"So, Jason tell me what happened at Rook Island?" Pagan asked as he took a bite of his crab Rangoon.
"Uhhhh..." Jason paused as he looked at Ajay, then Yuma, who was sitting just across from Ajay, to Paul, and then finally back to Pagan. "Well, I beat a bunch of pirates, watched as my older brother was shot in front of me, my younger brother was kidnapped along with all my friends, I managed to get them all back and liberate a whole Island." Jason summed up quickly as he as he, rather embarrassedly, picked up a crab Rangoon off his plate and took a cautious bite.
"By yourself?" Ajay questioned him instantly as he interlocked his fingers and rested his head with interest.
"Elbows off the table, Ajay," Pagan ordered causing his son to sit up straight.
"Uh, no, not really 'all by myself'. I mean, I did do most of the hard work, taking back outposts, saving people, burning fields, etc. While they pretty much took the credit," Jason explained to Ajay quickly as he looked at the crab Rangoon. "This is amazing."
"Yes. Now, down to the details of this job," Pagan stood and started to walk around, Ajay watched as Jason's eyes followed Pagan's every step as he popped another crab Rangoon in his mouth. "You are to protect my son when he is outside of these walls, I have the finest armory and weapons at your disposal. Now, if we are to have a party like he did last night you are not to leave his side. Now, Ajay, darling this little rule applies to you as well. If any stranger offers you a drink. You are not to drink it, Jason, if he does you are to take him straight to his room for protection. Now..." Pagan paused as he walked up behind Jason, causing Jason to turn and look at him. Pagan gently tugged at his cuffs.
"If my son gets hurt in any way, shape, or form while you are watching him because you failed to do your job. You'll find this-" Pagan suddenly stabbed the table with a familiar pen, Ajay only sipped at his drink as he watched Jason's face, he was unmoved. "-stabbed through those pretty eyes of yours, darling." Pagan smiled as he gently pinched Jason's cheek.
"Alright," Jason mumbled, watching as Pagan took the pen out of the table. "Just one thing, my payment for all of this?"
"Yes, of course." Pagan went back to his seat and sat down. Ajay had to admit, the guy was rather ballsy, he didn't even flinch at Pagan's threat. "What are your terms for this?"
"Well, obviously, I don't want to sleep in a dog house outside, I'd like a room for myself, If I am to watch your son Ajish-"
"Ajay. not a hard name to remember really." Ajay chimed in and Jason only nodded bitterly.
"My apologies, Ajay... And of course, I'm going to need some money." Jason finished.
"Of course, you'll get paid every week you are serviced to my son, I hope these numbers make you happy, Mr. Brody." Pagan wrote something down on a piece of paper and slid it over to the young man. Jason snatched it up and looked over the numbers, gently he placed the paper back down and nodded.
"Alright, that'll do."
"Also, I already have a room set up for you, it's next to Ajay's room. Now please, enjoy the rest of your Rangoon, Yuma, Paul, a word with you two for a moment?" Pagan stood from his seat followed by Yuma and Paul, the trio then left leaving only Jason and Ajay at the table.
"...So... How is this going to work between us?" Jason asked Ajay, earning an eyebrow raise.
"Just like my father said, You are to protect me outside of the palace walls."
"Yeah, yeah, I got that little part, I mean, you're probably going to just leave without telling me or while I'm a sleep so you can-"
"Do I look like a Disney princess to you, Brody?" Ajay asked, cutting him off right there.
"...I wouldn't say 'Princess', but you are a prince-"
"If I am to leave the palace, I will get you. If I am to do anything, I will notify you. I am not one to disobey my father, Mr. Brody." With that Ajay stood up and walked away from the table, he then paused in the doorway and turned to Jason, "Tomorrow morning at dawn, I have plans to go snow leopard hunting, I'll see you at seven AM sharp, Mr. Brody." With that information just dropped into Jason's lap, Jason could only nod a bit dumbly.
"Yeah... cool, see you then...I guess." Jason watched as Ajay left and then pushed his plate away. He noticed that everyone had left their plates, all with only half eaten food, and he frowned a bit. Grabbing all the plates he got ready to put them in the kitchen when a woman suddenly snatched them out of his hands.
"No need to worry about the mess, dear you really think the king wouldn't have people to clean after him and his son?" The woman smiled at Jason as she put the plates on her hip with one hand and started to wipe down the crumbs with a rag in the other hand. Jason nodded at her and got ready to walk away, but stopped and turned back around.
"What can you tell me about Ajay?"
"The prince? Hm, not much to say about him. Really, honestly... don't worry too much about it, sweetie, the prince is a good guy, just give him time."
"Yeah, but, who am I protecting him from?"
The woman went quiet and looked up at Jason and sighed out weakly. "This country is currently in the middle of a civil war between the Golden Path and Pagan Min, the Golden Path wants Ajay for his blood-line and thinks Ajay should join them like he's the magical cure they need to win this war. Ajay gave them an answer: No, and they won't take the hint. Last night at the party the king threw one of the members managed to drug Ajay and almost got away with it if it wasn't for...Well, yours truly seeing the bastard taking off with Ajay. So, it's just nice to have some extra protection for the boy...Oh, and if you want to see what happened to the man from last night, go to the front of the palace. He's not going anywhere." The woman finished as she walked away from the table.
Jason's curiosity was piqued as he walked off to the front of the palace, past the royal guards, he could only grimace at their red coloring, back in Rook Island red meant pirates and people trying to kill you. but still, there, like the maid had said, was the man, at least, Jason thought it was. This poor soul was hung upside down from a tree from where anybody could see, his eyes were bugged out wide like they were ready to pop out of his skull. He had dried foam around his mouth and his tongue had to be about the size of somebodies fist, it was so huge. Across the man's bare chest was simply the word 'junkie'.
"My father drugged him."
Jason jumped back and looked over at Ajay, the prince sauntering towards him.
"Ah, because he drugged you. What did he drug him with?"
"Everything. Cocaine -liquid and powder, the roofies they found on him, Chloroform tables, heroin -liquid, mushrooms... everything." Ajay told Jason who only put his hand on his chest.
"Christ... That's insane."
"No, it's not, that's tame compared to how my father chooses to punish people. I still can't believe I fell for it." Ajay breathed out as he got closer to the body. "His name was Abhaya, in case you were wondering. Fitting in away." Ajay said as he started to walk away.
"Why? What does Abhaya mean?"
"Courageous."
With that Ajay had walked back into the palace, Jason simply looked Abhaya up and down before turning and walking back in himself, the less he questions it the better it seemed.
Sure enough, Jason was woken at seven A.M sharp the next day. Ajay dropping a weapon's bag on top of Jason waking him from his slumber. Honestly, Jason didn't want to wake up, the silkiness of the sheets under him and the soft pillow that cradled his head just right just made him want to stay in bed all day.
"Up. I told you, I want to go Snow Leopard hunting," Ajay urged him. Jason slowly sat up groggily, his hair a mess, his eyes half-lidded as he just sleepily looked at Ajay.
"Why? Why on God's green earth do you want to go Snow leopard hunting today?"
"Because, I've been planning this for months, the perfect spot on where to find these Snow Leopards, the perfect gun to kill them, and my dad's birthday is coming up here shortly he wants a new coat, I intend on getting him that coat. Are you reading what I'm putting down, Brody?" Ajay asked as he leaned into Jason's face.
"Uh... Yeah, I gotcha there. Just gimme five minutes to get ready."
"Good." With that, Ajay walked out of Jason's room, Jason watched as the Prince left, weapon's bag slung over his shoulder. Jason stretched loudly and quickly jumped out of bed. Walking over to the dresser, he slipped out of his silken pajama's that Pagan had given him as a gift. Changing into some weather appropriate clothing, he turned and walked out of his room where Ajay was waiting for him leaning against the wall his bag now against his elbow.
"Ready?" Ajay questioned as he got off of the wall.
"Yeah, I guess. Uh, just one question? Do you have enough weapons?" Jason asked, and Ajay could only smile as he reached into the weapon bag and pulled out an 1887 shotgun, tossing it to Jason.
"Oh, nice!" Jason exclaimed loudly as he looked at the gun, it's been so long since he last held a shotgun. "Yeah, leave it to me! With this baby, I'll get you all the Snow leopards your heart desires!" Jason gently rubbed the barrel of the shot gun and smiled broadly.
"Excuse me? You're not doing all of the hunting, I know how to hunt," Ajay calmly spoke causing Jason to look and watch at Ajay pulled out his own gun from the bag it seemed to be a sniper rifle, instantly Jason recognized it,
"An M-700! Equally nice!"
"Here! You might need this as well," Ajay reached into the bag once more. At this point, Jason wondered if that was Mary Poppins's bag given how much Jason had pulled out at this point, and the fact that he's pulling out even more things.
Ajay pulled out, what Jason thought to be, a machete, only this machete was way longer and curved inward.
"It's a Kukri, trust me, it'll come in handy when hunting, and just so I don't leave you in the dark... " Ajay paused and once more reached into his magical Mary Poppins's bag and came up with two syringes.
"Okay, what the fuck is this?" Jason asked as he cautiously took the syringes.
"If you get hurt, they'll help, they can even stop bleeding in some cases, trust me, you'll thank me for those. He'll if we run into some plants I'll show you how to craft them." Ajay plainly told Jason as he dropped the bag on the ground and managed to put everything on his person. He had his own Kukri and syringes. He strapped the rifle to his back with his own weapon holster, and strapped the Kukri on his left leg, he put the syringes away in what seemed to be a case for them that was strapped to his hip.
"Wow, this isn't your first hunt is it?" Jason asked when he saw just how prepared Ajay truly was for this. Ajay once again reached into the magical bag of wonders and pulled out a weapon holster and syringe case for Jason, handing them to him so Jason didn't have to try and carry everything in his arms.
"It's the only time I'm allowed to shoot guns, I'd like to hunt some of those Golden Path bastards, but my dad deems that too dangerous for now, my uncle Paul thinks I'm more than ready, but my dad disagrees, so, animal game it only is!" Ajay, rather bitterly, told Jason as Jason strapped up like Ajay.
"Hm, Interesting, maybe he just doesn't like the idea of you getting shot?" Jason hummed and Ajay just waved him off,
"I know exactly what it is, but nonetheless, are you ready?"
"As ready as I can ever be." Jason plainly put it with a smile on his face, "Lead the way, your majesty-"
"-Don't! Call me that!" Ajay snapped at him. It actually caught Jason off guard as he flinched, Ajay glaring at him for a few seconds before turning and walking forward.
"Geez..." Jason breathed out before following Ajay, honestly, if it wasn't his job to be the with Ajay at all times a part of him probably would have ditched him just for that little outburst.
Getting into the dining room, Jason saw Pagan sitting at the table talking to...Paul? Maybe.
"Oh? Going hunting today, Darling?" Pagan asked, ripping his attention away from Paul to the two of them. "Honestly, how we even have an animal population still in Kyrat is a mystery."
"Yep, we're going after some snow leopards today, we shouldn't be gone for too long," Ajay told Pagan, instantly Pagan stood, looking at tad worried.
"Snow leopards... yes... of course, just stay safe, Darling, okay?" Pagan asked Ajay earning an eyebrow raise from Jason, something about Pagan's attitude didn't seem right. Something seemed to be bothering the man.
"Of course, no animal has a chance against me," Ajay boasted proudly. "Like I said, we shouldn't be gone for too long-"
"Wait, wait." Pagan walked over to the two of them and handed them both Walkie talkies "Just in case you two get separated or need help, this can reach all over Kyrat so anybody can talk to you, commanders, myself, Paul, anybody. Stay safe. You." Pagan paused as he turned to Jason, causing him to tense up quickly. "Watch him. I meant it when I said I will stab you with a pen if he gets hurt while you're with him. Consider this your first test." Pagan backed down finally as he sat next to Paul once more.
"Right, let's go, Jason." Ajay quickly left as he clipped the radio to his side. Jason only shook his head slightly before following Ajay, he decided to keep the radio clipped to one of his pockets as he could only think to himself,
'Christ, what the hell did I get myself into? I really think that Pagan guy is on the same level of crazy as Vaas. Almost anyway... still, this is good for me. I don't have to listen to mom's nonstop crying at night. It gives me something to do, and I still get to shoot guns while doing it.'
"Okay, first thing, I'm driving." Ajay plainly told Jason as the two of them finally got outside.
"No problem," Jason mumbled, memories of him crashing off of bridges and shooting pirates from the back of trucks came back into his mind and all he could do was just shake it off as he squinted against the harsh Kyrati sun piercing his eyes. Once he managed to see normally Jason walked up to the truck and slid into the passenger's side. The truck was like a fridge causing Jason to numbly shake against the cold. Jason could see his breath in the air as he shook.
"It's not that cold." Ajay put it simply as he sat in the driver's seat.
"Easy for you to say! You lived here your whole life! It's freezing to me." Jason mumbled as he huddled himself up, "Turn on the heat!" He shuddered violently.
"Be happy you're with me, and not my dad, you'd be next to Abhaya in a heartbeat." Ajay could only chuckle as he turned the engine over, and sharply took off. Jason soaked up the heat coming from the vents. The truck rocked back and forth against the dirt road, and it seemed like it was jerking ever so slightly to the side making Jason feel a tad queasy as he shut his eyes rather tightly. For a while, there was nothing between the two but pure silence. Finally, it seemed like Ajay had enough of it as he suddenly turned the radio on.
"This is Rabi Ray-"
"No!" Ajay grumbled and changed the station quickly before the announcer had a chance to finish his sentence.
"Pagan Min's light-"
"I love my dad, but no." Ajay turned the station a few times before finally some music, English music, started playing,
-always tease, tease, tease, you're happy when I'm on my knees-
Jason knew this song! Shame he didn't really care for it, but it also seemed Ajay didn't care for it either as he changed the station once more, it was almost annoying Jason just how much Ajay was changing the station, but he held his tongue for now. Instantly another familiar song filled his ears,
-I fly like paper, get high like planes, If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name, If you come around here, I make 'em all day-
This time Jason just turned the radio off, he didn't like that song at all. That song was the song he and his friends listened to before skydiving over the Islands, so needless to say, it doesn't hold a fond memory with him.
"Let's just... enjoy the silence, alright?" Jason smiled at Ajay.
"Very well."
That's just what they did for the next hour, they sat in silence. Awkward, awkward silence. This left Jason to his thoughts and memories.
"Mom?" Jason entered the kitchen, he heard his mother scream from his room so he came down to investigate. Did he want to? No, not really, but he was really trying to act somewhat normal since Rook Island, he had to be, he couldn't go around killing people, now that he was back in the states and... safe from harm.
His mother was not in the kitchen and Jason tsked his teeth, turning he walked over towards her room and gently rasped his knuckles against the door. "Mom? Are you in here?" He questioned, after a few seconds of nothing in response, Jason only shrugged and decided to just head back to his room. Until he heard a soft sob on the other side of the door, he sighed out and turned back around. "Alright, I'm coming in." He asserted himself and opened his mother's door.
There, smack dab in the middle of her bedroom floor, was Jason's mother. His mother disheveled, her hair a mess, makeup running down her face from the constant tears, and her wiping those tears away sloppily. She was sitting on the floor with her legs wide open, she was in pajama's, thank god, but in between her legs was a large bottle of wine. Jason could only grimace as his mother started to chug straight from the bottle.
"... Mom?" Jason asked a little shyly, he never seen his mother like this before, not even when his father died.
"... Fucking pirates... pirates... " His mother spat out bitterly as she looked at the bottle of wine intensely. "My baby boy killed by... fucking pirates!" She sobbed out, she then took in a deep breath and whined pitifully.
"Mom, Grant wouldn't want to see you like this, he's in a better place, you know? I mean, at least he didn't end up like Keith did-" Jason tried to reason with her, but he quickly had a to duck as his mother suddenly threw the wine bottle, it almost hit his head, thank god for his quick reflexes. The wine bottle shattered all over the wall, causing the red liquid to slowly spill down the wall like blood.
"... And just what did you do to help your poor brother out, huh?" His mother asked slowly as she wobbly got to her feet.
"What did I do?... What did I do?!" Jason asked now enraged at his mother's question. "I'll tell you what I did! I killed every single one of those fuckers! I got Riley back! But you don't seem to care about him or me as much as you care about Grant! You don't even care that two of your three sons came back safe and in one piece! It could have ended much worse!" Jason now screamed, his vocal cords stretching as he yelled at his mother.
"... You killed those pirates?" His mother asked, her voice slightly slurred as she pointed at him.
"YES!"
His mother then did something incredibly cruel. She laughed. Her laugh cold hearted as she just shook her head.
"You can't even get a job, let alone kill pirates. Honestly, Jason... what? Did you... talk to them about video games until they killed themselves?" His mother shrugged bitterly at him. Jason only opened his mouth, ready to scream at her, how dare she! She had no idea what he went through on those fucking islands! Before he could even say a single word, his mother bumped her shoulder against his and snarled out to him her voice ungodly cruel and cold hearted,
"It should have been you."
"Heellllo~ Earth to Jason!" Ajay waved his hand back and forth in front of Jason's face snapping him back into reality. "We're here, man," Ajay told Jason, Jason slowly blink and took notice of the fact that they weren't in the woods like he had suspected, but an outpost of some sort. The soldiers all looking at them, some bowing in respect to Ajay. Jason stepped out of the truck and looked around the outpost a bit, it wasn't much but it had a shit ton of soldiers, one by one, the soldiers started to circle around the truck. All of them either bowing or kneeling in front of Ajay.
"Your majesty! to what do we owe this pleasure!" One soldier, maybe the commander? Jason wasn't too sure, asked Ajay as he politely bowed in front of the prince.
"Nothing, we're just hunting up the hill," Ajay told the man. "I figured we should probably keep close to an outpost, just in case we need more ammo."
"Yes, yes of course... and this is?" The man pointed to Jason, causing Jason to narrow his eyes bitterly.
"Oh, this is Jason, he's with me."
Jason simply brought his hand up in a small wave to the giant man in red holding a gun, Jason had to fight the urge to pull out his own gun, seeing people in red... It always made him uncomfortable.
"Of course, your majesty-"
Jason noticed the very clear eye roll coming from Ajay.
"-Please, come and go as you wish."
"Of course, oh, and Commander?" Ajay asked the man before he could rush off once more. "If you need anything from me I have a radio on hand. If anything comes up don't be afraid to give me a call for help." Ajay simply said before ushering Jason away. Jason was quick to note that a lot of soldiers backed away in fear as Ajay continued to walk forward.
Once out of ear shot from the soldiers, Jason spoke up, "Wow, they really seem to fear you, your majesty." Jason couldn't help but tease. Suddenly he shirt was grabbed and he was face to face with Ajay.
"Look, I've put up with your attitude, for the most part, Mr. Brody, but I will not tell you this again, so read my lips carefully. Don't. Call. Me. That. Again." Ajay snarled bitterly towards Jason. Out of reflex, Jason slapped Ajay's hand off of his shirt.
"How dare you!" a soldier yelled out who had happened to see the fight going on. "I should behead you right here for even-"
"Drop it." Ajay spoke to the soldier quickly, he then turned to Jason, "Mr. Brody, I understand you are new to this whole thing, so I will let you off with a warning this time, watch yourself. Now... are we going to stand here and fight like school children, or do you want to go and hunt leopards with me?" Ajay asked him seriously. In all honesty, Jason was more than a little pissed and in all honesty, he had half a mind to turn around and just leave, however; he didn't feel like dying on the first day of his new job. Maybe shooting some leopards will calm them both down?
"Fine, let's go," Jason grumbled as he took his shotgun off of the holster, Ajay did the same with his gun. Ajay was quick to lead the way. Together they walked into the forest, the air between them tense as they both seemed to steal glances at the other person. Neither of them too happy at the moment.
Jason quickly stopped and looked around, he heard something, Ajay must have heard the noise as well because he stopped just as quickly. For a brief moment there was nothing between the two of them, then Jason heard it a low growl just beside him. Pumping the 1887 Jason turned and pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled harshly, and his ears rang from the shot, something Jason missed greatly.
"Well, it wasn't a leopard, but good shot nonetheless," Ajay spoke up once the forest seemed to quiet down around them. Jason looked to see what he had shot, he didn't know if he should be relieved or not that he had shot a bear right in the head. "Hm, we can use this..." Ajay walked past Jason and got down to his knees next to the bear and with no warning, he took his Kukri out and stabbed the animal in the side. He then reached into the bear's wound with one hand and start to cut and hack away inside the bear. Jason grimaced and cringed as Ajay pulled out a good chunk of meat. With his hands red with the blood from the bear Ajay just simply took the chunk of flesh and chucked it ways away from them. He then aimed his gun and waited.
Jason stood amazed as a snow leopard went charging up to the blood meat, the leopard started to chow down on the bloody meat. Ajay lined up the shot, held his breath, and fired. The leopard went down instantly as bits of brain matter and blood splattered on a tree behind it.
"Nice!" Jason exclaimed loudly as he brought his hand up for a high five. Ajay only looked at him strangely before walking over to the animal. "Just... gonna leave me hangin'?" Jason questioned as he brought his hand down.
Jason let out an exasperated sigh through his nose and couldn't stop the 'tsk' from leaving his mouth as he approached Ajay. Ajay was now busy skinning the leopard and didn't even acknowledge Jason as he, rather expertly, skinned the animal. Hearing another growl, Jason turned to see not one, but two Snow Leopard slowly stalking towards them, the animals snarling and showing their teeth as they approached.
"Must have smelt the blood," Ajay mumbled as he continued to skin the leopard before him. Jason growled out and stood between Ajay and the animals. Rising 1887 Jason aimed and fired at one of the leopards. Unfortunately, it didn't kill the animal like he wanted and next thing he knew he was on the ground using the gun as a shield between him and the blood hungry giant cat on top of him. The leopard was trying it's hardest to get to Jason, but this wasn't Jason's first run in with a wild animal. As quickly as he could he bashed the side of the leopards face with the barrel of the shotgun, giving him just enough room to let go of the gun with one hand and grab his Kukri. Once he got a hold of his weapon he reached up and sliced the leopard's face with the blade. The leopard jumped back and snarled at Jason. The leopard started to circle Jason, snapping at him every so often as it did so. Jason looked around for just a moment to see where the second leopard had gone too. That was when Ajay fired his gun. Jason didn't even look at Ajay, he just turned to see the leopard that was circling him dead on the ground. "Never take your eyes off of an animal circling you." was all Ajay had to say about that.
Jason then heard a growl and saw a blur of brown gunning it towards Ajay, thinking it was yet another bear, Jason aimed his gun and fired right before the animal could get to Ajay. The animal fell flat on its side and slid the rest of the way to Ajay's feet. It was at that moment Jason realized it was not a bear.
"Whoa..." Was all Ajay could say, Jason cautiously walked over to the animal and blinked. It was a leopard, yes, but it was brown, not white. Ajay immediately got to skinning the beast.
"Is there something special about that leopard in particular?" Jason couldn't help but ask his rather foolish question.
"Yeah, I think it's a rare leopard, the one Mr. Luthra has been trying to get his hands on for months now."
"Who's Mr. Luthra now?"
"My dad's tailor. It uses to be Mr. Chiffon, but he...uh... quit." Ajay put it simply once he finished skinning the animal.
"So, trying to not be rude here, but, you mentioned a coat for your father made out of a leopard, but...Leopard print? Really? Your dad strikes me as an alligator jacket kind of man." Jason put in his own opinion and Ajay could only chuckle.
"My dad likes all animal skins." Was all he had to say about that. He then started to skin the final leopard while Jason just stood behind and watched him. As he watched he was quick to note how very... not related Ajay was compared to Pagan. In almost everyaspect the two were different, Pagan was light skinned, Ajay dark skinned, Pagan had blonde hair, Ajay had black hair, and of course Pagan's flair, and Ajay general lack of flair.
"You two don't really look related," Jason said out loud, he honestly didn't even mean to say it, it just slipped out. Still, he couldn't take it back now as Ajay stopped skinning the animal and turned to look at him. His eyes narrowed dangerously at Jason, "I didn't... shit... I'm sorry." Jason apologized quickly waving his hands in front of him out of reflex. Ajay must have let it go as he went back to skinning the animal in slightly angered silence. Just as Ajay finished skinning the leopard the two of them quickly turned guns drawn at the sound of gun fire off in the distance. Swallowing hard, Jason and Ajay both went rushing towards the gun fire. It was coming from the outpost.
Getting closer Jason could see it seemed to be two fractions fighting. The royal army in red and another side in blue and yellow.
"AJAY GHALE!" Somebody who noticed the two yelled out and almost instantly the fight seemed to fight. Jason was quick to do his job and put himself in front of Ajay, his shotgun now aimed. That was when a man started to approach the two of them, the man's fist raised up. Jason saw that was a universal sign for the others to hold their fire. Jason kept his shotgun aimed and raised.
"Take one more step, and you'll lose that pretty face of yours!" Jason threatened. The man stopped he had a cocky smirk on his face as he turned towards Ajay who held his sniper rifle at the waist.
"Sabal." Ajay spat out.
"Traitor." Sabal countered back, his smirk then widened as he faux bowed before Ajay, "Or should I say your majesty?" Ajay let out an audible growl as he tensed up. Sabal then turned his attention to Jason. "I see. the prince is so incompetent that he needs someone to protect him."
Jason took a moment to look around, many of the royal army were dead along with several rebels, it looked like they were honestly vastly outnumbered as only three royal army soldiers were alive, but were being held hostage by the rebels. They were going to need backup, but the alarms were all shot to hell and back.
"Where's Amita, Sabal?" Ajay asked avoiding what Sabal had just said to him. "You two normally do this kind of thing together.
"In Banapur...buried. After the incident with Abhaya, your 'father' along with De Pleur took it upon himself to burn our village down, again. De Pleur killed Amita. Mohan would be so ashamed of you."
"Who?" Jason could only ask, all these name drops, none of which Jason knew, but the fact that this 'Mohan' would be so ashamed of Ajay struck Jason's fancy just a bit.
"Oh, your little guard dog doesn't know?"
"Drop it, Sabal."
"Mohan is-"
"I said enough!"
"Mohan is his true father, founder of the golden path, and here he is, defending Pagan till the day he dies."
' Huh, so that's why he doesn't look related to Pagan... PAGAN! That's it.' Jason slowly reached over to his pocket where his radio was and managed to silently flip it on as the two of them continued their fight.
"Mohan killed my baby sister and mother! I have every right to side with Pagan in this war. Pagan is right about the golden path your nothing but heartless terrorists!"
Then, Sabal said it,
"Ishwari was a whore-"
Ajay lunged at Sabal, nothing but pure rage in his eyes as he goes in ready to attack, Jason was quick to stop the prince. Wrapping his arms around Ajay's waist Jason pulled Ajay back harshly.
"You're no good dead, Ajay,"
Then out of the blue, Ajay calmed himself down took in a deep breath. Jason, thinking it's over, let out a sigh of relief and let Ajay go. Once he let go of Ajay that was when Ajay pulled out a handgun, something Jason had no clue he had on him and fired hitting Sabal in the leg. Without even so much as taking a moment to think about what he has done, Ajay raised and fired two more times hitting two rebels in the head killing them both instantly.
"ATTACK!" Sabal roared out loud as he then rushed forward going straight for Ajay. Jason, remembering he had a fucking shotgun at his disposal, brought it up and struck Sabal in the head with it, knocking the leader back and out. He was about to shoot the man but raised his weapon to fire at the rebel charging at him. Quickly, one by one, he shot down. Up until the eight shot where he had to reload. That was when Sabal kicked the gun out of his hand. Sabal then grabbed Jason's hand and flipped him onto the ground.
"You shouldn't have come here, brother," Sabal growled at Jason as he pinned the other on the ground. Jason snarled out as he tried to reach for his shotgun, but it was just out of his reach. Where the hell was Ajay!?
Jason tried to look around for the prince, but didn't see him anywhere. Looking back at Sabal all he saw was the barrel of a magnum handgun pointed at his nose.
'Do you know the definition of insanity?' Vaas's voice echoed around Jason's mind as for a moment he thought he was truly looking at Vaas, but he quickly snapped out of it and narrowed his eyes.
"What?" Sabal asked confused.
"What?" Jason asked him now equally confused.
"You just asked me if I knew the definition of Insanity..."
"... No, I didn't."
"HEYYYY~ SABAL!"
Both Sabal and Jason turned to see Ajay, Ajay dropping a dead golden path member to the ground. He pulled out a grenade.
'He's not...' Jason thought eyes wide. Ajay then gripped the pin of the grenade with his teeth and pulled the pin out. Then he chucked it towards him. The two of them quickly scrambled away from the grenade. Jason going one direction, Sabal the other. "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Jason tripped and hid behind a crate just as the grenade went off. With his ears buzzing, Jason felt dazed as he looked around dumbly. More Golden path members lying dead. One member still alive, the poor man was crawling along the floor trying to get away. Unfortunately for him, Ajay passed by the man and without even looking he shot the man with his handgun and continued walking towards Jason.
"Cold." Was all Jason could say about that as he stood. Ajay only grabbed an AK-47 on the ground and fired up in the air gaining any attention from any remaining golden path members.
"Anybody not in red will be shot! You have exactly five seconds to get the fuck out of the outpost or I will shoot you on the spot! Five-" Instantly several golden path members started to retreat.
"Fire," Ajay demanded to Jason. Jason only looked at the prince.
"You didn't even-"
"Fire!" Ajay demanded once more as he raised the AK up and started to shoot the remaining members down. Jason swallowed a bit, but grabbed his shotgun off the ground and started to fire at the retreating golden path members. He wasn't alone, the one remaining royal army guard, the one who had reprimanded Jason earlier for having the audacity to so much as touch Ajay, was shooting the retreating members as well. Once all the members were either dead or had managed to get to safety, Ajay put the AK down and slowly sat down on the ground. "That'll send a nice little message to Sabal." Ajay mumbled.
"We didn't get him in the crossfire?" Jason questioned.
"Nope, Sabal is too quick for that," Ajay told him softly.
"You shot him in the leg."
"He's still too quick for that."
"Something's not right..." Jason spoke up as he suddenly grabbed the radio clipped to his pocket.
"What's wrong?" Ajay asked as he finally stood up.
"I had this on the whole time. Yet, nobody showed up," He explained, showing Ajay the radio. Ajay unclipped his own radio and pressed the button.
"Dad, it's Ajay, you there?"
Ajay's own voice echoed on Jason's radio, but they didn't get a single response. So, Ajay tried again.
"This Ajay Ghale, does anybody copy?"
"It could be the radio tower..." The remaining royal guard told Ajay softly as he bowed. "The rebels highjacked the signal before they started their assault."
"Great. Welp, I know what our next mission is now. Thank you, we'll get to the radio tower and call for backup on your part. Please just stay on alert for a little while longer. We shouldn't be too long." Ajay told the soldier quickly.
"Of course..."
"Jason, here." Ajay handed Jason and AK-47, he took it happily. However, it seemed that Ajay wasn't done as he walked up to the commander. Jason watched as Ajay shut the commander's eyes and silently prayed. Then he took off the bullet proof vest the commander was wearing and handed to Jason. "You'll need this. Keep close."
"It's only my job to keep close to you," Jason chuckled weakly as he strapped the vest on. "Oh, I've missed this." Jason smiled fondly. Ajay only nodded at him and looked forward where the only thing left of the cars were just metal smoldering shells.
"I guess we're walking to the tower. Soldier!"
The guard stood and saluted to Ajay. "Stay on guard, we'll be back as soon as possible!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Alright, Jason, it's me and you, let's go."