I'm in a large corridor in a factory. Destiny is sitting against a wall across from me with multiple gunshot wounds, most are fatal wounds.
"End this nightmare.", says Destiny.
"I can't do that. I can't lose you too.", I say.
"Then come with me. Kill me then off yourself."
"Help is comming."
"We're expendable, you know that right?"
"Don't talk like that!"
"Don't let me suffer, please."
"Fine I'll do it."
"See you on the other side."
I squeeze the trigger. A bullet to the head kills Destiny. I turn the Colt Diamondback to myself. I pull the trigger, nothing happens. Damnit not now. I keep pulling the trigger several times but nothing happens. Fuck. I throw the gun at the wall.
"Why aren't you dead yet?", I hear from Destiny's corpse.
"We're all waiting for you.", says Alice appearing beside Destiny.
"End it.", says Ben.
"Join us.", says Destiny right in front of my face.
"Shit!", I say jolting awake.
"Are you ok?" asks Claes sitting at my desk reading a file.
"Yeah I'll survive."
"Triela felt bad for you, so she's getting breakfast for us. You were mumbling something and moving around crazily."
"Just a bad dream."
"Something happened on this date didn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Is it about Destiny?"
"No."
"Oh, sorry that was probably something stupid to ask."
"You're fine. It's a sick thing I had to do back in America."
"Care if I ask what you did."
"Well in America, little to no crime happens and barely anyone's poor now. But the people that were poor and that were registered criminals were still out there, so they were given a second chance."
"What's the catch?"
"They were pitted against each other in a fight to the death. Winner gets a clean record and a new life."
"What the hell."
"To prove my worth, they sent me to compete. That's how I met Stephanie."
"That's horrible."
"I'm not proud of it, trust me."
"I'm sorry for asking."
"You were going to find out anyway."
"I'm back Claes. Oh Nick you're awake, that's a relief.", says Triela.
"You didn't have to do this.", I say. "But thank you.", with a wink.
"No problem.", says Triela blushing.
"Hey Triela, once your done flirting we need to get to class soon.", says Claes.
Once they leave, I get ready for the day. Walking out I run into Hilshire.
"Good morning.", says Hilshire.
"Good morning.", I say.
"You heading to class?"
"Am I required?"
"Yes."
Crap, they never told me that I had to go to class, I thought.
"It's ok if you didn't know, just start showing up for now on."
"Yes sir."
"Starting today."
Double crap.
I walk to class with Hilshire escorting me.
"Class will meet every Tuesday in the morning and every Thursday in the afternoon in the auditorium . Morning classes start at 9:00 and end at 1:00. Afternoon classes start at 2:00 and end at 6:00. Understand."
"Yes sir."
Entering the room, I sit in the middle. I notice a new girl sitting all alone.
"That's Elsa.", says Claes. "She doesn't get along with us that well."
"Oh.", I say.
"Good morning class.", says Hilshire.
"Good moring.", says the class.
"Picking up where we left off, can anyone tell me the answer to their homework assignment I gave you last week?"
No one raises their hand except for Claes and Triela.
"How about you Nick? It's on the board."
Quadratwurzel von 121 is written on the board.
"elf.", I say.
"Correct. How did you know that?"
"I know how to speak multiple languages."
"Good. Moving on to history..."
After class Stephanie pulls me into the Chiefs office.
"Kozak, we're sending you and Stephanie on a mission. For missions dealing with you two, you will use your callsigns.", says Lorenzo.
"Yes sir."
"Tomorrow night an FRF politician will come to Milan for a meeting with other FRF HVTs. Your mission is to eradicate them. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"You know it's the anniversary of us first meeting each other.", says Stephanie.
"Yeah I know."
"You know it's good to forget the bad things that happen."
"Yeah if only those bad things didn't come back to haunt you.", I say walking past Alice.