The Ribbon
Prologue - The Problem with my Life
I never thought an eighteen year old kid could shape history in a way that would determine the fate of an entire continent, let alone the world, but it happened. I never thought the world would look up to a person they knew nothing about, but they did. I never thought that anyone would praise a man for killing someone, but they did. The world was a fucked up place, even before I became involved in this war, but everyone thought I was making Strangereal a better place. I started to wonder how the world would react knowing that their 'Lamb' was only seconds away from death.
Monday, June 28, 2004 1822hrs Reyes Mountain Range, Osea
"Antonio…. Antonio…. Castillo!"
The sound of my scout master snapped me back to reality. My troop and I were hiking to our camp site three miles away from where we parked our cars. I was one of the only two Life Scouts in my troop and the fourth oldest out of everyone. I only had to survive this hike so that I could present my Eagle Scout Project to my scout master. He thought I was insane because I brought nothing but the clothes I was wearing, a two liter camel back, and my pocket knife that I bought when I went to camp last summer. My project was to show him that a person could live off the wilderness with what I brought with me. I was glad that I didn't have to wear that stupid uniform. All I was wearing was a black workout shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of military grade boots.
"Are you alright?" asked my scout master.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."
My scout master, Aaron Burciaga, was a five foot nine, stocky, Latino guy. He was a Captain in the Marine Corp and a good friend of my mentor. He's been my scout master ever since my mentor drafted me into the scouts as part of this rehabilitation program I was going through. When I was eight years old, my dad and two of my siblings died in an attack during an airshow at Camp Curtis, an American military base that the US military occupied after the Belkan war. I was hurt pretty badly and a group of people inducted me into a secret project, called Project Pitbull, where they trained kids to become 'super soldier'. My mentor was the person who saved me from the place when I tried to escape the facility when I was ten. I had the skills and knowledge of a secret agent by the time my mentor saved me, but I didn't know what it meant to be human anymore. Over the years, my mentor would take me along with him on these spiritual trips every summer so that way I could learn what it meant to be alive and every fall, he would allow me to attend regular school so that way I could learn to interact with people. Officially, I was still part of Project Pitbull however this version was a psychological reforming project. It was successful to the point where I would help people at the expense of my own well-being. I didn't really care what happened to me in life. I welcomed the thought of death. I went through each day of my life, bored of doing the same thing over and over again. I never fully found a purpose of my own so it was like I was living a life without meaning. I had a few friends who understood me and they kept trying to change my outlook on life, but I was still stuck in my own ways. I had to go everyday reliving the torment I endured from when I was young and I blamed one man in particular, though I doubted I would ever find him. I blamed the man who killed my father. I had no idea who he was or what he looked like. All I knew about him was that he had green eyes.
"You must've been deep in thought because I had to say your name five times to get your attention," said Aaron. "Anyways, what were you thinking about?"
"We're being followed," I whispered.
Aaron looked over his shoulder but he couldn't see anything. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I feel fine. I'm just saying, I know someone's following us," I said.
"Antonio, seriously, I think you should…"
"Look, how 'bout you go on ahead and I'll catch up. If I'm wrong, then you got nothing to worry about," I said.
"Alright, I'll see you at the campsite. Just keep following this trail and take a right when you get the fork in the road," said Aaron.
I gave him a thumb's up and veered off the trail and into the woods. Once I was out of sight from the rest of my troop, I climbed a nearby tree and positioned myself on a sturdy branch that hung over the trail that led to our camp sight. It was extremely dark without the flashlights the others carried to illuminate the trail. The night was calm under the starlit sky. The sounds of crickets and other insects along with the light breeze rustling through the trees seemed so peaceful. Man, this is dull. I waited for a couple minutes before I heard something that sounded out of place. I could hear it gradually getting louder and louder. I knew it. Someone was on this same trail as we were but, they were trying to be sneaky about it. Whoever it was kept crouching to the side of the trail and kept turning their flashlight on and off. As the person drew closer, I could hear that he wasn't alone. There were two of them and I could hear them talking to each other.
"They don't know we're coming. Let's just hope it stays that way," said one of the men.
"We could just catch up to them and surprise the hell out of them like that. They won't be expecting that," said the other.
I had a bad feeling about these guys and I didn't like what they were talking about. They wanted to surprise my troop and it didn't sound good at all. I readied myself to confront the pair by taking off my camel back and throwing it on the opposite side of the trail. The sound it made during impact startled them and I heard one of them take the safety of a gun. One of them is armed, outstanding. I could barely see them in the dark but when they turned on a flashlight, I could see them a lot better. I didn't know who they were, but the sight of the gun was enough to make me suspect that these two were here to hurt someone. I jumped down and landed behind the unarmed guy. Once I hit the ground, I swiped his legs out from under him and I quickly move towards the guy who had the gun when he tried to point it at me, but as I pushed the gun away from me and brought my knife to the guy's neck, I saw who the man was.
"Harkin?" I asked.
"Kid, what the hell are you doing?" asked Harkin.
"I could ask you the same thing," I replied as I put my knife away.
"We were planning on surprising everyone," said Harkin.
"We," I asked befuddled.
Harkin pointed to the guy I tripped and saw that it was a former member of my troop, Devon Simpson. He and his three younger brothers were all part of my troop. Devon was already an Eagle Scout who joined the Navy SEALs. He was a tough S.O.B and so were his brothers.
"Devon, I thought you were in Usea," I said as I helped him off the ground.
"My deployment got postponed so I thought I'd come and say 'hi' to everyone," he said.
"Kid, what were you doing in that tree?" asked Harkin.
I told Harkin the whole story as the three of us continued to head down the trail. Nathan Harkin was my mentor who saved me from Project Pitbull when I was ten and he continued to look out for me from then on. He was like another father to me. Harkin was a Major in the Marine Corp. He was a fighter pilot and I looked up to him because of that. If it wasn't for Harkin, I'd probably be in jail, a mental institution, or I'd probably be dead. I owed the man my life. He was the reason I had a passion for flying. He flew in the Belkan war and he'd always tell me about his adventures. The one thing that made me keep a positive outlook on life was the thought of flying. The first time I ever went flying was the same day my dad had died. I never forgot the feeling of freedom I felt for the few minutes the pilot in the front seat let me have the controls. It was from that point on that I decided I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I got older, but then my dream became an obsession. I wanted to find the guy who killed half of my family so I could repay him for all the shit he put me through in life, but I knew the odds of me meeting him in the sky weren't in my favor. We continued walking and Devon brought up the war that was raging on the other side of the world, on the Usean continent. It all began with the fall of the Ulysses asteroid. It started as a huge meteorite that broke apart in the atmosphere and rained down large fragments upon the Usean continent and a few other countries. The meteor shower caused extensive damage to the affected countries' economies. To ensure an event like this never happened again, the country of Erusea built several extremely large rail guns, codename: Stonehenge, to shoot down asteroids while they were still in orbit. However, the Erusian government soon saw its potential as an anti-aircraft gun and started a campaign to take over the entire Usean Continent. The country of The Independent State had most of its territory already occupied and the country of North Point would be in danger of becoming occupied as well if the Independent Sates fell. The Independent Sates didn't have a military. They only had ISAF (Independent States Allied Forces) which was a military initiative that was composed of any military asset given to the Independent States by various countries. Devon volunteered to join ISAF along with a couple other people I knew.
"So where do you think you'll be deployed," I asked.
"I don't yet. I'll probably be sent on a bunch of missions behind enemy lines," he replied.
"I bet you're excited to finally get out of Wesson, huh?" asked Harkin.
"Yeah, I just had to get out of here. I mean, I miss you guys, but I can't spend the rest of my life here, ya know?" said Devon.
"Yeah, I hear you," I said solemnly.
"So what about you, Kid? What do you plan on doing when you graduate next year?" asked Harkin.
"Well, I already started looking at colleges and Oured University seems like they'd accept me. Afterwards, I plan on joining the Marine Corp as an officer."
"Well if you plan on going to Oured University, you might want to start looking for another job. I don't think waiting tables is going to cut it, and knowing you, I don't think your boss could put up with you for much longer."
"Yeah, I know," I said.
The hike to the camp site was nice. One of my friends along with my mentor was a nice change of pace for me. Once we got there, the rest of my troop was already settled in and gathered around the camp fire. Freshly caught fish from the nearby lake were already roasting over the fire and I was saved one so that I could eat, but I gave it to Devon so that he could eat. Everyone was surprise to see Harkin and Devon walk up with me and we all got a warm welcome. We all got settled in and joined the others around the camp fire. Devon told everyone the story of what happened when I surprised them and he brought up the fact that I wasn't given a nickname yet. It was a tradition for us to give each other nicknames, based on our personalities or on something stupid that we did. Devon's nickname was Buttercup because he always so serious. One guy's name was Lizard Tail because he ate a lizard's freshly severed tail on dare. There was also Fangs, because he had to wear head gear with his braces when he went to sleep. Snap, because he got hit in the back of his head with a bungee cord, and Crumbs; he wouldn't stop talking with his mouth full of food.
"Seriously, Antonio, you've been with us for almost two years now and we still haven't given you your nickname," said Devon.
"Well what are you waiting for?" I said.
"I've had one in mind for him for a while," said Aaron.
"Well let's hear it," said Fangs.
"Remember that last camping trip where he almost got mauled by the bear and managed to scare it off by toying with it?" asked Aaron and every nodded. "What about the fact that ya'll can never find him when you play man hunt?"
Everyone nodded again but no one had any idea where he was going with this and neither did I. No one in my troop knew anything about my past. The only things they did know about me were the skills I possessed. They knew I knew three different styles of martial and that I could speak three different languages. I guess he's trying to say I'm sneaky.
"But the main reason I thought of this nickname is because his name is 'Antonio'," Aaron continued.
"Well, what is it?" asked Snap.
"Zorro," said Aaron with a smile.
Zorro, huh, that's Spanish for 'Fox'. I shrugged at the mention of the name because I really didn't mind it, nor did I really care. Everyone else agreed that it was a good name for me so I decided to just go with it. The night went on and we did our usual camp activities. We played man hunt, we wrestled, and told ghost stories. I honestly thought this night was very dull. Eventually, we got to the presentation of Snap's Eagle Scout project, which was about Astronomy. He began by pointing out the Little Dipper, so that we could navigate north, and other star constellations of significance. It was strange to think that I grew up on a planet that was so similar to Earth. Strangereal was discovered during the early 1960's while the Cold War was raging between the US and Russia. The other countries of Earth feared becoming caught in the middle if a war between both Superpowers did break out so they wanted to colonize Strangereal as soon as possible to escape nuclear war. Of course, some countries didn't have the technology or resources to become part of the space race, so their only choices were to turn to the US or Soviet Union for support or they could pool their resources with other countries who wanted to escape Earth. Five years after discovering Strangereal, the first settlements were already established. Osea was the product of US cooperation; Yuktobania was the result of the Soviet Union's cooperation, and finally Usea was the continent that was settled by countries that pooled their resources together. If that wasn't amazing enough, the speed at which the colonies developed into flourishing cities and the establishment of new countries was even more impressive. It only took 30 years to colonize the planet so that it seemed like Earth. When the governments of Osea, Yuktobania, and Usea were finally established, the countries of Earth forced Strangereal to keep some kind of connection between both planets under the threat of war. However, when the countries of Strangereal figured out how hollow Earth's threats were, they severed all ties and Strangereal became completely isolated from the rest of humanity.
I was born on June 19, 1987 in Honolulu Hawaii back on Earth. Both of my parents were Mexican and they both served in the Marine Corp, which was how they met. I lived in Hawaii for five year until my mother got deployed to Strangereal as insurance so that Osea could defend itself if Yuktobania or Usea tried to attack. When all connections to Earth were cut, the military forces from Earth were stranded with no way to get back, but no one really seemed to care. The Osean Government allowed the US military force to remain under their country's flag but now they were under the control of the Osean government. My mother and father were stationed at the Camp Curtis Military base in Wesson Osea. The base was home to the majority of all remaining US military forces on Strangereal. The US Army, Marines, and Air Force were all gathered in one single location. The remnants of the US Navy were all mixed in among the Osean Navy. Life here didn't seem that much different than life on Earth. Harkin and his wife, Elizabeth, were longtime friends of both my parents and we were glad when we found out he was here on Strangereal with us.
Thursday, July 1, 2004 1848hrs Wesson, Osea
Hooligan's Bar and Grill
I got back from the camping trip early this morning and I was officially an Eagle Scout, not that I really cared. I spent the rest of my day relaxing at my mother's house until I had to go to work. I hated working at this place with every fiber of my being but it was a job. I had to wait tables in this popular restaurant that attracted most of the Wesson's residents on any given day. The only thing I liked about it was that I didn't have to wear a uniform. I could dress casually as long as I wore my name tag and apron and they didn't give me a ration of crap about my shaggy hair style. The down side to working here was that I had to smile all the time and talk to people. I never smiled when I came to work and I would always look at people with a blank expression on my face. I've worked here for almost five months and it got old fast. Everyone I worked with knew I wasn't a people person and they never bothered to try and hold a conversation with me.
Tonight was like any other night. People were here with friends and family having a good time. The only reason most people were here was because it was baseball season and Hooligan's had a half off special for all meals if the customers predicted who would win the games. I had my hands full trying to quickly get people their drinks, handing out their food, and checking on all five of my tables. Everything was going smoothly until a family of four came in and I got stuck with them. I took the family's order and the father made it clear to me that he didn't want tomatoes on anything and I made sure I got it right. I took his order to the kitchen and continued my rounds around the restaurant. When the family's order was ready, I brought them their food and left them to eat. It wasn't long before I was pulled aside by the father to complain about his meal.
"I said I didn't want tomatoes on my food," he said angrily.
I walked over to his table to examine his plate and saw that he was confusing the tomatoes with red peppers. "Those are red peppers, Sir," I replied.
"No their not, they're tomatoes. I'm allergic to tomatoes and you went ahead and put them on there anyways."
"No I didn't, Sir, I told…."
The father cut me off and began to lecture me about my lack of intelligence. I leaned back against the nearby wall and turned my attention to the TV to my right, ignoring the guy. The news broadcast was about the war over in Usea and about how the Erusian forces were dominating the Independent States. They were moving quickly with the help of Stonehenge. ISAF attempted to conduct numerous bombing raids to destroy the place but they were easily destroyed before they could even reach their target. ISAF was quickly running out of volunteer pilots and there was no way they could halt the Erusian advance without a stronger air force. The news broadcast cut to a commercial and an advertisement from ISAF began to play. I don't know how exactly the thought first occurred to me but I wanted to go over to Usea and fight in the war. Maybe I just thought that dying for some pointless war was the way for me to go out in style. Maybe I should drop out of school and join.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?" shouted the father.
I had completely ignored him and as I looked around, I could see that a bunch of people were staring at us. "Are you done making yourself look like an ignorant jack ass?" I asked sarcastically.
"Do you know who I am?!"
"No, Sir, did you forget?" I retorted and I could hear a couple of people laugh at what I had just said.
The father grabbed me by my shirt like he was going to hit me. My fight instinct was suddenly triggered and I twisted his wrist with my right hand so that he let go of my shirt. As soon as I felt him let go, I used my free hand to grab him by the back of his neck and leveled him face first into the wall I was leaning against. The man fell to the floor as blood ran down his nose and his wife quickly rushed to his side. Everyone else who saw what happened just gawked at me. I noticed my hands were shaking from the adrenaline rush I was experiencing and it felt good. I haven't felt a feeling like this in two years and I started to wish it lasted longer. I wanted the guy to get up and try to fight me so that I could kick his ass. Eventually, I didn't care if he got up, I just wanted to fight. My manager walked up to me and started to ask what had happened. I didn't say anything as I handed him my apron and name tag as I walked past him. I was now out of a job and I didn't care either. I felt a huge relief sweep over me as I headed to my red minivan that I bought with my own money. I could've gotten myself a much better looking car but if I did, my mother would've wondered how I was able to afford it. There was a lot that my friends and family didn't know about me. Only Harkin knew about what I've really been doing and he actually supported it. If mom found out about it, she would've literally killed him and more than likely disowned me. I was about to pull out of the parking lot when I saw blue lights flash behind me. Great….
1903hrs, Wesson Police Station
Apparently, people are asshole when it comes to choosing sides. The people who saw what had happened claimed that I put my hands on the guy first. The guy's wife added on to the statement saying that I attempted to murder him with food. It takes a special kind of dumbass to believe something like that. If that wasn't bad enough, I also got charged with assaulting a police officer when one of the cops was going to try and taze me for no good reason. One thing led to another and now, I was in a holding cell with four other people. One of them looked like he belonged to a motorcycle gang, another looked like a drug dealer, the next guy looked like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the last guy looked like a pedophile. The biker was sitting on the bench, hunched over as he twiddled with his fingers. The innocent looking guy seemed really tense as he sat between the biker and the drug dealer, and the pedophile kept shooting glances at me from the opposite corner of the room. He really started to annoy me and the pissed off look on my face kept growing until I couldn't take it anymore.
"What the hell you looking at," I growled.
"Nothing, nothing," he replied.
"Then turn your attention somewhere else."
The pedophile sank to the ground and buried his face in his knees. As I continued to wait for Harkin, I thought about my life so far. There was nothing here for me anymore and I honestly couldn't see myself going into the civilian world. I grew up around the military and it seemed to be my only way out of this boring ass part of the world. I needed the adventure and the adrenaline rush I used to experience two years ago when I did the DEAs dirty work around Wesson and I needed it soon. Otherwise, I might actually start to lose my mind again. The thought of joining ISAF was still running through my mind and I started to wonder about how I could contribute to the allied cause. I could go in as infantry because I was already trained for it but then again, what soldier would trust a seventeen year old kid with their life? If I was going to join with ISAF, I needed to be doing something that didn't make my allies weary of fighting with a kid. They were short on pilots! Flying was the one thing I knew a lot about. During the Belkan war, I followed Galm team as they supported the allies throughout the entire war. I would've loved to meet Cipher and Pixy. After I was rescued from Pitbull, I read books about some of the greatest pilots of humanity. Eddie Rickenbacker, Saburo Sakai, and Robin Olds were my three favorite aces throughout history. Saburo Sakai was my all-time favorite. He was the most famous Japanese pilot during WWII. I've read his book, Samurai, over fifty times and studied his flying style along with other famous pilot throughout the years. I also played a lot of flight simulator video games which allowed me to apply what I knew about aerial combat. If I wanted to join ISAF, then I'd do it as a pilot. I relished the thought of flying in the war, but that's all they were, thoughts. I let out a sigh of disappointment knowing that something like that was well out of my reach. I continued to think about it when I saw Harkin walk up to the holding cell door with a police officer.
"Before I tell this man to release you, I need to hear your side of the story," said Harkin.
"A guy thought I tried to kill him with food and put his hands on me. I retaliated by slamming his head against a wall," I said.
"Okay, what about the two cops you beat up?"
"It was defense against police brutality. If you don't believe me, watch those guys' dash cam. I'm pretty sure it caught everything."
"I already did. You didn't have to fracture the guy's wrist and give his partner a concussion," said Harkin.
"They didn't need to use deadly force. They could've asked nicely so that way I didn't have to cuff myself and wait for them to get in the car," I said.
Harkin sighed and had the cop open the cell door so that I could get out. Harkin paid for my bail and we left the police station. I was glad when I finally got away from that creep who kept staring at me. I got into Harkin's car and we drove back to my mother's place in silence for most of the way. Driving through the city always made me feel like I was going to end up as one of these people for the rest of my life. They all took the same route to work at the same exact time each day. They always did the same routine over and over again. This was the exact same way I've lived my life while I grew up here. I could only do the same thing for so long before I got tired of it.
"You alright, Kid?" asked Harkin.
"Just thinking," I replied softly.
"Something's bothering you, am I right?" I nodded and continued looking out the window as we drove on the freeway towards my house. "Talk to me, what's up?"
"Why did you join the military, Sir?" I asked.
"I guess it was because I needed change in my life but mostly because I felt like I wasn't making a difference with anything I was doing at the time. As soon as I graduated high school I enlisted, went to college under the GI Bill, and became a pilot in the Belkan war. Why do you ask?"
"I don't think I can wait until I graduate high school to join," I said.
"You still got the 'urge', don't you?" asked Harkin and I nodded. "I know how you feel, Kid. It takes some time to get used to."
"I don't think I can get used to it soon enough. This whole time, I've been thinking about dropping out of school and just straight up enlisting."
"And where do you plan on going from there?"
"I'll volunteer to join ISAF and help them out," I said.
"Are you crazy, Kid? That war over there is a lost cause," said Harkin.
"That's only because they don't have enough pilots. I bet if you dusted off your old wings, you could make a huge difference in the war," I said.
"That part of my life is over. I can never go back," he sighed.
"Well, what if you trained me to fly? I know you know that I know a lot about flying and you know that I excel in a fight."
"Fighting an air war is a hell of a lot different than fighting drug lords and mob bosses."
"But you wouldn't have sent me in there to unless you knew I could do it. I didn't want to take part in that last operation you put together with me and those other Pitbull guys, but I did anyway. This is something I want to do."
"Kid, listen to me. You got your whole life ahead of you and you're just lowering your life expectancy by looking for a fight like that."
I wanted to argue with him more about it but I knew he would hold his ground. Harkin was a very hard man to convince when it came to debating a topic. I sighed in frustration as we drove the rest of the way to my mother's house. I lived in a simple three bedroom house with my mother and younger sister. It was a cozy little place, ideal for me and my remaining family. Harkin dropped me off in front of my drive way and I got out of his car.
"Hey," he called to me and I turned to look at him. "Just give things time, everything will come full circle."
I felt myself smile a little and I nodded in return. It quickly vanished when I heard him say that I needed a haircut. As Harkin drove off, I made my way to the front door of my house and spotted one of my two cats sitting on the steps. She was a fluffy looking black and tan cat, named Fluffy Cat. I couldn't think of any other name for her so that's what everyone called her. The other cat, named Mittens, was a chubby looking Russian Blue cat with white paws. I hated both of them with a passion. I opened my front door and was greeted by my mother, Isabel Lira. She had heard about what happened during my last day of work and she didn't seem too happy about it.
"I don't want to talk about what happened. All you need to know is that the people of this town are freaking stupid," I said.
"That doesn't give you the right to beat the crap out of someone just because they pissed you off," said my mother.
"He put his hand on me first and did what I had to," I said as I brushed past her and headed to my room. I buried my face in my pillow after I threw myself on my bed. This repetitious cycle of my life has to end. I tried to relax but I was interrupted when I heard someone running towards me and jump. I instinctively rolled off my bed and whoever tried jumping on me bounced off my bed and into the wall. I got up off the ground and peeked over my bed to see my little sister, Amanda, holding her forehead as she gritted her teeth.
"You just never learn, do you," I said sarcastically.
"I think I learned my lesson this time," she said as she sat up in my bed. "Did you really beat up someone?"
"Yes and no," I replied.
"What happened?"
I told Amanda the whole story from when the guy arrived, up until I got arrested. I found out that the guy was attempting to press charges against me but they weren't valid for some reason. My sister and my mother were the only two family members who survived the Curtis attack with me. Amanda was alive because of me and she almost became part of Project Pitbull as well. My dad had saved my mother when he used his own body to protect her from the blast, but he couldn't save my younger brother and older sister. If Amanda didn't have to use the bathroom when she did, she and I would've probably died that day. When I came back from Pitbull, Amanda was the happiest person in the world and our bond was closer than ever. I was her best friend in the whole world and I looked out for her.
"You really got to keep your fight instinct in check. You don't want a repeat of what happened last year," said Amanda.
"I'll just have to rely on you again if that happens," I said.
"Yeah, anyways, what are you going to do tomorrow?"
"I don't really know yet. Maybe I'll look for another job or just relax. I still have to take my saxophone to the repair shop before band camp starts."
"I forgot about that. I can't wait until I get to join you. It's going to be so much fun," said Amanda as she got off my bed and skipped out of my room.
I got back onto my bed and laid there for half an hour longer until I got up and went over to my computer desk. I logged onto my computer and started up my favorite flight simulator, Ace Warfare 04: Devastated Heavens. It was a flight simulator that allowed the players to fly planes from every war throughout human history. As I waited for it to load, I got my joystick, throttle lever, and rudder pedals all situated. My user name was 0118; the number I was given while I was in Pitbull. It had no meaning and those numbers seemed to follow me everywhere, so I made it my username for all of my online profiles. However, after I logged on, I decided to change my name and use the nickname the guys from my troop gave me. I was now playing under the gamer tag, Zorro118, and I guess I liked it because I felt myself smiling. As I waited for the game to load, I saw a player in the lobby who's been dogging me ever since I started playing this game. His name was Cipher032 and I figured that he was just a wannabe at first, but every time I played against him, he'd always shoot me down. He always flew a Bf-109 and I'd always fly a P-51.
When the game finally loaded up, I grabbed hold of my controls and we all began to play. The rules were simple. We all had one life and whoever was left standing, won. There were two teams of twelve playing in this lobby and we all started to engage each other. I formed up on a teammate's right wing and began to follow him through all of his maneuvering as he picked out a target. His gamer tag was BFS Drunk Panda. He and I dove into the fur ball and singled out an enemy Spitfire. The enemy player didn't see us diving on him as Panda unloaded a barrage of bullets into the enemy plane's right wing and shot it down. Nice one! We both climbed back up to gain altitude when I saw a hail of bullets shoot past my plane. I looked back and saw a P-47 chasing after us.
"Panda, we got one following us," I said into my headset.
"I see him. Break off and let's see who he chases," replied Panda.
I broke off of Panda's wing and saw the P-47 continue chasing him. I reversed my direction and began to chase him. This is going to be a bit tricky. The P-47 was a tough S.O.B. to knock out of the sky, but I found the easiest way to shoot it down was by aiming for the cockpit. I followed Panda as he led the enemy plane into a series of hard left and right turns before he led him into a wide loop. I quickly lined up the plane in my gun sight and fired a long stream into the plane's cockpit, killing the player's pilot.
"Nice one, Zorro. Let's find another one," said Panda and we both dove back into the fight.
The sky was in complete chaos as both sides gunned for each other. Tracers were streaming in from every direction as everyone played cat and mouse. Some of the players' planes were streaming smoke as they continued gunning for their targets. As I was looking around, I noticed an enemy FW-190 coming in from my three o' clock. He was aiming for Panda, but he didn't see me trailing behind him. I told Panda to break left and he did so without hesitation. I continued to fly straight and adjusted my plane so that when I fired a burst from my guns, the enemy plane flew right into it. The Fw-190 was trailing fire and black smoke from its engine and I watched as the aircraft nosed over towards the ground. But when I looked back up to find Panda's plane, he was gone. I frantically started scanning my surroundings trying to find his plane, but a stream of bullets that shot pass in front of me was enough to gain my attention. I quickly snapped the stick left while I cut back on the throttle and applied full left rudder. I managed to evade the bullets and I looked behind me to see an enemy P-38 shoot past me from seven o' clock high. I thought he was going to dive away but instead, he reversed his direction and tried to come after me. Before he reversed his direction I had already made my decision to go after him and I was already in the process of turning after him as he was turning to meet me. I was already inside his turn radius before he could get his gun sight on me so I quickly lined him up and filled him full of lead so that his right boom was severed from its engine. When the boom flew off, a large portion of the tail section went along with it and the P-38 went spiraling towards the ground. I looked around for another target after I made sure I wasn't being followed. I saw an enemy A6M5 Zero chasing a friendly Ta-152 at low altitude. I jammed the stick over to the right and winged over to give chase, but I wasn't fast enough. The enemy Zero had already opened fire on my teammate and severed his left wing from the rest of the aircraft. When the Zero began to claw for altitude, he gave me a clear shot on his fuel tank. It didn't take much to shoot down a Zero because they were lightly armored. I brought my guns to bear on my target, tapped the trigger, and sent six bullets towards the Zero. The bullets impacted just behind the wing root of the enemy plane and I watched as it turned into a brilliant fire ball. I pulled back on the stick and began to gain altitude. Once I was high enough, I circled overhead and watched as the fight raged down below. I saw Panda doing work on the remaining enemy planes while Cipher032 mopped up my remaining teammates. I dove after Cipher from out of the sun and brought my guns on his Bf-109 so that I could fire on him once he was in range, but I screwed up. The angle I was diving at made it difficult to pull out of my dive in time and I ended up overshooting my mark. Please don't see me, please don't see me. Please don't see me! I looked back and saw Cipher diving after me. I quickly looked at the scoreboard and saw that Panda and I were the only ones left on our team. Cipher and three of his other teammates were all that remained on the other team. I pulled out of the dive and began to pull up into a climb as I kept my eye on Cipher's Bf-109. I saw him fire his guns on me and I quickly snap rolled to the left to avoid the stream of bullets and cannon shells. I was at ten thousand feet when I leveled out of the climb and pulled into a hard right turn with Cipher clinging tightly to my tail.
"Zorro, I could use some help over here," called out Panda.
I looked over towards my two o' clock low and spotted his Mustang being pursued by Cipher's three remaining teammates. "I'm a little preoccupied with your with this guy over here," I replied.
"Aww crap, we're going to lose," said Panda.
"Like hell we are," I said.
I snapped the sick back and put my Mustang into stall. I hit full bottom rudder, which dropped the nose and the torque of the propeller twisted the plane counter clockwise 180 degrees. I pushed the stick forward, neutralizing the effect, and waited for the plane to regain speed as it fell out of the sky, so I could pull out of the stall I had entered. Meanwhile, I watched as Cipher overshot and circled back around to find me, but I had lost him completely. Once I picked up flying speed again, I changed my heading to help out Panda. He was trying his best to throw off the enemy plane that were chasing him. I pushed my throttle all the way forward and sped towards the enemy planes. Once I was in range of the first enemy plane, I unloaded a bunch of rounds into the plane's tail section. The horizontal and vertical stabilizer was torn completely off and the remaining half of the plane fell out of the sky. One of the remaining enemy planes broke off while the other continued to chase Panda's plane. I could see that the enemy pilot was flying an F6F Hellcat. Like the P-47, the Hellcat was designed to take damage. I didn't have enough ammo for me to shoot him down by firing wildly at him. I told Panda to put his Mustang into a climb so that I could get a shot on the enemy plane. Panda pulled into a hard right turn, then quickly went into a vertical climb. The Hellcat aggressively followed him. He was oblivious to my presence and I took advantage of the situation. I pulled lead onto the enemy plane and aimed for his cockpit so that when I fired, I killed the player's pilot. I watched as his plane nosed over and disappeared into a cloud, but while I was looking at him head towards the ground, the other enemy fighter that broke off from Panda was now headed for me. I pushed the stick forwards and dove for speed so that I could get away. My plane was pushing its speed limit so I pulled up into a climbing right turn. My attacker was flying a Ki-84. It was superior to my Mustang in every way and in the hands of a good pilot, it could outperform everyone. I saw tracers shoot past my canopy and I quickly reversed my direction to get away from the enemy pilot but he really knew what he was doing. I had set myself up for a deflection shot from my opponent and I couldn't maneuver out of the way in time. However, when I saw his plane's wings start to light up; Panda swooped down and dove on top of the enemy plane as he fired into his engines.
"Anthony, I need your help with something," called Amanda.
"Can't, I'm busy right now," I shouted back.
"Then put your game on pause and come here."
"One minute!"
I turned my attention back to my computer screen and saw that the only player me and Panda had to deal with was Cipher, but we couldn't see him anywhere. Dammit, where is he? I was scanning every part of the sky and we still couldn't find him. Panda and I were circling at thirteen thousand feet scanning the area below us, but then something occurred to this guy was smart, he would bounce us from out of the sun. I doubted the fact that he could be that good but then I thought about it some more. He could know what he's doing. Why else would his name be Cipher032? I looked above and behind me and saw that I was clear and then I looked at Panda's six o' clock high. I saw Cipher's Bf-109 diving on him at full speed. His nose and wings were engulfed in flames as he fired his guns into Panda's Mustang.
"Aww, dammit," groaned Panda. "Sorry, Zorro, you're on your own now."
"Why do you sound like you doubt me?" I asked.
"Because I know you don't stand a chance against this guy. I give you five minutes, at most."
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I turned my plane towards Cipher as he climbed back up to meet me and we were coming at each other from head on. Cipher opened fire on me as soon as he got within range. I rolled over his plane and performed a split S to gain some speed so that I could catch up to Cipher, but he mimicked my maneuver and started to come at me from head on again. I tried to get the first shot on Cipher this time but he barrel rolled over me and performed another split S while I followed him. The maneuvering towards each other like this quickly turned into a descending rolling scissors. We were losing altitude pretty quickly and neither one of us could slow down enough to get behind each other. We had made almost a dozen passes at each other before we finally ran out of room to dive and we both flew in opposite directions away from each other. I was a good distance away from Cipher until I decided to turn back towards him and we started to maneuver into a climbing rolling scissors. We were stuck in a stalemate and I didn't know what to do. If I broke out of the maneuver, Cipher could dive on me and gain the upper hand. I didn't have a choice. I had to keep performing the maneuver if I wanted to win. But when I turned to engage Cipher again, he wasn't there. I had no idea where he was and that's what scared me. I kept banking left and right trying to find the guy, but I still couldn't see him. The sun! I had to lure him out and I knew that I'd be putting myself in danger if I didn't time my counter attack just right. I turned my back towards the sun and flew in the opposite direction from it. I kept my eyes on the sun even though my computer screen had turned completely white.
"Anthony, seriously I need your help," called out Amanda.
"With what?" I shouted and I heard Amanda coming into my room.
My eyes were still glued to my computer screen as Amanda held a jar of chip salsa in front of my face. As soon as she did, I saw a black dot appear in the middle of my screen. It was growing quickly and I knew it was my opponent diving on me. Alright, here we go. I cut the throttle back, snapped the stick to the left, hit full bottom rudder, and barrel rolled to the left to avoid his stream of bullets.
"Anthony!"
God dammit! I quickly snatched the jar out of my sister's hand, twisted the lid off, handed it back to my sister, and gripped my controls. I recovered from the barrel roll and tried to chase after Cipher as he climbed, but he was using the speed advantage he gained in the dive to climb out of my reach. I didn't have enough speed to go after him and my Mustang went into a stall. I looked back at Cipher to see him nose over into a dive after me. I had to think of something and fast. My plane slowly began to recover from the stall, but I didn't pull out of the dive. Instead, I kept going. I was slowly out running Cipher and out of room to dive. I pulled out of my dive and began to make a run for it at tree top level. The ground below was mountainous and I decided that the best way for me to lose my attacker was to fly through the valleys. I was hugging the cliff faces so that every time I made a turn, Cipher couldn't pull lead on me. He was closing on me fast and I knew that if I made even the slightest of mistakes, I would lose the fight. There was no way I was going to lose against this guy who thinks he's as good as the real Cipher. I continued to fly through the valleys but I eventually ran out of room to maneuver. I couldn't bank left or right, I couldn't dive away without crashing, and I couldn't climb without becoming an easy target. Cipher was closing on me and I decided to call on the maneuver that Harkin always talked to me about, the high G barrel roll. I cut the throttle, snapped the stick back and to the left, and applied full bottom rudder. My speed dropped as I watched my attacker shoot past me. As soon as I saw him in front of me I opened the throttle all the way as I gave chase. I couldn't keep my target in my sights with the way he was throwing his plane all over the sky. He pulled into a climbing left turn that made it impossible for me to pull lead on him. I was still on his tail as he lost airspeed in his climb. When he couldn't climb any higher, he leveled off for a split second and then went into a shallow dive as he continued to twist left and right. I had given him a wide berth so that he couldn't counter maneuver and so that I didn't have to maneuver as violently to keep him in my sights. I was two hundred yards behind him and I wasn't going to let him get away. All of a sudden, Cipher threw his plane into a steep dive towards the ground. I had no choice but to go after him at full speed. I was gaining on him fast and I lined him up in my gun sight. Just when I was about to fire on him, he pulled out of his dive, snapped his plane into a stall and applied full left rudder. His plane flung around into a horizontal spin that would allow him to keep his guns pointed at me if and when I overshot. However, he did his maneuver too soon. Just as I was passing by him, I pulled up and used the airspeed that I gained in the dive to climb out of his reach. I looked back to see Cipher's Bf-109 come out of its maneuver and fly straight. The move robed my opponent of speed and he wouldn't be able to maneuver fast enough if I dove after him again. I wasted no time in rolling my Mustang over and diving on top of the enemy plane. He was too low to the ground to dive and he couldn't break left or right without exposing himself to my attack. In a last ditch effort, Cipher began to pull into a climb to try and throw off my attack, but it didn't work. I unloaded the rest of my ammo into his engine block and knocked his ass out of the sky. Ha-ha, take that you son of a gun! I stood up out of my chair and raised both my fist into the air in triumph. My sister then raised her hand in front of my mouth and presented me with a tortilla chip covered in salsa. I bit the chip out of her hand and sat back down in my seat.
"Did you win?" asked Amanda.
"Yes I did. I should fly planes for a living," I said still chewing my chip.
"Damn, Zorro, I thought he nearly had you," said Panda over my headset.
"There was no way I was going to let this guy take Cipher's name when he clearly doesn't deserve it," I replied and I logged off my computer.
I headed into the kitchen to grab something to eat. Mom had made Enchiladas and they were some of the best in the world. Nothing could compare to my mother's cooking. Anyone would say that about their mother but I believe my mother was the best. After I was done eating, I went into the garage and worked out a bit before I went to bed. While I was in the middle of dead lifting, my phone went off and I answered it.
"Hey, Kid, it's me," said Harkin.
"Yes, Sir, what's up?" I replied.
"Do you think you could meet me at Curtis tomorrow? I know I'm asking a lot from you but I got something I want to show you."
Ever since I moved to Wesson after the Belkan war ended, I've only been on Camp Curtis once and that was the day of the attack. Since then, I refused to go back because I felt like I'd relive that day all over again. Everyone I knew knew that I never wanted to go back onto that base because of that reason. My sister was just as reluctant to go back. Harkin's request was an extremely bold one and I wanted to refuse.
"When and where," I asked as I sighed.
"At noon in front of the memorial," said Harkin.
The memorial Harkin was talking about was a commemorative wall that was built to remember the people who died during the attack. It was built right next to the secondary runway where the green-eye pilot dropped his last bomb.
"I'll be there," I said and I hung up. ght without exposing himself to my attack. In a last ditch effor o and was ed full left rudder. His plane flun
