I. Dogfight
"Hei, three Zakus behind you."
Hei looked into the rear camera, and sure enough, saw three dull green enemies behind him. Frowning at his misfortune, he reached up to pull a lever. As soon as it was pulled, there was a series of body-jarring shakes and clicks, as his SVMS-01 Flag converted from flight mode to combat mode. Whipping around in time to dodge several shots, Hei fired several of his own from the dual pistols. However, they only reached the shields of the Zaku II's. There lay the difference between his mobile suit, and the enemy's. While the Federation had designed their mobile suits to be slow, but take a lot of damage, the Alliance had built them for speed. That was the case now, as the Flag continuously dodged the shotgun shells fired from the Zakus.
"Hei, I'm coming. Just sit tight."
"No need. I'll do it myself," Hei said through gritted teeth, barely able to speak due to the G-forces. His stomach took another dive as he suddenly dove down, a shell narrowly missing his Flag's head. I can't take this anymore. With a grunt, Hei boosted right for the Zakus, who were surprised by this show of audacity. Tossing aside the pistols into the battle on the ground, the Zakus would notice the Flag's arm opening, and removing two knives.
"Nein! Angriff!" The lead Zaku didn't have time to even raise his shield, as Hei dove under the machine, coming up behind him, and jabbing his knife into the cockpit. Hei could have sworn he heard a yell from within as the machine exploded.
"Kamerad!" The second Zaku raised his shotgun as Hei turned around. Shit. Eyes widening as he attempted to dodge, but even knew it was useless. A shotgun blast at point blank would hit him, no matter how quick he was. However, as Hei closed his eyes, and braced himself for the pain, there was an explosion, though it wasn't his own mobile suit exploding.
"What the?" He yelled as there was another explosion. Where there should have been two Zakus blowing him to bits, he saw his comrades Eric and Chris. Looking down, Hei noticed two smoldering heaps of scrap metal falling.
"Didn't you say you had it, you piece of shit?" Eric said with a grin. Hei rolled his eyes. That was Eric's signature line. "Piece of shit." He couldn't remember a single conversation with the guy where he hadn't heard that.
"You okay?" Chris asked, putting his rifle away.
"Yeah," Hei replied, putting the knives back into his arm. "I told you guys not to come."
"So you could die?" Chris said with a laugh. "You want to die, I'll give you some friendly fire right now."
"Let's drop this," Hei mumbled, and turned his attention to the ground-based battle. Abandoning his teammates again, the Flag morphed into flight mode, dashing off for the ground below. However, he heard Chris' voice again.
"Stop! Snipers!" he heard. His eyes widened, realizing what was about to happen. Sure enough, there was a loud crack in the distance as a large bullet was fired. Despite the battle raging about him, Hei heard but the single crack, before his cockpit shook, and he was engulfed in bright flames.
GAME OVER
When Hei opened his eyes, he groaned, slamming the controls. Where the display should have been simply said those two words in bright red. In the bottom right corner read his grade: D. "Nice," he murmured, noting that under that also read, mission failed. He closed his eyes in despair, anticipating the tongue-lashing he was about to receive.
"What the fuck was that, Shinato?" a gruff voice, followed by gloved hands yanked him out of the simulator. "Tossing away your pistols, engaging in a flat out dogfight against soldiers with shotguns?!" Hei tried to looked down as his superior repeatedly jabbed his index finger into Hei's forehead.
"Sorry sir," he murmured, looking at his boots.
"I'm not done. And even after Lee and Jenkins saved you, you didn't learn! Again, you went straight to the battle with knives. KNIVES ARE A LAST RESORT, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'RE NOT A HERO! YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL!" Sergeant Smith roared.
"Understood, sir," Hei said with a sigh.
"Don't give me that shit, Shinato, I- You know what? Get the fuck out of my face." Hei gave a last salute before Smith stomped away, mumbling under his breath. From behind the sim pod, Eric and Chris popped out, grinning.
"He's right, Hei," Eric said with a laugh. "You're not special. You're a piece of shit." Hei had a half mind to simply stuff his fist in the Korean man's mouth, but thought better of it, after being told off.
"How supportive you are," Hei replied with a sigh, and turned to walk away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
In his room, Hei locked the door behind him with a click. Tossing his keys into his bed, Hei sauntered over to the bathroom, turning on the faucet to wash his face. As he looked up from the running water, he saw his reflection; medium length, somewhat wild black hair encircling an angular face. Narrow eyes with piercing gray irises. His lips were narrow and shaking, possibly from anger, maybe even embarrassment.
With a grow, he removed the black piercing on his left earlobe. "Not a hero…? We'll see about that…"