, he carved a small rectangle. We wouldn't be getting out this way anyway.
My squadmates went in one by one. Stem was the last one, reinstating the hole we just made and caulking it shut. We went down the stairs, and this led us to a dungeon. I heard small voices, and Venus took out her binoculars again. They wore orange and blue capes. They were the Piqs and the Lava Cakes.
It was dimly lit. The original purpose of this place was to hold some of the vilest of prisoners, as a torture chamber could be seen at the back of the room. A stench of rot hit our noses as it seemed like they had all died hours ago. A small fire was lit in the middle, and some people were sitting on top of crates. As we were thinking about this, an injured Foster joined us. Maybe he fought the Tide captain because only two of his squad remained.
I ordered Venus to stay back and tend to his men. In her place, Foster came with us. He already knew what to do and readied his arm. Whistle! A smoke bomb flew through the air, but as if expecting something already, the enemy was on edge. They took on a flower formation with bulky guards on the outside and the important staff on the inside. Something seemed strange, though. Some of the guards were some people that looked awfully familiar... then I saw it. Beetroot colored semi-longish hair and a scar across the nose. The stern eyes that always picked me up. It was Michael.
There were at least 50 guys here. I guess what happened was that some of our plans were leaked in order to gain the trust of the other faction. It seems like that's why I didn't see Michael earlier, even though he was listed to be part of this mission. I relayed the number 5 to the others. That meant hostage. I immediately side-kicked Michael into the wall next to us, seemingly knocking him out. Meanwhile, it was a bloodbath within the smoke. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
When the smoke cleared, our situation was like this: Bucket, Stem, Steve, Glamor, and one of Foster's men, had 4 of the most important officers held hostage. Galette held the Marshall while Lucky held onto the Prince. Most of the guards were dead, and only the captain of the guards remained. On our side, only Foster was dead. The captain held his sword out. He was in shiny gunmetal armor, complete with a helmet and cape. His sword was impressive, too. I was wearing only a bulletproof gray uniform, so he could probably cut through me like butter. But where's the fun with no risk?
I called out to him, "Hey, Captain Knight! Why don't we duel it out right here? If you beat me, then we'll free the hostages! Sounds fair?"
"What if I lose?"
"You don't need to worry about that since you'll be dead. It's not like there's any other option anyway. If you take my offer, you could have a chance to escape"
"Fine. Let's do it!"
"Fantastic. Venus, start the countoff!"
Venus, who had been standing at the bottom of the steps, came forward. She held her hand up and shouted, "3...2...1..."
Before she could say start, the knight rushed forward at me. But I was already expecting it. Without me, the person who was seemingly second in command, Lava Cake, who was playing dead, could get up and kill the rest of them. Wait, he was probably going to do that now anyway. I stepped to the side, pulling out my sword as well. Bullets would be useless since he was wearing complete armor.
I redirected his blow away from me, but he caught his footing, getting ready to attack again. How he moved like that in such armor was beyond me, but I already knew that this might've been a mistake. I bobbed and weaved through his attacks. Going on the offensive wasn't the right move. I needed to find a gap in armor where I could attack, then find an opening. He was a seemingly impenetrable fortress, but I knew he had to have airways or he'd have died from suffocation ages ago. Then I saw an interesting gap, right in his helmet.
Sparks flew as our blades clashed. My midnight steel wouldn't back down against his greatsword. Then I had an idea. I pushed away from him using my blade and got some distance. Then I subtly pulled out my green crystalline knife. The circuits on it glowed. His stance shifted, and the circuits on his own sword glowed as well. He began to move... unnaturally.
His sword had gotten faster, much faster than I could even follow. He swung down, and I moved to block. I partially absorbed the attack with my knife, then deflected his sword with my knife, but as I moved to counterattack with my knife, he suddenly punched it, and it shattered. I smirked. I slightly lifted up my sleeve, and I sent small knives flying at him incredibly quickly. He couldn't dodge in time. Blood spurted from out of the eyeholes.
The knife was just a distraction. In fact, that was nothing more than a decorative knife that the Leader gifted me. I then slipped out a smoke bomb.
I shot them. Venus, Steve, Stem, Glamor, and Carp. As I got to shooting Galette, she screamed, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! YOU HOLD A HIGH POSITION! WHAT REASON COULD YOU HAVE TO KILL US?!"
As a last act of mercy, I replied, "You're a witness. I hate the Leader and I hate Captain Titan just as much. If not more."
"I...I could help! I...I hate him too!"
"No, you don't. Miss. Graduate"
Her face hardened.
"How did you know that?"
I shot her again in her hands so she'd drop her gun and said," I suspected something was up when you told me to fight like I always do. Battles are mostly classified. I've only ever fought in 10 battles with the Leader, and that was when I was of a much lower rank. After that, I only ever handled private missions of infiltration and extermination. Only the rank of Executive or higher can view my files, but you never showed up at the meeting. But what really gave it away was the keychain. Captain Titan told me all about what the symbol was. For all the crap he's given me, he made my plans a lot easier. Guess you should've been less clumsy."
She moved quickly. It seems like she had already made it past the rank of Captain and was getting close to promotion, like Captain Titan. She grappled me, getting both her arms around my neck. My face was getting redder as I tried to pull her off me. Bang! Galette's body went limp.
"Ah... you too?" she rasped. Then she died. It was Michael. I pulled him up and removed the knife as well.
Michael sighed," I honestly hated pretending to be a bodyguard. Everyone kept putting their hands on me."
I chuckled and slapped his back. He looked uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. Realizing that Bucket was still there, I aimed my gun at him, but then I hesitated to pull the trigger.
"It's alright," he said, "You know, you were the first friend that I ever had. The only one I could truly be myself with. If you kill me, that's alright. Because... I don't regret coming out of my shell to be with you."
It sounded like a load of bull, but I really didn't want to kill him. While I didn't trust him as much as I did Michael, I was still close to him. I let him go and sheathed my weapon.
"Are you sure?" asked Michael.
"Yeah, I am... for now at least."
I turned around and faced the Prince, who was trying to secretly leave during this scuffle. I walked toward him. He shrank down. I turned on my radio.
"This is Executive Kalerin reporting!" I said, as the Prince yelped. "I have captured the Prince and the Marshal, shall I kill them? Escaping with them may be a bit... problematic."
"If you want. It might be better that way. How will you escape?"
"I have reunited with the insiders. They know a better way out."
"Ah, that's good. Carry on." Bang! The Prince shrieked. I turned off the radio and held out my hand. He was balled up, but when he found that he wasn't dead yet, he turned back to me.
"You're dead, ok?"
"Wh-why?"
"The Leader killed someone I was close to, and I've been waiting to take revenge on him for a while now. If you want to repay me, then you can help when the time comes. For now, let's just say you owe me a debt. Alright?"
"Ye-y-yeah. Okay."
"What's your name?"
"I-I'm Prince Cadmus."
I whispered my name into his ear and handed him a small cloak, "Now, a piece of advice. Make sure you look after your valuables properly."
He tilted his head, went wide-eyed, then nodded. He then ran over to one of the prison doors, opened it, knocked twice on the back wall, and opened up a secret passage. The three of us soon followed. I noticed he let a piece of paper slip from under his cloak. Huh. A business card.
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The battlefield was a rough place. Her breath was hot, and she could see the vapors from it. She felt like her nose was about to fall off. She was worried and had an ominous feeling about this battle, which was so unlike her. Captain Elaine was what you'd call a war child. She was someone who grew up in the war, and as a result, she held favor to those who were like her. Especially those who were forced into it at a young age. Even when she was 15 years old, she sometimes sounded like an adult already. She felt like she'd truly seen it all. 8 years of nothing but death and scars, some of which she felt would never heal. Michael was a nice boy. He had been forcibly conscripted, unlike her, which made her feel even worse. She wanted to make a difference, but this boy was just a school kid.
He didn't deserve to be out here. He was supposed to hang out with his friends, play video games, and gossip about girls!
Now, he had to think about whether he had rationed properly or not, did he had forgotten any of his equipment, or whether he had recalled the mission properly.
Now she'd seen many kids, but he was the first one who'd ever caught her eye. He was optimistic, but not disgustingly so. He prayed every morning that he could see his friend. He always kept a pleasant expression on his face. To be honest, that was hard for her sometimes, as she just remembered the past. All of her regrets, just bombarding her while she slept. Like tiny devils that kept poking at her. Again. And again. And again. And Again. Every. Single. Night. So, she decided to do something she'd probably regret later. She decided to take him under her wing.
He was incredibly intelligent as well. He immediately responded to her goodwill. He treated her like she was doing him a favor. Unlike all the other guys who rejected her, someone who had no visible muscles and looked weak, he was willing to give it a shot. To not sulk, or be alone. To improve. He was like her project. Her best work.
Then, there was the stupid Executive Officer. Veris Kalerin. That fool. If only he could follow directions as well as Michael could. Heck, even Michael's best friend would probably be 10 times better than Veris. Just every part of him annoyed her. The biggest reason number one was that he was a cradle kid. He grew up in the Tagine Fortress. How could he possibly know what hurt feels like? He probably never had to work a day in his life. Just because he had a little talent, his time in the cradle allowed him to jump to a position that it took her more than 8 years to get to.
She wasn't just salty, she was slightly jealous as well. She was one of those people who could work hard if given the chance. But she never was. She had to climb tooth and nail to get where she was. If only she had gotten there, she was faster... she could've prevented any more civilian deaths. The only way to stop needless deaths was to get to a place where she could control death itself. She knew that when she enlisted, and she knew that when her parents were killed because a soldier was angry.
She did end up killing that soldier later herself when she was finally given her own squad, but she felt like she needed to do more. The sounds of gunshots all blended as she was in her trance, and just firing. She then came back to Bitesize 7 and remembered that she was still at the battlefield. Just a little longer, and then she could go to other fortresses or outposts, or choose to become a wandering patrol group. But just no more sitting still. Bang! Bang!
"Captain!" shouted Mer, "Are you alright?"
"I just have a bad feeling about this."
"I believe you, Captain! I'll tell the guys to be careful!"
"Thank you, as always, Mer." Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
She dodged and weaved, killing soldiers in the hundreds. All of them were mediocre at best, but there were a lot of them, meaning that it was easy to get hit by a stray bullet. Come on! When would this end?!
Finally, her suspicions were proved true. Boom! A huge truck from Corvac broke through the walls, which was surprising because after the loss of their prince, they were essentially just a terrorist group now. Unfortunately for them, they were just roadkill. She couldn't wait any longer. Just then, her wristband buzzed.
"This is Elliot and Vic! We're going to take out the truck!"
" No wait!" But the call was forcibly switched to the Executive's call. It just had to be him.
"This is Executive Kalerin reporting in!" A small shriek could be heard, "I have captured the Prince and the Marshal, shall I shoot them?"
"If you want. It might be better that way. How will you escape?"
"I have reunited with the insiders. They know a better way out."
"Ah, that's good. Carry on." Bang!
A deafening gunshot could be heard through her headphones. He probably just did that for attention, but the hope was nice. She pressed 2 - 4 - 1 - 8 on her com. Just then, she heard an explosion. The truck was suddenly on its side and caught fire. She looked around, and two of her subordinates were missing.
"Where are Elliot and Vic?"
"Oh... you know... the truck..."
"And?"
Mer lowered her eyes, "Well... they couldn't make it back."
"WHAT?! I TOLD THEM TO COME BACK!"
Her watch buzzed again, but this time it was Captain Titan. She could barely hold back her anger.
"Reporting in, Sir!"
"I heard you finished the mission. Nice job. Now for the final part, just kill off most of the citizens and leave"
"Wh-what?"
"You heard me. We are punishing those factions for plotting against us, so we need to show them the consequences of their actions by showing them a massacre."
"But, sir, they're civilians. They have no part in the war. Can't we just take them prisoner? Or better yet leave them there?"
"Are you disobeying me?"
"We-well-"
"I asked you a question, soldier. Are. You. Disobeying. Me?"
So this was how Veris felt. But she knew that she couldn't back down here.
"Yeah. I refuse to kill innocent civilians."
"Captain Elaine of the 36th Platoon and 1st squad, you are hereby demoted from your rank as Captain, your graduation will be cancelled, and finally, your fate will be decided at trial 3 days from now. Thank you."
Veris' warning echoed in the back of her head. He was right. She shouldn't have trusted Titan. She should've looked into battles led by him. There was nothing she could've done, but she could've at least postponed the order. Maybe it would've happened anyway. The poor civilians were still going to die. Even if it wasn't by her hand. She couldn't make them mysteriously disappear either.
She was stuck, and she realized that she should've deserted a lot earlier. She should've taken the previous mission that she'd originally declined to be with Michael.
But he was nowhere to be seen. Buildings were falling, and fires were blazing everywhere. The final phase had kicked in long ago. The forest was deteriorating. The smell of sweet smoke wafted through the air. The sound of the gunshots was slowly fading as most of the troops were slowly dying. She'd lost count of how many survived. It would only be a matter of those who could make it back. She and Mer ran like there was no tomorrow. Bang! Mer fell on top of her.
"Come on, Mer, we have to keep going... Mer?"
"I...can't keep going. My lungs..." Mer held a hand up to her chest, and when she looked at it, it was a deep red. She gurgled blood.
"No... You can make it! I believe in you! Pleaase!" Her desperate cries turned to sobs, "Don't leave me!"
"It's alright...you're okay. Michael will replace me."
"Don't compare yourselves like that! Michael is Michael, and you are you!"
"Just go! If you don't, I won't talk to you."
"Alright...let me carry you. I won't leave you here."
"Captain... don't go to Malabar Mountain... for your own good."
"I...enjoyed serving under you... Captain...no regrets here," rasped Mer, and she, seemingly peacefully, passed away.
Captain Elaine ran with Mer, tears filling her eyes. She used the remaining amount of cookie crumbs she had and got on her knees when she arrived. Only one snowmobile was left. She quickly put Mer in front of her and began to drive.
Mer swayed back and forth, making it difficult for Elaine to see sometimes, but she didn't mind. When she got back to camp, she was met with a right uppercut and left jab, leaving her unconscious and the dead Mer sleeping peacefully in the snow. Luckily for Elaine, both her best friend and worst enemy were there to pick Mer up for her.
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Unbeknownst to all of them, Sergeant Finn was still alive and with a plan. The stupid Executive Officer had put him in this situation in the first place. He had a vague idea, but knew he was demoted because of that stupid kid's interference. Sure, he did Damon's paperwork for her, but that was because she paid him a lot of money. Who wouldn't accept that?! As long as the work gets done, it shouldn't matter who does it or not! But it was fine, for he had a plan. He'd been in plenty of fortresses like these, and all of them had a treasure vault. He just had to raid one. Once he got his hands on the riches, he could just stay in the treasure chamber until the chaos died down, and then he could just take off with the valuables.
After that, he could hire some assassins and kill the kid. With the remaining money, he would settle down, maybe even spend the rest of his time with women! Ooh, he liked the sound of that. Captain Titan had always been a stickler and had never allowed relationships in the army. Well, too bad for him because they could never find him now.
He headed down the stony steps of the castle, and there was a small door. It had diamonds in the doorknob, secretly indicating that this room was a passage to the vault. He used his elbows to break off the knobs. He then carefully extracted the diamonds. Heh, he was already much richer. He kicked open the door. It was a mostly empty room with patterns on the wall. There was a bed, a table, and a chamber pot underneath it. A nice rug was at the center of the room. On top of the table, there were 3 vases.
He looked at the pattern. Diamond, circle, and then rectangle. He looked back at the pots and then rearranged them correctly after a few tries and almost 12 deaths. He heard a small thud. He pulled away the bed only to reveal a secret entrance.
Saliva fell from his mouth as he thought about how much richer he was going to be. When he got downstairs, the room was empty. He looked shocked. How could they have known? It didn't matter. He had to escape, but his ideas were suddenly cut short when the door slammed shut. Was this some sort of joke? Suddenly, at least 20 pairs of eyes could be seen from the darkness, and they were armed to the teeth.
"Looks like he was right," said one of them.
"Well, this makes things easier," said another.
"Wait...wait... I can explain! That person sent me here-"
They didn't wait another second. They all pounced on him and ripped him to pieces. He was nothing but Swiss cheese and salsa when they were finished with him.
"Hooo... it felt really good to take out all my anger on him!" said the Marshall. "I have a feeling he'll need us soon. I guess I just have to be ready then!"