Liam woke up into a fresh morning. There was something new in the air, he smelled it very clearly. The sun was reaching through the blinds and touching his face. Even when this happened every morning, today it felt different. Even his morning coffee felt different. As he looked to the dark liquid, he smiled. Viktor once promised him, that he'll make him give up his coffee habit because if he continues like this his heart will go bad. He somehow got through his morning routine, took his equipment and started to walk towards the concrete base. He had a strange feeling in his chest and he surely had a half-dumb smile on his face. If everything goes according to plan today, this will be his last fight, his last incomplete 24 hours here. He felt a huge amount of relief and he scolded himself. He shouldn't have that light thoughts when there's nothing done yet. He restored the mimic on his face and the grin disappeared. He stated himself into the line in front of the main entrance to the base and waited for Soldier's everyday monologue. Everything was happening so fast. He climbed up the ladder leading to the roof of the base and set up the rifle. Sun was burning his back and he thought that it would have been better if he had seated himself on his sheltered view. The fight today was crazy. Everybody was just running around by themselves and not a single shot has been heard. The silence was stretching and uncomfortable. The air was weirdly still and Liam just waited. Minutes dripped like a cold honey and he felt something unusual, like the feeling that he felt when he and Viktor met, when the bullet hit the ground just few inches from his foot. Another few minutes of silence passed when a moan mixed with scream ripped it apart. The scream was filled with fear and what was the worse, Liam recognized the voice, he had already heard his owner doing similar kind of noise. He turned the rifle binoculars to the source of sound. His pupils widened, breath froze in his chest and blood disappeared from his skin. Down, on the ground, there were standing two people. RED Medic and behind him…BLU Soldier, with one hand tightly wrapped around his neck and in the other hand-

A revolver.

Liam swallowed. It was true. It was all true, he should have taken Viktor's words. Based on zhe personality of the ours, I would think of yours Soldier, even those words became real. If the Soldier wanted to kill Viktor, he would have done it before. He tugged the German firmer and his narrowed eyes poked out from under the rim of his thick helmet. He was looking for him, he knew it. Viktor was pale and sweat was glistening on his forehead.

"I know that you're looking. Come down if you want to see him again!" Soldier shouted and glared at surroundings. Viktor's eyes were faster and he spotted the metal shine on the top of the roof. He looked directly into it. He shook his head slightly. His eyes were so, so frightened. Liam was still looking at them through his scope. Then he noticed how Viktor's eyes shifted from him to the gun. And then Liam got it, he understood. The revolver pointing at Viktor's head was the one from RED base and as soon as he would come down Soldier would point it at him and- He shuddered at the thought. He took a deep breath.

"I know that you can't shoot him." He shouted back. He didn't care that he revealed his position. Soldier couldn't hit him from that distance.

"Oh yeah?" Liam saw Soldier's eyes, he saw them wide open in the thrill of anger bordering with sickness. And then, with a speed of light he let his hand down and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Viktor's left foot, and dug right through. Painful scream filled the air and dark blood stained the ground. Tears leaked out of Viktor's eyes and muscles on his neck tensed as sobs tried to escape his lungs. Liam's breathing accelerated and he started to panic. He can't just let Viktor die there, in hands of that madman. His moves became short and fast, he really didn't know what to do.

"I'll count! If you don't come down until three, I'll shoot him!" He screamed and pushed the barrel hardly above Viktor's left ear. Medic's light blue eyes filled with tears were looking for Liam, looking for help and they were full of utter and desperate want to survive. His breath was fast and he was choking on his own sobs. He never thought that he would die on battlefield like this, like a hostage, held for uncounted time and tortured before his death.

"One!" Liam's jaw clenched and he got up. Now, when he knew that there was no possible way in which Soldier could hurt him, he will play along.

"Tw-"

"Stop!" He shouted from the top of the roof and tried to climb down as fast as possible. When he finally reached the ground he turned his face to the strange couple and walked towards them slowly. Soldier was watching him with his chin lifted up really high so he could see. Somehow he was reminding Liam an angry bulldog.

"Hands above your head!" He ordered.

"Why? If I were armed, which I'm not, the bullets wouldn't do any harm to-!"

"I said hands above your head!" Liam did as it was told.

"Why are you doing this?" Soldier's face muscles jumped.

"You broke the rules that I have been reminding you every DAMN morning before the fight. I just want to put you aside from my way to victory of this war." Liam shrugged. His voice was ice cold and he seemed totally calm, but on the inside he was burning like a volcano, mixing his various emotions and trying not to demonstrate his biggest fears.

"You could've just announced it."

"Well I prefer more radical and faster solution." Liam was just shaking his head in disbelief.

"You are sick!"

"Not as sick as you."Soldier barked at him.

"Shut up." Liam said in his most annoyed and offended tone. But he regretted it as soon as he let the words slip out of his mouth, because he wasn't the one to be rude. According to Soldier, ha has to be the one who is crawling on the ground and begging him desperately for mercy. Soldier pushed the barrel even harder into Viktor's skin and the doctor winced from pain. Liam's eyes met his, trying to calm him down or something, he didn't even know what. Viktor's eyes blinked and looked to the left a little. Then they widened, he tried to scream, to warn Liam, but the blade of knife was already under his neck. A strong smell of cigarettes hit Liam's nose and he lifted his chin and pursed his lips. He heard Spy's quiet laughing and closed his eyes tightly. Well, it looked like there's no way out of this mess.

"Really Spy? A knife? That's why you had to rob the RED- ah!" He felt cold barrel of other revolver, but now he was sure, that this was the deadly one from RED base. And it was pointing at the back of his head. Liam took another deep breath, maybe it was his last. He looked at Viktor, their eyes met and both of them…nodded.

"Allright, just do it already." Liam muttered.

"What?" Soldier asked.

"Just. Do. It." He said sharply and waited for the final move. He was still looking into Viktor's eyes, never leaving them. It might sound too sweet or cliché, but the last thing he wanted to see of this ugly place filled with cold blooded bastards was Viktor, who made him change his mind and perspective. They weren't blinking nor breathing. The world stopped and stood still until the loud bang and scream were heard.

Liam frowned and looked at Soldier lying on the ground after RED Scout had taken him down with his aluminum bat. Viktor was safe and sound, his knees were weak and he was about to fall, but he was alive. Liam wondered what happened with Spy. He felt huge waves of heat from behind him and heard Spy screaming. He was burning. Liam made a step forward, he wanted to feel Viktor in his hands, to soothe him and make him believe that everything will be allright. But he couldn't. As Spy pulled away with some force, and Liam stepped away from him with other force, the knife on Liam's neck pushed the blade into his skin and as Spy tried to run away, the knife slipped deeper and and the blade cut through Liam's artery. Liam stopped under the avalanche of sudden fear and pain and reached for his neck. His fingers didn't have to touch the skin to be bloody red. Liam's head spinned and he fell backwards into some friendly, thin, long hands in fireproof gloves. He shook his head. What an irony. And that was the last thing he remembered.