We step off of the train, the wind blowing through our ears. It’s bitter, harsh, and cold.. Typical for a place like this. Emma shudders, “T-t-this isn’t like anything I’ve ever been in before!” In the distance, we see two guards on patrol. Their uniforms are blurry, but I can see a golden sheen on both of their uniforms. Golden Leaf, no doubt. The four of us walk up and greet the soldiers. “State your business.” The soldier says, in a baritone voice. Joe steps forward, “Let me do the talking. I’ve been up here several times.”

  “Commander Alix, what’s changed? It’s been a few years.” Joe says. “Joe, I don’t have time for pleasantries. State your business or get out of here.” Alix says, clearly displeased that he’s on patrol duty.

  “OK, we’re here to see General Tobias Kandashrie.” Joe makes it blunt, but able to get the point across.

  “General Tobias? I suppose I could arrange a meeting with him. What for, may I ask?” Alix asks, in a quizzical tone. I step forward and say, “He’s an old friend of mine. We need his help now more than ever. PG is making its way down to Louisiana, and we don’t have much time.” I explained urgently.

  “Grey Balthazar. We’ve been expecting you. Come in, I’ll make sure you pass the checks and everything.” Alix tells the four of us.

  The massive gates creak open with a cacophonous, metallic CREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKK. And then, they slam on the back side of the gate. We trudge through the snow, all of us shuddering but getting through the gate and into the least snowy part. Alix swipes his hand, and another gate opens. The four of us repeat the gesture, and the door opens similarly. My thoughts run rampant, questioning the bizarre devices. Did Tobias make sure the devices detected our input? Probably not.

  We continue onward, Alix pressing a few more buttons to unlock the rest of the doors into the heated building.

  The metal that coated the inside of the building made it look like a mad scientist’s lab. I approached one of the cylindrical containers and asked, “What’s this liquid?” Alix looked over at me and said, “Oh, that’s our Solar Fluid. It flows constantly through this place, and keeps it heated. It’s intensely radioactive, so don’t consume it.”

  Joe added, “Yeah, and people who’ve survived after they consumed it turn into those mutants we saw in Louisiana.” Barry and Emma were also not shy about looking around, their eyes locked on some sort of documents that were plastered to the wall.

  “I can’t read this.” Barry said, somewhat abruptly. I turned around and noticed a door opening up. I walked forward, and through the door. “Grey, where’re ya going?” Emma asked. “Just come with me; I have a feeling we’ll find him here.” I replied back.

  Walking through the multiple double doors, it finally led to a corridor with another door at the end of it. We all walked forward through the corridor. “This shit gives me the creeps.” Joe said, shuddering just a bit. “I hear you. This corridor is eerie..” I also shuddered, then asked, “Is anyone else FREEZING right now? Brrrrr..” I shook my body to try and warm it up.

  We make it to the end of the corridor after what feels like 2 hours, and the door opens up automatically. Again. Someone’s standing in the doorway, with their back facing us. Their hair is long, shaggy, and a mix between blond and black. Two sword holsters and a lance holster on their back. This was him. Tobias Remi Kandashrie. In the flesh.

  I shout out a single word. “Tobias!” It echoes through the corridor and into the doorway. He doesn’t move. “What the fuck…?” I shout his name again. “Tobias! Turn around!” He’s still stationary. I move forward into the doorway, and I place my hand on his shoulder. The feeling causes him to turn around, and plant his fist into my face. I back up, a bit of blood leaking. “What the hell’s your problem?!” I shout, before kicking him in the leg. The first words he says to me in 10 years is “Whoa!” Before he faceplants to the floor. “Ow.. what’s your deal?! Why were you shouting my name?! Who are you!?” That last statement pierced through my core. Who are you? I look back into his eyes and ask, “Don’t you remember? It’s me! Grey?” I look at him with questioning eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I have no clue who you are.” Barry steps forward, “Tobias, don’t you remember any of us?” Barry asks, his drawl gone just for the moment.

  “I must’ve hit my head or something. I swear I know who both of you are, but I can’t recall anything.” Tobias says to the two of us. “Help me out, give me something to recall.”

  I start giggling and struggling for breath as I ask, “R-remember initiation?” Then, I break and I start laughing as loud as I can.

  It was 15 years ago. The 16 of us were in Tobias’s bunker, waiting for his glorified speech to start.. Or so he thought, anyway.

  “Alright, Marooners! Welcome to initiation. You’ve been selected to join the Scarlet Wings Mercenary Division, or SWMD for short. Today is initiation day, along with general advice. First of all, the rules:

  Number 1: Don’t tell people your origins.

  Number 2: Don’t kill someone unless instructed.

  Number 3: Don’t let someone walk all over you.

  Number 4: Fight back if someone engages.

  This is a more recent addition, but you’ll now be traveling with 1 to 2 other people. These will be broken up into subdivisions, mainly Offense, Defense, and Medical. Teams will attempt to consist of one member of Offense, one member of Defense, and optionally, one member of Medical. Optimally, you’d want a squad of three, but since there’s sixteen of you… there’s bound to be a squad of two, so meet someone that you want to work with! So, now that our general initiation is over, any questions?”

  I raised my hand.

  “Yes?”

  “Can we kill someone if we don’t like them?” I asked.

  “Absolutely not. We can’t be found out.” Tobias answered back.

  Just after I asked that, the wall eastward of us exploded.

  “What the hell was that?!” Tobias exclaimed.

  “Is this the Scarlet Wings Mercenary Division initiation room?” The guy asked.

  “Yes; but.. WHY DID YOU BLOW UP THE WALL?!” Tobias yelled.

  “It was the quickest way in here?” The strange man responded. His skin was fair, but his eyes were dull. His hair was a dark brown and looked very dirty, almost like he got in a skirmish with someone else, like 5 minutes before he got here.

  Tobias sighed with exasperation. “Yes, this is the initiation room. Go find somewhere to sit.”

  The man sat next to me. Someone actually sat next to me. I turned around and looked at him, and asked what his name was. His one word answer, “Barry.” We shook hands.

  “Alright, now we actually need to finish this up. Are there any other questions, or did I cover everything? …Alright, then. Initiation talk over. Now, we need to get you guys on a mission to see if you’re qualified. You two! The one who exploded the wall and the guy with the bow holster! You’ll be sent out on a range mission. Gather some intel for us; report back here once you figure that you have enough. The two ladies in the corner; one of you goes with the 2 rangers and the other one, goes with the Brit and the Swede. The rest of you, split up around the base and keep watch for any intruders. Understood?” He ended. We all answered “Yes, sir!” “Good. Make me proud!”

  Outside of the base, we walked for around 15 minutes before we saw some others heading around. “Look, there’s some other people! Let’s see if we can gather anything from them.” Barry and I hid behind a rock, and we overheard one of them speaking:

  “Did you hear? They’re planning to liquidate the Scarlet Wings!” One of the soldiers said.

  “What? Why?” the other one asked.

  “Apparently, the leader of the Sanctuary Division wants to join Golden Leaf. I don’t know why, but it seems important. So, the Supreme General is going to start liquidating divisions.”

  Barry and I looked at each other, and waited until they walked off. Then, we both yelled out “WHAT?! THEY’RE LIQUIDATING THE DIVISIONS!?”

  We dove back to the base, and clamored over to Tobias to tell him the news. “What’d you two gather? That was awful fast.”

  “Uh, sir.. They’re planning on liquidating the divisions. Starting with the Sanctuary Division.” Barry said.

  “Excuse me? Repeat that.” Tobias asked, in a threatening tone.

  Barry repeats what he just said.

  “If they plan on liquidating the divisions, they’ve gotta get through us first.” Tobias stands firm.

  After that, we kinda had to lay low until The Flash occurred. After that, everyone became separated, and the Mercenary Division was the last to be liquidated.

  After recalling that memory, his eyes glowed. Shimmered, even, as he cried tears of joy. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed as hard as he could (even though he was as thin as a ghost).

  His grip remained firm around me as I tried to pry him off, eventually being able to after he loosened up a bit. I taunted him, and he elbowed me in the chest. Even though his arms are thin as all hell, he still knew how to hit where it can hurt. I winced a bit after being elbowed.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I begin the general catch-up talk by asking “So, what’d you do after The Flash?”

  “Well, seeing as we all scattered.. I issued a dossier message to let everyone know that the Mercenary Division was liquidated, effective immediately. As for myself, I went up here and joined Golden Leaf and have been working my way through the ranks ever since. I still absolutely hate PG, though.” Tobias said.

  “You aren’t alone on that one. The four of us also hate them, although I’m not entirely sure about Alix.” I said. Alix walked through the door after, and said, “I hate them too, believe me. Bunch’a snobs. Entitled as all hell.”

  I asked, “So, wait. Why did you join Golden Leaf?” Tobias had an answer for me. “I joined, purely because of their neutrality. I wasn’t going to pick a fight I couldn’t win; that’s the entire reason I liquidated the Scarlet Wings as a whole.”

  I responded, “That’s actually very intelligent of you. Good job for devising a plan that worked out. Oh, and another question. Could you get us some passes into Vancouver?” Tobias froze in place. “Absolutely not. I don’t have that power; and neither do the generals. Vancouver is an absolute wasteland, filled with radiation.” I was so confused at his immediate switch up. “Wait, what? Why?” I asked. Alix answered, “Well, you remember that Solar Fluid from a few minutes ago? That leaked. A whole bunch’a it. And now, anyone who steps foot in there is immediately transformed into a mutant with a whole bunch’a limbs and weird-ass appendages.”

  “That’s tragic, but we need to get there. There’s someone we have to meet up with.” Joe responded, with urgency in his voice.

  “Who could you possibly need to see there?” Tobias asked, raising his voice a bit. “Nikita.” I said. That one word made Tobias and Alix freeze again. They’d recognized the name, and it seemed like they saw a visage of his face, for a split second, before returning to reality. “I was against going there before.. But now I’m even more so. We absolutely are not going to see that t r a i t o r.” Tobias’ voice lingered on every syllable from the word “traitor”. It seemed like he didn’t want to say it at all. “Who said you had to come with us?” Joe retorted. “You two can stay here. Unless you want to come with us, but you don’t want to admit it? Strange.” Joe slipped into that manipulative, bizarre tone of voice he used when he was attempting to get someone to confess. He was very good at getting inside of people’s heads. He always knew how to lead someone into subversion of their desires, that’s for sure. Tobias whipped around, and his eyebrows furrowed at Joe. “I’m not.. He’s… Just take my word for it. He isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I’m not saying everyone is-we’re in a fuckin’ warzone here-but he isn’t as respondent or independent as he may seem.” Tobias claimed. Alix pressed further, “He left whenever he deemed the war was too violent for him. We both thought that was idiotic, but when he told us his reason, I wanted to pull a Smosh on his face and my fist. They were going to reunite and no one would see it coming.” Alix picked up a chuckle on that last sentence. I said, in a defeated tone, “Alright, alright. Enough. I understand that you don’t want to see him, but we need passes there anyway. There’s cargo there we need to pick up.” Tobias asked, skeptically, “What kind of cargo could you possibly need to pick u- oh. Ohhhh. I got you. Forgot about that term.” Tobias’ face flushed red whenever he realized what I was talking about. Alix looked at us confusedly, and asked, “What are you two talking about? Cargo??” I gave him the answer he was looking for. “Cargo was slang in our mercenary division for an informant. Whenever someone was sent out to gather intel, they were referred to as cargo. That was me around half of the time.” Tobias added, “To be fair, you were very good at gathering information. You two came back in 10 minutes and told me everything I needed to know.” He was right, it only took 10 minutes for us to find out that our damn divisions were being liquidated, right after we joined. I laughed then, and said, “Yeah, I guess you finding out that the divisions were being liquidated was really all you needed to hear. I’ll say, this shit becomes funnier with each passing year. What unfortunate luck, am I right?” Tobias agreed, “Yeah, almost convinced that someone there had some shitty home-made luck charm that brought about the Scarlet Wings’ doom. At least something good came out of it.” Alix was the first to stop chuckling, and he said, “Alright, now time to actually get back to business talk. Who’s waiting in Vancouver?” Tobias gave him the truth, “In complete honesty, nobody. In fact, now that I have an excuse to go up there, I can rip that chode a new one.” Tobias grinned menacingly. Emma asked, “But wait, don’t you have to get permission from the higher-ups?” I responded, “Tobias is a general. He IS a higher-up.” Tobias tagged on, “Besides, they aren’t going to notice that one general is missing, right? Certainly not.” Barry jumped into the conversation, “But aren’t you their most tactful general? Y’know, the one responsible for training new recruits?” Tobias answered, “Yes, but General Maximillion has that under control. I think the new recruits will be fine.. I hope so. Maxi isn’t as delicate as I am.” Joe asked, “What exactly does that mean? You said you’re ‘delicate’, but that isn’t true, you know how to put someone on the stake.” Tobias looked at Joe, and told him, “Yeah, I can be harsh when I want to be. Maxi’s always harsh, and he has so much contempt for everyone. I’ve yet to see him be impressed by a private in the 7 years that I’ve been a general here.” I asked, “So why leave him here to train the new recruits? Sounds to me like he needs to get off of his high horse for a second and exist on our level.” Alix laughed, “Yeah, Maxi’s always been kind of a brat. He came here and he expected to get promoted on the first day. Like that was going to happen when he made a 6 on the first written assessment. I don’t know why anyone promoted him.” I said, “Yeah, no, a six won’t get you promoted. That type of massive negligence would get you demoted, at least, in Free State. PG would probably execute him on the spot.” Tobias added, “PG’s fucking terrifying, man. I went there because I was stationed there, and my god, it looks alien. Their technology is so advanced and they have tanks patrolling the base 24/7. It was intimidating, but I finally understood why they held so much power everywhere; it’s because nobody could stand up to them.” I ended the conversation, saying, “Ok, ok. Let’s actually get our tickets out of here so we can go. We don’t have time to sit here and dawdle.” Tobias was a bit upset, “Tch, alright. Let’s get out of here; I need to cool off anyways.”

  Back in the freezing cold in the outskirts of the base, Tobias went over to this machine and entered his information. “This machine prints vouchers for us to get into Vancouver as much as we need to. Hopefully, this’ll be the only time we need to go there.” Alix asked nervously, “Are you positive those new recruits will survive? Maxi’s cruel. He’ll probably put them through some bullshit regimen.” Tobias sighed, “Yes, Commander. I’ve appointed Ramiz to keep Maximillian in check. Don’t doubt me for a second; I made sure to take precautions. I’m not an idiot.” Alix mumbled, “Never said you were…” Tobias clapped back, “What’d you say, bottom-feeder?” That forced a chuckle from my throat. Barry struggled to breathe as he asked, “D-did he just call you ‘bottom-feeder’?!” and continued to laugh. Alix’s face flushed red, and he cried, “Oh, come on, General! I thought I pleaded with you to stop calling me that already!” Tobias laughed, “Ehh, it’s funny to call you that every once in a while. Especially around people who don’t know the reason.” Alix’s eyebrows furrowed and he growled, “Don’t you fucking dare explain why I’m called that.” Tobias grinned evilly, and he began to explain. “The Generals call Alix ‘bottom-feeder’ because he always gets promoted, even though he’s never done anything self-sufficient. If I or Ramiz hadn’t advocated for him, he’d still be a Private First Class.” Alix retorted, “OK, that part about me being not self-sufficient? Untrue.” Tobias laughed, “That’s rich. Name me five times that you did something helpful to Golden Leaf while I wasn’t watching you like a hawk. Go on.” Alix responded, “Well, uh… there was that one.. Time.. when I.. um..” “Well?” “Hold on! Uhh.. Oh yeah! I strangled one of those mutants with my bare hands.” Tobias replied, “That’s not true, I was there also.” Alix flustered to speak, and finally was like, “Goddamnit, can’t you just let me enjoy my rank?!” Tobias told him, “Yes, but I’m going to keep making fun of you. That’s just how the chain works. You make fun of the Corporals all the time.” Alix flustered again, “I do not! They make fun of me, not the other way around. Gimme a break!” Tobias death stared him before saying, “You know very well that you bully Corporal Jeffrey and Corporal Xavier. I only know that because they came crying to Ramiz and I overheard them blubbering. I remember when Ramiz beat your ass for that. You, too, were a Corporal, but you had heard about your promotion, so you pulled a Maxi and had a power trip, and you paid for it.” Barry finally broke them up, “Can you take your lil’ lovers’ spat outside? Or at least stop arguing? You’re a part of the same militia, for god’s sake. Swear to God, you two are even more of a child than Emma sometimes.” Emma heard that, and shouted, “Hey! I’m NOT a child!” I told her, “Emma, don’t start a battle you can’t finish. You also are the youngest here.” Emma cursed under her breath, “Tch, fine. I guess it doesn’t matter.” I added onto what Barry said, “Barry makes a good point. We need to stop arguing and get going.” Tobias finally let Alix off the hook and said to us, “Yes, I suppose I can be mean to him later.” I smacked Tobias in the face. “Ow! The hell was that for?!” “For you being a dick to Alix. You took it too far.” I responded. Tobias rubbed his cheek, and it blistered red. “God, making a mental note to never piss you off. You hit like a semi truck.” Tobias winced a bit. I chuckled, “If you think my palm hurts, just wait until I backhand your ass. It’ll happen if you keep this up. Barry knows first hand.” Barry lifted his right sleeve up and showed the imprint of the back of my hand. “He ain’t kidding, he knows how to slap someone. And he does it mercilessly, too.” Tobias recoiled back, and I pressed him, “Well, go on then. Apologize, unless you want to end up like Barry over there.” Tobias scowled, and said, “Fine.. I’m sorry for being mean, Alix. I was just teasing, and yes, I did take it too far.” Alix consoled him, “It’s alright, man. I know you were just kidding.” Joe looked at me, and asked, “Damn, since when did you become harsh? I always thought you were a ‘good cop’. Guess I was wrong, then.” I was always renowned in the Mercenary Division as being the ‘father’ of everyone, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to give discipline.

  After that, we finally went forward and into the docking station. There’s two benches, one completely blanketed in snow and the other has barely any on it. Tobias, Alix, and I sat down on the benches, but the others preferred to stand. The snow felt almost comforting, in a way. It was really soft, fluffy snow; not the icy, jagged shit we got in the South. It wasn’t even snow at that point, it was sleet that rained down. It made it a pain to travel during the winter solely because it was such a lubricious substance, so much so to the point where I was slipping away on it. Even though it was cold, at least I wasn’t sitting on the actual frozen part of the bench. I fell asleep on the bench shortly after I sat down.

  Tobias shook me awake about 1 and a half hours later. “The train’s here. Let’s go.” With that, I shook my grogginess off and stood up. The train’s doors slid open, and the train hissed when the doors were fully opened. Tobias boarded the train first. The conductor scanned his ticket using his eyes, which had a cyan scanner embedded into them. Alix stepped forward next, and the conductor scanned his ticket. This continued for a few more minutes, until finally, the train doors closed. The engineer blew the steam whistle, and the train rumbled, then it started chugging along. I decided to lie down and enjoy the steady, soothing motion of the train.

  A couple hours later, the train jolted to a sudden stop. The shock was so sudden that it awoke everyone who was asleep. The train doors shambled open, and I looked outside. The conductor gave us a hand signal, which alerted us to wait. He poked his head outside, and looked left to right. As the conductor poked his head back in, a deafening explosion ringed out through the train. The train jumped in the air from the force of the explosion. Suddenly, everyone was awake. “The fuck was that?” Alix looked at us. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know!” Barry cried out. After that, 4 masked figures emerged from the corridor behind us. Their emblems, and the cadence in which they spoke.. PG. I readied my gun, before Tobias gently put his hand on my shoulder, and I lowered my weapon, still keeping it steady in case I needed to draw and fire. Tobias engaged in conversation, “Ah, PG! How can I assist you?” The second soldier’s eyebrows furrowed, “Shut up, Kandashrie. I see those fugitives hiding behind you.” Barry scowled at the soldier, before countering with, “I’m not a damn fugitive. In fact, YOU look like the fugitives with those fugly masks on!” The soldier stepped forward, and drew a knife. Barry chortled, and he said mockingly, “Haven’t you heard not to bring a knife to a gunfight?” Before pulling out his revolver and unloading 2 bullets into him, one in the chest and another through his aorta. Joe facepalmed, and the other three soldiers drew their weapons. I drew an arrow, and shot it right through the third soldier’s skull. Emma pulled out a dagger, and threw it at their chest, nearly missing, but still hitting them. The fourth soldier collapsed, and the first soldier looked around, before fleeing. I put my weapons away, and pushed the dagger into the fourth soldier’s chest, before yanking it out like a child would to a tooth, making him pass out from the shock. I picked his body up, and threw it in the air, before kicking the soldier to the curb. “They should’ve known better than to send privates to us. They really just sacrificed three random people.” Barry looked at Tobias, and asked, “See why we want to overthrow PG?” Tobias answered sternly, “No, but I see why they want to kill you four. You keep killing their soldiers!” Emma responded, “Right, but they also just sacrifice random people and they’re trapping Free State.” I said, “Yeah, and they also produce propaganda-who doesn’t-but it’s really contemptuous and rude propaganda. They allure people to join PG before they know about the horrors that go on there. Thank god you two didn’t…” Alix told me, “We would never. Tobias and I had initially thought about it, but we decided against it. We heard from a witness that PG was torturous, almost deathly to work for. They send people out on random-ass missions, and they don’t give a fuck if they come back alive. I’m with you on overthrowing them.”

  1 day later..

  The train jolted to a stop again, this time, we were there. Vancouver.