Chapter 8.

It has been a while hasn't it?
You'll notice that chapters 8 and 9 will be replaced, because they make absolutely no sense at all.

Bear with me folks...
R&R.


Chapter 8: Adder Is Lovesick? (Part Two)

6:50 AM

It was morning the next day when Nakamani found a note on the table next to his bed. It read:

Take heed, Nakamani. You aren't meant to be here, and I realize that.
What happened a month ago showed me what you truly were, and I know that you could never be a Black Hole CO even if you wanted to.
You don't belong here. I will try to get you out of here as soon as I can.
Remember, nobody knows who I am or who you really are except for me and few others.

Destroy this note as soon as you read it.

An old friend.

Of course, Nakamani had no idea what it meant but he couldn't help but puzzle over it.

If he wasn't meant to be in Black Hole, then where did he stand? On Wars World with Yellow Comet or Orange Star? Or was he destined to wander indefinitely?

Who was this "old friend" whom he supposedly knew? And what was that thing that happened a month ago? That pleasurable massacre?
Well, at least he remembered that.

He thought long and hard about it. If he used this right, he could run away. But the idea of escape...did he want to?

After two minutes, he made up his mind. He got up and burned the note using a cig lighter. It was true. He did not feel like he belonged here when he really thought about it.

Always, in the back of his mind, there was something that made him think something was wrong. He'd pushed that thought aside until now, when it mattered most.

And yet...Adder had become a rival in his own respect, always fighting against him for control and power, yet he was a companion, something Adder had never had before. Nakamani had been able to hold his own in their last few battle sims, but there was one time when Nakamani came infinitely close to defeat. Adder could have finished him off then, but for some odd reason he held back. Nakamani won, but the victory came with a feeling of uneasy suspicion. Did Adder somehow look out for him, like he would a brother?

There soon came absolutely no pleasure in his triumphs, and he started to pine for the outside world.
He thought he could remember a world he once had, a life he once lived, but every time he got even a wisp of the idea, they fled like dreams from a waking mind.

Was it possible? Was there an end in sight?


8:42 AM

Jake wanted it to end. This war had come too far. Reinforcements had indeed arrived...right after they had been ambushed by Black Hole mechs.

Now they didn't even have a decent strike force. Seven infantry units, one recon and a tank.
They were done.

Jake was sitting on the Orange Star tank in the middle of a forest. To the left of him stretched a massive plain where the sun rose, bringing the morning. To the right of him was an expanse of trees and plant life, dark and shaded from the sun's rays. It was here that Jake tried to figure out how to survive.

That was two days ago. Now the trees are all burned and cut down, the sky an ominous red and the grassy plain a barren wasteland. Today, here is where Jake tries to figure out how to escape.

It is too late, however. There is a rumbling heard in the distance, and Jake turns his head towards the horizon.
Like zombies, the Black Hole Neotanks have come to finish off the last of the survivors. Weary from fatigue and exhaustion, Jake orders his men to stand steadfast and hold their positions. They would not die running away, but go out putting up the ugliest fight they could.

As the tanks draw nearer, Jake silently, and with great sadness, slowly takes off a dog tag he has been wearing for the past few weeks. He looks on the back of it and reads the name Nakamani Archa.
"Wish you were here, man. Wish I had a chance to kick your ass in a sim." He held the tag tightly in his hands as he watched the tanks come within firing distance.

Here it was. The end. Jake readied himself as the cannons got ready to fire and braced for the intial impact...


7:12 AM

Nakamani had already eaten breakfast when Adder came into the room.
"So?" was the first word Adder spoke.

Nakamani looked up from his laptop and answered "So what?"

"Have you found out anything?"

"Um...I haven't seen her at all these past few days. You said she'd usually be around the hangar--"

"I did, didn't I? Look harder, nightcrawler." Then, as if on the spur of the moment, Adder said "Oh, there's something in it for you if you do this, you know."

"Is there? You didn't mention it the last fifteen times we spoke about this."

"A promotion."

Now Nakamani's interest was piqued. A promotion? After only a month? That was unheard of. For a moment, he was excited at the idea, but remembered his newfound goal and relented.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in that."

"Not interested!? What the hell is this? We had a deal!"

"Deal? We made a deal?"

Nakamani chuckled as he watched Adder's temper rise, but something wasn't quite right. There was something different in the way Adder behaved recently. What would have made him sneer a few days ago turned him into a raving lunatic today. Adder got upset, sure, but angry? Rarely.

"Dude...what the hell crawled into your sleeping bag?"

"DON'T TALK TO ME THAT WAY!"

"I'll talk any way I want, Adder. You've lost a little face with everyone, you know that? Your little obsession has become so obvious, even Wars World knows about it."

It was fun to watch Adder get flushed in the face, but Nakamani made sure to keep him just out of arm's reach.
Then he figured it wouldn't matter if a bullet got him anyway.

To his relief, Adder seemed too angry for words. After a couple minutes of rather useless wall-pounding with his fists, Adder, regretfully, painfully, and with a look that plainly displayed deep hatred, retreated from the room. Nakamani sighed and returned his attention to his laptop.

In truth Nakamani had not been trying to search for the girl at all. He'd made up a number of excuses to Adder for the past few days, but he was running out of things to say. Eventually Nakamani knew that Adder would catch on, but he intended to be very far away before anything serious happened.

Very, very far away.


8:44 AM

Jake waited. And waited. And wondered.
Why weren't they firing?

Time seemed to stretch into an infinity in the space of a single minute.

Eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he dared to crack open the cover of the tank ever so slightly.
He saw, dimly, through the narrow strip of vision he had, the Neotank hatches open. Black Hole troops came out one by one and lined up in squad formations.

Jake watched, his eyes wide open now. He was totally whacked when he saw that the soldiers were unarmed.


7:35 AM

At this time of day, the hangar would usually be filled with soldiers getting ready to launch off into the atmosphere to do battle with Wars World. Today, however, it was empty and not a single person was to be found.

Except for Nakamani. He stood at the very edge of the hangar's edge, apparently unaffected by vertigo.

Escape...

A second later, he realized he wasn't alone. A door closed silently behind him and Nakamani knew who the person was almost immediately.
"You. I thought you might be here."

Nakamani heard a small gasp. He heard gentle footfalls come near him.

"What? Didn't expect me?" The sound of the footsteps grew slightly louder. Nakamani could feel a presence behind him. They were close now. It felt a bit odd though; something was off, but Nakamani didn't know what it was. "I certainly didn't expect the hangar to be empty, though."

Turning around to face the other, Nakamani spoke, "You've been a bit quiet. Is something--?"

Hell, something was wrong alright. The face was masked, and the figure had a club in its hands. Nakamani had only time to register the appearance of his assailant before he blacked out.
The person was tall, looked muscular, and had been wearing a black trenchcoat in addition to the mask. The eyes were...unthreatening, somehow. In the single second Nakamani had before he lost conciousness, he was dimly reminded that Sonja was small, thin, and attractive in anything she wore.

His thoughts didn't get any farther than that, though.


8:46 AM

Jake was not entirely convinced that he should step out of his tank, yet half of his body was bent over the side, craning his neck to see what was going on.

Black Hole troops were still pouring out of the Neotanks, shuffling into formations and yelling out commands in an odd language.
At last, when it seemed as though the last of the troops had emerged-all of them unarmed-Jake fully climbed out of his tank and fell to the ground, his mind buzzing with incoherent questions. His squad followed his demeanor, relaxing their weapons but not fully at ease.

Jake stood in front of the Black Hole soldiers and cast a wary eye at them all.
Then they saluted.

"Wh...what?"

"Commanding Officer Jake! Commanding Officer EXB has arrived!" A soldier at the frontline cried out.

Jake stood for a moment, looking dumbfounded, at a loss for words. When his voice came back to him, he shouted "Commanding Officer EXB! Report!"

A giant seemed to appear out of nowhere, emerging from the middle of the ranks and standing five feet taller than any other soldier. It dangerously resembled nothing that remotely looked like a man, but more of some twisted golem. There were stitches all over his face and hands, and the skin tone was uneven and staggered like grotesque, fleshy stained glass.

It was with great difficulty that Jake did not run from the battlefield yelling his lungs out. The man-like monster spoke.

"Commanding Officer...EXB-One...reporting...for duty."


End Chapter Eight.