Smoke drifted across the room lazily as the user flicked stray ashes from the tip of a cigar onto a small plate resting on his desk. The odor sank deep and rested in the crooks of each of the three men's uniforms, but mostly lingered on the one in the middle who was holding the putrid-smelling item. The fingers that clutched the small brown bundle were red and robotic which matched perfectly with the rest of the arm that the hand led to. Each of the metallic parts perfectly linked up to another one, bolts holding them all together as it dug deep into a shoulder of a man dressed formally in a blue jacket uniform with tufts of red puffing out from the middle of the torso. The man all this belonged to sat in a big, elegant chair with an equally respectable desk that had gold linings along the sides.

Two men stood behind the sitting one, each at-ease with their hands folded politely behind them with their legs spread ever so slightly underneath. One of these men had a cigarette sticking from between his teeth which contributed to the dark smoke hovering along the ceiling. He wore beige pants and a blue coat which matched the other man's with buttons lining his chest. His hair swept to the right and intertwined with big bushy eyebrows which rested on top of one dark brown eye with bandages covering the eye to the left. The other man to the right of the leader seemed a bit more relaxed, with his blue jacket unbuttoned and open in the front revealing a red turtleneck. His eyes were a deadly dark brown and stared straight forward towards the wall. His hair was parted in the middle and folded nicely to each side, making sure no bangs were in his face. The two men stood quietly and respectfully while awaiting orders from the cyborg sitting in front of them.

Various papers littered the desk: some with red markings on them, some with pictures that were X-ed out. All of them had soldiers who had, at one point or another, betrayed the infamous Red Army and given battle plans away to other military enforcements. Every man whose picture had a mark on it was dead in some way, and the man who gazed upon everything narrowed his eyes in frustration. What is the correlation?! He thought angrily.

"Augh!" Tord yelled, standing up from his chair swiftly while also managing to throw it backwards and hit the wall behind him. "I don't understand!"

"Sir, what don't you understand?" The soldier behind him with the bushy eyebrows asked cautiously.

"What I don't understand, Paul, is why all these good men ran with their tail between their legs and ratted information out to other armies!" He yelled back, pinching the bridge of his nose with his metal hand.

"If I may-" The other soldier, Patryk, tried to interject.

"None of them were in the same regiment, they were all of different age ranged, they all kept their traps shut before I blew their brains out! They all have nothing in common!" The horned-hair man screamed louder, wiping the desk clean of everything which sent the papers scattered everywhere on the ground.

Patryk stepped forward with his hands reached out as he knelt on the ground and gathered all the papers into a neat pile and picked them all up. As he set them calmly on the desk and retook his place behind his leader, he quickly took a glance at his partner who had a small drop of sweat slowly rolling down the side of his face as he twitched slightly with nervousness.

Tord took a deep breath in and sighed loudly, rubbing his temples with each of his hands in attempt to calm himself down. "Paul, Patryk. That will be all for today. Go put these files away and don't let anyone in my office."

They both nodded simultaneously and did as they were told, exiting the room from the large doors directly in front of Tord's desk as quickly as they could. When the doors shut behind them and they put away the files, Paul looked up at his partner and embraced him tightly. Although they were still in the filing room, Patryk complied, holding the other man close to his body in order to comfort him. Small coos left the man's lips as he rubbing small circles on Paul's back, slowly rocking back and forth as he normally did to calm him down. When he finally calmed down, they both made their way to the sleeping quarters and closed the door behind them when they reached Paul's room.

"You need to keep it together better." Patryk immediately said after they locked the door.

"I know." He responded quietly

"He's going to find out if you're obvious about it."

"I know." Paul said a bit more sharply.

"What'll you say if he sees you acting suspiciously?"

"I don't know!" He yelled in frustration, running his hands through his hair and gripping the ends of it between his knuckles. "I started this, I can keep going."

"You can end this too." Patryk said, getting up and kissing the other softly while holding his cheek. "If you back out now, nothing will happen."

"You don't know that."

"I don't, but you're his second-hand man. He's got to go easier on you than the others, right?"

"I'm not backing out, Pat. He's going to kill millions if I don't tell somebody." He said with more determination in his voice. "Somebody needs to stop him, he's gone mad with the amount of power he has."

With a sigh, the other nodded with defeat and laid back on the bed while staring up at the ceiling. His bangs laid out next to his face as he slowly closed his eyes. He had known Paul for years, and since they both worked so closely to Red Leader, they only grew closer as they both secretly hated how arrogant Tord could be with his intelligence and strength. They started by sharing meals together, sharing their feelings about certain things with each other, and eventually started confiding in each other about their pasts. Upon being so close with each other, they decided to start sleeping in each others rooms just for company since neither of them had roommates and it could get rather lonely at night. It was an unspoken love they had for each other, and it even began to start getting physical. Nothing too much, just small kisses here and there, and they obviously cuddles at night when they would share a bed.

Hours past, and a very loud alarm echoed through the sleeping quarters and all the mess halls to come to the main hall immediately. As the two woke up, they knew something was wrong. They weren't called first beforehand, which meant it was urgent. They both changed as fast as they could and ran down the halls, attempting to get there before everyone else by pushing through the crowds of soldiers in identical uniforms. When they got to the front of the crowd, they both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a beloved friend kneeling on the stage with his head bowed. Blood dripped from his nose that was snapped in half. Stains of blood scattered his jacket and his nametag was visibly laying next to him along with all the badges he had earned over the years. And standing above him was the feared Red Leader.

Tord's exposed eye glowed a dangerous red as a crimson liquid dripped from his fist and the heel of his boot. He waited until everyone was in the hall together before he slammed his foot on the ground to quiet them all. Once everyone saw the scene ahead of them, Tord opened his mouth and yelled out. "You all know this soldier, don't you?"

A few mutters spread through the crowd as many men nodded.

"How many knew him as a friend, show of hands!"

A few uneasy hands were raised in the air.

"How many knew him as a trustworthy man?"

A few more went up.

"How many ate with him, fought with him?"

More and more went up.

"And how many share fond memories of this man, kneeling before you?"

At this point, a majority of hands were in the air. Those men who were wary of Red Leader's intentions, including Paul and Partyk, kept their hands down and their eyes glued to the stage in front of them.

"Men, you have all been betrayed by the one who is kneeling in front of you all." Tord grabbed the man by his hair and flung his head up so everyone could see what was left of his bloodied, bruised face. "He has shown us what being a traitor is about. I have decided that I will publically announce those who choose to turn their back on the Red Army and abandon us for another place."

More murmurs spread through the crowd as the man in Tord's grasp groaned in pain. With this, the leader gave him another yank as he gasped louder. "Tell me, what army did you squeal us out to?"

The man kept his mouth shut and looked up at the cyborg man.

"What? Cat suddenly get your tongue? You were so excited to talk when you came to my office with a pistol in your hand and pride in your chest." He taunted.

"G-go to Hell." He spat out, spitting whatever blood was left in his mouth on his former-commander's boots.

"I've already been there. Tell the devil I said 'hi'." Tord grinned, throwing the man onto the stage face-first and pulling out a revolver from his holster, pointing it to the back of his head. His finger pressed against the trigger, but he took one more look at the crowd before he pulled it. "This is traitor number 5. Any of those who are thinking of rebelling can take a good look at this man here. He is your new hero." BANG!

The sound rang throughout the room as blood splattered all over the Red Leader's jacket and face. Those in the front watched with horror as they could no longer recognize who was laying in front of them. Tord had shot with such close range that the traitor's head had cracked completely in half and now scattered his brain in all directions. Paul had gripped onto Pat's hand tightly as he gazed upon the body with horror. He knew what he had done. He knew it was his fault. And he knew he had to do something before someone else had gotten hurt. But he also knew that he could be the next one on that stage.

Tord looked upon his masterpiece and gave the crowd a smile that could make the devil shudder. "You are all dismissed. Sweet dreams, and make sure you wake up early tomorrow. You all remember you have training." They all began to disperse, that is until Tord saw Paul and Patryk begin to follow everyone. "You two, stay back."

As he said those words, their hearts stopped. Well, at least Paul's did. He took a deep breath and turned around to face his leader, standing at attention as everyone left behind them both. "Sir, what can we do for you?"

With a stifled laugh, Tord snickered at the serious-looking man who had his chest puffed out and his arm folded behind his back neatly. "I just simply need you to clean up the mess. No need to look so professional. Patryk, dispose of the body and you, Paul, can clean up the blood. Since you are doing this, you may sleep in tomorrow." He waved his hand and walked off to his own sleeping quarter, leaving the two soldiers to deal with his mess.