Out of all the people inside the helicopter, no one was more annoyed than Bruce.

It wasn´t like the SOT was drinking champagne and having fun either, since it´s never a fun experience to get pulled out to an emergency call while you might be doing something important. But with pilots it´s different, since they have to be mentally prepared and have a layout of the land they are flying into. And in this case, Bruce had basically little to no information and, this one being the worst offender, he was forced to fly in a Blackhawk, which wasn’t his preferred aircraft of choice.

The team had been pulled out across half of Europe to the Balkan area in a C-130 Hercules, stopping at the airport in Brindisi, Italy, where Bruce had been able to commission an experimental stealth Blackhawk for the operation. They were lucky that there was a NATO weapons showcase in the area and that one of the aircraft was in operable condition, because if Czesch hated something worse than flying into a hot zone was flying into one inside a civilian helicopter. This one also had stealth camouflage, which would make it harder to spot on radar. That was good and all, but Bruce noticed that the bird was less maneuverable than a normal Blackhawk and he´d have to get used to this new stiffness.

The sun started to come down the horizon as it´s last rays fell down on the waters near the coast of Montenegro. A night approach was the only viable option and, becoming aware of the situation, they couldn’t afford to wait and scout the place out. They had one shot and they had to make it count.

Vivi had explained everything during their way to Brindisi, and she couldn’t have been more transparent about the amount of shit they´d have to deal with:

“A couple of days ago, the Serbian ambassador in Romania was kidnapped along with his family by a terrorist group of Bulgar nationality and they´ve been on the move ever since. Bulgarian authorities have repeated time and time again that they are not affiliated in any way with this movement, but the outrage has been all the same, which is why both their government and that of the Serbians want a quick resolution to this nightmare. To that end, the Serbians movilized their Special Brigade unit to deal with them… unfortunately, they became compromised and lost quite a number of people.”

“Damn, quite the Balkan clusterfuck!”

“Those people can´t sit still for a couple of years without firing a shot, can they? Buri, are your guys as triggerhappy as they seem?”

“I´m Estonian, you idiot, not Slovak!! I´ve nothing to do with these murderous lunatics!”

The Kid didn’t bother to make a remark, clearly restless about being in Italian soil once more. Vivi was quick to pull him out of it by shaking his shoulder.

“Czesch, you alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes… what are their demands?”

“A ton of money and some impossible concessions, nationalistic pride and all that shit… the point is, the Serb Special Brigade failed hard, and now those bastards wont think twice about executing their hostages… you can guess what will happen if push comes to shove. Rob, can you calculate possible escalation?”

The Spaniard was more than happy to oblige, perusing his recently shaved beard for added effect.

“Romanian-Serbian conflict would spark in months, leading to entry by both NATO and, if the Serbs play their cards well, the Russian Federation. Can´t say the possibility of the flashpoint becoming larger is hard. I mean, it´s the Balkans we are talking about here… starting a war can happen as quickly as an explosion inside a magazine with someone guarding who is a compulsive smoker. So, to put it simply: We fuck up, war is coming back to the Balkan area and hard at that.”

Rob was right on one thing: There had been enough wars in that area alone to warrant all neighbouring countries to have built considerable armed forces. Serbia alone was so used to war their military was something to fear, even by US standards. If Romania and Serbia decided to start, more countries would soon follow suit in proxy engagements and, in the end, NATO and the Russians would be forced to intervene. A massive headache for a lot of people, but, above all else, diminishing returns in contracts. Because who wants to hire professionals to fight in total war that is already being waged by your own professional people? No one wants to spend more money than necessary on outside help. Unrest beats chaos.

“That´s why we are heading to Montenegro? Are they holed up in there?”

“A castle in a remote island just off the coast, yes. The spot is large enough for Bruce to lay several landing points and we´ll have different venues for approach. But remember that once the alarm is off, so is our chance to save those people. We are going in as stealthily as possible, so make sure your silencers are in working condition.”

“You won´t have to say it twice… how many hostages are we dealing with?”

“6… there was a 7th, one of the bodyguards, but he was executed on tape after the Serbian fuckup, making the matter even more pressing.”

“By the way, Boss, who is hiring us for this one?”

Vivi glared at Buri for a bit before sighing.

“Does it really matter?”

“Not really… just wanted to check if you knew, is all.”

“OK… we are leaving in 20 minutes. Get your gear ready and aboard the heli during that time.”

“Aye aye!”

“Gotcha, Ma´am!”

“Another bloody Monday!”

“…”

“Czesch, you with us?”

“… Sure, sure, I´ll… I´ll get my things sorted out, don´t you worry.”

And that was the gist of it: A hostage rescue situation with no window for failure, an angsty and annoyed helicopter pilot with time against him, and to pull off the impossible, the best team money could afford: A 40-year old French woman with family issues, a British sarcasm machine, an insomniac Spanish medic, a brutish Estonian with a rough sense of humor and love for liquor, along with a 16 year old cursed Czech boy with too many dead to count.

Because what can go wrong with such an A-team? Apart from everything, that is.

Bruce started the approach as they came closer and closer to the island. He was doing well, but the team could notice the shaking of the bird becoming increasingly problematic. Vivi had to make sure the bird was handling as intended, since the operation also served as a test run for the vehicle.

“Sparrow, this is Valory, how is the helicopter holding up?”

“Feels like I´m flying a bloody Chinook in here!! Bitch is harder than a Blackhawk, that´s for certain! ETA for landing is 10 mikes, landing zone looks good, but I recommend left exit to avoid hitting the rotor!

“Copy that, Sparrow.”

“I also have some strong winds coming, possible storm approaching the area!! I suggest you do your thing quick and call for extract as soon as possible before it hits.”

“Will do. Thanks for the heads-up, Sparrow. Valory out… Alright, listen up!! Teams are Red and Blue, as always. I´m with Czesch in Red… Buri will make Blue with Rob. Nate, you are on overwatch, find a suitable spot and keep us posted on any developments!”

“Easy peasy! I´ve got a couple of spots already marked on my map and the GPS ready to go, should be quite the nice camping trail!”

“According to maps of the castle in question, there are a couple entry points we could approach, but the best one seems to be the sewage system on the South-Western corner. If we can, we will enter there and make our way around the facility in search for the hostages. Remember, we aren’t the cleanup crew, so don´t go on killing sprees without my permission.”

“Do we have any support available?”

“Our support will get called in as soon as we get the hostages out. Serbs and Montenegrenians seem to be making a combined effort for this one, but they wont act unless we are out.”

“Aahh, feels good for someone to care…”

“Above all else, raising the alarm is a no-go. The moment we go hot, we´ll have 10 minutes tops to locate the hostages and then we´ll be forced to pull back. So, no fuckups, have I made myself clear!?... ”

The Kid kept on looking in front of him, having heard her words, yet not acknowledging them. Vivi was kind enough to hit him with the stock of her rifle to get him out of it.

“Czesch!!”

“Ouch! I´m here, I´m here!”

“Stop zoning out, we are on a fucking mission already!”

“I´m not zoned out!”

“You are thinking on something else, aren´t you? We´ve already been through this, you don’t need me reminding you every single fucking time you don’t feel like working!”

“… Let´s just get on with it…”

“Valory, comms check.”

“Barrock here.”

“Reaper copies.”

“Overwatch, always loud and sometimes clear!”

“Cyprus copies.”

“Sparrow receiving five-by-five!”

“Valory to all units, mission go!”

The helicopter finally touched down inside a cove on the other side of the island relative to the castle, and the S.O.T came down in force, checking every corner and all venues of approach, their night-vision goggles (NVGs in short) allowing for better sight in low light conditions, even though Czesch despised using them since they made everything look green and grainy. No amount of time and technology could change that, apparently.

“Valory, this is Sparrow, how copy?”

“Valory copies, everything´s good down here.”

“Copy that. I´ve got Oracle with priority transmission, patching through.”

“Send it my way, Sparrow… What is it, Oracle?”

“We´ve managed to pull off a satellite scan of the area while you made your way there. I´ve sent you the latest info regarding enemy positions to your tactical feed, so try and make good use of that.”

“You got that, Overwatch?”

“Solid copy, Valory. Moving and checking tactical feed now.”

“In regards to the mission, weather forecast shows that around 2AM a storm is bound to hit the area and it will clear around 2:40 to 3AM. Take that as you will.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Oracle. Any new info on the kidnappers?”

“Basic weapons training, some of them are definitely military and a couple probably have worked around analytics and logistics. They are working as a unit, no doubt about that, but it seems they are of the rag-tag militia variety for the most part. I´ll leave the calls and the veracity of the info to you… Good luck. Oracle out.”

“…Heh, doesn’t he know that saying that always jinxes everything?”

“Cyprus to Valory, that´s just how he is. He´s not superstitious at all.”

“He should be with you around… castle up ahead, ready weapons.”

There it was, standing on top like a beacon of medieval prowess. It was probably built to stop pirate raids and the sort, and later repurposed to protect from invasions or as a last stand position, the latter being quite a good comparison to the kidnapper´s current situation.

“Overwatch, this is Valory, are you in position?”

“I´m in, found myself a cozy spot… got eyes on the courtyard and on the venue of approach… counting around 8 hostiles patrolling the ramparts, all armed with automatics… they look cold, huddled together.”

“They probably aren’t expecting another attack so soon after the last one. Is our main route clear?”

“Got eyes on the grate… look´s clear from my angle, but they might have a sentry around. Tactical feed shows no movement around that area.”

“Keep your eyes open, Overwatch… Blue team, we are going to perform bounding overwatch towards the entry point. Red is moving first… come on, C, time to exercise!”

Bounding overwatch, a military tactic that has saved countless lives and that Czesch would probably never forget to praise enough. The general thought-process behind it is simple: Moving without someone covering you is a bad idea most of the time, since if you come under fire or a new threat appears, you won´t have the same response time as a team who was watching and expecting that threat. After one team finishes their move, they stop and let the other team either catch up or move to a further location. The simplicity is the best part, since it doesn’t take long to drill it into troops, and it definitely betters their survival on the field by quite the margin.

Vivi was playing it safe by having 2 overwatching elements, since she couldn’t afford any surprises on this mission. Having another set of eyes made matters easier in case a surprise guardsman who had gone for a pee came back to his post. Czesch reckoned so as he made his way through the dark woods surrounding the structure to his designated position, his feet crushing branches and leaves as he looked in every direction in case of a patrol.

They arrived at the grate and checked out the surrounding area. It was clear, no signs of movement or of ever been so for centuries around that entrance. The drain was large enough to fit a crouching person, which would definitely help them sneak in. A huge design flaw, in Czesch´s opinion.

“Blue, route is clear to location, move in. Overwatch, keep an eye out for any surprises.”

“Reaper copies.”

“Overwatch copies as well.”

She went ahead and covered the Kid´s blind spot, seeing how he was acting as usual again.

“… Are you sure you are sharp, C?”

“I´m telling you, I´m fine.”

“Alright… if you want to talk, do it afterwards, OK? You look just like-“

“Just like what?”

“… Nevermind.”

Blue team rallied up to Red´s location, and Buri proceeded to saw the metal bars holding the grate in place. After a couple of silent sawing and intense tugging, the metal bars budged and the team managed to proceed in a line through the sewage system, with Czesch taking point and leading the fireteam. The entrance was small, but the rest of  the sewer was big enough to fit two people, quite the construct in a time when lords valued defensive purposes more than commodity.

His left ear caught something, a sneeze most likely. Someone was definitely in those dark, damp tunnels, so he called in a halt with his fist. Not a moment later there was a flashlight shining along with the sound of footsteps coming from their left, where the different drainage canals crossed into an intersection. The steps were getting closer and the light brighter as Czesch aimed his “Lightbringer” at head level, an ironic name for a weapon that was silenced and wouldn’t be bringing any light to those underground passages.

A man armed with an AK started crossing the intersection, probably bored to death and wanting to be somewhere less humid. Just as he non-chalantly started to turn to his direct right, Czesch unloaded two rounds, one entering the man´s chest and the other going clean through his jaw and bouncing off the ground. The acoustics in that place made it echo quite a lot, but lucky for them the guy fell down without making much of a fuzz.

“That was close… Czesch, move the way he came, there´s probably an exit. Rob, when do you think they´ll start missing him?”

“If they are smart, around 20 minutes tops, probably less before the next update.”

“10 minutes before the storm hits… let´s double time it, but keep your wits to yourselves.”

They reached an exit which lead directly to the keep, the most likely location for the hostages to be in. It lead to one of the rooms inside it, probably meant as an escape measure in case of assault. Lucky for them, that escape route would come in quite handy. Outside the room, the corridors became quite larger and spread out like vines, making the castle appear smaller on the outside.

“This is going to be tricky… Red, Blue, we are proceeding to the center of the keep, diamond formation.”

With Czesch at the front, Vivi to the right, and Rob and Buri to the back and left respectively, the team made their way towards the dark corridors which would have been silent were it not for the howling winds outside. The storm was approaching ever so quickly and it´s sound was melding with that of the generator outside supplying certain parts of the castle with power.

It was at this point Czesch noticed they had climbed up quite high, to about the 2nd or 3rd floor of the keep, which was impressive considering how quickly they had made their way up from the sewers. With a locked double-barred door in front of them, Vivi called in for a halt. She needed more info to move forward.

“Overwatch, this is Valory, come in.”

“Overwatch here, what do you need?”

“We are currently standing near the center of the main structure, on the 3rd floor, break. Requesting you scan for heat signatures inside the keep, over.”

“Negative on that one, the walls are too thick for the scan to show anything, and the tactical feed can only assume so much with the updated info… Sorry, V, can do nothing on my end.”

“Shit! Did any of you bring a heartbeat sensor or camera?”

The others members of the SOT shared one look, then immediately turned to Vivi witht their answer.

“Negative on that one.”

“Grabbed my stuff, nothing more.”

“Same here.”

“Dammit Buri!… We need to be quick with a possible breach, and I don’t want to waste it on an empty room.”

“Vivi, I can do my thing.”

Vivi gave Czesch a stark look, forcing her to remove her NVGs to properly give away her response in full force.

“No. Czesch, I need you operational.”

“And I will be… come on, you know this one only stings my eyes a bit if I use it well.”

“… you know I don’t like depending on your… “abilities”…”

“Well, if lives weren’t at risk, I´d give you that… now, give me the green light or go in blind, your choice.”

A bit of under-breath cursing and lip biting seemed to convince Vivienne that there was no other way for a breach to work, so he gave him the heads up. Out of all the curses he had earned, that one was the strangest by far, since the situation preceding it became so surreal that it took Czesch 3 years to come to terms with what had happened, and even at the time he could only guess. It was Sabrina´s curse, one that had given them the advantage many times before, an eyesight that could see beyond walls and lies the same as it could pierce someone´s intent and render him subservient for a while. It was sight that fought for truths and, in the wrong hands, could potentially reveal all secrets.

“Everlasting Watcher, grant me sight and wisdom”

He blinked and the world around him changed completely. There were no more walls and no more door stopping him from seeing the silhouettes sitting down in the next room, 6 in total, with 3 others standing up and patrolling the room. He could also see the stairwell leading there, which connected to a small indoor courtyard where 4 men were playing poker on a table. One had double pairs, another a lone King, one had managed to score a full and the last one was waiting for a winning ace to cripple the others, also remembering that his wife Ursula was giving birth to a child that wasn’t his own… too much info, too little time. That was the worst part of the curse, the overload that it threw to the brain.

“Blind and cover the truths, for I no longer see.”

He blinked again and the world went back to what it used to be, except that his eyes were now stinging quite badly. He had only used it for less than 20 seconds and it already pained him to even look around. He took a moment to regain his sight and report in.

“3 guards inside, counted 6 hostages, all sitting around the room… there´s also a staircase to the left that leads directly to a courtyard with another 4 guards.”

“So, it´s not really a room?”

“More of a command center, repurposed at some point … the hostages looked a bit weird, but I´m positive it was them, considering their pose.”

“… Alright, get ready to breach. Blue, you take the left side, we will take the right.”

“Barrock copies.”

“Reaper copies.”

“Cyprus copies as well.”

They took their respective sides to either side of the door, with weapons at the ready and intent to kill. They couldn’t use an explosive charge, so they´d have to enter the old fashioned way… a breaching hammer, courtesy of Buri, the expert breacher.

“On your strike, Barrock.”

“Copy, Barrock going in.”

After a powerful heave, the hammer smashed the lock on the door, forcing it to open by a small slit and allowing Vivi´s kick to fully fling it open. The 3 guards, surprised, turned their attention to the opening door, only to find 3 people bursting in and taking them out with single, precise shots from completely different weapons. The engagement lasted less than 2 seconds, and it only raised some alarm from the guys playind cards downstairs, who only called out if everything was going well up there.

“Start securing the hostages, we are getting them out of here ASAP!”

Czesch took the bag out of one of the hostages heads and removed the gag covering their mouth. There was something that irked him from what he had seen in her vision, and needed to verify what little info he had.

“Are you the ambassador?”

“W-what!?”

“Keep it down! Are you the Serbian ambassador, Mr Prádez?”

“Y-Yes, yes, it´s me… are you here to-“

“We´ll get you out soon enough, sir. A question before that, who was kidnapped alongside you?”

“W-Well, it was me, my wife, my two daughters and our bodyguards.”

Daughters? Two of them? Czesch could have sworn that with Sabrina´s sight he had only seen one female silhouette. That was what was bugging him… the men kneeling down were-

“V, they aren´t host-!”

His warning came too late, as one of the kidnappers sprung up from his perfect hiding spot, trying take on Buri, who had freed his hands to help untie him. The hidden killer was packing a small handgun, a Russian Makarov, whose first shot grazed Buri (and would have definitely hit if he hadn’t pulled the gun to his left) and alerted everyone inside the keep of danger.

Rob managed to respond appropriately by firing at Buri´s assailant, but the shot had taken Czesch´s and Vivi´s attention away from the 2nd assailant, who managed to grab Vivi and pull her towards the wall, smashing her face into it and preparing for a strike with a machete he had hidden behind him the whole time.

Czesch couldn’t get there in time. He didn’t have enough time to ready his gun and couldn’t risk a melee attack failing to kill. The fact of the matter was, Vivi would probably die if he tried anything conventional. So, instead of doing something smart, he decided on being completely fool-hardy.

He ran towards the kidnapper and grabbed him in a tackle, using his full speed and power to propel himself faster. The tackle was an effective one and it launched both of them outside the room, through one of the windows and into the courtyard, where the feeble boards holding the poker table simply gave in to the speed and the weight of both men. Czesch used the man´s body to shield him from the fall, which ended up killing the “hostage”.

At this point, Czesch knew he had done something completely mad and that the men on top of him would definitely look down below and fire, probably filling him with lead in the process. He knew his luck couldn’t get any worse… but maybe it could.

For he had just landed in the quarters in the 1st floor, where 20 armed men had been sleeping and were half-prepared after hearing that initial gunshot. And now those 20 armed kidnappers had a clear line of sight against a boy who was standing on the corpse of one of their comrades. And things could only get worse from there.

Lightning struck outside, frying the power lines connected to the generator and killing the electric lights set up for good, covering the entire room in darkness… well, at least he had a chance.

The next minute was covered in shadows, flashes of light and the sound of boots stepping on blood, as Czesch unleashed hell both with his sidearm and knife (He didn’t trust his rifle after a fall like that). He didn’t exactly know what he was slicing or what he was hearing anymore, with all the gunfire and screams going around, wet splashes of liquid still hot covering him up slowly but surely. But he did notice one particular noise as some of them became smart enough to get flashlights.

The pin of a grenade being released from its ordnance.

Vivi couldn’t quite understand what had just happened, but she knew that Czesch was in deep trouble. Looking over the man-sized hole he had created, she could see the 4 men playing poker downstairs aiming their weapons at a hole in the ground, probably Czesch´s landing spot. Without thinking twice about it, she began firing her weapon at each of the shooters, taking them out one at a time, all the while Rob and Buri checked for reinforcements in other directions.

Gunfire and panicked screaming started coming from that hole as Vivi felt a cold sweat running through her back. Czesch was probably fighting in extreme close quarters in the dark, slicing and firing at people whose faces he probably couldn’t see. She knew he had potential and definitely could take them all out… the problem would be dealing with him afterwards.

After what seemed like an eternity of shooting, an explosion occurred, shaking the entire castle keep and forcing Vivi to regain her footing. She had managed to spot it happening right where Czesch was fighting, probably a hand grenade mixed up with some badly placed explosives. The hole in the ground was even bigger now, but it was still too dark to see.

“Cyprus, this is Valory, come in… Cyprus, come in!!... Kid, for fucks sake, answer!!”

No response. Of course there´d be no response, that explosion had happened mere feet away from him. But he couldn’t be dead, that much she understood from the “Czesch experience”. You may think that he has bitten the dust and that he wont rise up again, but she knew better than anyone else that Czesch was just too tough to kill.

“Overwatch, this is Valory, can you check your tactical feed and report any change with Cyprus?”

“This is Overwatch, copying loud and clear. Seems that stealth is out of the question… Finally!! Permission to engage as well?”

“Confirmed, start making them panic.”

“With pleasure! Overwatch back to you in a minute.”

She sighed, trying to cool off. Czesch had been careless in not providing that info earlier, but his powers were by no means perfect, so she couldn’t exactly blame him for that. She could, however, blame him for doing something as stupid as tackling a machete-wielding maniac out of a window. Thoughts about making him suffer sprung to mind as she helped the rest of the hostages up, some of the bodyguards taking weapons and readying themselves to do their jobs properly this time.

“Mr Prádez, we need to get out of here immediately. We have a route we can-“

“We can´t just leave without my daughters!! They were separated from us some time now!”

“… Dammit! Where did they take them?”

“I… I couldn’t see, but I could swear they were taking them somewhere downstairs.”

“I believe they were taking Anja and Mirna to the dungeon below! I overheard them talking about it with their boss as they left with them!”

It was one of the bodyguards, who had received quite the nasty headwound.

“Do you believe they heard you?”

“No, Ma´am, they were speaking in Bulgar, and I didn’t give them a reason to believe I did.”

“Nice job… argh, this is going to be tough.”

On the one hand, she could send Blue Team and have Nate cover them from afar while they made it to the helicopter, but that would leave her alone to search both for Czesch and the girls, breaking her most important rule of combat. She had to think of a plan that could work while keeping the hostages safe.

“Valory, this is Overwatch, message, over.”

“Send it, Overwatch, what do you have?”

“Czesch is definitely moving around. Signal is faint and updates every other minute, but he´s definitely not staying in place. His radio must be bust or something.”

“That´s… that´s good to hear. Any way we can contact him?”

“Negative,I´ve tried, but it doesn’t seem to be working, probably a bug of- Oh shit!! Valory, incoming! 6 men, automatics, rolling to your position! Will buy you some time, just get out quick!”

“Copy that, Overwatch! Come on, everyone, we are leaving!”

“W-We can´t leave without-“

“We´ll get them, I swear! But we can´t stay here any longer!”

She figured out that Czesch would be making his way to the exit, and somewhere along the line he´d manage to rendezvous with them. It was all a matter of getting everyone to the sewer exit, have Nate make sure there were no surprises coming that way, and then send Rob and Buri to search for the girls. Time was of the essence and every moment lost put everyone in harm´s way. But even with the overwhelming pressure, she could only think of one single thought:

How was Czesch holding up?

Czesch wasn’t doing great.

He figured as much when that grenade went off, only quick reflexes and luck having him bolting towards what seemed like a sturdy door. But luck tends to go both ways sometimes, and the door wasn’t sturdy enough to handle most of the shrapnel. One of the pieces had the misfortune of lodging itself on his left side, making a deep wound that was bleeding quite badly… another piece ended up striking true  in Czesch´s favourite spot, his right thigh, making him consider if he should just put a neon red warning sign saying “Shoot here, please” to save everyone the trouble of having to aim.

“Heh… that´d make… things easier…”

The plaster applied on the more serious wound wasn’t doing it´s job as properly as Czesch would have hoped so, but he couldn’t fault lackluster medical appliances at that. The wound was in a weird angle, so it was no wonder that any considerable movement would reopen the wound. Adding that to the leg wound made moving quite the struggle, both mental in terms of indescribable pain and physical, considering the blood loss… not that he was missing much blood on top of him. Whatever spectacle he had started before the grenade went off, he was covered in blood that wasn’t his own.

He made his way clutching against a wall for support, since standing up straight was too painful even for him. To his credit, the pain was real enough for him to know that he was still breathing, so he couldn’t quite complain about his situation. Instead, he could only fault himself about it, because he had clearly jumped head-first into it.

What was he thinking? Tackling someone? What kind of soldier, armed and ready, decides that the best avenue of approach is to play a rugby match? It must have made sense in his mind at the time, but right then and there he couldn’t put his finger on why he couldn’t just have jumped at the man with his knife and pulled him back.

His thinking came to a stop as he heard a sound he recognized too well: Sobbing. The same sound… the same sound Laria made at night when she went to sleep, before huddling against him. It was the sobbing of a young girl, which made it more recognizable, and Czesch couldn’t help but try and trace the source. After all, he had just found out where the mistery hostages had gone: The underkeep, right below their noses.

The room was unsettling at first glance. The lights inside came from candles, which were too dim to be even useful, but which threw an unsettling odour that made Czesch nauseous. He got in, grasping his wound with one hand and holding his sidearm in the other. If the girls were in there, then there was definitely someone else along. It looked like it had been the prison cell for an important nobleman, a recreation of it.

He came across a king-size bed in the center of the room, with a lavatory of sorts in an adjacent room. On the bed… on the bed… Czesch couldn’t take his eyes from the bed. He had seen horrible events before, things that made him cringe and feel sick… but before him was… this wasn’t making him sick or horrified. It angered him. It angered him to a point where it became dangerous for him to be angry.

On the bed, two girls lay. The youngest was crying, curled up in a ball and pleading in Serbian, her legs showing signs of force. The other one was… she wasn’t moving, her face looking up, her mouth open without any breath of air coming out, her eyes out of her sockets, her arm filled with needle marks, her legs still wide open…

A rapist. If there was a being in the world Czesch hated as much as the bastard that ruined his life for good, it was rapists. He had seen their handiwork during the war and he despised them the same. Spineless cowards, trying to get cheap thrills from defenceless people and getting rid of them in the end. He couldn’t forgive… He wouldn’t forgive.

And the worst part was the bastard was humming. He was humming in the bathroom, apparently unaware of the clustefuck going on upstairs, probably goading in how powerful it felt to use his power against two young girls, killing one in the process and probably going to do the same with the next.

… No words could describe the feeling of pure dread and hatred going through him. No amount of pain or blood loss could stop his body from moving towards the bathroom and closing the door behind him. No ethics or morality would make him question what was wrong or right as he sliced the monster in front of him to bits, going through his hands, his legs, his groin… he´d make him suffer, and only when his eyes gave up and cried for forgiveness would Czesch grant death. The man screamed and screamed, but Czesch paid no heed. He had probably enjoyed hearing the girls desperately scream for someone to save them, the bastard. He deserved all that punishment and more.

He wasn’t sure of how long he spent in there, but the rapist was nothing more than a lifeless husk, without arms nor a manhood attatched to it, by the end. As he came out of the bathroom, he started thinking about what separated him from men like the guy who he had just killed. It is a matter of drawing lines somewhere, even if they don’t make perfect sense, just to keep some semblance of humanity. He had drawn his lines well enough, but ever so often he felt like he would end up just like that man: A desperate soul, trying to find a cheap thrill through the torment of others, just to find meaning in life.

He sighed as the biggest realization of them all hit: He fucked up. They had failed in bringing all the hostages back alive. He checked the body of the eldest daughter for any semblance of heat, but she was stone-cold. She had been drugged, raped and killed and no one had been able to get to her in time. It was only through divine intervention that the same hadn’t happened to the other sibling… even though step 2 had probably gone through, given that apparently it was easier to rape a 14 year old without drugs, since an 18 year old would put more resistance. Another reason for Czesch to exact some half-twisted justice on that sickening rebuke of a man.

The girl was still crying, probably waiting for her turn to be drugged and thrown around like a puppet. Czesch wasn’t entirely sure how to approach that dilemma, but he knew he had to get her out. The radio was a bust, but the tactical feed was still transmitting, so the team was probably waiting for him to get to the exit. And the last thing he was planning on doing was getting to the exit empty handed. He´d have to take his chances.

“H-Hey there…”

He couldn’t help but hit himself over such a sloppy introduction. The girl was terrified, her sister was dead in front of her and she had most likely been raped already… and all Czesch could think of saying was “Hello”? He clearly wasn’t ready for this. No wonder the girl didn’t respond at first.

“D-Don´t worry, I´ve… I´ve been sent to get you out. I´m with the Serbians, the good guys!”

The girl finally lifted her view, only to see a fountain of blood covering a man head to toes. It was a sickly sight, but the girl had probably been through enough to not be fazed about it.

“W-What do you mean? W-Who are you!?”

“Thank god you speak English!! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to- Oh, right, right… I´ve been sent along with my team to get you and your family out of here.”

“Y-You are here to save us!? Wait, w-w-what about… that man… he´s-!”

“He´s already been dealt with, don´t worry… he won´t… harm anyone ever again. I made sure of that.”

“…aahhh… t-thank you… t-thank…”

“You are shivering… hang on tight.”

Czesch searched around the room, finding an overcoat belonging to the rapist. Having nothing better and seeing that its owner was in no position to complain, he put it over the girl to get her to warm up.

“T-thanks… w-what about my… oh, no…oh, please, no, don´t tell me that… oh, god…”

The poor girl could do nothing beside hugging the body of her dead sister, asking for some god, any god, to give her back. The Kid knew that if there was a god out there willing to do it, then he had been in vacation for quite a long time.

“I´m… I´m sorry I didn’t- Argh!!”

The wound opened again, and this time more blood started pouring out. Then again, there was so much blood in Czesch´s clothes that some more wouldn’t make much of a difference. Still, it would only make matters worse if they tried to head out, since he had lost quite some during that little excursion. His exhausted groan brought the girl back to reality.

“Are you alright!?”

Seeing her growing concern, Czesch pulled his best smile out of the depths of his soul.

“I´ll be fine, princess, don´t worry… can you walk? Because we are getting out of here fast.”

“I don´t… I don´t think I can… what´s the point, without her?

Oh, no. He would NOT deal with self-defeating attitudes in a situation like this, that was the last thing he would allow. Still, he couldn’t get her out of it by acting violently, that would only scare her even more than she already was. He had to encourage her somehow…

“What´s your name, princess?”

“Oh, it´s… I´m Anja.”

“Heh, of course it had to be… oh, fate, you are a cruel mistress…”

“What?”

“A very good friend of mine is called Anna, but I just call her Annie. She´s a real troublemaker, has given me a huge number of headaches ever since I met her. But she´s really nice sometimes and has strength that she doesn’t even realize she has. One time, I was too sick to move and she dragged me half-way across town to my place and dumped me in place. Even when told about the death of closed ones, she chose to keep moving forward, fighting to claim a life that was hers.”

“S-Sounds like someone strong.”

“You bet… now, your parents must be worried sick about you, so I´m going to finally do my job and get you to them. Heck, if we make it, I might even let you meet Annie for yourself and get some pointers!... Although I doubt that´s such a good idea.”

Banter about there being an exciting world out there was as good a spark as any for someone undecisive about life.

“O-Ok, I… I think I can… oh… m-my… my leg… it´s not… moving.”

“Let me check it real quick. It isn’t going to hurt, OK? Just breathe in and out.”

He slowly moved his hands around Anja´s left leg, not noticing any physical trauma that would render it immobile. The problem was definitely in her mind, the shock causing the muscle to not respond appropriately to messages from the brain. He couldn’t help but sigh as the task became more difficult by the minute.

“Can you move your other leg?”

“Y-Yes, I can still move it.”

He scratched the back of his head, rubbing even more blood on top of him.

“… Man, this is going to be tricky… You are going to have to lean over onto me and walk with your good leg. I´m afraid I don’t have the strength to carry you all the way, so you´re going to have to do a bit of hopping yourself. Can you do that for me?”

“I… I don´t know if I-“

“I know you can do it, you just have to focus on staying alive and your body will do the rest… After all of this is over, I´ll treat you to something cold. That´s bound to get you happy, right?”

“… It´s November.”

“Then whatever you people eat during winter, I don’t know. I´m not a culinary expert on Serbian delicacies… now, come on, I… argh… I´m not sure how much more I´ll be able to…”

The dizziness started to settle in. It wasn’t as bad as when he came down with the sickness, but it definitely meant that he had lost quite a lot blood. Only his unnatural body constitution managed to keep him up and somewhat combat effective.

“… Alright… OK, let´s get out of here, Mr…. sorry, don’t know your name.”

“Ahh, I forgot to tell you mine! Apologies… I´m Czesch, nice to meet you!”

He had to grin, even if the pain tried to tear away that smile. A smile like that, as Czesch found out time and time again, was enough to convince people about his rightgeousness, about his ability to turn the impossible into a certainty. A worried look would dash away any hope of getting out, that much was certain. So, a grin was in order, something to instill a little bit of hope on a girl that had lost so much in a single night.

“Shall we be off- Argh… princess?”

“L-Lead on… and could you please stop calling me that? It´s… it´s bad…”

Seeing her pained expression, she acknowledged the implications behind it.

“Will do… don´t you worry, I wont let anything bad happen to you from now on…”

And he meant it. He had fucked up already hard enough, letting her sister die without any hope of seeing her family again. He took it upon himself to not let the girl be harmed in any other way and take out any who would try to do so.

He just hoped that he´d have enough strength to carry out such a task.

Nate wasn’t trying anymore. He couldn’t believe Serbian Special Forces would have had such a hard time dealing with rookies like these, taking cover in flimsy spots, running to drag the wounded out in the open, making themselves easy targets for no apparent reason other than to die.

True enough, he was packing some serious heat. He had his trusty marksman rifle, a modified Mk 17 Mod 0, chambered in 7.62 and with enough firepower to double as a devastating CQC weapon. Along with that, he had also commissioned a modified Artic Warfare Magnum rifle, chambering  .308 Lapua Magnum rounds, capable of going through pretty much everything apart from heavy armor. Each shot with that thing tore apart more than he was used to, even going as far as one of those rounds going through one of the kidnappers and lodging itself inside the leg of a second one. It was nasty, but definitely effective.

It was turkey shooting by that point. With the added silencer and a few adjustements, his targets knew they were being shot at, but were too panicked and too deafened by the storm to pinpoint the shooters location. Throwing smoke grenades or any sort of cover wouldn’t work, due to the extreme winds going on. And at a distance of less than 500 metres, each shot made its mark with barely any deviation.

Nate figured something was clearly wrong. Those people were clearly not prepared for any sort of attack, so how could they have managed to take out a group of some of the most elite fighters in Eastern Europe? He figured the answer would come soon enough, and, lo and behold, it actually did.

Nate didn’t have a particular special skill that made him stand out from the rest. Vivi was insanely good with tracking shots, Czesch was an all-rounder with the aforementioned curses, Rob was an expert in medical treatment under fire and Buri knew how to breach every structure… he, on the other hand, hadn’t something as indentifiable as that. He was simply lucky and had a sixth sense when it came to immediate danger.

He instinctively ducked under his rifle, only to hear a sniper shot fly through to where his head had been seconds before.

“Oh, so that´s where you were hiding…”

He got back up to his sights and searched for the shooter, the man probably responsible for keeping those mad Bulgars in one piece. Nate´s rival had waited for an optimal moment to take the shot, but hadn’t taken into account Nate´s supernatural ability to avoid getting nailed by gunfire.

He finally found him, top most point of the keep, leaning against the window in an angle to avoid peeking too  much. The man was smart, smarter than the others, Nate had to give him credit for that much. But he had fucked up the moment his shot had missed, as Nate unleashed a single round that completely decimated the wall next to the window. It was a flimsy wood cover, so the bullet had probably landed inside and shattered the man. Just in case, he fired a second shot, this time hitting the rifle sticking out.

“RIP, loser…”

He reloaded the gun, now noticing he had gone through 5 magazines already. That amounted to 25 shots, 18 of them having been lethal. Not too shabby, but he figured they´d get mad at him anyways for wasting ammunition like that. Probably Gervaise, stating that .308 was too expensive to go around wasting shots with, while Karen would probably just smile and dance around., telling him that it was no biggie… he really needed to stop fantasizing.

Such was the quiet life of a sniper, around a world filled with panic and screams.

Every corridor looked the same, Czesch came to that realization as he slowly made his way with Anja through the underkeep dungeons towards the sewers. He figured there was an exit nearby, but he couldn’t quite tell where it would be. He had to guess by instinct, since the tactical feed could only provide so much information and they had been called so quickly Czesch barely had time to study the layout of the castle, much less the underkeep. But instinct was failing hard, as slowly but surely the pain started growing worse and worse.

“I-I think I might… need a breather. D-Do you mind?”

“No, it´s OK… I´m tired too…”

He rested his back against one of the dark corners in every corridor, breathing heavily as he tried to keep his wits to himself. He couldn’t go berserk , that was not an option considering his mission. If he let pain overflow him, he´d definitely be able to take on anyone in their path, but he wouldn’t recognize friend from foe in that state. He had to cool down, but the loss of blood made it hard.

The wound had reopened again, he realized that much. It had reopened so many times he couldn’t keep count. He added further pressure to the wound, trying to slow the bleeding down, even if only by a little bit. Anja, seeing his protector having a hard time himself, decided to add pressure to the wound with both of her hands.

“Hey, thanks… you didn’t have to, but… much appreciated.”

“Y-You´re welcome…”

They spent some time in there, trying to regain as much stamina as humanly possible before venturing on. Anja´s problem wasn’t that she was exhausted, that was only part of the equation. Just trying to stand up with that wound between her legs and the pain stopping her from moving one of her legs… it was hard stuff, specially for someone so young. Czesch had been through some similar problems at an earlier age, but at that point he had stopped being 100% human.

“Mr Czesch…”

Her query was a definite surprise, something the Kid hadn’t seen coming at all.

“What is it?”

“I… I know this is not the time, or the place… but, how old are you?”

“If I recall correctly… going to be 17 in about 2 weeks time.”

“R-Really? That… makes you 2 years older than me…well, 1 year now. I… I´m 15.”

“Wow, happy birthday! When did it happen?”

“A week ago.”

“Oh.”

Suddenly, the only sound that could be heard was that of footsteps and shouts in a foreign tongue. Czesch´s CZ-75 immediately assumed the usual shooting position as he checked both avenues of approach, praying that no one would be smart enough to be looking around corners. His heart rate was starting to accelerate, something that doesn’t bode quite well for someone who is losing blood at an alarming rate. He started easing his mind, cooling his senses… detatching himself and concentrating on his current problems, rather than the possible ones… but, as it always tended to happen, things had to go awry some way.

Anja started shivering uncontrollably, still grabbing Czesch, and she started whispering in her native tongue as tears streamed across her eyes. All those loud sounds and menacing voices… they were probably triggering a trauma she had just felt in her own skin less than an hour from then. Her body knew nothing was wrong, but her mind had been through so much that it was signaling that the pain was coming back and in force.

She must not not scream, Czesch understood that much. Any sort of loud sound would give them away, and he was in no condition to start a firefight, especially considering the risk it would put on her life. He had mere seconds to make an action, something that could calm her down, or at least comfort her. His mind was coming up with nothing, so he chose to return to basics, to ask the simple questions, questions he knew how to answer… for instance…

If Laria was crying after using her curse, how could he comfort her?

He instinctively grabbed Anja and hugged her with his free arm, tugging her closer to his dampened body, but not forcefully, going slow and only if she wanted to come closer, making it her choice. She finally rested her shivering head on his chest, and only then he locked the hug in place, his heart rate staying in the low side of things, letting her hear the slow thumps, letting her know that he wasn’t afraid.

“Shhhhh… I´m here, I´m here… don´t worry, it´s OK… nothing bad is going to happen… I´ll protect you… No one is going to hurt you anymore… you are safe… as long as you are with me, you´ll be alright… shhhhh… I´m here… I´m not going anywhere else…”

That seemed to be comforting her, as a bunch of armed men strolled right past them, apparently not noticing the crying girl and the bleeding man tucked in a corner. His sidearm didn’t move an inch as he said those words, trying to retain a semblance of accuracy in case someone decided to be dumb enough to look.

For some reason, she was the one hugging him now, with the quite the strength. It wasn’t one of Karen´s hugs, but with the wound and everything else going on through his body it was certainly not a pleasant experience. Still, he´d take it if it meant they could keep on moving now. With the patrol gone, the Kid tapped Anja on the head to let her know the coast was clear.

“Anjie, are you better?”

“… Y-yeah, I´m-”

Tears were streaming across her face like rivers, but she looked directly at him with resolve in her eyes. He responded to her glare with a patient smile.

“It´s alright, you were scared… we all are from time to time.”

“Well, you are definitely not… you are fearless!”

“… If only…”

“What do you mean?”

“… I´ll tell you later, let´s just keep moving.”

“O-OK.”

 They kept on going through the corridors, slowly limping away towards some sort of exit. Czesch wasn’t sure of where he was going, but he couldn’t let time run its course and just stand there idly. He had never been the type of person to expet help to arrive, instead seeing the perils ahead as a way to test his endurance.

They came across a heavy oak door, which probably lead to some sort of access point to the castle or the sewers. The latter would come in really handy, and the former would mean their probably death. Vivi and the team had probably already moved the rest of the hostages to a safer position and were risking their lives waiting for him. He couldn’t use Sabrina´s sight due to the danger of rending him blind through the pain and he couldn’t stand there waiting for another patrol to come over. He had to move and take risk by the throat.

“Anjie, I need you to stay here, OK? I´m going to make sure the coast is clear.”

“D-Don´t go to far… I don´t…”

“I´ll be close by… do close your ears just in case, alright? Things might get loud.”

He started opening the door, telling himself that that last remark had just been a small comment without any repercussion. But that big mouth of his tended to speak truths larger than he had initially expected.

For behind the door, 2 guards were waiting on new orders, having a smoke to calm the nerves, only to find a boy dressed in a blood soaked military uniform. For a moment, they looked at each other, the dim lights of both the flashlights and the lightbulbs up top (the generator had apparently been fixed temporarily) showcasing how ridiculous the situation was.

Czesch proceeded with a quick stab with his knife, one directed at the neck. The soldier, taking advantage of the Kid´s sorry state, managed to block the stab with his arm, which hurt like hell but wouldn’t kill. Czesch then used his sidearm and shot point-blank, tearing through the first of the kidnappers. The second one, too close for comfort, pushed Czesch against a wall with his shoulder and slammed the stock of his weapon towards Czesch´s face, but he managed to dodge it properly. The 2nd strike went lower, and this time it made its mark, hitting Czesch in his bleeding wound. This time, the pain was a bit too much for him, throwing him into a frenzy.

“You motherfucking-“

His knife flew as quickly as his hand could allow, making cuts and diving deep into flesh, only to finish up slicing the man´s throat into another pool of blood. The sound of struggle was immediately replaced by that of gasping and groaning, as Czesch leaned back against the wall to not drop to the floor… or worse, stab something else in a rage.

“You people… can´t give me… a fucking-“

As soon as he tried to finish the sentence, another door started opening, leading to a 3 man patrol coming back to report. Czesch bounced forward, retaining momentum, and crashed into the group of men the moment they fully opened the door. The CZ-75 fired the remainder of his magazine, most rounds penetrating inside one of the newcomers, whilst his knife cut the throat of another. The 3rd man tried to run away, his feet and hands splashing in water as he screamed in horror at the monster before him. Czesch gave chase, what little restraint he had left thrown out of the window.

The running man tripped and fell onto the murky water-stained floor, with only a wall managing to stop his mad dash for survival. Czesch would have none of that, as he jumped towards his victim and proceeded to repeatedly kick his head into the wall, blood and gore splashing against the walls as slowly but surely the body stopped twerking and ceased to move.

Nothingness. Just like every single time this happened. No joy, no disgust, no drama or even a thoughtful debate on what´s morally wrong or right. That was his job after all: Killing people who screwed the company or him over. He stood there, silently watching as blood dripped around the walls and ceiling as if falling from stalactities. With his nihilistic thoughts being slowly replaced by reality, henoticed the echoey footsteps coming towards him, as he turned around and aimed his now empty sidearm at the incoming threat… only this threat wasn’t there to kill him.

“Damn, Kid, you have quite the coat of paint there.”

“Czesch!!! Dear god, what happened!?”

He had managed to link up with the team. Part of him wanted to laugh, to jump and feel alive again. Most of him was instead trying to keep any more blood from leaving his body. He slowly dropped himself to the wet floor and put his back against the bloody wall behind him to calm down.

“The girl… go after her… please.”

“Wait, you found the girls!? Where!?”

“She´s down the corridor, to the- argh, shit! Left!”

Trying to lift his arm again had been a bad idea. His muscles were beginning to ache quite badly, and the last thing he needed was to feel more pain.

“Buri, go fetch her… Rob, patch up C real quick, he definitely needs it.”

“Wilco.”

Buri dashed in the direction the Kid had come from, almost tripping on the bodies. Meanwhile, Rob began doing a quick inspection,sighing when he understood the mess before him.

“One dose of medicine coming right up… Jesus, not just the leg this time, huh? Unlucky day.”

“Y-You don’t… even know half of it… how´s Buri doing?”

“He´ll live, don’t you worry… C, what did you mean by “girl”? Shouldn’t it be two?”

He couldn’t help but bite his lip`in frustration and close his eyes, as Rob called over to Vivi to fix another mess in the works.

“What happened?”

“V, I´m… I´m sorry… fuck, I´m so, so sorry, I… I was too late to… too late to…”

“Shit… Czesch, look at me. You did your best and you managed to save one of them… that´s better than nothing. Don´t beat around the bush too much, there isn’t much more to it.”

The exact same words… Bishop had uttered them before, and it showed that Vivi had considered him a teacher and guide. Hell, even the Kid had to agree that the previous leader of the SOT hadn’t been too bad when it came to drilling ideas into others. Czesch took a deep breath, knowing they still weren’t out of the blue and that he had to be ready for anything.

“You are right… sorry, I´m a bit on edge… most of this blood aint mine, but I don’t-”

“You´ll be OK, wound isn’t as bad as it looks, could have hit one of the main arteries… alright, this should hold up better than that measly patch you had on. Try not to make weird moves, OK?”

“Not making any promises”

“… C, Buri says the girl won´t move from place, keeps saying that she has to wait for you.”

“Argh… figures… Vivi, help me up.”

With Vivi helping him get up to a standing position, Czesch now noticed how truly tired he was. Every step was a herculean task and remaining conscious sounded easy only on paper, but that didn’t stop him from slowly making his way towards Buri, reloading his gun as he went.

After a painful few steps, Czesch reached Buri´s location, who was looking worriedly at a shivering mess which was rocking back and forth on the floor, whispering in its native tongue. Czesch couldn’t help but feel angry at someone who should have suffered a more severe punishment for his crime.

“I know she´s young and all, but… what happened to her?”

“…she went through hell… but you should see what I did to the other guy.”

“I doubt that´d be pleasant.”

The Kid crouched next to her, tapping her twice on the head.

“Anjie, it´s me… coast is clear, this is a friend of mine. We are going to get you out of here and back to your-“

She sprung to her feet, seemingly having recuperated the ability to move her impaired leg again, and hugged Czesch tightly, still shivering and crying. Czesch couldn’t help but pat her in the head lightly, even though he wasn’t sure if that was doing the trick. Buri couldn’t help but sneer at him.

“Wow, this is new.”

“What? Oh come on, I´m not that insensitive!”

“I know, but I´m just… surprised, that´s all.”

“It´s basic empathy… come on, Anjie, we are going to move.”

They came back to Vivi´s location, who was trying to keep the hostages from running into the open without confirmation from Nate. Rob proceeded to hand Czesch a spare radio, since the one Czesch had was pierced by shrapnel. After a quick check, he set it up properly in his uniform.

“Overwatch, this is Valory, we are at the access point, ready to move out to the LZ, over.”

“Copy that, Valory… things here are heating up, I´m seeing around 20 to 30 contacts running around the courtyard. I´ve had to switch spots, but I still have a line of sight on you.”

“Have you made contact with Sparrow?”

“He´s inbound and will arrive at the LZ in 5 mikes… I suggest you move now, the storm is pretty much dying now and you wont find a better chance.”

“Thanks for the heads up Overwatch, Valory out…  Blue team, you will take point and clear the route along with Overwatch. Cyprus and I will move with the hostages at a distance.”

“Barrock copies.”

“Reaper copies.”

“Cyprus… copies…”

After going through the plan with the bodyguards, who were more than glad to be able to help out, Vivi decided it was time to get out of that rock.

“Okay Blue, start moving out… C, you feeling alright?”

“A bit dizzy, but… I´ll be fine. I´ll keep my eyes open.”

“That the girl you saved? Seems like she´s a little sticky…”

“That she is, yeah…”

“Hehehe…  another girl falls upon the strong arms of-“

“Don´t.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Czesch sighed. Vivi´s romanticism was really out of place with what Anja had been through. It was almost cruel to make the joke, so he opted to stop it short.

“Let´s just say… that you don’t want to get sued for this one.”

The rush for Sparrow´s landing zone wasn’t by any means quick, especially with the storm still hitting. It was a slow push towards higher ground and onward to a spot that would be tricky to defend. And it wouldn’t get any easier just because they had the hostages… now came the hard part.

The kidnappers had gone full ham and were now throwing people around to search for their missing leverage, and they were quite pissed at Czesch´s handiwork. For most of them, it wasn’t about the money anymore… they wanted payback and even more blood would run. And that didn’t bode well for Czesch, since he had lost quite a bit of it.

Nate just kept on shooting and checking the feed, making sure that information updated at every single possible moment. He was both the eye in the sky and the only covering fire those people had, so he wouldn’t miss any of his shots, even if it meant some of them wouldn’t end up with a kill at the other end of the barrel.

“Valory, you have incoming to your six, heads up!!”

“Copy!”

Vivi turned around and took a knee, aiming down the sights of her G36 and tap firing, watching the trails and readjusting at the running pursuers. Some of them noticed the incoming fire and tried to head for cover, but Vivi nailed each and every one of her ensuing shots, with Nate making sure that no one stood still to get a shot in on her.

“I´ve got it, Valory, regroup with them!”

“Thanks for the assist, Overwatch!”

“Does that mean you´ll buy me a drink when we get back?”

“I´ll give you something, be sure of that!”

Czesch was breathing quite heavily, trying to keep up with the group of people moving through the storm, the rain washing most of the blood and dampening his apparel even more. The girl tied to him was also doing her best not to be a hindrance, but slowly and surely he felt he couldn’t go anymore, that he was walking his last.

He couldn’t let doubt drown him, that would only get both of them killed in the process. He dispersed those thoughts as he heard gunfire ahead. Apparently, Buri and Rob had come across a patrol and were trying to dispense of them as quickly as possible. Anja was shivering and screaming as the last of the thunder blended with the sounds of guns echoing around the island.

“Come on, we are almost there!! One final push, dammit!”

He punched himself in the wound on the right thigh. Maybe he was too tired to keep on moving, but pain would be a good incentive as any. It was his drive, his combat drug so to speak, to push further than his ability could allow. He kept on moving with the hostages, some of which were shooting their weapons at the castle.

“Don´t fucking shoot your weapons, you are giving away our- Argh, fuck!!”

It took them 5 minutes to get as far away from the castle as they needed. Vivi linked up with Czesch and helped him stay in the game by encouraging him the best way she knew how to.

“Hang in there, C, you are going to make mystery girl cry if you drop dead! Overwatch, we are out of their line of sight, you can regroup with us!”

“Copy that! We shouldn’t worry about them giving chase, though. Serbs are already moving in and it sounds like they want payback.”

With the storm moving away and the sky returning to a paler darkness, the sound of helicopters started to reverberate around the cliffs and beaches of the island, as half a dozen military helicopters proceeded to enter the island´s airspace to start with the cleanup.

At the LZ, Bruce had already landed the helicopter and linked up with both Buri and Rob, who were now helping the hostages inside the bird. The last to enter was Vivi, helping Czesch and Anja get onboard, as Czesch was having a hard time just staying conscious. He turned around to her right before embarking.

“Vivi…”

“What is it, Kid?”

“Next time… try not… to get jumped on, alright? It´s… a bit of a pain.”

“…Haha… next time, I´ll be the one to get you off trouble. But hopefully I wont be dumb enough to launch myself out of a window.”

“Heh... fuck you, V.”

“Love you too, darling.”

Nate approached in a mad dash, singing “It´s a long way to Tipperary” for nothing more than comedic effect, and got in just as the helicopter blasted off into the skies, leaving behind the deafening sound of gunfire and the screams of terrorists getting demolished by an angry and vengeful force. Upon getting inside, he started making a sniffing sound and made it audible enough for Czesch to hear.

“Smells like syrup in here. Anyone taken a bath in it?”

The Kid was tired beyond human comprehension, but that didn’t stop him from responding to a quip directed at him.

“… Nate, I swear, one day I won´t find… your shenanigans funny.”

“Let´s hope that day never comes… hey, C, you missed a spot.”

“God dammit.”

That got laughs from all of the operatives on board, which were direly needed after an operation as close as that one. Even one of the bodyguards managed to chuckle, even though they weren´t quite aware of the relationship among their rescuers. On another part of the helicopter, Mr Prádez was speaking with Vivi, who gave him the rundown of what had happened during their imprisonment.

“Thank you!!! Thank you so much for your help!!”

“It´s alright, Mr Prádez, it was our job… we… we are all sorry we couldn’t get you all out. I´m sorry for your loss… I wish we could have been faster.”

“… Life has taught me that it´s not fair most of the time, and that we have to live with the atrocities that plague this world. Me and my wife are… devastaded by Mirna´s loss… and my little angel won´t be able to sleep for a while… but we will stick together… and live, all because you helped us out... I may never have my daughter back, but I´ll make sure her sister gets a proper future.”

“…Try to get some rest, Mr Prádez, I´m off to check on my men.”

Vivi went over to Czesch´s seat. For a second, she had lost him in the middle of a clustefuck, and that sensation hadn’t fully gone away. She could be ice-cold on the outside, but deep inside she cared about him the most, since he was the most volatile member of the group. He could do great things when encouraged by others, but if left alone… he could topple entire cities, she knew that much.

“C, how are you holding-?“

He was fast asleep and, funnily enough, the girl was as well. They had both fallen asleep inside the helicopter, heads touching and breaths synchronized to form a cute scene… cute if you took away the specks of blood all around him, that is. Nate couldn’t help but chuckle while looking at Vivi´s face.

“That´s a motherly smile if I´ve ever seen one.”

“Oh, come on, don’t tell me you don’t find this adorable as well!”

“Ha… Gotta admit, he almost looks like a normal kid when asleep.”

“If only it lasted for more than half an hour… Rob, how is he holding up?”

Rob, who had been checking one of the bodyguards, turned around to her.

“I´ll give him proper treatment once we touch down, he´s stable for now and I don’t want to mess with him just in case.”

“Good to know… for a second there, I… ah, whatever, I knew he´d pull it off.”

Vivi sat next to Nate, who had gone back to looking at the two sleeping children and couldn’t help himself but to complain about them.

“And I can´t believe he´s with yet another girl. Seriously, it´s getting insane… Karen, Rakya, those two at the fair… this kid´s a chick magnet and he isn´t taking advantage of it!! He can be quite dense sometimes…”

“Maybe he´s not quite like you… what, are you jealous of him, Nate?”

Vivi tapped him in the shoulder, a playful smile coming along for the ride. Nate crossed his arms and responded in a dignified manner.

“As if!! Sarah is my babe, and she knows I won´t go for another.  Hell, she´s probably the only person on Earth that can stand a guy like me!”

Laughs again, but even when laughing it did not take away the fact that Czesch seemed to have a lot of people around him, friends that he could depend on and that depended on him. Vivi couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Czesch was finally starting to have a life.

Maybe not a proper one, but a life nonetheless.

As dawn slowly closed in, so did the helicopter to the Salento airport in Brindisi. The moment Bruce set the bird down, medical teams moved in to treat and help the freed hostages, who were in rough shape after surviving a metaphorical and a literal storm all in one night. Czesch waved them off, with Rob explaining that he´d be the one to administer treatment. The most difficult one to convince was Anja, who still clung to Czesch like a cat to a tree. And who could blame her? Czesch was her anchor, the man who saved her and helped her live. She couldn’t leave his side, she wasn’t strong enough… at least that´s what she felt.

“Anjie, these people are going to make sure you are up to 100… don´t you worry, they won´t hurt you.”

“B-but… but you´ll stay with me, right? J-just to make sure… please…”

“… Rob, can I?”

Rob groaned in disapproval, but immediately looked at the young girl and reconsider.

“Would like to check your wounds as quickly as possible… then again, you are a fucking wolverine… fine, but the moment she´s good you come see me first thing, alright?”

“Thanks… come on, Anja, let´s make sure you are good.”

“A-Alright… I´m with you…”

Czesch moved along with Anja, as Rob tagged with Vivi to a quiet spot of the base to talk with her. He didn´t look particularly happy about the situation, and he definitely had some things in his mind.

“I´ll write my report and say that I gave him immediate treatment and managed to stabilize… but, then what? Don´t you think they are suspicious already?”

“Mary definitely has caught up to something, but she doesn’t know about Czesch. To her, he´s still just a very efficient contractor… who heals really quick.”

“But how long till they catch on? We can´t hide it forever, V, that´s all I´m saying, no matter how much we try to.”

Vivi furrowed her brow, still having to deal with all the reports concerning those at the NATO exhibit and the performance of their newest addition to the air wing.

“Argh… you have a point, but that´s… we all agreed to this, Rob, and we´ll make it work for as long as we can. There´s no jumping the boat and no throwing any passengers.”

“I know, wasn’t planning on chickening out… but today he´s been more reckless than usual, you have seen that much.”

“Yeah, he has something on his mind and that´s definitely not helping him be as efficient.”

“Hmmm… well, I´m off to check on Buri. Give me a call on the radio if you need anything, OK?”

“Will do. Good luck, Rob.”

“Same.”

After a couple of hours, Czesch was finally given the green light to be checked by Rob. Anja had been persistent, but her family was there to comfort her and explain things. They´d definitely do a better job than him, and he didn’t have the patience to deal with any more of that, his failure at saving her sister still too recent in his mind. Plus, he was tired to the bone, but that wouldn’t stop Rob from toying with each wound.

“Damn, is it me or are the wounds getting deeper and deeper?”

“Aren´t you going to put some morph- Argh, fuck!”

“Quit whining… I´m not letting you have any more morphine because you´ll get addicted to the stuff… and I know your “No drugs” disposition.”

“True… and it gives me a boner…”

Rob stopped his tinkering and looked at the Kid straight in the eye.

“Wait, seriously?”

“You hadn’t noticed?”

“No, not at all… too busy patching you up to concentrate on that.”

“Oh… d-don´t tell Nate, please. Or Vivi, she can be a bit cruel sometimes.”

Seeing him so worked up about it, Rob couldn’t help but take advantage of a perfect opportunity to tease the Kid.

“Hmmm… I´ll have to think about it.”

“Come on, give me a bloody break!”

“Hehehe… You don´t tell V about my afternoon naps and I wont talk about your sex life. Deal?”

“Deal, definitely… gotta love commerce.”

Rob finished stitching up the side wound, going down towards the usual wound.

“Right… so, what do you plan on doing about the girl?”

“Huh? You mean Anja?”

“I don’t know what she´s been through exactly, but I get the feeling she wont let you go that easily… care to tell now?”

“… She… she was raped… along with her sister…”

Rob took a moment to picture the scene in his mind, immediately blowing air through his nose to get that image out of his brain.

“Damn… now I get why you said the “you should see the other guy” thing to Buri… fuck me, this got dark.”

“It´s like a story of knights saving princesses, only the princess got the short end of the stick and is clutching desperately for her happy ending as best as possible… that´s the headache I´m currently going through.”

“Any exit in sight? You know she can´t have you, your lives are incompatible.”

“Already talked with her parents, they´ll get the idea in her head somehow… no matter what I said, it´d fall on flat ears… it´s… it´s what usually happens…”

The air of nostalgia surrounding that last remark forced Rob to ask the obvious

“… she reminds you of someone, doesn’t she? Of THAT mystery girl?”

Czesch stared at Rob for a while, finally conceding and speaking his mind.

“In that sense, yeah… she couldn’t let go, no matter how hard I tried to have her grow out of me… guess I… I´m more liberal in that regard, jumping from pack to pack… but I still can´t let go of her completely either… she´s too important to me.”

“You still want to see her again that much?”

“… I want to… but part of me is afraid of what I´ll find… whatever the case, I´ll go for it the moment I´ve news.”

“You know, this would be a lot easier if you actually told us her name.”

“Can´t do. You´ve already done more than enough for me, and this is something she can do herself. She´ll find her way here, I´m sure of it.”

“Okay…”

Right after begrudgingly agreeing with the Kid, the Spaniard began spouting gibberish in his native tongue, something along the lines of “Dios nos pille confesados, los putos crios malditos y sus historias de amor, me cago en todo lo cagable, joder…”

“… Wait, was that Spanish!?”

“Errr… no? Just your imagination.”

“Holy shit, you just spoke in Spanish!! Dammit, I should have recorded it!! Come on, go for another, this time I´ll get it on tape!”

“I´m not repeating myself for you!”

“Don´t be a party pooper, Rob!! Just do it once more!!”

“A no is a no! And stop moving, I´m finishing up!”

It was an eventful afternoon, to say the least. After making sure Czesch was OK and with Vivi having finished talking with both Italians and Serbs, they were given the green light to leave in the plane they had arrived in, back with the same equipment and a lot less bullets. Such was their way in most quick-response ops, having to leave for home the moment the operation finished to qualify them as such.

But of course, Czesch´s actions had to cause a scene. Right when they were about to leave, someone decided to show up to make everything dramatic, even though Czesch wanted none of it. Anja was waiting by the C-130, and the SOT (along with Bruce) all simply laughed at him and waited inside the plane for him to end his “summer romance”.

At first, none of them talked, they simply stood one in front of the other. She was moving her feet nervously, and he was too tired to care. It was then that Nate decided to encourage both of them in the most eloquent and subtle manner:

“Just kiss already, you two!!!”

She couldn’t help but blush, while Czesch shrugged it off as just another one of Nate´s quips.

“Well, I guess you know already, huh? I have to work to do elsewhere.”

“I… I know…”

“And I understand this is quite awkward and everything… but…”

“No, no, it´s OK… this is probably something you do most days.”

“Not really, but it happens every once in a while, yeah.”

“… I wanted to… to thank you for everything… if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be talking right now.”

“…”

“And I wanted to tell you that it´s not your fault that sis is dead… it wasn’t your fault…”

“I did come late, that I won´t forgive myself for… but thanks anyway.”

Another round of silence. This time around, Anja seemed to have regained a bit of her willpower, enough to stand on equal footing with  the Kid.

“So, do you have anything better to-“

“You promised to treat me to something once we got out.”

Czesch thought he had misheard…. then saw her look of determination and reeled back for a moment.

“Huh?”

“Back in the castle, you promised.”

“Errrr… how about some cash? That could-“

“No, that wouldn’t be fun… if you ever come to Serbia, could you come over to Nís for a visit? I… I´d really like that… find a proper way to thank you…”

Denying an offer like that would have been of poor taste. The Kid scratched the back of his neck, a visit to another part of the world not sounding that bad if it wasn’t related to any guns or violence.

“Well, if something does pop-up, I… I guess I´ll give it a shot.”

“Promise?”

She extended her hand, still shivering a bit from both the cold and other factors only beknownst to her.

“Promise.”

He shook her hand… and immediately found himself being hugged by her again. Part of him felt happy that she had decided to move forward, to try and live her life to the best of her ability. Another part felt she still had a path ahead of her, one with many sleepless nights and moments of loneliness. Still, he realized that, if that was the determination she had gained only a day after the darkest moment of her life, then she would push through regardless of circumstance.

“Won´t keep you any longer… have fun out there, Czesch!”

“Heh… don´t get kidnapped again, OK? See you another time, Anjie!”

As she ran back to her parents, Czesch couldn’t help but think about a reality that was biting him really hard. A particular truth that just showed how cruel the world can be to those ignorant of their nature. As he chuckled at the thought, he couldn’t help but say it out loud.

“If only you knuckleheads realized how strong you were… you´d realize how little you need me.”

The plane rattled and shook as it flew towards the English Channel, with all the members of Blue Sparrow accounted for and without major injury among them, if you didn’t count Czesch recovering from a wound that would have killed a normal man. Nate practiced gags, Buri drank, Rob nervously looked back at all the equipment (not being able to sleep in a plane does that) and Vivi talked over the radio with command, all the while Bruce and Czesch tried to get some sleep in their bodies after a long night.

“You awake, Kid?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“Buri told me you did great down there, but he also mentioned you got wounded.”

“That I did.”

Bruce was quick to shoot a glance at Czesch, not noticing any excessive patching anywhere.

“You alright?”

“Never felt better… Feels like I hadn’t slept in weeks…”

“Right… Kid, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“You get wounded a lot, but your recovery time for new assignments is… a bit on the abnormal side.”

The Kid opened his eyes and faced Bruce.

“… so?”

“So… Do you have any tricks up your sleeve or are you just a fast healer?”

Czesch gave it some thought, then immediately turned back to sleeping.

“… I´ll go with the latter.”

“What´s that supposed to mean!?”

“It just means I have the shittiest sort of luck, nothing else.”

“Ugghhh… you know, I´d like you to be straightforward with me one of these days.”

“… me too…”

“Huh, did you say something?”

Vivi barged into the luggage compartment, where Czesch and Bruce had made their small sleeping spot. They hated the seats up front, and found certain equipment quite comfortable to rest upon.

“I figured you two would be here… is Czesch awake?”

The Kid raised his fist into the air as a sign of agreement.

“Can you come with me for a sec? Need to talk with you about something.”

“Can´t we talk here? I finally got the right posture and-“

“Czesch…”

“Ok, Ok! Sorry, Bruce. Leaving equipment check in your capable hands.”

“Oh no, what shall I ever do without your help? Haha… later, Kid.”

They both moved away towards the front of the plane, Czesch still feeling a bit janky after spending so much time not moving, stretching his shoulders while waiting for Vivi to talk.

“So… what did you want to talk about?”

“Rob just informed me that you were quite open during your patch-up… like, really open, he said you talked non-stop.”

“Come on, it isn’t like I stopped him from patching me up.  Have I committed a contract fault I didn’t know about?... and… w-what exactly did he tell you?”

“He didn’t go into specifics… and it´s nothing bad, just a change from your usual, which is great news.”

“Oh… wait, then why are you telling me this?”

“That´s the problem: It´s a change from your usual. Sure, it came with the added benefit that you are starting to open up more and more, which is amazing news… but I´m afraid it came with its own downside as well.”

“And what would that be?”

“You are usually aggressive, but normally you are more collected and thoughtful about your actions… yesterday´s op was… messy, to say the least.”

“Was it my fault?”

“Not fully, but I cant deny you felt off during the entire thing… Czesch, I already gave you permission to talk about it so, if there´s something bothering you, now´s the time.”

Czesch sighed as he gave in to the fact that he really needed to talk with her. He wasn’t sure of the answer to the question himself, and the only person he trusted enough to confide in him was Vivi.

“You know the girl I´m friends with in Harville?”

“Of course! That Annie girl was a bit odd, but she seemed quite nice… what about her?”

“I… I don’t know what to do with her…”

At first, Vivi must have thought about something along the lines of “murder” or “exile”… then she got a good look at Czesch´s face and was shocked by the revelation it hid.

“… Oh.My.God. Are you- Holy shit, do you actually feel something for her!?”

He kept quiet, his face already answering for him.

“That silence just dug your grave!! Hahaha, Annie and Czesch, sitting on a tree…“

“I can´t… that´s the problem.”

“… huh? What do you mean?”

He scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortable about his situation.

“Come on, Vivi, it´s the perfect recipe for disaster! I´m basically a contract killer, living a fake life over there, and I´ll be gone by the time the assignment is over… then what, should I just leave as if nothing had happened? Act like I never even was there to begin with and move on? I can´t do that, you know that much.”

“You are seeing way too far up ahead… besides, teenage love is usually quite fast paced. It comes and goes in the blink of an eye.”

“What, are you talking from experience there?”

“… That one could have hurt if I hadn’t actually done it. Had one during high school, but I better not give you any ideas.”

“Well, hate to break it to you, but I´m not… I´m not a normal teenager. Might try my best out there, but I´ve been through some hell those people don´t even begin to imagine. I… Fuck, I wouldn’t be able to…”

“To keep up, huh? You are afraid you might snap and do something you might regret…”

He immediately rememebered the time the hunger took over, and how he had been milimiters away from losing his mind against the rapist the day before. A shiver ran through his spine, forcing him to sit down.

“I´ve already done enough I regret… and I don’t want to keep regretting more and more. So, what can I do?”

“Does she feel that way for you?”

“More so than I, in fact… at least, that´s the vibes I´m getting.”

“So, you aren’t actually sure if you dig her?”

He exchanged his anxious look for one of confusion.

“Dig her? What, do I need a shovel?”

“As in, liking her a lot…”

“I mean, I like a lot of stuff about her… I´m not sure I´d call it “romantic” though.”

“Same excuse as for Rakya, huh?”

Vivi sat next to him, nudging him with her elbow. That only managed to annoy him even more.

“Hey, at least I know this one better than her!”

“Hmm… I´m not sure what you should do… I mean, your options are either going for it and regretting it later, or not going for it and regret it for longer but without it being as painful… fast and hard, or slow and a bit painful… wow, OK, that came off very wrong.”

Putting the innuendo to a side, the Kid knew perfectly well that she wasn’t the best at romantic relationships either. If only there was a member of the group apart from Nate who could give him a hand…

“Yeah… leave wordplay to me, alright?... but you have a point, it´s just that and I don’t really know if-“

“There´s always a middle ground.”

Rob appeared from one of the corners of the hold Czecsh and Vivi had decided to stop in to have their little chat. He looked grumpy and with a few hours of sleep that hadn’t come to him.

“How long have you been there? And haven´t you been sleep- Oh wait… sorry, I forgot about your… condition…”

“Yeah, and thanks for reminding me, jackass… I was going to give you advice on your girl problems, but it seems you have it under control.”

“Seriously, Rob, you are the last person I expected to give C here some advice on women!”

Rob´s smug look turned to concerned surprise.

“Wha- Even Buri is above me!?”

“He´s a real charmer when it comes down to it.”

“I´ve never even seen him come close to a woman, ever!”

“That´s because you weren’t paying enough attention… so, what about this thing you gotta tell the Kid?”

Going back to the topic at hand, Rob cleared his throat and got in front of them.

“It´s more personal experience than anything… you may take it as you want, but this is how I actually dealt with a similar problem.”

“… Alright, I´m listening…”

Czesch got comfortable in his seat as Rob prepared to start his tale. Vivi went off to grab some chips while listening to what Rob had to say.

“I didn’t start off in Blue Sparrow, as you might imagine. Served in the army first, went over to Serbia, Afghanistan, Iran… some fucked up times, seeing a lot of good friends bite the dust, or sand in the latter one´s case… after an unfortunate operation, I was relieved from duty and found myself with no job, no future and only an empty bottle of the worst rum you can ever imagine making me company in a disco pumped to the teeth with testosterone and easy women… some pretty dark times… can´t believe I drank that shit back in the day…”

“I´m guessing something happened that changed everything.”

“It was a gradual thing, to be honest. Unlike in the movies, you can´t fast forward and get to the exciting parts of someone´s life, so it was a slow jog to wherever I was heading. First off, I started getting some jobs, small stuff with little pay, until I managed to link up with some mobsters who needed a clandestine doctor to treat them. Since I was a licensed medical surgeon, I was the perfect choice. And even though I was happy with saving lives again, it was… argh, I don’t know… just trying to say I don’t miss it, the ambience was gloomy and it didn’t reward me as much as I hoped.”

“I still don’t see where the advice for women comes-“

Vivi jumped into the seat next to the Kid, chips open and ready to be eaten.

“Shush, C! Here comes the part!”

“Thanks, Vivi… one day, I´m going to my usual drinking place to down some bottles of whatever alcoholic poison I can find, and I see a woman getting beat by a bunch of overly excited men. Part of me just clicks and I move in to teach them what they taught me in the army, but I came a little bit late. The girl was in rough shape and I didn’t have enough time to get her to a hospital, so I tried to fix her right there.”

“Aaahhh, I get it!! You saved her and that started your love story!”

Both adults looked at the teenager with a great degree of surprise, considering they knew the Kid wasn’t one for romance in the least.

“Errrr… not quite, C, not quite.”

“Huh? But that´s what makes sense, isn’t it?”

“Are you sure you don’t read romantic novels? That head of yours is getting weird ideas.”

“Only the ones that Vivi keeps in- Oh, just continue with the story!”

“Hehe… alright… no, the girl didn’t survive, I just wasn’t that good at the time. The fact of the matter is, the girl´s sister saw me trying to help her and she helped me in every way she could to save her sibling. When I lost the battle, I just sat there, watching her cry in pain as the ambulance finally arrived. Something about that crushed me even more than the people I had already lost… and I figured something out. Maybe I couldn’t truly help someone who is already dead, but the next in line would definitely require my help. So, I just went ahead and started to visit her, helping her out, having her talk… at first I told her it was for therapy and that it would be free. You see, they didn’t have that much money, so she really appreciated the support. The reason I didn’t take money… well…”

“You were also getting some.”

“Right on point!! Anyways, it started normal, the usual patient-doctor style. Afterwards, we went out to bars and I found out I didn’t like drinking as much as I thought I did. Before I knew it… we were going out and, hell, we even lived together!”

“And you didn’t even notice? Wow, I´m impressed. You are usually quite the farseer.”

“With someone like her, it was hard to know what the future held… anyways, job I had got harder and harder to keep up, and a point came where I just couldn’t keep up shop. If I couldn’t maintain myself and her, then could I really help her out? Was I really helping her out by coming home extremely late at night with bruises around my body? It was a life I didn’t want for her to bear, even though she was slowly catching on to my criminal ways… and that´s when-“

“This is the part where we meet… heh…”

Vivi began giggling like a madwoman, as Rob sighed in frustration.

“What´s so funny? You never told me about this one.”

“Do I really have to, V?”

“Of course you do!! And don´t leave the best part out, he´s bound to like it.”

“Oh, Jesus… I´m walking on the street one day, figuring out how long I can hold out before I try to apply to another hospital where they won´t pay me, when I notice there´s a car chase going on. One of the cars crashes next to me while the other pulls over and the people inside start shooting. Then one of the assholes inside the crashed car pulls out and tries to grab me as a hostage, so I just drop him to the floor, take his gun and start shooting at the car. Before I even realized it, Vivi here came by and disarmed me, dropping me to the floor with a smile and saying… saying… errrr…”

He began pondering, and the longer he took, the more annoyed Vivi got.

“Oh, come on!! You remember what I said, right?”

“It´s in the tip of my tongue… argh, god dammit… it was… it... was…”

“For the love of- I said “Leave this to the pros, rookie. You are just gonna get yourself hurt!”.”

Rob and Czesch shared a look of disappointment as they stared down at an euphoric Vivi who took a moment to notice the cold reception to her “impressive” quote

“What?”

“That was it? Really?”

“I remember it being better than that… you sure you remember it well?”

“S-Some time has passed, and it wasn’t my shiniest moment… oh, just go ahead with your story!”

“Alright, alright! Joder… where was I? Oh, right… so, after a bit of a background check on the guy who had jumped to the occasion to get into trouble that wasn’t his, Vivi´s people decided to give me a job, since Blue Sparrow was just getting into more than mere protective detail and they needed personnel with military experience in other fields, like medicine and engineering. So, I was the perfect bill… only problem was I had to leave Spain because apparently shooting a gun in the middle of a street can get you into some trouble. Especially if you are in the shitlist of every police organization in the country.”

“I can see you took the offer in the end, but… what about her? What did you two do?”

“I did what I had to, I spent what little time I had with her having as much fun as we could both possibly have, and then I told her everything. I told her without dressing it up, stating the truth in every subject and giving her my reasons for it. That´s what I did and I don’t regret doing so.”

“So, she just took it all in? And nothing bad came out?”

Rob stopped himself for a moment, scratching his cheek as he threw out a nervous giggle.

“She did get quite mad at the start, but she was patient… Sylvia… damn, it´s hard to forget about people like her, especially the way they deal with the world. I suggested she should forget about me, but she simply responded with a “and forget about all the fun we had!? In your dreams, Roberto!” or something along those lines… we… we said our goodbyes and that was it… never seen her since, and I don’t regret a moment of it.”

His starkness had taken a different tone, a more humane one. Just seeing him like that forced the Kid to gulp.

“… wow, that´s… quite the story…”

“Nice retelling, Rob. You should do a play about it, maybe even do it as a company event!”

“Don´t even joke about that, it´d be horrible to watch.”

“Oh, oh, I got the cast!! We could have Czesch as you and Karen as Sylvia. It would look so cute!”

They both realized she was getting excited over the wrong reasons, and that the end result could become worse than the Chernobyl disaster if not handled correctly.

“V, cut it out, I´m not going to be part of your fantasies!”

“It won´t be  fantasy once I write it down!”

Seeing their attempts at convincing her as a lost cause, Rob turned back to Czesch.

“Huh… well, C, did that help out?”

“… It definitely gave me ideas… Thanks for telling me, Rob, I appreciate it.”

“And I appreciate you almost telling me the name of your mystery girl!”

Vivi dropped out of her fantasy world at the mention of the girl.

“Huh!? Czesch, you almost told him and not me!?”

“Oh, look at the time, I have to get some sleep, see you two later!!”

“Czesch, come back here at once!!”

Rob couldn’t help but laugh out loud, which caught Czesch by surprise. Laughing right after remembering a past that was long gone was an undertaking that few people would be able to wholeheartedly come to grips with. To be so collected and adamant after having to leave his life behind him… Czesch hoped he´d be able to imitate that conduct some day.

After all, that was something he didn’t see himself accomplishing any time soon.

“Earth to Czesch!! Come on, you slept through class again, get a fucking grip!”

A familiar scene, a familiar pose… and a familiar wake-up call from a girl that should have just accepted his particular quirk. He raised his head from his desk, still feeling the stiffness of his torso and leg wounds.

“Hmmm? Morning… also, no, I did not. I simply closed my eyes every once in a while, that´s all.”

“You are a lost cause, you know that? And it´s afternoon already, dumbass.”

The following week and a half was quite uneventful in terms of actual developments happening in Czesch´s day to day. More going to class, more falling asleep, more getting reprimanded for it, more writing reports about assignments in the other side of the world, more piano playing with the group, firing guns in the firing range… more of that “everything” that made up the bulk of his activities. But at least things seemed like they were going back to something resembling a routine.

For starters, Annie didn’t look as depressed as when Czesch had talked to her during the cooking lesson. She didn’t look quite happy yet, but at least she looked confident in her actions. Jessica went back to her old, loud self when practicing with the group, Simon started going out with Laura (big shock there) and the rest of the people around him hadn´t done anything significant that Czesch knew about. He wasn’t convinced that this state of affirs would last though, but he´d try to enjoy it as best he could. As Bishop had once told him: “Times of peace and quiet like this often come with the worst bloody storm the world can throw at you… but that´s just what makes them so peaceful, knowing that shit is going to hit the fan soon enough.”

… a long metaphor, but a good one for someone who every other day had to solve problems with violent action more often than not. The Kid stretched in his seat, with Annie and Lucie ganging up on him while Jan went for a bathroom break.

“Anna is right, Czesch. You should study some more, we have a bunch of exams coming up next week.”

“And I´m sure you don’t have notes for any of those subjects, right?”

He gave it some thought, realizing they were on point with that assessment.

“I´ve scribbled some things between each nap… besides, I can search for info later.”

Annie clicked her tongue, displeased at his lack of reaction.

“Leaving everything for afterwards… you can be such an idiot sometimes…”

“I was kind of hoping that you´d let me borrow your notes.”

“Oh, like hell I´m going to do that!”

“Come on, after all the help I´ve given you with your coo- Ouch!”

A direct kick to the shin, with enough strength to force him to grit his teeth. Lucie looked at Annie with wonder, not knowing what the quarrel between the two was about, but glad that they were back on friendly terms

“Annie, why did you hit him? He just asked you for-“

“I know what he did perfectly well, don´t you worry!”

She got to earshot distance of Czesch and whispered the following:

“ Speak of that in here and you´ll lose it… got it?”

“Noted.”

Just as things were getting heated up and questions started flying, Jessica entered the classroom and moved towards the group. She didn’t come around that often, so that must have meant that one of the teachers had called in sick and they had no lesson planned.

“Hey ho! How´s everyone!?”

“Hey Jess, doing fine.”

“Good afternoon, Jessica. A bit tired, but I´m alright.”

“I´m feeling sleepy…”

Czesch slowly lowered his head back down again, much to Annie´s displeasure.

“You are NOT falling asleep again! Come on, up, boy!”

A swift fist to the head, smashing his head against the desk in the process.

“Ouch! I´m not your bloody dog!!”

“Hehehe… seems you two already have your roles set… odd to think Czesch would choose the to be under for-“

“J-Jess, what the fuck are you-!? We aren´t- We don´t even-“

“I know! I just wanted to do a bit of friendly teasing, that´s all! Unless… you really want to-.”

“Oh, you are so screwed!”

Jess kept on laughing at a bewildered Annie, all the while the Kid wondered if anything would change if it were boys bickering and fighting instead of those two.

“Hahahaha… man, today has been a drag!”

“How come?”

“I´m supposed to help organize a birthday party for Laurie, but some bitch forgot to put her money in the pile, so now we have to pay up for her and people are basically going mad about it.”

“Right, her birthday is tomorrow… I completely forgot.”

“They wanted a girl´s only night out… and I don’t really feel like going with them, I´d just feel awkward.”

“True, her friends are a little snotty for my taste.”

“… that reminds me… hey, C!”

Jess slammed her hands against Czesch´s table, forcing out of his third attempt at sleeping.

“Hmmm? I was this close to getting there… what is it?”

“Speaking of birthdays… I already know Annie´s and Lucie´s, but I have no idea when yours is. Must be quite far off by the look of-“

“It´s in 3 days, actually… errr… what´s with… what´s with that face? G-Girls?”

Jan entered the class at this point in time, only to find the 3 girls looking at Czesch as if about to kill him, with glares colder than ice. He wondered whether to stay out of it or risk retribution… he chose the former, a smart move.

“You knew that-“

“-and didn’t tell any of us-“

“-why, exactly?”

The Kid gulped, unsure as to the evil intent behind their staring. They weren’t quite the psycothic type (he had seen quite a few of those), but they were concerning nonetheless.

“Errr… girls, you are scaring me a bit here…”

“Why, Czesch?”

“Well, I…”

“With only 3 days we cant plan anything good for you, dumbass!”

His weariness turned to puzzlement in a matter of seconds, as he glinted at Annie in confusion.

“Plan? What do you mean?”

“Duh! We have to celebrate it! Or do you not have a party for your birthday every year?”

“I… was going to clarify that I really don’t.”

Their icy glares turned into shock upon hearing that revelation.

“… wait, what?”

“Yeah, I´ve never really done anything special during my birthday… sure, people have sometimes given me presents, but I haven’t actually celebrated it like most people usually do.”

“Not even as a kid?”

“…Nope…”

True to form, he hadn’t actually done any celebrating as a child, due to the simple things, like being trained to be an assassin or a small civil war. It was only in those last years working as a contractor that it had slowly dawned on him that the day he had come to exist was a day to enjoy and not to mop about, as Nate kindly put it. The SOT didn’t organize “parties” per se, they were small events, usually ending up with them playing at night in Blue Sparrow´s HQ in Hereford. Not that it was any different from the other sessions they had, it was simply a day when they always decided to do some playing if time allowed.

“Wow, that… that´s a bit sad.”

“Tell me about it, I just realized it myself.”

“Are you serious? You never wondered “Hey, maybe I should celebrate the day I was born by throwing a party and inviting all of my friends over.”… Did that thought never cross your mind?”

The fact he had just thought about it… The Kid began to wonder if Jess was a psychic or not.

“Maybe… maybe once or twice, but the date always came with some… issues.”

“Like?”

Now, this was the part where he could have said: “Oh, there was this one time I cleared out a building filled with 10 men stronger than me and I ended up strangling one to death with my bare hands as I watched him lose control over his body, or this other time where I set fire to a building to stop the people inside from firing at civilians… good times.” The level in sarcasm in there was off the charts, so he opted for the safer bet.

“… Don´t really want to talk about it… but I guess we can do a little event of sorts at my place for this one. I wouldn’t mind changing that tradition.”

“What sort of event? A party?”

“I don’t really know… I was thinking… food, drinks, games… I´ve a piano, maybe I could play a little.”

“That sounds awesome!”

“Of course it would sound awesome for you, Jess. I´m sure you are itching to play with him again.”

“And you are probably itching to hear him play as well!!”

“So, who were you planning on inviting?”

Jan finally mustered the courage to join the conversation, still weary of his chances of survival.

“Good question, Jan… so, all the ones present for sure… Annie, do you mind if Kieran comes over?”

She shrugged without any hesitation, as Jess continued trying to rile her up.

“Not at all, it´s your party.”

“Alright…  the rest of the band is also invited, of course… I was thinking of a friend of mine, so let´s see if she can actually-“

“Is it that “Karen” chick you spent the evening during the festival?”

“… That´s the last person I´d think of inviting, I assure you.”

“Sounds like you are not that fond of her.”

He stopped his train of thought, considering that last remark as a possibility.

“It´s not that I don´t like her, but… she usually has a ton of work at this time of year. And knowing how excited she gets about this sort of event, she´ll go mad if she knows she can´t come. Besides… I want there to be a flat by the time we are done. So, no, I´m inviting someone else. ”

“Annie, I´m detecting a bit of jealousy there…”

“What!? Stop talking nonsense, you know I´m not like that!”

“Right, right…  well, now we have to plan on who can bring what. Annie, do you-“

“Actually, Jess, I… I was thinking you could all just bring a present and let me handle the rest.”

He scratched the back of his neck, facing faces of mistrust from both Annie and Jess, while Jan went over to ask Lucie something related to their next period.

“Seriously? Not trying to sound ungrateful or anything, but you might have to spend a bit of cash if you plan on inviting 10 people over AND keep them happy.”

“Relax about money, I´ve got that covered. I´ll ask a friend for advice and that´ll be it!”

“With all the weekends you spend doing work, I´m not even surprised.”

“So that´s settled!! How about we start it at… around… I don’t know, Sunday evening, around 6 or 7?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Same here.”

“Good… good… now, back to sleep…”

“Is he kidding?”

He slammed his head against the desk, letting the sweet embrace of rest take over. Jess was the only one among the group to be surprised by that performance.

“Wow, he really… wasn´t…”

“Welcome to every day of my life, girl… You get used to it after a while… mostly.”

And so, Czesch slept through class again. And like the week before, he felt in a weird state of peace. He didn’t have to fire any guns, he wasn’t forced to commit murder and he was planning events and parties for the sole purpose of enjoying life. Everything was going well…

More of a reason to know something was about to backfire.

“Focking ell, left side! Left side, pour it on those fuckers!!”

“C, cover me, I´m pushing up!”

Czesch started unloading his weapon in bursts, trying to be efficient with his ammunition, since he was running low with only two magazines left. He couldn’t fail any of his shots, he had to stay on the lookout for any attempt for a breakthrough. The lives of his companions were on the line…

… but they actually weren’t. He kept forgetting he was just playing Paintball with Jenny again, which angered him every time he came back to that same realization over and over. It was hard not to forget, since he was actually not playing pretend. He couldn’t afford to grow lenient on even a “pretend” war.

“Shite! I´m hit!”

It was Sam, one of the scots,  who shouted, and Czesch sprouted back to a sprint and arrived to his position. The ruleset implied there was 1 revive per player if another managed to touch them in the back. And so Czesch sprinted, with a hail of paint balls flying towards him and missing him by an inch. He got over to him and smacked him hard.

“Fock me!! Ye can just tap, ye kno?”

“Where´s the fun in that? Shit, eyes on Marty, guy coming from his right!”

“I´ve got im, ye keep up with yer girl, ye madman!”

He got back to covering Jenny, who was pushing aggressively to get a flank on the other team. Some had tried to hit her in the back as she pushed, but Czesch had made sure to keep them pinned or outright eliminate them. He saved an empty magazine and put the last one inside the gun, moving forward to keep up with Jenny´s momentum.

Then, a shot appeared from somewhere that had caught him off-guard. It hit him in the face protection, the knockback sending his head to a side and leading the following ball of paint to a direct hit on the back of his head. The first one did nothing more than throw him off balance… the 2nd one forced him on his knees, and not because of the pain.

That ball of paint stung him quite badly, leaving a ringing noise he recognized quite well from so many other instances. As he fell to his knees from an unknown pressure, he begun to shake, reality transforming in front of him as his eyes blinked fiercely, turning the scene in front of him from a training-ground looking arena to a burning hellscape with mortar shot and artillery firing overhead. Civilians running for shelter and screaming as white phosphorous melted their whole beings, expert soldiers scared shitless by a bunch of armed kids who rushed from cover to cover, eliminating threats one by one. One moment he was looking at a grey floor, the next he was watching the arm of a woman buried in rubble. His breathing became faster and heavier at the same time, as he tried to get a grasp of reality again.

He felt a smack on his back as Marty pushed up to him, returning the favor and making Czesch realize he was still a sitting duck. He quickly rolled to a side, evading more incoming shots, as he pushed up next to his savior.

“Guess we are even now!”

“Ye doen alright, mate!? Ye weren´t lookin too good back there!”

“I´m back in the game, don´t you-“

An airhorn signaled the end for the last game of the day, with a victory for their team. Marty couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he realized Czesch had just been cut short.

“Ye, yer back in the game… shame it just ended tho!”

“Haha… ahhh, fuck you too, man.”

Jenny and Sam got back to them. She looked rather pleased with herself, while he on the other hand displayed his usual bad temperament to his cousin.

“I swear to god there´s brain the size of a bloody peanut in that head o yours!! What the bleeding hell were you doen back there!?”

“I was covering yer sorry mug from stragglers, not my fault ye got shot by people in front of yous!”

“When I say cover, ye don´t just look at my arse like yer a fag craving for it! Ye make bloody well sure I don´t get wasted out there, ye git!”

“Oh, excuse me, yer highness!! I didn´t know ye held yer own arse in such high esteem!! Try to stick to cover next time, ye ponce!”

“Brainless bastard!”

“Reckless fucktard!”

“Dunce!”

“Arsewipe!”

Seeing those insults slowly escalating to violence, the Kid thought it best to intervene.

“Gents, I think you two need a breather…”

“Count yourself in, C. You don´t look too hot, to be honest.”

“Come on, I´m not that-“

“She´s got a point, ye know. Ye were shaking for a bit after ye got hit.”

“What, ye got scared? Ye didn’t in the other matches. Where did the bugger strike?”

Czesch pointed to his neck, simply to drive the point across.

“Back of the head, gave me a bit of a concussion.”

“Aaah, and here I was worrying for nothing!! Come on, Marty, time to pack and go!”

“See you two sheepfuckers on the next one!”

“For the last time, Jenny, we are not bloody Welshmen! Marty here strikes as one, but-“

“Oi!! Don´t ye dare compare me to those sheepfarts!”

The sun started rolling down, the sky welcoming the moon in its embrace as Jenny and Czesch made their way back home after a long afternoon of firing paint pellets at other people. They had played for a long while, eating up a lot of ammo and throwing away quite a lot of money in the process. Czesch didn’t mind it that much, since he believed himself to be a smart spender and had a substantial amount of cash through years of saving. Jenny, on the other hand, had a hard time keeping up with her hobby, but she still pulled through somehow… but that passion didn’t translate well with the tiredness in her body.

“Argh, I get the feeling I´m going to get the cramps tomorrow!”

“I told you it isn’t as easy as it looks, but you wanted to change spots.”

“I don´t play offensively enough, and I was getting a bit tired of watching your back… a change of pace is what I needed, but you were right, it´s exhausting as hell.”

“Same here… I must admit, that did me some good as well.”

“Really now? I figured you´d be mad I took your spot.”

“Not at all. Get too aggressive, you´ll end up riddled with rounds.”

“True… Thanks, by the way.”

“Don´t sweat it, I needed to relax a bit as well.”

“Usually my partner shows up, but he´s been slacking off as of late… besides, you are extremely good at this, more than anyone I´ve seen.”

“That sounded like a compliment.”

“That´s because it was… which begs the question…”

“… what question?”

Jenny stopped on her tracks, unsure whether to put her doubts to rest and ask or to not bother Czesch with it and stop herself from fucking things up with him. A chill ran through his spine, forseeing the realization she had come across.

“Whenever we get around to play, you always take things seriously… like, extremely so. I don´t know if you´ve noticed, but the way you do callouts and the way you move around… it´s almost… military-like.”

“…Ahaaa…”

“And all the drama you throw around when getting hit, even if it was just for shits and giggles… it´s weird when you think about it.”

“Is it?”

“Just a bit… so, this may sound stupid, but… it´s almost as if you were a part of some shady military organization and you were undercover, trying to appear like a normal person and playing Paintball to not lose your edge… that´d be crazy, huh?”

Czesch didn’t even bother giving a proper answer. He simply shrugged it off, French style, and kept on walking with her. She took that shrug quite well, and didn’t notice the Kid was about to have a heart attack from the fact she had almost hit the bullseye.

“Well, considering what you´ve been through, that´d be quite insane… just saying.”

“Right… right…”

“I guess you can´t completely leave the battlefields behind, must be your way to- Oh, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“It´s alright, you have a point. Can´t change the past, but I have to deal with it… this is probably one way to do it.”

“Huh… fair point.”

They kept walking, with clouds starting to block out what little light the stars and moon provided. There´d be a downpour, and it would probably soak them to the bone if they didn’t hurry.

“Oh, before I forget! I meant to ask something.”

“What is it?”

“I´m throwing a birthday party in my place in 2 days. Was wondering if you wanted to pop over.”

“Sure! I mean, I don’t mind, I´m sure it will be a ton of fun! Errr… who else is going?”

“A couple of friends from school, some of them from the band… one guy I played football with, although I´m not sure he´ll be able to pop over…”

“A-And, errr… how many of them are… you know…”

She half-expected Czesch to catch on her meaning… and she was naïve in that regard.

“I´m not following.”

“Come on, you know what I´m talking about! Dealing with some issue you helped me solve… not having a lot of luck…”

“… wait… you mean… oh, errr… let´s see… about 5 of them are, I guess? But why would you-“

“Nevermind that, just… just wanted to know…”

That was one struggle Czesch couldn’t fully wrap his mind around. He did understand the basics of same sex relationships and Sabrina had showed him how normal they could be even in a fucked up environment. However, there was still controversy surrounding that topic and quite a number of xenophobic “law-abiding citizens” were also throwing gays and lesbians in that bag. Add that to the thought that you might be the only one who feels that way… the Kid knew he had to help out somehow… and maybe he had an answer…

“… I mean, you could probably try your luck with… then again…”

“What? What are you rambling about right now?”

“Well, considering your… “orientation”… and the fact you asked about that particular subject… although, come to think about it… she never did mention that out loud… argghh, why am I even theorising about this!? I´m starting to sound like Vivi, for crying out loud!”

“Huh? Wait, you know someone who´s-!!”

“Maybe… I´m not even sure myself, she never did admit to it out loud, but… I´m not sure… you are looking more desperate than I expected.”

“W-What!? N-No, I´m fine!! Really, I wasn´t- I didn´t mean anything by it!”

It seemed her tiredness had completely vanished, instead replaced by a shivering mess.

“Riiiiight… that´s why you are shaking at the prospect of meeting a girl that might like you back.”

“I-!!”

The Kid grabbed her by the shoulder, letting out a groan.

“Come on, Jenny, you know I am not going to judge! Besides, if the situation turns out like that, I´ll be the first to give you a thumbs up!!”

“D-Don´t say it like that, it´s way too awkward!”

“Is it really? I can introduce you two and let the natural course continue.”

“… It´s weird to call it that… “natural course”… don´t know if it´ll feel natural or not.”

“Give it a try before regretting it, that´s what I always say.”

Jenny threw a smile his way, not noticing the angst of hypocrisy growing within him.

“… Yup, that sounds just like you!”

The first drops of rain started to fall, forcing them to sprint the rest of the way back home. By the time they reached the building, they were soaked through and through, but that didn’t stop them from laughing it out as they made their way upstairs. Because what better moment to laugh things out than when you completely feel drenched?

“Oh man, I really need that shower now, hahaha!”

“Speak for yourself, I´m getting a proper bath!”

“Haha… so, the day after tomorrow, at what time?”

“6 or 7 should do nicely, but pop over whenever you want, I won´t mind.”

“You sure about that?”

“Relax, I probably won´t have anything to do apart from managing everything.”

“Hmmm… well, alright then! See you later, C!”

“Try not to catch a cold! You don’t want to be sick for when you-”

“Eat a dick and choke on it!”

She closed the door behind her, and Czesch could finally show the distress that he had been trying to hide ever since Jenny had made that comment. She had been too close for comfort in her assumption, which begged the question: How much did she know? How much was honest curiosity and how much far-fetched imagination? How long until she found out? What contingency did he have in case for that to happen? Could he erase all traces of his existence?

… Maybe he was thinking too hard. He was probably being too paranoid and searching for spies and agents that were probably not interested in someone like him. He was there on an extra-official assignment, basically a paid vacation, with the soul purpose of getting him some personal social skills that he clearly lacked for protective detail. There was no way someone was trying to spy on him or, god forbid, murder him. There was nothing to gain there, no massive reward, no revenge to be had… or so he believed.

His train of thought was completely stopped when another door opened, putting him in an even higher state of alert. This time, it was Jeff, one of the gay couple, who was probably heading out for a night shift or something similar. He turned over to Czesch´s direction, giggling as Czesch relaxed his posture.

“Good evening, Czesch! My my, I didn’t know you were ninja material!”

“Errr… what´s that supposed to me?”

“You were in what looked like a combat stance, like you were ready to smash my head against the wall or something worse!”

Noticing his fighting posture in all of its glory, the Kid reverted to a more relaxed one.

“Oh, sorry about that! I… it´s a… reflex I have… from training.”

“You know martial arts!? How quaint!”

“Yeah… right… quaint, definitely… so, am I stopping you from going somewhere or…?”

“Oh my god, Czesch, you look so cute when being apologetic!”

A shiver ran down his spine, one he wasn’t very comfortable with.

“… I´ll take that as… a compliment, I guess?”

“I was heading out to work, they changed my shift for an hour early and it´s D-R-E-A-D-F-U-L!”

“… I can tell.”

“Oh, by the way, congratulations with Jenny! That was extremely selfless of you!”

Another instance of the Kid not understanding the context of a conversation.

“ I´m not following right now.”

“We heard the news from her mother, she was a bit skeptical at the time, but we convinced her that it was perfectly normal and she should be happy her daughter was finally opening up like that! It´s horrible when children are forced to hide away what makes them happy, it makes for terrible experiences!! I was lucky in that regard, but my Hughie had an extremely hard time convincing his family… he was disowned!”

“That must be horrible.”

“But we both had each other and we pulled through… and Jenny told me that it was you who helped her give that first step, so you also have my thanks for it.”

He was definitely not used at all to receive praise for something he wasn’t quite directly responsible for. He scratched the back of his neck to voice that thought.

“It was… it was nothing, I suppose… it was all about talking.”

“I´m glad you have my mentality, Czeschky, that´s definitely the right idea to have! People are becoming colder and distant by hiding so many secrets… people need to be more open, talk about their problems, explore solutions! Wouldn’t that make a better world?”

“… It would… yeah…”

“Oh, darn! I´m going to be late!! Nice talking to you, neighbor, bye bye!”

“Later!... later…”

Being open… talking the truth… transparency… another  dagger stuck inside Czesch´s psyche. What had openness accomplished? What had transparency done, other than turn potential friends and allies into people that hated his guts? What had he accomplished by voicing his opinions, other than get people he cared about in harm´s way? No, speaking freely wouldn’t make a better world, for the single reason that the world is filled with people that won´t listen and will act upon words with guns and fire.

And what was the truth? A common collective realization about something? Humanity always needs to believe something as truth, be it science, magic or the existence of superior beings controlling everything.  Czesch had his truth, that there were immutable laws that held against time and an Old Crone to play with those rules to indulge in the suffering of others. But who would believe him? Who wouldn’t qualify those thoughts as madness or heresy? Who was responsible of separating truths and lies? Nothing was a certainty, not even the markings on his arm or the nightmares that plagued his sleep.

He got back to his apartment, feeling tired to the bone after a day of weird happenings. Not only was he having trouble keeping his cover story intact without spoiling the facts, but those facts were also torturing him in other ways. He would need that shower for another reason other than getting his body warm again. And then he realized the one thing that he hadn’t considered up to that point, one that brought him back from existentialism.

That yet another person was calling him Czeschky, and he kept on hating it.

Sunday morning finally arrived and, technically speaking, Czesch had already hit 17. In chronological terms, he´d have to wait until the afternoon, for when asked about it, his parents merely told him that he was born during dusk. In that sense, he was hours away from hitting that new point that supposedly separated the past and the future. And, true enough, much had changed from the year prior.

The change hadn’t been massive, but he definitely felt more alive. Events like the incident in Italy and other contracts had taken a toll on him, even if there were people around keeping him afloat. Before that contract, he would never have considered playing a losing football match, or rescuing a kid from a lake, getting into a brawl in a disco… he was getting all of these new experiences that he had a hard time believing had happened.

His existence was plagued with that existential question, which in his case was more of a reality than anything else: Will I die tomorrow? Considering his rotten luck, he´d definitely live on, along with all the pain and loss the world could throw at him. But among all the bullshit that had plagued his life up until that point, he had to accept that, between all of the dumb moments, there had always been a silver lining. Compared to the violence and corruption of his youth, he now felt like that all was really behind him. A grim reminder, but a reminder nonetheless.

He got out of bed with high spirits, getting dressed and going down to check on his mail. He would do so every week, since the company would always send him a balance sheet with all the money that he spent or invested in the company. What he wasn´t expecting was a box standing right next to his door, clearly intended for him. It definitely came from the company, there was no doubt that the transportation had been carried out by Karen´s “ants”.

He brought the box inside, along with a piece of paper that read as such:

“Czeschky, me and the boys down here thought you´d like to try out one of the new toys for your birthday, so we decided to play for a bit with some of the weapons down here and make something special with it!! Hope you have fun today and do try and leave some of the cake for me, I´m soooooo hungry!! LV, K... PS: The underbarrel UGL can be removed if it doesn´t fancy you, I know you don´t like having the same stuff as Vivi. PPS:Oh, damn, now you know it´s not a PP-19!! Sorry, C, better luck next year!”

“Hahaha… typical K… now, let´s see what bad boy they decided to… huh? What the-“

An XM8. Czesch had only heard about this weapon from one of Bishop´s men, Tancrid, who had used one beforehand and had called it “The finest damn gun I´ve ever had the pleasure of firing”. In years past, this weapon would have taken over the position held stubbornly by the M4 carbine and the M16 assault rifle inside the US military, but it fell out of favor for updated versions of those rifles and way cheaper options coming from Belgium or Germany.  The XM8 then gathered dust, the units produced being sold to Malaysia or companies like Blue Sparrow to make a profit after such a hefty investment. The weapon wasn’t bad by any means, much to the contrary. You could say it was so advanced for its time it just wasn’t profitable enough.

Czesch finished mounting the weapon and marveled at it. He wasn’t one to drool over the design of weaponry, as he still considered them to be merely killing tools, but even he had to agree that the design was beyond modern. Upon handling it, he could feel that it was neither light nor heavy, striking a good mix in weight that would help him counter recoil as well as move it effectively around. The size was also another positive, somewhere between an assault rifle and a carbine.

Karen´s handiwork showed across the weapon: Modified receiver, changed barrel to accommodate 6.5mm, Czesch´s preferred ammunition, along with several technical changes to update the weapon to modern warfare, since the design, despite being quite forward compared to other weapons, did come with some flaws that Karen had seemingly ironed out. After all, that was what she enjoyed most about the weapons business: Toying around with designs and making them more efficient.

The grenade launcher underneath the rifle looked as dangeorus as it was. Czesch wasn’t particularly fond of grenade launchers, but he had to admit they could come in handy from time to time. And having one of those  below was way better than having a shotgun. He hated shotguns with a passion.

He went over to the firing range to try out Karen´s new baby, and after firing two full magazines he had to concede that Karen had outdone herself yet again. Her “Lightbringer” rifle had saved Czesch´s ass on a multitude of occasions, but this one felt even better, even with the added grenade launcher weighing him down.

“… I´ll have to thank her somehow when I go back…”

The thought of inviting her to the party crossed his mind, but then he realized telling her so would just sadden her, considering that she probably had work ahead of her. And after her little “escapade” during the school festival, Gervaise probably had her under constant surveillance. Especially that day of all days.

After having lunch and cleaning up, he started setting everything for the party: Drinks, food, some music speakers, TV… he also made sure to lock down the firing range, just to cover his tracks in the instance someone opened the wrong door. The day before he had made sure to buy a bit of everything in regards to food and drinks, just to try and keep everyone happy. He´d also have to make some food himself, briefly considering if perhaps someone could help him out in that regard… a long shot, most likely.

The first dropouts started rolling in. Kieran had some trouble with his brother, Reuben, and had to go help out. What he was helping with was unspecified, but Czesch wouldn’t dare ask. Simon and Laura had already planned something involving some alone time together, which caught him by surprise. At no point had he seen love blossoming between those two… then again, he hadn´t a clue about what revolved when two people were in love, so he let that one go as well.

He sighed as he found himself with no more things to do. Everything was where it was supposed to and people would come over in an hour or so. He walked around until his gaze met with the picture Bishop had taken of all the members of the Cub Pack, 8 years prior. He grabbed it and couldn’t help but form a grim smile, remembering each and every one of them as they tried their hardest to challenge fate.

“… We really were dumbasses back then, weren´t we, Sabi?... You were supposed to be the oldest, but you were the biggest child of us-”

A loud knock on the door caught him off-guard. It was still too early for anyone to arrive and he wasn’t expecting Jenny to pop over so soon… a gun was already in his hand by the time he reached the door, breathing came to a close as he stood besides the door, weapon ready to fire back at any incoming bullets.

“Who is it?”

“Czesch!!! Mind opening the door!? It´s rude to keep people waiting!”

Jess? Out of all the people that could be knocking, it had to be her. He quickly put the gun away and let out a false sigh of relief, false in the sense that Jess coming so early just brought even more questions than answers to the table. He opened the door by a small slit, just to get a glimpse at her. Indeed, she was standing right in front of the door, carrying her trusty sax with her.

“What are you giving me that look for!? I haven´t broken any laws!”

“… Around 6 does not mean 5:10… you need to get your hours straight.”

“Whatever… so, can I come in or you haven’t actually prepared anything and are embarrassed to admit that-“

“Come on over…”

He opened the door fully, letting his first guest in. He felt a bit queasy while doing so, considering that he had never invited anyone willingly, and the only people that had come over had arrived at his doorstep mostly against his wishes. He couldn’t help it, it was still hard to let people see what his inside life looked like… even if it was a fake one.

“So, I´m guessing you kept your mouth shut about it by the looks of it.”

“What are you- Oh, right… guessing the same goes in your case.”

“Right…”

The silence grew so uncomfortable that Czesch decided to speak up, a bit irate at the fact that she had arrived almost an hour early to just make that question.

“So, you came early just to make sure that I hadn’t slipped out? Really?”

“O-One has to make sure all of her bases are covered! You seem trustworthy, but I´ve only known you for so long!”

“You´ve got a point there… still, I´m not sure why you get so worked up about this. It´s not like a life or death scenario.”

“You want to have a chance with Annie or not?”

That odd feeling sprung up yet again, forcing him to blush a little.

“I- Wait, wha- I told you already, I´m not focusing on that right now!”

“Oh, but that means you have some interest in her?”

“… I may have… I do find her a bit…”

“Hehehe, gotcha! I knew there were spinning gears in that head of yours!”

He now realized that he had only seen the musician in her, and he was finally meeting up with the other side of Jess… one that reminded him an awful lot of Vivi.

“A-And what about you, huh!? Any petulant knight willing to stand up to your madness?”

“I´ve decided that I´m not that fond of knights… maidens may be… may be up my alley, who knows.”

He wasn’t quite surprised by that development… what did surprise him was that he had been right in assuming something along those lines. He was used to predicting military matters, but civilian ones? That was an entirely different matter.

“Are you… being serious?”

“What if I am? You finding that disgusting is honestly quite low, considering how highly Annie speaks of you.”

“N-No, I mean, I´m perfectly fine with that!! It´s just that I´m… I´m a bit amazed that it took you so long to figure out.”

“I told you already, the sax has been my life for quite a bit.”

“True… so, anyone on your sights as of late?”

“What, are you that curious about my love life? Or you want some payback for getting between Annie and you?”

That teasing smile and smug expression… Yup, definitely an exact replica of Vivi.

“I-It´s not that! If you don´t want to tell me, that´s fine.”

Jess began walking around the room, leaving the Kid to bury that odd sensation deep down.

“… Annie and Laura are out of the picture for obvious reasons… Laurie, even if she was, is too snotty for my taste… Lucie… eeehhhh, no, I wouldn’t think about it. She´s nice, but that´s not it… I guess I´m drawing a blank, don´t really have anyone that fits the bill.”

“And what are the contents of this bill, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I want someone headstrong, with a fighting spirit, someone who can stand up to me at a moments notice if I do something dumb… as long as she´s a fighter, I´ll probably put her high on the list.”

“… Hmmm… interesting.”

“It seems more half-arsed to me than anything… it still feels a bit awkward, but I´ve made up my mind.”

“And I´m happy for you, you know.”

“I´m guessing you are also feeling a bit down on your luck after I shot you down!”

Her non-chalant way while saying so just got the Kid in an even fouler mood.

“W-We shot each other down, I thought we agreed to that!”

“Hahaha, it´s a bit hard to believe, since you enjoyed 100 times more than I did!! What, do you want to go for seconds? Hahaha.”

“Argh, bloody hell…”

With that out of the way, the party engine started to rev up, as more and more of Czesch´s guests began pouring on over. First came Annie, who half-quizzically asked why Jess had come so early, only for both of them to laugh it off in the end. Then Jan and Lucie, followed by André and Laurie, who started up conversation while getting some drinks. Last to arrive was Jenny, who felt a bit awkward coming in not knowing anyone.

“Don´t worry, most of them are alright.”

“I had the feeling you´d say that…”

Jess rushed over to him, sax at the ready.

“Come on, C!! My girl wants to start spitting some- Oh, this is the friend you mentioned?”

“Yup! This is Jenny, the neighbor next door.”

“Nice to meet you! I´m Jessica, but most people call me Jess.”

“… Wait, whenever I considered it you threatened to- Ouch!”

She drove her heel into his foot, shutting his mouth for good.

“And don´t mind him, he just loves to run his mouth!! You know about that, right?”

“Urgh, I´m glad I´m not the only one!! I´m Jennifer, just call me Jenny.”

“Alright, come on over, I´ll pour you a drink!”

“Errr, Jess, you stole my… line…“

They both went inside, leaving Czesch to ponder if he had somehow become a guest inside his own home. In retrospect, this wasn’t exactly his home, just a company safehouse he had appropriated for the contract. Any other contractor that had work in the area could perfectly well move in with him, since the couches also doubled as beds, but the company had a few more safehouses in town and even Mary wouldn’t try to piss him off further… at least, that´s what he figured and hoped.

He moved back with everyone, and a strange sense of déjà-vu invaded him. The situation was a completely different one, but it was almost as if he was back in his war-torn birthplace, with shells falling from the skies like rain, staying inside their usual outpost, singing, dancing, telling jokes, cleaning, preparing weapons and ammo… it was as if the Cub Pack had come back, only at a time of peace… with no weapons, no murder… no curses…

That was just wishful thinking on his part, an image that would never come to be. He sighed, trying to get that false sense of remembrance out of his mind. Jess was bouncing up and down while talking with Jenny, who seemed to be having quite a lot of fun talking with her. With Czesch´s severly limited lip-reading, he managed to catch a couple of “Czesch”´s here and there… so, they were gossiping about him, and from the tone it was probably embarrassing things. He didn´t pay heed to their conversation, instead moving on to start warming up dinner.

Annie was quick to come over to him, having looked over at his direction for about 5 to 10 times in what little time had passed. She had been talking with everyone for a while now, and she had come with the pretense of helping Czesch out.

“H-Hey, need any help?”

“I´m doing fine, thanks… oh, once I´m done with this batch, you can bring it over to the table.”

“Alright!”

Another uncomfortable silence… although, the more silences they had, the less uncomfortable they became. It was almost as if, out of sheer reoccurrence, they were slowly becoming part of their day to day.

“… So, that´s your pal… your neighbor.”

“You don´t have to say it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you hate her guts… you´ve just met, after all.”

Her face suddenly lit up, realizing that she had just sounded like a vengeful harpy.

“D-Did I really?... Shit, sorry, I-I didn’t want it to come off like that!”

“Don´t worry, at least you fixed it up.”

“… She´s becoming really friendly with Jess all of a sudden.”

“I wonder why…”

He had inavertedly used a sarcastic tone for that last remark, one Annie caught on like a flash.

“You know something, don´t you?”

“I… may have some information regarding those two, yeah… although I´m not sure they know that much about each other.”

“I´m not blind, you know, I see what´s happening… since when is Jess-“

“She found out the night of the festival, after you left.”

“Oh… so that´s why she was acting more awkward than usual around me… huh… and Jenny?”

“The exact same deal.”

“Wow… I mean, I´m all for it! It´s just that, I never would have even thought about it… especially Jess.”

“She said so herself, her life was the sax. With that kind of willpower set on one thing, the rest of the world becomes a blurry mess… know that from experience…”

“… and how did you help her out? Because I´m guessing she didn’t just realize it out of thin air.”

His mind went back to that awkward moment with the two of them kissing, such a surreal experience that he wasn’t sure whether telling Annie would be a good idea or a death sentence.

“O-Oh, r-right, errrrrrr… hahaha, it´s a… it´s a fun story, actually… one that, errr…”

Seeing him being so reticent, Annie sighed and called for him to stop with her hand.

“I don’t think I want to know… but at least I´m still seeing good vibes between you two. That means I don’t have to worry anymore…”

“Yup…”

He took a good look at Annie. She was pondering right next to him, her eyes watching the empty air in front of her as ideas seemed to live and die in the span of seconds, all the while Czesch finished a batch of French fries done in olive oil. The bags beneath her eyes were apparent, even if camouflaged by the miracles of modern beauty care, and there was an air of stiffness that surrounded her. How he hadn’t noticed before, he had no clue.

“Annie, you doing alright?”

“Hmm? You ask anything, C?”

“… Nah, it´s nothing… can you bring this over?”

“Coming right up!”

Asking was probably a bad idea, since it would definitely spark some conflict that wasn´t warranted for the occasion. He´d have to talk with her at a later date, just to make sure. Not having much else to bring to the table, Czesch went over to see if he could do anything of note. Lucie seemed to be calling him over.

“What is it?”

“Czesch, I hope you don´t mind, we´ve been looking at this picture… who are these?”

The Cub Pack in their first ever full group meeting. All smiling or playing around, all looking forward with eyes that hid bloodthirst and anger, bracing each other in an unspoken brother and sisterhood of natural disasters. He chuckled as he watched the picture again.

“Heh, I get the feeling I should have put this elsewhere… this is from the war, 9 years ago, give or take…”

“O-Oh, sorry, I-I´ll put it back where-“

“No, no, it´s OK! I don´t mind, it´s actually… one of the few good things that happened back there… this is the gang, the one we formed at the start of that fuckfest.”

“There´s a lot of people… you knew everyone here?”

“Holy shit, that guy looks just like me!”

“Jan, that´s Rabi, the fastest in the group. Seriously, he could outrun us all in the blink of an eye, it was insane!! This one beside him is Hek, a tank of a person, could handle anything we threw at him and laugh at our faces!! These two putting their heads on top of each other are Mila and Sabrina… really close, those two. Sabrina was the boss, always quick to throw a laugh at the worst possible time. And you had to learn those laughs by heart… they could either mean you were screwed or that you had done well!”

“Seems like an unusual bunch!”

“Looks like you were having a lot fun.”

“We had just played a football match. It was the… the third? No, fourth week of the war and we were all pretty much spent after so much nonsense. Luckily, this happened just as we all met and, lo and behold, the gang was formed.”

“Who´s taking the picture here? Someone from the gang?”

“Not quite, I think it was Allan… him, or one of the others, maybe Tancrid or Eckbert… Allan, we all called him Bishop, since that was his surname. He never liked being called Allan… he helped us out a lot during those years, really appreciate what he did.”

“And… the girl next to you, C? What about her?”

A familiar face, one that still kept him on his toes. One that had dragged him to the edge of the world for blood money, to guarantee a peaceful life after their reunion… One that stopped him from ever thinking about giving up.

“… Czesch?”

“A great friend… one I hope to meet again soon!! Jess, want to play a little bit?”

“Oh, you won´t have to ask twice!! Listen close, Jenny, we are about to blow your mind.”

He had dodged the question quite poorly, but he had given enough hints that discussing Laria, or as the rest of the world knew her: “The Mystery Girl”, was off-limits. He sat in front of the piano, flexing his fingers and moving them loose, all the while Jess readied her instrument.

“Not sure if we´re going to have enough space around, but try to dance them out or snap to them. We are going full rhythm with these ones.”

He started playing a little tune that had just popped over his head. After hearing for a couple of seconds, Jess was quick to follow, feeding into the rhythm dictated by the piano. She had matured much, not just creating her own out of nothing, but feeding off other instruments. The tune was definitely catchy enough to warrant everyone to either tap their feet or outright dance along to the music.

“And, so, you,say… that I´m not another one, that I´m not another pawn in your game/And, so you, tell… your friends that I´m a whisper, another lonely twister, feeding off your pain/ And you try to catch it, and you keep on latching/  and you keep crawling back to your den/ And you say that you don’t need me/ and you feel a little queasy/  and forget me at the ring of the bell.”

This was one of his “Work In Progress” songs, ones that he wasn’t sure about or were simple small experiments while trying to find a proper melody for something else. This one was the closest to becoming a full thing, and Czesch had the foresight of calling it “And So You Say”… clearly a mastermind at work.

“Feeding like the leeches they are/ They knock at your door in the dark./ But the moon´s still high/ and the shining lights/ keep up the party alive./ So you say that I´m a dreamer/ another fool, believer/ another crack in your dreamy world/ Your mind may try to match/ but it ain´t just up to scratch/ and these lyrics keep on turning to gold/… or, so… you… say…”

A round of ovation came to both of them, and Czesch had to do the same with Jess, who had managed to add something to a song she had never heard before. This would be the new one to introduce for the group, and knowing Buri and his taste in tunes, he´d fall in love with it. Jenny was the first to get in close.

“Damn, Czesch!! That was… holy shit, you are good!”

“Haha, well, all in a-“

… and then she quickly drifted off to Jess, who was just as surprised as the Kid at her speed.

“But you were even better, Jess!! Seriously, that was out of this world!”

“-day´s… work…”

“W-What!? N-No, I´m not that great!! I simply played along, that´s all… it´s all Czesch, Jenny, I´m just-“

“I´m telling you that was amazing!! Don´t try to diminish your role, what you did was fucking awesome!”

“Y-You think so?”

“I really do, yeah.”

“… Thanks… I appreciate it.”

Czesch understood where that conversation was heading, so he just told everyone they could put whatever music they felt like while he finished up dinner. He was heating some pizzas in the oven when Jess barged in to his side, almost knocking over some plates he had piled up.

“Careful there!! What is it?”

“Her number, now!”

“… Wait, what!?”

“I don´t know where you´ve found this girl, Czesch, but she´s pure dynamite!! And the way she´s been… I… Argh, just tell me!”

“Just ask her for the bloody number yourself, it isn’t that hard.”

“I´m just not sure whether she´d be OK with that or not. Do you?”

Czesch went back to the first time Jenny and him had met… and he immediately realized that his previous statement was beyond wrong. He quickly gave her the number to avoid another moment of embarrassment.

“Thanks!! Really appreciate it, C!!”

“… don´t mention it…”

He came back with food for everyone, since it was already time for supper. But before any of them could even start jumping towards the plates, Jenny came up with a question that was bound to cause some problems.

“C, where is your gear? You keep it in your room?”

He froze in place, unsure as to what she meant.

“… my gear?”

“Your Paintball gear!! I wanted to show Jess how it looks like. Mind bringing it out?”

“Errrrr… sure thing.”

“Oh, can you put it on as well!?”

“… Really?”

“Come on, it´ll be fun!! Besides, I doubt any of them have seen you in your Paintball outfit.”

“Not really. You did say you played it, but you don’t talk much about it.”

“Yeah, come on, dress for battle to entertain your guests.”

“… Fine, give me a minute.”

He now realized that he had left all the equipment inside the training room instead of his room proper like he usually did, probably wanting to have all weaponry in one unified spot. Just as he started putting on the overalls and everything, a head peeked over to see the interior of the room.

“So this is your training room? Looks sweet!”

“D-Do you mind? I´m changing clothes in here!”

That didn’t even deter them, as they all went ahead and invited themselves into it.

“I still don’t see the point in having a room solely for doing sport. What, did the apartment come with it and you simply went ahead and bought it?”

“Actually, yes, I did want one to do some exercise from time to time… living room doesn’t have enough space, so-.“

“Isnt there a shooting gallery?”

Czesch froze in place, eyes darting towards Annie, who was curiously looking at the back of the room for something that wasn’t there. How did she know about it?... Of course, the day he got sick!! He forgot to put the lock down that time and Annie got a perfect view of everything. He had to keep it cool, try to make something feasible… and hiding something so evident just wouldn’t do.

“Oh, it´s behind the wall. This one is actually a shutter, and I just have to press a button to raise and lower it. It comes with the flat, so I thought about giving it some use.”

“Can we see it!?”

“Jenny, you are getting way too excited about this. I don’t think-”

“Oh, please, please please!”

“Ok, Ok... why not?”

He was being far too lenient, but resisting their requests would give them questions that he didn’t want an answer for. Luckily, he had taken all of his weaponry inside their boxes in the event something like this might happen, and his sense of prevention, mostly taken from Rob, had hit the nail in the head. All of the guests took a good look at the firing range, Jenny marveling at how professional it looked, all the while Annie simply put a doubt she had to rest.

“This. Is. So. SWEET!! Czesch, can you fire some rounds for us?”

“Give me a second to finish up… there, all set!”

“Damn, C, you look like a beast! Never knew I liked military outfits!... Jenny, do you have one of these as well?”

“Mine´s even better!”

“…Noted.”

“A literal animal you are, that wolf masks suits you way too much!”

“… 2 full mags, coming right up…”

He got into position and unleashed a full magazine against the target down-range, making a hit in every single one of his shots. Even with the gas system in place, the recoil was nothing like the XM8 he had fired hours prior. He released the magazine lock and, with one swift motion, inserted the other one in the magazine feed, repeating the shooting process all over again until the magazine came empty.

After coming back to a relaxed posture, his little showcase earned him a collective clap from his guests, who found the spectacle new and entertaining (Apart from Jenny). Jess was now talking about going to play with them and Annie clarified she´d probably get shot too many times for her to be any help. After a bit of laughter and teasing, Czesch told everyone to head back for another song… but Annie stopped him from going any further.

“We should open your present now, don´t you think?”

“Oh, right… the present…”

They had clearly pooled up money and decided to let Annie buy something for him. As it turned out, she had chosen to get him a stylish jacket that was unlike anything he had on his wardrobe. He was unsure whether to wear it or not, but he was glad that it had been a tame present. Even if the colour red was not his preferred one, it still put a smile in his face.

And with that out of the way, the Kid prepared himself to play… and he went with one of the classics, as Jess followed up with “Blue Metal Heart”.

“Sticks and stones won´t break these tunes/ words will never fall apart/ even when sadness cuts me loose/ it won´t shatter my blue metal heart/ Never forget the sweet sensation/ always remember to jump and dart/ freedom calls from asphixiation/ sunrays for your blue metal heart.”

Probably Karen´s favourite tune out of all the songs he had composed in his short life, and thinking about her made him realize he had probably made a mistake not inviting her. She was probably fixing a weapon or having to do some pep-talking with Gervaise with any pre-Christmas substitutes, as it was common in their department. Picturing her, feeling bored and wishing to be there… it hurt in a different way than usual, but it still hurt nonetheless.

After finishing up and with yet another ovation (More towards Jess, since she outdid herself even more than before), his phone rang under an unknown number. He figured he´d answer,since he realized it was probably a bad idea to leave that call for afterwards.

“Czesch speaking.”

“Listen to me very closely, and you and your friends may live another day.”

It was a heavily modified voice, the sort of modulation that terrorists groups and the sort used to hide their identities from the responding party. A chill ran through Czesch´s spine as he tried to figure who the caller was to no avail.

“W-Who is it?”

“Follow every step of my instructions and I promise no harm will come to any of your guests… I see you are having quite a lovely party from here. They really enjoy listening to your songs, don´t they?”

He had visual contact, which meant he was either hacking into the security footage inside the room or he was looking at them from the East-facing windows. The threat sounded as real as it could get, and Czesch was not one to consider threats idle. Doing so had killed more people than he could truly count, and after making mistakes like that one could never be too careful. For the time being, he´d have to play along, since he wasn’t planning on doing anything that would harm his friends.

“I´m listening.”

“You are going to have to leave the building, we can´t play with so many people watching. Tell them  that you received an important package… you have 5 minutes to exit the building. I´ll call you as soon as I see you outside.”

The voice died down with the call, and Czesch couldn’t help but sigh deeply. Of course something like that had to happen on a day like that, no doubt something to do with the Old Crone. All his mishaps, all the misery and dread that filled him to the core every single day, along with the reoccurring nightmares and visions, all came down to her doing. He couldn’t be completely 100% certain about it, but he knew one thing for sure: That entity enjoyed and fed from his misery, and what better misery than the one that comes after a period of joy?

“OK, I want all of you to stay put for a bit, really sorry about all of this, I´ll be right back.”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“Come on, C! It´s your party, you should be the last person to leave out of all of us!”

“I… was expecting a package to arrive, and I really need to grab it. Again, sorry for not telling you.”

Annie had caught up to something, but she chose to not dig any further. With that said, he left the apartment and then the building. He stood by the entrance, the cold air of the night feeling comforting after hours upon hours of staying in the same spot with so many people. It was a false sense of relaxation, and it completely went away as soon as the phone rang again. He picked it up, knowing fully well the game was bound to start soon enough.

“Good, good… you are quite the soldier, aren´t you? Following orders, always to the letter… you must feel proud. After all, you´ve done quite a lot of good deeds out in this world, haven´t you?”

“Just tell me what you want and let´s be done with it. It´s my birthday, after all… but I´m guessing you knew that already.”

“Ooohhh, who is trying to sound in control now? Doesn´t matter, our game is going to be short lived anyways… there´s a box to your left, and it might even be addressed to you!”

He slowly walked to a side, and, true enough, a small package was sitting right there on the ground, begging to be opened. To add even more insult to injury, the name “Czesch” could be made out even from a distance, which made the situation even more ridiculous… even more if you added the red ribbon on top.

“… Should I even ask what´s in the box?”

“Aren´t you a little bit curious?”

“Curiosity killed the cat, and I´ve seen enough IED´s to fill a natural reservoir.”

“Man, and I thought I was the one with the sick thoughts in here!! You know you don´t have a choice, so why bother questioning what to do?.”

“I have more than one option… the problem is all of them are terrible ideas.”

“Then what do you lose by following my advice? Give it a shot!”

The question kept on running through his mind, and even though the person´s logic was flawed by many real world experiences, it wasn’t the worst thought that had crossed his head. Sure, opening a package with an explosive was a bad idea, but any other course of action meant damaging those around him. Besides, he wasn´t even sure if there was an explosive inside, it was simply a high likelyhood.

Even if his mind had been made up, his body hadn´t still accommodated to the idea of opening a possibly deadly artifact. Vivi was the one with proper  training in doing so, he had only done so twice before and luck alone had saved him… and some help from Gavin. His heartrate was going faster and faster, but his hands weren’t shaking one milimiter. He was so used to this sort of stress that only his heart had to keep up with his bodily reactions.

He slowly untied the ribbon and removed the packaging in steady and almost mechanical motion. If someone was indeed recording, he or she would probably have a hard time figuring out if the camera had suddenly turned to slow motion, since Czesch was limiting his movement to avoid making mistakes. Doing so would probably spread him around the place in a morbid fashion.

He felt the pressure building up as he removed the last of the wrappings, with the reasoning part of his brain telling him to drop what he was doing and run somewhere safe, while the part that had kept him alive all that time kept pointing out that he lost nothing by doing so. And so, in one fell swoop, he uncovered the lid from the dangeorus package.

Inside… a book. A book that felt extremely special and odd, especially coming from such an unknown entity. But the entity wasn’t as unknown as he had once thought. He now knew for sure who the mastermind behind all these madness was… for the book´s title read as such: “Songs and Ballads of a Hopeless Fool”.

He knew perfectly well what came next. The voice modifier was turned off and, at unison, several voices shouted at once:

“Happy birthday, Kid!”

The shoutout was cut short since Nate had probably said something obscene and the rest were telling him off because of it. Czesch couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laughter, one that they could all hear perfectly well.

“Alright, who was the asshole pissing me off?”

“Who do you think?”

“Aaahhh, figures… Nate, next time try to change your dialogue a bit. It sounded quite amateur.”

“C, I am shocked you´d insult me like that! Next time, I´m going for real, and you know how bad that´ll be!”

“Oh no, I´ll have to sit through more of your innuendos, how will I ever handle such pressure?... In all seriousness, are you all there? No jobs or dropouts?”

“None at all!! V here had to work overtime on an assignment and Rob was forced to speak Spanish to meet a deadline!”

“Oh god, that´s serious.”

“And Buri had to quit drinking for the day!”

“… Are you completely sure you haven’t been kidnapped and I´m speaking with your body doubles right now?”

“Quit listening to this smartass, C! Hope you like the present!”

“Thanks, Buri, but… I literally have no clue what´s inside.”

“Then have a look”

Inside there were several musical tracks written down from all the songs Czesch had composed in the few years that he had got around to do songwriting. From “Won´t you wanna dance” and “Blue Metal Heart” to the newer ones like “Jam to the Bells” and “Splitting Disaster”. Each part was beautifully set on paper and synchronized to the point were even Czesch´s smallest annotations could be visible.

“… I… don´t know what to say…”

“The only thing you have to say is that you´ll get around to volume 2 soon enough!! And that it´ll be even better than this piece of garbage!”

“Right…”

“Buri, let some of us speak too!”

“Gimme a second, dammit! Hey, C, remember what day is coming up?”

“Heh, how could you forget of all people? I´ll be sure to come and buy you a drink.”

“You better damn believe you will!”

Czesch chuckled, remembering that small tradition between the two. During his first operation in Azghar, he got separated from the group and almost got caught by royalist forces. And that´s when Buri showed up, spitting both curses and lead as Czesch ran out of ammo  and passed out after 3 straight days on the run. As Buri dragged him away, he kept on promising to pay him somehow, no matter how big the quantity, to which Buri responded “Just remember this day and buy me a drink every time you do remember.” Of course, due to circumstances,  the date was postponed on and on until, finally, after quite a lackluster operation in Venezuela, Buri was greeted with an already tipsy Czesch and half a bottle of the worst whisky mankind had ever devised. And they both set that date as a day to celebrate.

“Alright, my turn now!! Happy birthday Czesch, hope you are having fun!”

“You know, Rob, this is the first time you´ve all ever done this, so… I´m not sure how to take it, honestly!”

“It was all Vivi´s idea. Said that with all the “normal life” shit you are going through, you needed a bit of a push.”

“Well, tell her that next time she shouldn’t hack into my camera network… it´s a separate system, I don’t even know how you managed it.”

“Guess who helped us out?”

“… Gaz? Really, you managed to convince him?”

“Vivi can be really persuasive when she wants to, you know.”

“That she can, yes…”

“My turn now!! C, happy 17!”

“Thanks, Vivi. Really… really appreciate all of this.”

“It´s the least we could do! Besides, it didn’t take that long to set up and plan out…hey, I heard that!! Don´t try to run away, Nate, I´ll get you as soon as I´m finished!”

“Hahaha… seems like everything is going alright there… heh…”

“We wouldn’t want to disappoint you of all people!! We know you can be very picky.”

“T-True… true… very true…”

Unbeknownst to her, Czesch was actually tearing up a little bit. Even if he had once thought of himself as a hard-boiled, emotionless machine for war, in reality he had never stopped caring for others. And those tears came from a realization he had just caught on. Vivi, of course, noticed without much effort on her part.

“Kid, are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, yes, I´m… I´m happy, I´m so… so bloody lucky… but… b-but…”

“Czesch…”

“I can´t help it, V… I-I… I have the feeling it´ll all… come down at some point… and I´ll have to watch… I… I don´t want this to end, V… I don’t…”

“We´ll be there for you, alright? We are the SOT, Czesch… and no matter through what hell they throw us, we´ll pull through together. No matter what, you hear me?”

“… Yeah… Yeah, you are right!”

He quickly brushed the tears out of his face, taking a deep breath to collect himself.

“Now, before we let you back to your party, we have one more surprise!”

“Shit, I don’t think I can take more of those!”

“Well, you won´t be able to escape from this one, I´m afraid…”

“… What´s… what´s that supposed to mean?”

“You´ll see… have a good night, C!”

“If they offer you drinks, make sure to mix and match to get the best results!!”

“Don´t listen to this nutjob, C!! Mixing is never a good idea!”

“Yeah, leave the drinking for when you come back! This bottle of whisky won´t down itself!”

“… Good night to you too, you nutjobs!”

He hung up feeling relieved. A few minutes beforehand he had believed to be caught in a spider web bigger than him, in a macabre game of torture and exploitation. Instead, the game had just been a prank in the style that Nate loved to pull off, filled with hard to follow humor and grim occurrences. The style that Czesch loved beyond a shadow of doubt.

As he went back upstairs with the book between his hands, he couldn’t help  but think of Vivi´s last “surprise”. She said he´d find out,  and that probably meant it´d be soon and it might happen as soon as he entered the party again. True to form, as soon as he got close to the door he noticed that the sounds coming from the inside were far more invigorated and the laughs could probably be heard from the streets below… and a part of him had already figured what the surprise was.

He opened the door, and as soon as he put two feet inside, a figure and a couple of arms he knew far too well tackled him and sent him to the floor, with the following warcry that ensued every one of their meetings:

“Czeschky!!!”

“… G-Glad to see you as well, K… how have you been?”

“Czesch, are all of your meetings like this?”

“This time she´s put less impact on her tackle, Annie… what´s with that, K? I usually have a harder time breathing than this.”

“Sorry, I´m feeling a little sleepy, so I couldn’t connect well!”

Annie and Jess looked at her in disbelief.

“Errrr, what?”

“Hmm? Why do you look so surprised?”

“Just a moment ago, you were jumping around and having the time of your life.”

“That´s caffeine doing its magic!! But unlike C here, I don’t drink it every single waking hour, so it still does something for me!”

“The same could be said about you and food… have you eaten anything all?”

She gave him an apologetic look, rubbing her hair with nervousness.

“… Would you be surprised if I told you the answer was-“

“I´ve made enough to feed half a dozen families, feel free.”

“Thank you, C! I love how you always think ahead of time!”

“The same can´t be said for you… and how is it that you are here!?”

His demand came out a little rough, and he only noticed so when Karen pouted his way.

“… It almost sounds as you don’t want me here at all…”

“I-It´s not  that, I´m happy you showed up! But I thought Gervaise would have you with a metric ton of work!”

“Why do you think I´m up to my neck with caffeine?”

If his eyebrows hadn’t been attatched to his head, they might have skyrocketed into the moon when the truth hit him.

“… You… did overtime? You!?”

“Surprise!!... that´s a bit too much of a response, it´s not that big of a deal!! Basically did the same for the festival!”

The astonishment going through him couldn’t be measured in any way, shape or form. All of the events of the day had piled up one on top of the other… and a feeling of joy that he hadn’t felt in years swept over in an almost unnatural manner. He had known her quite closely for 3 years, and up until that point she had never been one to work extra time, not even when dealing with their weaponry or an increased workload. Unlike her eating schedule, she was quite strict when it came down to work-related timetables, and took resting time as a way to investigate or tinker around with combat material. The fact that Karen had done overtime was the final drop on a day full of surprises.

“… Earth to Czesch!! I think he has managed to sleep with his eyes open and standing! That´s a new record!”

“Annie,  don´t be that mean! Czeschky here is probably still recovering from sh- Eeek!”

Now it was Karen´s turned to get a surprise. For the first time in his life, Czesch had decided to hug her in return. He didn’t even give her time to properly act, and so she was forced to endure Czesch´s retaliation. The rest of the guests simply looked at how the situation would unfold, with Annie getting flustered up without him realizing.

“O-Okay, C, that´s… why are you-?”

“T-Thank you… god, t-thank you all so… so fucking much, I… I don’t know if I can take much more of this… too much…”

He felt himself about to break down, to let himself be lost in the moment… then Karen simply bumped her head into his, bringing him back to Earth.

“Oh, Czeschky! You can be such a drama queen when you try!”

“Damn, turns out you also have feelings!! Now, that´s a surprise!”

“No wonder, this is probably his first birthday proper… well then, let´s go ahead and make this party louder and better!! For Czesch!!”

“For Czesch!”

How can a person respond to years upon years of strife to something like that? He didn’t know. He had no idea of how to repay such kindness, such effort from those few that seemingly enjoyed having him around. Only one time beforehand had he felt such a surge of raw, pure, heartfelt compassion, and it came after 4 years of non-stop suffering, with his world collapsing all around him and a single woman with a heart bigger than herself opening her arms to an almost complete monster.

Words alone couldn’t express the joy he felt as everyone cheered and laughed while tears streamed down his face. They all knew why he was crying, and they all knew their role in making those tears something that Czesch wouldn’t forget. Even if this attempt at putting his issues and problems away hadn’t completely worked, he couldn’t help but appreciate the effort… it was so odd, seeing all of them enjoying themselves with him, not knowing the danger they were in just by staying there… he couldn’t help but change his tears with laughter.

“Congratulations, Annie!! I think you finally managed to break him!”

“Nah, Czeschky here is just having a laugh!”

“Nothing that a few drinks won´t fix! Right, C?”

Annie offered her hand to help the Kid up… he took it without hesitation.

“Hahahaha… right, right… argh, I hate feeling so wimpy… alright, back in action!! Jess, we are doing another one, hope you can keep up!!”

“Heh, you are going to bite the dust in this one, asshole!”

A night of hope went on, but the shadows would only grow closer and closer.

But even a night like that… especially a night like that one, had to come to an end. People had things to do, places to be, and slowly but surely the apartment started becoming devoid of life. After a while, even Karen had to leave, seeing that she had managed to get her work done for the day, but not for the day after, and Gervaise would get mad at her if she tried to play truant. Czesch was left alone with Annie, who for some reason had decided to wait for everyone to leave before attempting to do so herself, but then immediately regretting that decision and staying a bit longer. He felt as if he was back in Laos, with danger crawling at any question or answer that any of them could provide. Luckily for him, Annie was still drunk… not her usual, only tipsy drunk. She lay in one of the couches as the Kid tried began to clean the mess they had left behind.

“Aaahh… you were right, you know… that Karen is loads of fun, but its straining just to keep up with her.”

“That sounds about right for me… so, on a scale of 1 to 10?”

“A 7 or an 8. It was… different, and I think that´s what made it so good.”

“I think that´s the alcohol speaking for you. You took quite a few drinks, how about keeping it to a minimum?”

“Fine, fine… didn’t plan on getting wasted today anyway…”

More silence, one Czesch didn’t need in the least. He was used to not hearing a sound when he was alone in the flat, but knowing that someone else was there felt awkward. He cleared his throat, trying to spark some conversation himself.

“So… Jenny and Jess, Crazy, huh?”

“Yup.”

“… Who would have thought those two- argh!!”

“What, what´s wrong?”

“Nothing, it´s nothing! It´s just that… I´m starting to sound like Vivi, and that´s the last thing I want… to become a gossiper.”

“Come on, a little gossip now and then hurt no one.”

“In the short run, maybe… Annie, how are you feeling?”

She stretched herself while on the couch before giving a straight answer.

“As of right now? A bit sleepy, to be frank.”

“Want me to help you over to your apartment?”

“E-Errrr, no, no need!! Hahaha… I´ll make it on my own just fine!”

“…If you say so…”

He went back to cleaning, but definitely heard Annie sighing in relief.

“… You know, I´m glad we could have this.”

“Huh?”

“I´ve been pretty down lately, and a light party like this one has definitely helped more than a night out… so, thanks.”

Czesch couldn’t help but notice something odd when looking at her. Annie had definitely tried her hardest to put up a mask to hide her true emotions, one that seemed to work for the party… or so she thought. The moment everyone left was the moment she had let her guard down the most, and her teary eyes were about to burst at a moments notice.

“Any more songs up your sleeve, C? I´m afraid I´ll fall asleep if-“

“Don´t really feel like playing anymore, sorry.”

“Oh… Ok, that´s…fine…”

“Annie, what´s wrong?”

The Kid had approached her silently, and his proximity forced her to jump up in surprise.

“H-Huh!? C, I´m fine!! Really, I am!”

“… Look, you are right in that I´m not the best at this, but… I promised this much. Whenever you feel like talking about what´s bothering you, I´ll be around, OK?”

The honesty in his voice wasn’t unwarranted. He wanted to help her out… he couldn’t help but feel like it was the one thing that could help her out. She gave him one glance and immediately buried her head in the couch.

“… same could be said for you…”

“Did you say something?”

She got up from the sofa, rubbing her face to start feeling it again.

“No… guess I´m heading out!! Thanks again, C, had a lot of fun tonight!”

“Sure… stay safe, A.”

And so she headed off, leaving Czesch alone with his thoughts and with cleanup to do. He thought he should get the critical work done and leave the rest for the morning, but he ended up cleaning it all up late at night. That was just part of his nature, not being able to leave something to fate or half-done… at least, when it came down to his duty.

When it came down to people… no, he never seemed to be able to come full circle with anyone. Happened with Bishop, happened with Laria, and would definitely happen again with Vivi and Annie. He wasn’t blind to certain truths, like the fact that Vivi saw him as a son more than as an equal, or that Annie tried time and time again to get his attention and have him promise some weird stuff. But knowledge of those things didn’t mean he knew the appropriate course of action, and that was something that he never had an issue with when acting on duty. Everything was much simpler: There´s trash, take it out, there´s hostiles, eliminate them, there´s a target that needs protection, protect him…

No, things were never that simple. Shades of grey always cover a world of blacks and whites, and men like him didn’t have the luxury of discussing whether those greys were in the disposition of becoming one or the other. He had to draw a line between humans and monsters and act according to his own code, as well as his orders.

He ended up falling asleep on the couch, a bad habit that had begun settling in from previous nights of never ending deliberation. He expected the usual nightmares that plagued his sleep, a moment of his past relieved time and time again, and then waking half an hour later to remember he had a bed proper.

So he just had to go through the basics and… he couldn’t recognize this one. No, that could not be. He remembered every single one of his nightmares, even wrote them up to keep track of them depending on the day. Then why was this one different? And why did it feel so real?

“Cyprus, come in, are you clear?”

That voice… Vivi? He was in his SOT gear, that much was evident. He was inside a ruined building, with its windows torn by light ammunition. The smell of gunpowder and light explosives gave away that a grenade had been thrown inside, as well as the markings of shrapnel all around the room. There were corpses strewn all around, torn up by one of man´s worst inventions. He was missing one of such machinations from his belt. Therefore, he had been the one to breach and clear that room…  but what for?

“Cyprus, respond!”

He reached for his radio, the dream feeling just as real as his usual nightmares.

“All... All clear here, Valory, over.”

Something was telling him he had to check the bodies, just to make sure. He couldn’t in good faith leave living hostiles and turn his back on them. He checked a first one, then another, and another… all dead, stone cold from bloodloss and shock. He was good at his job, one could gather this much from his handiwork.

He checked a final one, and out of all of them, this one seemed to be the most different out of all the people he had checked. Most of them dressed like guerillas, but with a certain paramilitary feel to them. It was like an extremely knock-off version of Blue Sparrow, only this last contractor seemed entirely different from the others. Its figure was lithe, yet seemingly quite strong. Body armor and clothes had been ripped through and through by shrapnel, and some had managed to lodge itself inside its chest. Upon further inspection, he recognized that he was dealing with a woman. He had trouble doing so due to the clothing she was wearing and a mask that covered her face and hair.

The woman suddenly raised her arm with a knife at the end, intended for Czesch´s neck. If he hadn’t been expecting something like that, he would probably be dead. Just as he stopped that last attempt at taking him out, he grabbed his sidearm and pointed it at her head. This felt weird, like he was somehow used to pointing something like that to someone like that.

He had to say something, and the words had appeared in his mind just as his mouth and tongue moved against his will to say those words

“Sorry about this. It´s never personal when it comes to taking someone´s life.”

He had said those words before. The dreaded sensation of déjà-vu left that crystal clear, just as the woman dropped her last weapon and looked astonished at a Czesch that was feeling out of place and out of his element. Just what was happening? Why did he feel that pulling the trigger would be the worst mistake of his life? Was any of it even real?

Then the woman spoke. And the single word she uttered left him completely frozen in place, so much so that, just as he launched his hand to take of her mask… he awoke, completely drenched in his own sweat, his breathing abnormally irregular, his heart pounding almost out of his chest. Two hours of sleep, without any stops, and with a dream that wasn’t in his schedule at all.

It had definitely something to do with the events of the day, but he couldn’t have forseen that a dream like that could it even happen. Was it just an illusion from the Old Crone? Or was it the future, a future so bleak and dark she would show him to fill him with even more dread? He couldn’t tell. All he could do was carry on with his problems and cross that bridge when he arrived at the river.

It was those last words that curled his blood and stopped his breathing. Words that meant a great deal of many things. Definitely words that mocked his efforts, but, in the end, they filled him with a hope that had come and gone with too much regularity with every year.

The woman had uttered his name.