An enticing opportunity he said….. It kind of feels like we’ve been had. Even so, who would even set up a meeting on a day like this.

  The freezing wind roared past the cobblestone alley….the back of my neck was cold, and the sound of the rain beating the gutters proved deafening…the warmth and the flame on my lighter didn’t waver, even as I kept flipping it impatiently. And then there were the footsteps that sloshed along in the puddles.

  “You’re late” I said from the safety of my corner, and yet he neither turned towards me nor seeked shelter from the downpour

  “Considering it is me who brings what you can benefit you….I can be as late as I want”

  I put my lighter in my pocket and walked into the downpour “Better be worth my while, Monarch ... .because if you dragged me here for a wild goose chase, then…”

  “Then your merry band of men would gun me down where I stand ... .A unit placed on the roof in case I run, and two more covering the two exits to this very alley…. Please, I know how the USMC thinks”

  I was stunned by his words but expected nothing less from a bloodthirsty freak, but what could he do against a battalion of thirteen. I slowly reached for my sidearm

  “Now that won’t be necessary…..Because today, I’m not looking for a fight….For all your sakes” Not a single tense muscle on his face, even well knowing that he was facing down an unseen firing squad

  “You got 5 seconds, or we walk”

  “Your men who fell when the Purgatory fell….. I can give you a chance at who killed them”

  My arms tensed up and I couldn’t avert my gaze from him….but he gave away nothing more as his demeanor showed no cracks

  “What’s the catch?” I couldn’t help but ask

  “There is none….all I ask is for her head” he said, not budging an inch from his spot even when I closed in

  “And you expect me to take your word for it? We’ve looked everywhere and came out with nothing and you….”

  “And that because every single one you sent were never to be heard from again” It’s as if he knew everything before he came here

  “How did you….”

  “That’s because that how we are taught to cover our tracks….you can hide under any stone if there’s noone to turn them over”

  “Bullshit….Women can’t be Monarchs” I confronted him, with more questions now than ever

  “And I want to make that true….. our goals align in this instance and it’s just that my hands are going to be tied elsewhere” He walked past me with his hands in his pockets, stepping into the puddles of water that surrounded us, and then he stopped “But this just might be the last chance we get to end her”.

  I didn’t face him, but his presence sent a chill up my spine far colder than the breeze and the rain ever could. “I know all about you and your group… You military types are proud, have a strong sense of honor and comradery, and all of you will be willing to lay down your lives for the people you fight with…. You were tasked in protecting the clientele of the Purgatory, and it burns you from the inside the longer she gets to wander out there with no consequences whatsoever”

  I could hear him getting closer and he put his rock-like hand on my shoulder “You know what I call that?”

  He squeezed my shoulder to the point I could feel the strain on my bone, but flinched as less as possible to not show any weakness

  “I call it weakness” His words pissed me off, and I swatted away his arm, looking him in the eye

  “Fortunately for you….your quarry is taking a page out of your book. She’s found a group of…unwanteds. So it’s your call on how you want to approach this?”

  He lifted his arm and had my lighter in his hand, I frantically searched my pocket to find that it was indeed missing. “You could either, target her new friends…take them hostage, and force her into an ultimatum”

  He flipped the lighter and held the flame out in the open rain “Or you could take her head on….And I don’t have to tell you what a Monarch is capable of, or if you do…I’d be more than happy to demonstrate”

  The flame began to struggle as he kept the lighter open “We don’t do hostages….”

  And the flame extinguished, and the lighter still remained open…he closed it and threw it to me to which I received with one quick swipe of my hand. He opened his inventory and took a lean board out and threw it at the ground next to me. “All you need to know is in there on that holo-file…. If you choose to accept my offer, you and all your men are to prepare for the Ascension BR…I’ve got something in mind to have her come right to you”

  He walked away a couple of steps and turned towards me once again “You going to tell your men to stand down or do you want me to do it myself?”

  Unused to the feeling of having my every move read, a part of me wanted to give the order to open fire…..but that’s now how we do things.

  I raised my hand into a fist and then swirled two fingers, giving the signal to stand down and regroup. And not a word more, he disappeared into the thick spray of the ongoing rainstorm.

  I picked up the board from the ground, only for a dossier to pop up at me.

  It didn’t take long after for us to take over the pub in Low-Sec….. Driving out the unfavorable, with the use of force and tactics was always our forte anyways.

  The bar was about to rake in the profits, which would’ve been more if I partook in the festivities.

  I stared at her portrait for quite some time with my hand to my head. The sounds of the cheers drowned out as I began to picture how a girl half my age could murder so many people in such a gruesome fashion.

  “2 hours and 13 minutes ... .not a word spoken and not a drop swallowed. Who are you and what did you do to Nick?” Sam sat at my table of solitude, bringing me a glass of hard liquor.

  “Steering the ship as usual, you know me… It feels like it was just yesterday we buried Strom and Oscar’s guys and now….”

  Sam cut me off fast “Will it kill you to not be a bummer just for a few minutes? Getting fifty six people to the points cap deserves a celebration. I’m sure the next op can wait”

  I leaned back on my chair relaxing a bit “Yeah, but we never faced a Monarch, did we? A part of me is screaming to not take this bounty but then I’ll have to live with myself knowing that I let Oscar’s killer go free”

  “Hey, I’m not telling you to not do your job. It’s just people around you would appreciate it a tad bit more if you loosened your shoulders a bit. And besides….Since when have we ever not pulled off the impossible and make it home in time for Christmas” I couldn’t help but smirk as he pretended like this was just a walk in the park

  “Ahh that line might work on Hannah, but not anyone here” I asked with my smirk still persisting

  “Eh, worth a shot” He lifted his bottle of beer and pointed it towards me. And I might as well indulge

  I lifted the glass he brought for me and we clinked, each of us taking a swig not long after.

  “Okay then…want to give me a debrief of what you’ve been looking at for the past 2 hours?” he put his bottle on the table and leaned forward looking straight at me

  “You sure you are sober enough for this?”

  “I ain’t a lightweight like you Nicky….And besides, this is my first beer…. Someone has to keep an eye out in case the guys decide to have a bit too much and decide to throw hands”

  “What would I ever do without you?” I replied sarcastically

  “At your service, Your Excellency” He bowed slightly in mockery

  “Owwkay” I broke of the pleasantries and turned the file towards him

  “The Japanese Monarch…..Escaped the Purgatory with her sister leaving a trail of bodies well beyond its walls. The New World Order’s search parties found where she hid out, along with four bodies buried in the backyard…. An NPC family of three, and…… her sister”

  “Well, that doesn’t sound pretty” Sam commented

  “A few days later, she assaulted a gathering of all the NWO big leagues, killed around 20 of their people…She failed her mission, and was presumed dead…until a few weeks ago”

  I swiped over the folder to turn the page “She found a clan to run with, bunch of civvies. But according to our Monarch, she’d grown particularly close to them.”

  “A government killing machine with feelings….that’s new” Sam continued to comment but noticed the moment of silence I took to think “What are you thinking?”

  “Nothing it’s just, I’m trying to look for an angle of attack here”

  I put my hands together and leaned towards Sam “Oscar’s unit weren’t push overs and I told myself that it was just dumb luck but…. Killing twenty on her own? Even amateurs?…. What if it wasn’t just a fluke?”

  Sam picked up his bottle and leaned back on the chair “Well you are the boss ... .at the end of the day, call is yours…. We just follow orders”

  He then leaned forward “Look, I get it…. You are afraid that what happened at the Purgatory would repeat itself….”

  I hid my cluelessness with a sip of tongue burning whiskey as he continued “…Sure, Oscar’s guys were our best point men but the fact is that they were taken by surprise….She won’t get that this time”

  He picked up his bottle and had it in my line of sight “So how about we let this simmer for now and unwind for a bit…. Nothing like a couple of stiff drinks to truly forget the problems in the world” He held his bottle in front of me, asking me to join

  I couldn’t help but snicker “Aight, I’ll hold you to that”

  And the moment I picked up my glass to join the squad was one of the few respites we ever got ever since we got here

  .

  .

  .

  (2 days later)

  .

  .

  .

  (What the hell am I doing at this place again?)

  The last time I set foot in here, it was akin to the aftermath of a bloody war…and now there was nothing. Not a single sign of red was to be seen even as the light seeped in from the ruptured floor above through the roof that was barely there anymore.

  But no matter how much bleach you use, you can’t erase the scent of blood from what I saw remaining of this place the last time.

  While the stench of blood lingered on the familiar nose, the bloodlust in the room was even stronger. Without the furnishings of this once bustling establishment, it was nothing but a large empty hall…. One which now held a buffet of the crazies this world has created

  The tension in the air was suffocating, even having the largest crew in the room, all of us had our hands ready to reach for our holsters. But my men didn’t act, shadowing my composure and caution.

  Knives were sharpened, coins were tossed and bullets were flipped…. And it’s as if they knew the perfect time to walk in, just as everyone was reaching their tipping point of their non-existent patience. Everyone knew the face of the bloke who used to run this place, but not many knew who the other was.

  “I see that quite a lot are interested in taking the challenge” said the former owner, and our former employer.

  The sound of a knife firmly planting itself into the wooden crate echoed through the room as one of the leaders got confrontational “You got some nerve showing your face after what happened, Razir Zawani. Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t carve you where you stand”

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  The second among them stepped forward to speak “I know that all of you have lost people that day in this very building ... .teammates, friends… And what we are offering today is a chance of closure”

  It might slip past the untrained eye, but I’ve guided many recruits that struggled to hide their shudders just like he was. And if he is still shivering this far in, I could already guess what awaited him in this world

  “We finally get to take of a crew that took out my boys….” he turned around and waved his arms up, riling up his clan, who cheered back

  (Guess they don’t know….or wasn’t even there to know)

  “The casualties of the Purgatory and the hunt that followed….was the work of one.” The most docile man in the room pulled out a remote from his inventory menu and clicked a button

  The file that I was given was on display on the large empty wall

  “Yulia Mano…. Trained to be a living weapon from a young age and according to my sources, she’s trying to leave that life behind”

  “Is this a fucking joke to you?” The leader of the gang of bare-chested rogues cut him off. He jumped off the crate he sat on, his large overcoat swayed as he jumped forward

  “You dragged us into this shithole, all the way from Low-Sec….to tell us the person who killed some of my best men, was just a frail little girl.” He scoffed and continued “You think we are stupid? You think that I am that stupid?”

  “As a matter of fact, you are even dumber than you think” a familiar third voice presented itself in the room, even though he stepped lightly, his presence was enough to contain a room full of heartless killers, having all their eyes glued to him

  “One look at this room and I know what kind of people you all are…. Some of you are ex-military, ex-combatants looking to avenge the people you lost to the massacre that took place here…. some of you think that the world is below you just because you’ve acquired a taste of killing players and NPCs….. and some of you are just looking for a quick leg up if you ever make it to the doors of Cathedral City.”

  He walked to the middle of the room, ensuring that he commanded the room “Your target is not any of them…. She’s one of a very few, an assassin in service to her country…..A Monarch. Yulia Mano is a master of shadows and opportunity…. underestimate her in the slightest, and that would be the last mistake you ever do”

  “Now listen here, we are not here to listen to horror stories…..A government assassin? A Monarch?....” he scoffed rudely and looked around the room, addressing everyone else “Do any of you believe this horseshit?!”

  The Monarch looked unfazed “To be honest I don’t have any hopes on most of you for being able to even make her break a sweat, but right now, she’s committed herself to weakness…. Surrounded herself with a group of nobodies like you and your little gang there”

  They clearly didn’t take that well, as a few of them got up immediately, surrounding the Monarch

  The signs of a soon-to-be quarrel had my guys tense up, to which I extended my arm beside me, signaling them to stand down

  “This is about to get ugly, best not be a part of it” I held onto my composure, not letting my voice show any weakness, but none under me disobeyed as everyone was aware what these monsters are capable of. All we could do is watch from the sidelines

  “Wrong answer, meat…. You think you are untouchable? But guess what? The New World Order doesn’t run anything anymore…. You guys are folding under the pressure of the Guardian Clans, and now you have the balls to badmouth the Rising Phoenix” their leader was in his face, but by the looks of it, only less than a handful of his clan had his back. “Looks like it’s time to put your washed-up organization to the place where it belongs

  Everyone moved 2 steps back, giving them space ... .3 people surrounded the Monarch, the two who were not their leader suddenly had the gloves on their hands ignite…. It certainly did not look like personal gear, but it looked like it would certainly do some lasting damage, even with personal shielding in play.

  A battle of fisticuffs began, and the numbers advantage didn’t work in the slightest for the attacking members. The Monarch dodged under the hands of the assailant behind with minimal movement and even less care, but the attacks came at him relentlessly.

  The Monarch pulled out his bayonet, his movements were slow enough for all to notice the glowing green line over its edge. His attackers rushed at him with little to no coordination, It was like watching a bar fight

  He countered the first attack that came at him and pinned one’s arm under his own. He headbutted the rushing leader and maneuvered his first attacker towards the flaming hands of the second. He made sure that the hands of the second were in full contact with the first’s bare chest, causing the first to scream in agony as his comrade watched over in panic.

  The bayonet went through the back of the second’s left hand and through the chest of the first attacker, piercing his heart. The Monarch did one quicker stab to seal the deal and then turned the knife deep into the eye socket of the second, leaving it here for all to see. And it was done before the leader recovered.

  The leader was in distress, watching his trusted companions fall like files. His face tensed up as he might’ve realized that he pissed off the wrong person, but that didn’t stop him from going on the offensive.

  The leader threw all he had into a single punch only for the Monarch to grab his fist.

  “Is that all you got?” The Monarch taunted, which made the leader even more desperate.

  He threw another strike with his free arm, surrendering all control to his opponent… a common mistake all the untrained do.

  And before he knew it, he pulled in with both his arms trapped under the Monarch’s grasp, and not a second later, the sound of snapping bones echoed through the room as the insides of the leader’s elbows were now sticking out of his skin.

  He backs out screaming, even the pain dampening effect of this world was not enough to taper it. But as the Monarch charged a punch of his own and connected to the chest of the leader, he suddenly went silent after a loud audible thump.

  The leader was barely on his feet but suddenly started spitting up blood…. A scenario that had even the seasoned veterans in the room stunned for words.

  He groaned, trying to get words out “What…. did you do to me?”

  Seconds later, his chest started to turn dark, spreading outwards like he was infected by a plague.

  “Let me tell you a story about these…..government assassins you say is too hard to believe. Each of them comes from a historied family out of their nation. Generations of wisdom passed down like a torch and each of them are trained in their own ways to end lives…each of those families believe in different virtues”

  The leader fell to the ground as the Monarch kept talking while looking over him. He looked like he was barely clinging to life.

  “My family followed the virtue of strength” He said while looking at his hand and clenching it into a fist “The ways of staring an enemy in the face so they know who destroyed them…the ways of honing the feeble human body to be able to pierce any opponents defenses….like how a Mantis Shrimp can break out of its own tank….just by one…single…strike”

  (Wait…. What? How?)

  “What you are experiencing there, is your ribs piercing into your vitals…. The difficulty to breathe because your ruptured lungs…. the unbearable pain in your chest as your heart is leaking blood with every passing second”

  I felt my hand instinctively tightening its grip on my gun

  The Monarch didn’t think for a second before he crouched down in front of his falling adversary, not a single sign of fear or doubt in his voice.

  He held up a healing potion right in front of his face “Although it might be fatal in reality, turns out this stuff is a lifesaver even in your situation. There you are, hoping that I would give it to you but let me tell you about the reality of this world, of humanity…. There is only the strong, and the weak….. And the moment you are considered weak, the whole world gives up on you…. I mean, look around you” He turned sideways, letting him see the crowd above him

  “There are countless other people here, including your own…. All of them have heal potions, one of the cheapest and most common items in this world and how many of them do you see coming to help you?”

  Not a single soul moved, while they had a semblance of shock on their faces, there was not a single sign of doubt whether they would get killed if they approached to help ... .They just didn’t care about the life of another.

  “H…help….m ... .me” he said with the last bit of breath he had in a bloodcurdling tone, but not to the Monarch…. but to his own clan, but even from where I stood, I could see that they looked uncaring. Their leader was dying, none of them lifted a finger to help”

  “What is this place doing to people?” Sam said from behind me, and yet not even he approached to help

  “Pleeease….h..hel…p…m…..mm.e” The cries for help continued for a few more seconds, and he suddenly ceased to speak, or move….. A life claimed by cruelty only humanity is capable of.

  The Monarch turned around to face the crowd now and there was not a single speck of remorse to be seen

  “While I might value strength, your target values cowardice, weakness….. Back in reality, she was a legend among the few. Even if you don’t care for material possessions, or have anyone to avenge, this is a test of strength for all of you…. Kill one of the most dangerous people in the world, and your chances of getting out of this world alive is all but guaranteed.”

  He paused for a second and looked around. “Now many of you might be asking why I am not dealing with her personally, and the answer is that I don’t value weakness….. Right now, all she cares about is abandoning her gift and keeping her new friends safe. If she doesn’t embrace her true self, then you will come back victorious, and if she does then she’ll kill everyone in this room, and die by my hand”

  The silence in the room turned into a ripple of chatter as people were considering their odds based on what they just witnessed but there was little to discuss among ourselves, as our minds were set from the start…..or at least mine was

  The night that followed wasn’t pleasant…. The only thing us foot soldiers have seen is the aftermath of a Monarch’s work, and that is what I ended up seeing throughout the night every time I closed my eyes to sleep.

  The Op in Russia where we opened the door into the sight of the dead mercs, with only little blood to show, the same with the terror cell in Uzbekistan, and what remained of my men at the Purgatory.

  All this time, we’ve never seen the artists behind this horrific art…. but what scared me the most is how they look just like us regular people.

  My night devolved into a beer in hand and a long stare into the dark streets below as I kept myself from throwing myself over the balcony. But it seemed that I might need something far stronger if I was to get myself to even remotely forget what’s ahead of us

  “Hey…. you okay there, tiger?”

  I turned my head towards her and grinned before I replied, “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

  She approached me, feet heavier than mine and yet I felt calmer as she got closer

  “Can’t get myself to fall asleep, didn’t think I’d wake you up”

  She leaned beside me, trying to share some of the heaviness in her eyelids

  “You look afraid” she saw right through me before I could even say a word

  “I mean…. don’t I always?” I tried not to worry her, not in the middle of the night

  “But you do your best to keep up a brave face for me and Archie….. whatever is on your mind must be bothering you much more so far if it’s making you show”

  To think I would be used to this after all these years….but then again, how many of those did I actually spend by her side.

  I let out a snicker “You know that I don’t deserve you, right Cin?”

  “You should really give yourself a lot more credit…..Look, the boys have been worried about you too as of late. Just like you are here for us, we are here when you need someone to lean on…” Her lean and soft shoulder pushed against mine for a moment “And beside…. for better and for worse, right?”

  I let out a faint smile as I looked down, contemplating whether I should open up to her, and I made my decision just a second later

  “We found her…. who murdered Oscar, Lucius and…everyone else” I glimpsed at Cindy over my shoulder and looked away “I shouldn’t be talking about this right now”

  She wrapped around me and hugged me from behind “Hey, it’s okay…. you are always there for me and Archie everytime you are with us…. How about letting me do the same for once?”

  My hands that had been shaking ever since today’s display of brutality, settled under her embrace.

  “We got a shot at killing her, but it turns out that we might’ve been way over our head”

  “Why is that?” she asked in a soft but curious tone

  “When we were on tours and Ops…. Our strike teams are the first line of action…. Think of it as we either hold up a wall or break it down depending on what we are ordered to do. We thin up armies, break through their lines, push towards their heart. But it’s all just a giant distraction.”

  I took a big sip from my bottle to calm my nerves “A distraction for the government’s dogs to do their dirty work… Can’t run the risk of us rank and files stumbling across something that we are not supposed to see while in the final stages of an Op….. And as luck would have it, the bitch that butchered Oscar is one of them”

  “Is she that dangerous?” asked my oblivious wife…. couldn’t blame her in the slightest as not even any of my battalion knows

  “I don’t know. Monarchs are supposed to be a closely guarded secret…. so much so that I was sworn to silence about it but…. I guess that doesn’t matter anymore being stuck in this place”

  I paused for a second to catch my breath “We’ve seen the aftermath of what they leave behind…. enemy soldiers butchered beyond belief with the head of their leaders conveniently left for us to collect. And all this time, only I have seen the artist behind the twisted art…. The artist who painted a sketch for us this evening.”

  My hand started shaking again “What scares me is that a monster like that was afraid of who he set us up to hunt….. What scares someone who has never known fear his whole life?”

  “If it’s bothering you that much, why don’t you just…..”

  “I can’t walk away from this, Cin….” I considered it a lot earlier than she did, but I’d be facing something a whole lot worse if I chose to save ourselves

  “Everyone’s on edge ever since we got stuck in here and if I decide to back down from getting revenge on those who wronged us, no matter how dangerous they are ... .I'd just prove to them that I’d fold under pressure. That would just tear morale apart….Say that I won’t have their back if it gets too dangerous.”

  I gripped my hands tightly “But if I don’t end up in the same match as her and….it’s as if I send them in to die”

  “Hey, hey, hey” she said softly “ Just remember that the boys aren’t just pieces on a chessboard ... .They are their own person, with their own thoughts and beliefs. And all of them look up to you for guidance, even with their lives on the line….Just like me and Archie.”

  “You are so worried about what they would think about you… But you’d never know if you ask them….”

  She stopped leaning on the railing “I’ll be inside if you need me”

  Cindy left my side to face the darkness alone, but at least she brought me a ray of light to hang onto for the time being

  The whole night, I wasn’t able to sleep a wink….and yet I couldn’t hesitate for a moment as I overlooked my men’s training. My eyes darted between the scoreboards on the firing range, the finer techniques of everyone on the open grounds honing their CQC, and the timings on the obstacle course.

  With the fate of their lives in my hands, I held nothing back.

  “FASTER!” I told them, even when they achieved their best

  “FASTER!” I told them when they went even beyond that

  “EVEN FASTER!” My eyes were glued onto their expressions. The frustration, the anger…. I made sure that they never forgot it throughout the day. The feelings that could end up saving their lives against our battle with the beast.

  “I need a minute!” One of them faltered, and that was enough to tip me over the edge

  “Do you think that the Monarch will give you a minute?! You falter for a second, and she will rip you open! Get up Soldier! That is an order…..” An interruption presented itself as Sam jumped between me and who lied kneeling in front of me

  “How about…. We all calm down. Nick, can I speak to you for a moment? And Vince, take a break… as a matter of fact…” he looked above him to address everyone “Everyone! Take ten! You’ve earned it!”

  The sound of a couple dozen bottles of water being gulped down on filled the room and it dissipated moments later as they all left the room, to which I stood my ground in silence until it all calmed down

  “What are you doing?” I asked Sam, switching myself off from being the drill sergeant

  “Saving them and you…. We’ve been going at this 8 hours and none of has even stopped for lunch”

  “Did Cindy put you up to this?” I asked, turning my back to him…about to cut this conversation short “I won’t work myself or anyone else to death if that’s what you are worried about”

  “It’s not that…..” he raised his voice slightly to get me to stop in my tracks, but I didn’t face him just yet “Look, I get that you are afraid, and I get that feeling responsible to whatever happens to us is weight that not one person should bear…..But pushing everyone this hard is not going to make things any better….”

  I faced Sam immediately “After all the shit we’ve seen, after all we’ve been through…All this time, I thought it was impossible…. That a single person could not possible walk himself through a heavily fortified compound and kill….no…slaughter a few dozen well trained soldiers and live to tell the tale…..until I saw it yesterday”

  My hand started to shake again and Sam’s quick downward glance meant he caught onto it “The Rising Phoenixes were no joke, they are crazy but they knew how to fight…..and he didn’t even break a sweat murdering them like that. He showed no fear in his eyes until her name or her presence gets mentioned and that is what we are hunting and I…”

  Sam grabbed me by the shoulder “Hey, hey, hey……just relax, and take a deep breath, alright. I know, I saw it too. But the RPs might be good player killers but they are no special forces…. We got a battalion of over 50 people and counting, you really think that even a quarter of us couldn’t take on Roland Arnett”

  He paused for a second, giving me time to catch my breath and process his words “Nick, look…..The reason why all of us follow you no matter what, is how you always think straight while everyone else runs around in a panic…. You kept your head in the game when we all realized we were trapped in this place, you decided to use the little we have to put together search parties, to clan up, to protect one another. Everything here, is what you built….Your choices, your decisions…..And so far, you hadn’t done anything wrong”

  “If only that was the truth” we were interrupted by the last voice I wanted to hear right now

  Sam sighed in frustration “I could think of one thing you could’ve done better”

  A couple of my men came running “Our apologies, Commander….. we tried to stop him but…”

  “Is everyone okay?” I asked knowing full well of his M.O

  “Chris and Martin took a beating but….”

  “Tend to the injured, and don’t let anyone else inside until I say so” I ordered

  “Yes, Sir” they both rushed outside

  We both looked at the more imminent problem in the room

  “Good to see that your men are dumber than you are Nicholas, or they would’ve stabbed you in a back a long time ago” He said while closing the distance

  “You here to comment on how we are getting along or do you have a deathwish, I’m more than happy to help you with the latter” Sam threatened him calmly

  “Goodness me, the hostility…. No need for that, we are all on the same side….just, we do this differently from one another” He was calm but alert, expecting an attack even in a place where that was not possible

  “I don’t have the time today to waste on conversations that go nowhere, Connelly. So you either get to your point or you get out of our way” I got in his face and he leaned back raising his hand up trying to get some space

  “No time to waste because you are stressed out about your upcoming hunt….and that is why I’m here…. To relieve that pressure from your hands. To avenge our fallen in your behalf”

  “What are you saying?” I questioned him sternly

  “Monarchs are close to the perfect killing machines…. No weakness, no hesitation. Apart from this very one….. And you, Nicholas, are too weak-willed to do what’s needs to be done to bring down such a monster”

  “You are going after her team” He didn’t have to spell it out for me or anyone else here to know

  He took two steps back not breaking his eye contact with me “The easiest way to slay a dragon is to go after her eggs, lure her into a trap, and kill her while she remains helpless knowing full well that who she cares will be in danger if she acts”

  “And what then huh? You kill the dragon and then what happens to the eggs?” I questioned him

  “What else? We smash them….. When they outlive their usefulness, might as well make sure that they don’t become a problem later down the line”

  “As if I expected anything different from you” I turned away and walked towards the weapon rack, grabbing myself a handgun.

  “Whatever you have to offer us, Connelly. We ain’t buying, so how about you just….” Sam immediately got interrupted

  “I’m trying to do you guys a favor…..you walk into the face of the dragon head first, you are just going to get incinerated no matter how many men you throw at it. Me, you, your men and mine….we aren’t so different, so how about….”

  “We are so different, Connelly” I put the gun I was inspecting on the table and walked towards him “The difference is that me, Sam and everyone outside who looks to me to guide them …we are soldiers. Soldiers have a code of morals, a code we don’t break no matter what the battle we fight. You are no soldier, you are just another warmonger. Get out of my face!” I turned away, not having anything else to say

  “I don’t want to fight you, Nick…. I don’t want to fight any of you. Just back out of this fight and you’ll”

  “I know what you are trying to do, Connelly, get me to back down from the fight…label me a coward in front of my men and push them to join you instead.” Just a peek over my shoulder and a glimpse on how his face changed was enough to know that I was right.

  I turned around and looked him in the eye “You might not want to fight me, but I do…. You are what we trained to fight against, and so be it if run into each other during the Ascension BR, I will gun you down like the dog you are, along with all those traitors that follow you around….. and it’s just like Sam said, we ain’t buying what you are selling…. So get…..the hell….out of my face. And so be the next time we meet, you’ll have a bullet between your eyebrows”

  “There are no rules in war, Nick…. And so doesn’t this place. The sooner you realize that, the more of a chance you’d have to survive” He said, stopping in his tracks and looking at me over his shoulder

  “GET OUUUUT!” My scream echoed through the room and through his ears, as not a word was said afterwards as he trekked away from a futile attempt.

  The room settled into a silence just a moment after, but we all knew that it would last for very long