It was not in my intention that I send Gabe and his crew on a very dangerous task. It just had to be done. I pretty well know that things are going our way, and not in Merasmus'. But nevertheless the job had to be done. Being the head of a whole army of FPS players is not quite that easy. You give orders here and there. But with the help of my "friends" I can get the things done in the easy way. Engineer and Soldier are the head of the defense, while Medic and Heavy are the offense. My job is to supervise and see if everything is ok. It's been countless hours since I've seen Gabe and his people. I've been starting to worry if they have fallen in duty, but when I was almost in the verge of paranoia, Engineer walked into the room.
"What's up, Alex?" He said to me. "Oh. Just nothing. I'm overseeing the progress of our things" I said in a worry-like tone. It seems that Engie was able to interpret my reply as worry because he said: "What's the matter partner? Anything wrong?". It wasn't a wise idea that I said to him what I really felt because he said that if I would give the order, we would strike and ignite the war first. I didn't. "Well I dunno. Maybe we can go check it ourselves then" He said. Scout (Who is –by the way- our messenger) burst into the room, catching his breath. "What is it?" I asked. He barely made out words in between breaths but all I heard was: "It's…Gabe". A telepathic impulse sent chills down my spine as I run towards the messenger. "What happened." I asked him. "I dunno, go find out for yourself!" He replied to me. He gave me his headphones and I listened attentively for the slightest sound of a human voice. "H-hello?" the headphone went. "G-gabe is that you?! What's going on?" I said.
"Something went wrong here, Alex. Most of us got out of the fort but some of us were trapped inside! We don't know what to do now!" Gabe said. "Shit, Merasmus got them" I mumbled. Engineer gave a short gasp. "Ok Gabe, you did well. Go back to base and we'll go through the whole story." I said. I gave back Scout his headphones and sent him back to his post. "Enigneer, get both teams in the meeting room, NOW." I ordered him. Engie did not need to be told twice, he went out of the room as fast as lightning. At that moment Merasmus had re-appeared to me again. "Oh what bad luck you have Alex! I have captured most of your friends' men and now they are all with me! Care to give comment?" He insulted. I kept silent for a while and said "Let them go, they did nothing". "Oh I can't possibly let them go that easily, Alex! How about… a deal..?" He said. "What is it?" I said. "If you start the war between real life and game life, I might send them to you base all expenses paid." He said. "Deal." I replied. "Then it's settled. See you at war!~" And the voice vanished at that statement.
At the meeting room, The RED and BLU team were assembled at the table. "Ok, guys we have a crisis." I began. "Merasmus has captured Gabe Newell's men and crew and they are kept captives at the enemy side. But as you were going here, I was able to converse with Merasmus. I was given a deal in which if we start the war first, he'd give us back Gabe's men". And at that moment Gabe and his party strutted at the door. "Okay Gabe, before we can let you refresh yourselves, would you mind telling me what happened?" I said. "I can't really remember… but the only thing I can remember is that we were nearing Merasmus' chamber when most of us were blacked out. Me and the rest were able to get out… That's all I can remember…".
"Okay Gabe. Thank you. You can rest now" I said. The BL U heavy and the RED Medic escorted the beat-down people outside. "What are ya goin' to do, Alex?" the RED Sniper said. "We are going to play Merasmus' game."
Chapter 18: "Not Anymore and Never"