Chapter 37 – All is Fair
December 31, 2010 1405hrs, Oured Bay, Osea
The fact that Antonio pulled the trigger on me was a huge blow and no one could imagine how I felt at this point. However, the time it took for me to quickly pull myself together and act when his gun jammed was so surprising that I don't think Antonio even expected it. I quickly kicked his pistol out of his hand and stood up so that I could roundhouse kick him in the side of the head. When it connected, Antonio quickly tried to throw a punch that I easily deflected away. He then quickly used his other hand to draw his knife so that he could try to stab me in the neck. I grabbed his hand and quickly deflected his hand over his head and redirected it into his gut. The knife sank into Antonio's lower right abdomen and he froze in shock over what I did. We locked eyes for a couple seconds but it was all I needed. He looked like he was relieved about something and I stopped myself from stabbing him a couple more times. Despite everything he had done in the past twenty minutes and how I was feeling, I knew that I still cared for him deep down. He knew this when he looked into my eyes and I could see him smile in pain before I released his hands and watched him collapse on the ground. Antonio's body went limp and the life seemed to fade from his eyes after a couple more seconds of bleeding.
The wounds that he suffered earlier hindered his ability to recover and it amazed me that he was still able to function at all in spite of his earlier blood loss, but then again, that's never stopped him before. It was surprising even to me that he collapsed after I stabbed him once, but I was going to use this opportunity to help Kei. I looked over at her and the butch lady to see Kei clinging to her back while the lady tried to get Kei off. Kei had her arm wrapped tightly around the woman's neck and she was holding on for dear life. She was trying desperately to get Kei off, but she couldn't do it by pulling her arm away. The woman quickly ran as fast as she could towards one of the containers and jumped into it as hard as she could with her back. The impact was enough to loosen Kei's grip and the woman quickly tossed Kei over her shoulder. As soon as she hit the ground, the lady was about to stomp on Kei's head, but I quickly intervened and tried tackling her. The lady was still on her feet and picked me up so that she could slam me into the ground. The sound of my back hitting the floor echoed throughout the hull and it hurt like hell. The woman grabbed me by my throat and lifted me off my feet again. Her grip was tightening and I was close to blacking out.
"Killing you is going to piss off a lot of people, Yue, but at least I'll have my time to shine. Yana, kill them," said Teresa.
How did I know she had a Russian name…? I quickly swung my right leg up and placed it on the side of Yana's neck. This allowed me to twist out of her hold and pull her into a cross arm bar, but it didn't do anything to slow her down. Yana grabbed me with her other arm and slammed me on the ground again. I tried to scramble to my feet and avoided being grabbed. As soon as I was up, I drew my dagger and prepared for another fight. Yana turned to face me and charged. I rolled out of the way and went on the offensive as soon as I got onto my feet. She blocked my left hook and heel kicked me in the chest so that I fell on my back and rolled onto my feet. She then threw a couple punches that I tried to block, but I couldn't keep my guard up and Yana hit me with a right hook. Once her fist made contact with my face, I tried to spin around to back hand her, but she deflected my attack along with a left cross before she landed a right hook. Yana then grabbed my arm and threw me to the floor so that I landed in front of her. She was about to grab me by the throat again, but Kei came up from behind and jumped on her back so that she could force her to the ground. Kei tried to restrain Yana again, but she was thrown off. I got up to kick Yana in the back of her knee only for her to grab me and swing me into Kei while she was trying to get back up. I tried to pick Kei up, but Yana quickly grabbed me, rolled me onto my back and began to punch me repeatedly in the face. Kei got up as quickly as she could and tried restraining her arm so that I could try and recover from the fifteen punches I had just received. Yana was using her free hand to hit Kei as she held onto her arm. I got up as fast as I could to hold Yana's other arm and restrain her while we kept her on the floor. Kei still had her gun, but she couldn't reach it without releasing her hold and neither could I. The three of us were stuck and we couldn't move from our spots.
"It's about time you got your shit together, Castillo. Hurry up and kill them already!" demanded Teresa.
I looked up to see Antonio limping towards us. He was still bleeding and I could see that he pulled his knife out of himself. He was in no shape to fight, but he still had enough stamina left in him to kill one of us at this point. Kei saw him coming and she was paralyzed with fear. There was nothing that we could do to save ourselves and we both knew this. If we released Yana to deal with Antonio, she'd quickly over power us and kill us. If we kept our hold on Yana, Antonio would kill us.
Antonio was getting closer and closer with each passing second and this image of him was something to behold. He would always see everything through to the end no matter how difficult the task proved to be. Even if it meant doing something drastic, he would relentlessly strive to accomplish his goal. Blood was running down his right arm and his pants and shirt were drenched as well. His face looked flushed, but the look in his eye was terrifying to say the least. He was out for blood at this point and I didn't know who he was going kill first. Yana had stopped struggling because she knew that she was about to be rescued. Antonio was finally close enough to grab me or Kei, but he just stood there. I didn't know what was going through his head and it almost scared me to know.
"Thanks for not killing me," he panted. All three of us turned to look at him and he gave us all an evil smile before he reached for Yana and ran his blade into the back of her head. Yana's body went limp and Antonio collapsed to his hands and knees. While Kei and I quickly scrambled to our feet because we had no idea what he was thinking. "I'm still hoping you can forgive me," he said with a weak smile.
"What the hell are you doing?!" exclaimed Teresa. "I told you to kill those two, not her!"
"Remember when I said that nothing you say or do is going to convince me to join you?" asked Antonio and Teresa paused for a moment. "I meant what I said. I was just waiting for the right moment to off you guard dog." Antonio then looked at me and Kei while we just stood there in total confusion. "Why do you think I kept calling you 'Yue'?" he asked.
My eyes widened in realization and I was cursing myself for not picking up on his clues sooner. Antonio would never expose my real identity to anyone he didn't trust. What's more, he wouldn't have told Teresa my real name unless he didn't think that we weren't going to get out of here alive. The only thing that bugged me was that I was usually able to see through any of his lies, but not this one. Antonio locked eyes with me again and smiled for a couple seconds before Kei walked over to him and kneed him in the face. He fell back and Kei was now kneeling over him while she began to punch him repeatedly in the face.
"You stupid, slimy, little bastard," she shouted. "I gave up on you when you said you sided with them and now you're saying it was only a ruse?! You're so full of shit and I hate you!"
"Kei," I shouted as I dashed towards her to pull her off. "He did this for us! He did it so that we could get out of here alive!"
"He nearly got us killed and you're alright with this?!"
"This is what we do!" I said as I finally managed to pull her away and throw her to the ground. "This is the line of work that he and I are constantly exposed to! He knew what he was doing and he had me convinced that he was going to side with them, but he didn't."
"How do you know he won't back stab us again?!" Kei argued.
"Because I believe in him," I shouted and Kei froze. "You've trusted him this whole time and now you just want to turn your back on him just because he made a bluff?"
"He gambled with our lives! Could you seriously forgive him for putting your life in danger like that?" asked Kei.
"That never stopped you or the others before," said Antonio. We looked over at Antonio to see him rolling over so that he could try to stand. "Every time we went off on sortie, we risked our lives. Hell, the President gambled with our live several times by putting us up against the entire country of Belka. Don't you dare think that I thought of it as just taking orders," growled Antonio. "We've let others gamble with our lives numerous times."
"But how could you do that to me?!" exclaimed Kei.
"It was the only way for us to get out of this alive. That bitch would've had her friend kill all of us if I hadn't played along." We all turned our attention to Teresa who was trying to sneak away while the three of us argued, but she stopped to look back at us. "She did have a good sob story about Earth, but our problems our here. Why should I care about the problems of a planet with failing governments?"
"You still don't get it, those people are dying!" shouted Teresa.
"I can go on for hours on end about how you're so full of shit, but I'd be wasting my breath," said Antonio. Teresa didn't say anything as he slowly got up and made his way towards Yana's body and began to dig through her pockets until he found what he was looking for. Once he had it, he began to disassemble his pistol and reinserted the firing pin so that he could properly shoot his gun. "Now, you're coming with us and you're going to tell us everything you know about your boss' plans."
"And if I don't?" asked Teresa to which Antonio shot her in the foot.
"I'll shoot off every one of your toes and fingers and feed them to my dog," he said.
Teresa was screaming in pain as Kei went over to help her up while I helped Antonio walk. We made our way back through the ship towards the control room so that we could call for help. We even took some of the dead guards' weapons and ammo before we headed off. Everything was smooth sailing until we got to the engine room. When we got there, we found that there were over a dozen armed guards still on board. We froze in our tracks and they all pointed their weapons at us. Antonio pointed his pistol at the closest guard and I did the same. Kei, however, pushed ahead while she pointed her gun at Teresa's head.
"Call off your dogs or I swear to God I'll kill you!" shouted Kei. I wanted to shout at Kei for thinking of something as stupid as using a hostage because if Teresa died, then we'd be the next ones to die. However, Teresa wasn't the bravest person I knew.
"For Christ sake, put your guns down!" shouted Teresa and her men complied.
"If they follow us, you're dead!" growled Kei and we moved past the guards.
Kei led the way towards the control room and Antonio had managed to pull himself together enough to cover the rear and make sure no one followed us while I provided support for the both of them. By the time we made it to our objective, I had counted a total of forty-two guards and I was expecting them to try something. Some of them had to have been smarter than Teresa and thought of a plan by now. When we made it into the control room, Antonio sat Teresa in the corner of the room so that he could watch her while Kei guarded the main entrance to the room. I, on the other hand, tried to call Mr. Harkin so that we could get some help over here, but I couldn't get a signal on my phone for some reason. Most likely the signal was now being jammed and I was about to try and get a signal out over the ship's radio, but most likely they were being monitored.
"What's taking so long, Naomi?" asked Kei as she kept her rifle pointed towards the door.
"We'll probably attract the wrong people if she sends out an SOS to IOSS," said Antonio glumly. "But we don't have a choice right now."
"Are you sure?" I asked him.
"Hopefully Grimm and Snow can still do something with their planes."
I nodded at him and Kei just rolled her eyes at us and I began my transmission to IOSS. "Base Plate this is 06-18, do you read?" I hailed over the radio. "Base Plate this is 06-18, please respond."
"06-18, this is Base Plate, send your traffic, over."
"Base Plate, I've uncovered plans of a Grey Men salvage operation and have recovered Razgriz leader. We're aboard a Grey Men vessel headed into Oured Bay and are out heavily outnumbered. We're requesting immediate support," I said. Base Plate acknowledged and I gave them our coordinates so that they could send help. Their ETA was seven minutes but something in my gut told me that we didn't have that long.
I readied my weapon and took up a position in the front of the control room so that I could cover both side entrances to the area. While we were waiting, I kept shooting glances at Antonio to make sure that he was alright after the beating Kei and I gave him. I could tell that he was exhausted, but he was trying his hardest to stay focused.
"They're about to try something," said Kei suddenly. I turned to look at her as she adjusted her weapon and I paused to listen more closely to everything. The noise that was coming from outside the room was a dead giveaway that they were about to breach the door, but nothing happened. "What are they waiting for?"
I checked the windows and I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary from where I was and there was no noise coming from the side doors. We were missing something and I needed to figure it out quickly. I took another look outside the windows and began to frantically scan the horizon. After a couple seconds, I caught sight of several black dots coming in at low altitude. After a few more seconds of intensely staring at them, I could clearly see that they were four unmarked UH-60s and three AH-64s. At first I thought that they were our back up, but IOSS wouldn't send unmarked aircraft to help us. My heart sank when I realized that they weren't coming in to aid us. I warned the others and Antonio let out an exhausted sigh before he pistol whipped Teresa so that he could focus on the incoming attack. The three Apaches sped ahead of the rest of the formation and began to raise altitude once they were close enough. The three of us quickly took cover just as the gunships began to open fire with their 30mm chain guns. Their slugs began to rip through the control room's walls and control panels. We should've counted ourselves lucky that they weren't explosive shells, but the noise they generated was deafening. I thought they'd only fire at us from the front of the ship, but two of them flanked the port and starboard side while the remaining gunship held his position. We were completely surrounded and the gunships began to open fire on us again. There was nothing else we could hide behind and I laid myself as flat as I could on the floor while more bullets flew around me.
"Yue, take out that son of a bitch on the right side when he stops shooting!" shouted Antonio. "Kei, take out the one on the left!"
There was no way that I could respond to his command, but I would try my best to carry it out. The gunship closest to me had ceased firing and I quickly popped up with my rifle to shoot at the pilot, but my bullets couldn't penetrate the glass. The gunner now had me in his sights and there was no way I'd be able to stop him from killing me unless I thought of something fast. The only other thing that I could think of doing was aim for one of his engines and hope for the best. I quickly reloaded my rifle and took aim at the gunship's right engine. My target was close enough for me to pour all thirty-one bullets into it before the gunner could land one of his shots on me. Having over a dozen 30mm bullets shoot past my head was one of the scariest things I've ever had happen to me, but the gunship's pilot lost control long enough for me to reload again and fire into the remaining engine effectively disabling the helicopter. When I saw the thing start to go down, I heard a loud explosion come from my right and saw that another helicopter had been destroyed by Antonio. The remaining gunship bugged out before Kei could even get a shot off.
"Alright, who's not dead, sound off!" shouted Antonio.
"We made it?" asked Kei
"Watch those doors! They're gonna breach this place!" I shouted.
Antonio was the first to become ready before the door blew open. The first guard to come in was carrying a shotgun but he wasn't expecting Antonio to rush in and take it from him. He violently chopped him in the throat and pulled the gun away before he turned it on the man and shot him. The next three guards didn't see Antonio coming either and he disappeared outside the destroyed control room.
"You coming," I asked Kei and she just gave me an annoyed look. "Go on ahead and I'll bring up the rear with Flemings."
"No, you go on ahead otherwise I'd kill him," she retorted as she picked up Teresa and threw her over her shoulder.
I readied my weapon and exited the room so that I could follow his trail of destruction. Given that he was seriously hurt, I was surprised that he was able to keep up a pace like this. He was way ahead of me already and I could hear cries of agony and gunfire ahead. He was headed back down stairs, but I had no idea where he was going. Anyways I continued to follow Antonio until I found him standing in front of a door that led out of the ship's super structure. He was covered in blood again and was shaking uncontrollably. The last time I saw Antonio like this he nearly killed me, but it wasn't because he hated me. His mind wasn't in the right place and this was what I was afraid to see him go through when I last saw him two years ago.
"Antonio," I said softly as I approached him. "Are you okay?"
He didn't respond and I didn't blame him. He had returned to his old self and his morality was conflicting with his sense of duty to protect me and Kei. When I was finally within arm's reach, I gently place my hand on his shoulder so that he would know that I was here for him.
"I never wanted you to see me like this," he said. "I never wanted for you to see me as a killer again, but here I am. I'm tired, Naomi. I'm tired of putting people in the ground for stupid reasons."
"I know..." I said softly as I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my head into his back. "I'm tired of seeing you so tired. But right now we have to keep pressing forward so that everyone can have a brighter tomorrow. I can't imagine what you've endured in the past few months and I won't try to understand when I can't, but I'll always be there when you need me."
Antonio slowly began to calm down and he turned towards me so that he could return my hug. It wasn't long before he suddenly released me when he noticed Kei standing at the foot of the stairs. She still had the look of contempt towards Antonio, but I couldn't understand how she felt about me. If anything, I thought she'd hate my guts, but I didn't sense anything like that from her.
"What do we do next?" she asked even more annoyed.
Before I could say anything, we heard an explosion come from above us followed by the sound of even more bullets ripping into the ship's superstructure. When we looked up, we could see that the gunship was launching its rockets and missiles at random in order to hit us from outside. If we could've gone down further, I would've led the way, but every other passage was blocked by fire and debris. The only way out was through the doorway Antonio stopped at and he wasted no time busting through it. Kei and I exited the ship just as a rocket tore through the tower and launched us forward. My ears were ringing like crazy and I could feel that the skin on the back of my neck was burned and my hands stung from slapping the ground so hard when I fell. I tried to pull myself together as quickly as I could only to be met with several people running up to me with their weapons pointed at my head. Antonio had managed to get back onto his feet and he tried to put up a fight. He rushed one of the guards and grabbed his weapon, but another guard shot him in the shoulder. The first guard hit him in the head with the butt of his rifle before he tripped Antonio. Several guards swarmed around Antonio and held him at gunpoint. Kei and I were quickly surrounded as well.
The guards forced us to get on our knees with our hands on our heads while one of the Black Hawks landed on the ship. The others along with the AH-64 began to hover close by and the noise they generated was enough to wake Teresa. One of the guards helped her to her feet and it took her a second to gain her bearings before she looked towards us and came limping over. When she was standing in front of me, Teresa back handed me as hard as she could and I ended up on my back.
"I should kill all of you right now!" she shouted and she took one of the guards' pistols. When I got back up, she chambered a round and proceeded to shoot me in the abdomen several times. The bullets didn't penetrate my suit, but it still hurt like hell and I rolled over onto my stomach so that she couldn't see that she hadn't wounded me. "My superiors only want your boyfriend alive, but they couldn't give a rat's ass about you two. So which of you should I kill first?"
"If you so much as touch either of them, I'll rip your head off and shit down your neck," growled Antonio.
"Who the hell do you think you are to make demands?" I looked back at Teresa as she walked over to Antonio and jammed her finger into his shoulder wound. He was grunting in pain and a couple of guards had to restrain him so that he couldn't retaliate. The longer she kept her finger in his wound, the closer he became to finally passing out from the pain. "I'm amazed that you've been able to cause so much trouble despite how heavily wounded you are. Let's see just how much more you can take."
Teresa was clawing at Antonio's wound for a good two minutes and it was then that I saw that she was trying to gouge out the bullet that was lodged in him. Antonio couldn't do anything except cry out in pain and I was still being held at gunpoint. Kei just turned her head away so that she couldn't see anything. When I saw that Teresa had finally removed the bullet, she threw it away and jammed her finger deeper into Antonio's shoulder. I was fuming with rage and I wanted to do something out of desperation.
"Leave him alone! He's already suffered enough!" I shouted.
Teresa glared at me before she came limping towards me. She grabbed a handful of my hair and forced me onto my feet. "Then I'll fuck with you for now," she growled before she lightly jabbed me in the abdomen thinking that she'd get the same kind of reaction out of me as Antonio. But when she looked down, she saw that I wasn't wounded. "I see… let's see if that suit can stop a 5.56," she chuckled and one of her guards handed her his rifle.
My suit could only stop handgun and SMG fire, as well as light shrapnel, but it was vulnerable to everything else including blades. I knew that this was going to hurt and I braced myself when Teresa pointed the rifle at my abdomen and squeezed the trigger. The rifle only clicked because she had forgotten to take the safety off, but I flinched when she pulled the trigger. Teresa flipped the switch and gave me a menacing smile that seemed to last for hours on end. My heart was about to leap out of my chest, but then we caught the sound of something in the wind. It was coming from the portside of the ship and it was growing louder and louder with each passing second. Soon everyone began to notice it. A few more seconds passed before what it was became apparent. I ducked and covered my head while everyone was distracted. The sound of one of the helicopters exploding was enough for me to spring into action by grabbing Teresa's rifle and turning it on the guards around us. Kei joined in while Antonio collapsed onto the deck.
When all the guards had been neutralized, I looked up to see the remaining helicopters scatter with some of the door gunners firing at something off in the distance. When I took a closer look, I could see four F-15Cs coming in fast from low altitude with two V-22 Ospreys in tow. The F-15s launched several more of their missiles at the remaining helicopters in an attempt to shoot them down, but they deployed their counter measures to great effect. The enemy AH'64 began to return fire on the F-15s who broke off their attack to run interference for the allied helicopters. I took advantage of the confusion to grab Antonio and Kei so that we could seek cover behind one of the enemy helicopter wreckages. When we got there, I noticed that my earpiece was beeping meaning that someone was trying to contact me.
"This is 06-18, go ahead," I said.
"Thank God you're alright, woman," said Mr. Harkin. "What's your situation down there?"
"Razgriz leader is hurt pretty badly. Razgriz 2 and I need some help getting out of here ASAP!"
"Solid copy, ETA, fifteen seconds," said Mr. Harkin and he cut off his radio.
The three of us continued to wait in cover while a frenzy of missiles and bullets whizzed through the air as the Grey Men's aircraft tried to shoot down our allies, but they didn't last too long. The F-15s performed gun runs on the remaining helicopters and they all crashed into the water. The ship's remaining crew were in a full on panic and soon the allied Marines began to fast rope onto the ship to intercept the remaining Grey Men guards. I was the first to emerge out of cover with my hands in the air to let our allies know that we were on their side. Mr. Harking was the last person to set foot on the ship and he ran towards me as fast as he could to see if Antonio was alright.
"Stay with me, Kid. We're going to get you out of here and I'll make sure they don't try and kidnap you this time," he joke to which Antonio gave a weak smile before passing out again.
2148hrs, Oured Osea
I had no idea where I was. The last thing I remembered was Harkin talking to me before everything went black. When I woke up, I found myself lying in another hospital room with Naomi sitting next to my bed with her head resting on it. After everything that happened today, I didn't blame her for trying to catch some shut eye. However, I felt my heart sink when I noticed that Kei was nowhere to be seen. It was just me and my ex-girlfriend again. She still knows how to be cute when she doesn't mean to. Naomi had changed into regular clothes and I was almost bummed that I couldn't ogle at her in her suit for a bit longer. I sighed to myself when I thought this and it was enough to wake Naomi.
"Hey, good evening sleepy-head," I smiled weakly.
"Jeez, I didn't think you'd be awake this soon. I swear it's like you're not even human at times," she yawned. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I could fight another war," I replied sarcastically and Naomi jabbed me in my shoulder wound.
"You shouldn't joke like that," she said sternly.
"Yeah, I'm starting to have second thoughts about that. Anyways, where's everyone else?"
"They went out to enjoy the New Year's Eve festivities. Mr. Harkin ordered them to enjoy some R&R instead of worrying about you."
"Is Kei with them?" I asked and Naomi lowered her head.
"She took off on her own when we got here. Mr. Harkin told us that she wanted to be alone," she said softly.
I felt my heart sink when I heard this, but I didn't blame Kei. I'd hate my guts too if I pretended to betray my friends even if it was to save their lives. "I see," I sighed.
"To be honest, I thought she'd hate me after today, but she took the ticket I saved for her. Maybe she threw them away."
I was about to say something regarding Kei's possible intentions, but Naomi's phone went off. I giggled to myself when I heard her Solid Snake Codec ringtone go off because I knew how much of an MGS fan she was. She looked at her phone to see who was calling and she sighed in annoyance.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"My agent is going to yell at me," she sighed and answered her phone. "Hello?"
"Yue, where are you," I heard someone shout through the phone. "I've been trying to call you all day! Why did ignore my first call?!"
"Well I was in the middle of something important and-"
"What the hell could be more important than preparing for your concert tonight?"
"My best friend was in deep trouble and I've been at the hospital keeping an eye on him."
"Which one are you at so that I can send someone to pick you up."
"No," said Naomi bluntly.
"Gogulski, I'm not going to ask you again. Tell me where you are so that we can come get you," I heard her agent say.
"I'll be there, but I'm not going to indulge anyone with interviews or autographs. I'll be on time for the concert. After that, I'm leaving."
"Alright if that's how you want it, you'll never drop another album or even have a camera pointed in your direction ever again! I'll end you-"
Naomi didn't even let her agent finish her sentence before she hung up on her. That whole conversation made me question how stressful her music career was with her agent threatening her like that. I wanted to say something about it, but I didn't want Naomi to know that I was capable of hearing as faint as their phone conversation. I guess I'm back to the way I used to be.
"Is everything alright?" I asked.
"It's nothing. I'll keep you company for a little while longer before I have to go," she said.
"I could come with you."
"No, you still need to rest. You've been through more hell than I've seen you go through in a single day."
"I'll just find a wheel chair or something. I don't want to miss out on one of your greatest moments," I suggested.
"Don't make me beat you up," said Naomi and she glared at me.
I knew she wasn't kidding and our argument ended right there. Naomi and I began to catch up on everything else we didn't talk about yesterday. It was just like old times minus the outdoor activities that we usually did together. All we did was talk and reminisce about how things used to be between us and I felt my heart sink for several reasons while we continued talking. The first reason was because I had missed Naomi so much since she saw me leave for Heierlark. The second reason was because we had never gotten over each other and there were these strong lingering feelings between us. The final reason was what would make people see me as an asshole. Naomi had played a huge part in my life and she was one of the few people on this planet that has been by my side for as long as she has. She aided me through the loss of Miranda, my PTSD, and a long grueling war. Kei and I have seen a lot together in this war, but I haven't known her as long as Naomi. Kei still hardly knew anything about the 'real me' and I could understand her feelings about not being able to fully trust me. She didn't know that I knew that I'd run into Bishop at some point during the war or the full reason as to why a US Marine was really assigned to an OADF detachment. Even if I continued my relationship with her, I would still never be able to tell her everything.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Naomi asked me, but I couldn't give her an answer. "It's Kei, isn't it?"
I nodded and sighed to myself. "If you were in her shoes and I was hiding all of this from you because I was under orders and because I didn't want you to meddle in my business, how would you feel?"
"If I didn't have anything to hide, it'd bother me. But the fact that you wouldn't want me to help in anyway with your problems is what would really get under my skin."
"Even if my problems are something you couldn't understand?"
"I can understand your problems, Antonio. I've been there from the very beginning," said Naomi.
"I know you can, but for someone who has no idea what I've been through in the last six years…. How do I tell someone I met a couple months ago everything that's happened to me, to us?"
Naomi thought deeply about what I said and I could tell that she knew I was right. There were still a lot of people who wanted me dead, but it wasn't always like that. If it hadn't been for my lust for revenge, I could've continued living a happy life with Naomi and I wouldn't have been involved in the war. There were a lot of things I was still keeping secret and Naomi knew it. No one liked being lied to, including me.
"I don't know," said Naomi solemnly and I lowered my head knowing that she was right. "Hey," she said softly as she lifted my head with her finger. "Everything will work out in the end."
I gently grabbed Naomi's hand and kissed it before she stood up to head out for the night. "Go get 'em, Naomi," I gently smiled and she smiled in return before she walked out of the room.
I was all alone again and I just felt really out of place here. Lying in a hospital bed with a needle sticking in my hand just didn't sit right with me. There was a TV in the room and I was lucky enough that I had a remote sitting on the bedside table. The first channel that showed up was a news station that was broadcasting the New Year's Eve event and the Reporter was talking about how Yue Gogulski refused to show up for her concert and now the cover bands were performing multiple encores to cover for her absence. Some of the things these people were saying made me chuckle to myself.
"Seems like someone's feeling better?" I quickly turned my attention to the room entrance and saw the Lt. Colonel standing there with a couple bottles of apple juice. "How are you feeling kid?"
"Well, I nearly got my leg blown off, still have multiple pieces of shrapnel in my body, and I probably need another blood transfusion. Other than that, I'm fine," I said somewhat sarcastically and Harkin gave me a slightly annoyed look. "Seriously though, I feel like crap."
"Oh I don't doubt that. When we got to you, you nearly died of blood loss again. If Naomi hadn't given you a transfusion of her own blood, you'd probably be dead."
"I guess I owe her another one," I muttered.
Harkin entered the room and sat down next to my bed so that he could hand me one of the drinks he had. I knew that he was really here to debrief me on my rescue, but he didn't say anything about it just yet.
"I thought you were really dead," he told me.
"Yeah, I thought I was going to die, but the world's going to have to try harder to kill me," I said somewhat jokingly to which Harkin was about to yell at me, but I cut him off. "I know what you're going to say, alright. I'm reckless, hardheaded, and I'm not invincible. One of these days my number's going to get called because I wasn't careful enough. You should remember whose idea it was to actually go along with this idea in the first place."
Harkin gave me a sour look because he knew I was right. He was the person who leaked Bishop's information to me which would lead me to joining the military and agreeing to become an IOSS informant within the OADF. I joined knowing full well that I would possibly meet Bishop and Harkin knew full well what I'd do to make sure that he died. In the end, I let him go with his ego in ruins with no guarantee that he wouldn't come back.
Harkin sat back down in his chair because he knew I was right. He was also the reason I was involved in the Usean Continental War. "You're right," he said softly. "All of this is my fault."
"I wouldn't say that all of this is your fault, Sir. I was stupid enough to actually take your bait," I said trying to put him at ease.
"But I knew you'd jump at the opportunity to go after him."
"It wasn't until after my wingman died that I realized it wasn't worth it," I said and I noticed that Harkin tensed up, but I didn't say anything. "The reason I wanted to fight him turned out to be the wrong reason."
"So avenging your dad was a dumb reason?" asked Harkin.
"Let's just say my dad was never worth it. I done talking about him from now on and I've already made peace with my past. There's nothing else I can do about it."
"I'm glad you think so, but now I have to talk to you about what comes next," said Harkin and he paused. "After we interrogated Flemings, she gave us some information on another Grey Men operation that's underway. The brass wants us to investigate immediately." I sighed to myself because I knew that this was going to happen, but what else did I expect from joining the military under my circumstances? "However, now that your cover in the OADF has been blown, we're no longer in need of your services."
I looked at the Lt. Colonel like he was a complete moron for trying to hint that I was going to be released from my military contract. When Bishop's information was leaked to me, I tried joining the OADF in the hopes that I'd find him without anyone noticing my main goal. However, due to past events, I was barred from joining, but Harkin had a way around that at the cost of my false identity to keep former enemies from finding me. I was able to join the Marine Corp because Harkin was able to persuade the Commandant to allow the remaining US forces to grow their numbers as a way to covertly prepare for the imminent war. Anyways, when I joined the remnant forces, IOSS told me that they were going to keep an eye on me while I was working with the OADF. Originally I thought I was just supposed to give a report on the Air Force's training methods to determine their strength for some reason, but I had no idea the war was inevitable. When I think about it, joining the military in the hope that I'd find Bishop just because I found out that he was still active was a stupid reason to even come out of hiding, but I ended up finding him anyways. And as the war progressed, I began to figure out the real reason I was here. I was supposed to be a set of eyes and ears for IOSS on the frontlines and our debriefings from each of my sorties were my reports. But now that the war was over and the US forces have been disavowed with no way for us to recover, I really had no other use for IOSS unless I became a full-fledged agent.
"Yeah right," I muttered in doubt. "You of all people should know that someone up there needs me to put someone in the ground."
"There's no doubt about that. But now you have a choice. You can either go back to being a normal civilian again, or you can keep fighting," said Harkin as he stood up to leave. "Oh and Rico told me to give you this."
Harkin gave me a small black box that held a silver analog watch with a note taped to the lid. Sorry about your watch, bro. I had this one lying around my shop and I managed to give it an upgrade. Get well soon. When I looked up from the box, the Lt. Colonel had already left. There was nothing left for me to do except get comfortable in my hospital bed and relax. But knowing me, I wouldn't be able to sit still for long. I took a closer look at the watch Rico gave me and I firmly pressed the crown to see that it lit up similar to my other one. The image of a set of casual clothes hovered above the case and I began to turn the bezel to see what else it held. My M9, car keys, a small tube of pain killers, a couple of MREs, the aforementioned set of clothes, and a VIP ticket for Naomi's concert were all loaded in there. They must be really happy I'm alive.
I pulled the needle out of my arm and got out of the bed with some minor difficulties. My wounds had fully healed but I was sore as all hell. I took the painkillers from my new USD before I put on the change of clothes. When I was ready, I began to limp out of the hospital room and head towards the front desk. Meeting a nurse who was completely shocked over the fact that I was out of up and walking never got old. It took some time to convince her to let me go but I was finally discharged and free to do whatever I wanted. I was now out of a job, I didn't have a home to go to, and I didn't have the slightest idea on what I should do or where I should go next. When I thought about it a little more, going to visit Naomi was really the only thing that made any sense right now. I had an hour and a half to make it to the venue to see her before midnight. I had several miles to go before then and the streets were clear of vehicles so there was no quick and easy way to get there.
The walk down the street was nostalgic for many reasons. More people were crowding the streets than they were last night and the temperature was cooler too so I was glad that I had a black hoodie on. Everyone was celebrating the end of the war along with the coming of the New Year. It seemed kind of fitting that it should end like this, but I felt like a part of me was missing. Another war had ended and I just didn't have any direction in life right now. If I put the time and effort in, I could probably join the civilian work force and work on furthering aircraft design for the future, but something like that didn't sit right with me. Fighting was all I knew, but was it ever worth it? I joined ISAF to fulfill a death wish I had at the time and I got involved in this one to find Bishop. I fought for my own selfish reasons and that was it. This was on my mind up until I reached the venue where Naomi would be performing. It was in the middle of the city where everyone had gathered to watch the final countdown. The surrounding sky scrapers had large clocks on them while blue and white confetti lightly fell.
In the midst of all of this, I felt extremely at ease. I usually hated being in crowded places because I felt the most open to attack, but this was different. There was energy here. There was life. There was peace and happiness all around me and it became more apparent when I heard Naomi's voice coming from a highly elevated stage. A gentle smile formed on my face when I heard her angelic voice and I felt myself become drawn to her along with everyone else in the crowd. She was sharing the stage with several other people and she was wearing a long dark brown wig so that no one would see her natural hair color. I was happy to see that she was doing what she loved. Everyone went to the front of the stage while I veered off to the right and was met with several members of Naomi's security detail. Ha-ha-ha-ha… security detail...When they stopped me, I flashed the VIP ticket from my USD. After exchanging a couple of confused looks with each other, they let me through. I headed through the gate and up a flight of stair where I could see multiple celebrities gossiping and some news crews talking about various things. I got a lot of sideways looks from everyone because I wasn't dressed in designer fashion with some fuck-boy looking haircut. Anyways I headed up a flight of stairs that led up to the stage and joined a couple other people who had VIP passes as well. They seemed like the kind of people with rich parents, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. Instead, I just gazed at Naomi from the where I was while she sang and danced to her music while everyone cheered for her. I was extremely happy for her knowing that she was given this opportunity.
"Thank you everyone for coming to Oured tonight for this amazing New Year's Eve festival," she said over her microphone. "It's been an intense year with everything that's happened within the past couple of months. On a serious note, guys, I just want to extend my gratitude to the brave men and women who've served in the war and my heart goes out to all the families who've lost loved one. Not just for the citizens of Osea, but to the Yuktobanians and everyone else who's made the ultimate sacrifice." The crowd's cheering intensified because they knew Naomi meant it. She was never the one to take anyone's death lightly, not even Teresa's. There was no way I'd be able to show as much compassion as her in a fight. "Thank you all again, now here's the final countdown!"
I looked up at one of the clocks and saw that there were only eighteen seconds left until the beginning of the New Year. Everyone in the crowd began to countdown and I just stood there as I quickly reflected on everything from the beginning of this year. The majority of the time I spent training at Heierlark, meeting Kei, transferring to Sand Island, meeting the rest of my team, my involvement in the war, becoming branded as a traitor, uniting Yuktobania and Osea, my battle with Bishop, and all the lives I've taken. It was all bittersweet.
It's pretty amazing how you came out on top of all this, Kid.
"I guess so, but I wish you were here to see this, Chopper."
You know Yue's music isn't really my taste. I prefer good 'ole rock and roll.
I chuckled to myself knowing what Chopper would say if he was here. Are you still going to visit my parents again when this is over?
"There's nothing stopping me from keeping my promise. Plus I'm sure they'd like to know what really happened to us."
I continued thinking about all of this when I suddenly noticed the crowd's cheering had reached its peak. The countdown had stopped and the year 2011 had begun. The other VIPs began to cheer as well and hug one another while they just paid me a mild neglect. The only thing I could do was look at Naomi and wonder what was going through her mind. I didn't know what the future held, but I wanted to shape a future worthwhile. Naomi did this with her passion for music and her compassion. She longed for a world of peace… and her passion for that peace found its way into me.
I was staring at Naomi for a good minute before she finally felt my eyes on her and looked my way. When our eyes met, she couldn't hide her shock. She thought I was still in the hospital and wouldn't have been able to make it here. Naomi quickly rushed over to me and pushed her way passed the other VIPs to get to me.
"What are you doing here?! You should still be in the hospital!" she exclaimed.
"I didn't want to miss your performance," I said sincerely.
"You nearly died today! You should really be in bed!" she argued in Japanese.
"And you nearly died trying to save me," I replied in the same tongue.
"Smartass," she muttered in English before she moved in to hug me.
The other VIPs noticed how we were behaving and they took out their phones to take pictures of us. "Uh, Yue, they're staring at us," I whispered as I hugged her back.
"I don't care what they do as long as you're alright."
"Is that so?" I asked sarcastically but all Naomi did was nod. "Do you have time for one more song?"
Naomi suddenly looked up at me in surprise like she knew what I was thinking. I only wanted to hear her sing another song, but she thought I wanted to play one with her. Naomi released me and ran back on stage before I could say or do anything. The first thing she did was speak with the girl who was playing the keyboards and then she spoke with the other band members before she grabbed her mic and came back to pull me on stage. The spot light was on us, but no one down below had noticed that I was here. That was until I looked up at one of the screens and saw our faces being broadcasted on it. At first it was just one screen, but then the others began to show the same image and I just froze like a deer in the headlights. A hush fell over the crowd and I began to hear them murmuring among themselves.
"As I said before, I'm grateful for every service member out there who's fought in the war. It affected all of us in some way and I'm no different. This man right here," began Naomi as she pointed towards me. "He is one of my dearest friends and he also served in the OADF. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here doing what I love for everyone to enjoy and there wasn't a single day that I didn't worry about him while he was out there fighting. However, I was fortunate enough that he came back alive. I owe him more than I could ever repay. It's my great pleasure to have him here to assist me with one last song for the night."
Naomi looked back at me one last time and gave me a gentle smile hoping I'd know what song she'd want to play, but it was all I needed to get the hint. I went to the keyboard and took a seat on the stool so that I could begin playing the first eight chords of the songs intro. Not long after, the bass guitarist came in followed by the drummer and lead guitar. Once we all began playing we picked up the beat so that it sounded like we were playing lounge music. All we needed was for Naomi to join and we all took flight when she did.
Every day I wake-up unsure
Of the task the day will bring
And yesterday's disappointments
They keep reminding me
Tomorrow's surely coming
Just as sure as the air I breathe
But I know that I'll get through it
I have what I need
It was our favorite song and we could've played forever if we wanted. However, the thing that captivated me the most was the way Naomi sang. For as long as I've known her and even though she didn't tell me when we initially met, singing was one of the things she loved the most, right next to pizza and anime. Her singing was one of the things that I could never get tired of because she knew that she could put me at ease with her voice. If Kei and I were like the Blue Dove and the Princess, then Naomi and I were Beauty and the Beast.
The sun keeps shining
(Everything is bound to change)
And the wind keeps blowing
But the wide blue sky
Forever stays the same
I've been finding
That the joys in knowing
That the wide blue sky
That it's never gonna change
The crowd was singing the backup vocals and they were swaying to the beat. Everyone was captivated in the moment. Eventually Naomi's song came to an end and I stopped playing along with the other band members. When she was finally done singing, the crowd erupted in cheers for Naomi as she gazed over the crowd with a gentle smile…. A lonely impulse of delight... The crowd continued to cheer and I glanced over at Naomi to see that she collapsed onto her hands and knees. I was the first to run up and see if she was alright only to find that she was a little winded.
"Performing two dozen songs for everyone after you gave me half of your blood probably wasn't the best choice, was it?" I asked.
"You're still alive. I wouldn't exactly say it was a bad choice," she said with a weak smile.
I chuckled at her response and placed her arm around my shoulder so that I could help her walk off the stage after she told everyone goodnight. "So where do you want to go next?" I asked her, but then I heard her stomach growl.
"Home sounds like a winner."
"I really don't want to stay at another hotel," I grumbled.
"I got that covered."
Naomi and I continued to head off stage where we were met by a large number of people carrying cameras and microphones. They were all trying to ask us questions about our relationship and what we were going to do next, but we kept our mouths closed the entire way out the venue and into my car that Naomi had borrowed because hers was in the shop for some reason. The paparazzi tried following us only to be left in the dust as I sped through the mostly empty streets of Oured. When we were clear, Naomi directed us to a rather large looking house in the suburbs that turned out to be an IOSS safe house. Judging by the activity coming from inside, I could see that someone was having a party in there.
"Mr. Harkin let me use this place with the IOSS Director's permission when she found out I was coming to Oured," said Naomi as she took off her wig to reveal her white hair. "I was thinking about renting out our old apartment and use it for the time being, but staying here for free isn't so bad."
"I know I wouldn't be complaining. Hotel rooms just aren't as inviting as they seem," I replied.
"Yeah, aside from that, the Director told that there were some others here that would be happy to see you."
We got out of my car after I parked in the driveway and we both headed inside. As soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by a full grown German Shepard jumping on me and I fell to the ground. He was frantically rubbing his head against mine and it took me a second to get my bearings back to speak.
"It's good to see you too, Buster," I chuckled as I began to scratch behind my dog's ear.
"So, you managed to make it in time, Sir." I got up off the ground and looked over towards the living room to see Grimm, Snow, Danny, Kyle, Michelle and Erica sitting on the furniture. But the thing that surprised me the most was when I saw Justin sitting with them. His face had bruises on in it that were already healing and he also had his arm in a sling.
"Hardin, what happened to you?" I asked.
"Ha, I was abducted by someone when I went to visit Chopper's family by myself. They kept me in a prison for three weeks until Osean SOG (Special Operation Group) came to get me. Your friend, the Lt. Colonel, filled me in on everything that's been going on."
I was speechless because I was so happy to see him. Everyone else in the room told me that they had a similar reaction to see that he was here. We all mellowed out in the living room and talked for the next hour before we heard the front door open. We all looked to see who had come and we saw that it was Kei. Everyone greeted her warmly, but I couldn't bring myself to move. Everyone hugged her, but then Naomi got up to face her. There was this intense silence between them and everyone moved to the other room while I stayed with the girls. After about a minute of staring at each other, Kei suddenly moved in to hug Naomi. I was extremely thrown off by this whole thing and I didn't know what to think at this point. It only lasted for a moment before they separated and we proceeded to join the others in the kitchen where we continued to talk the night away. By the time we all decided to go to bed, we were too drunk to go upstairs and everyone found a spot in the living room to crash for the night.
I was the last one to call it a night because I decided to have one last drink to help me forget everything I've done over the past several months. A fifth of whiskey was nowhere near enough, but it was all I had. The world was once again at peace with no signs of any kind of imminent threat in sight for the moment.
"It's only a matter of time before they call me in to do their dirty work again," I muttered to myself.
Sheesh and I thought I complained a lot.
"The reason I never complain, Chopper, is because it's my job to keep everyone's moral up. Luckily I had Hans in the squadron or else I'd have spread my negativity to all of you."
I always thought it was just his way of cheering up every time he lost those stupid bets he kept proposing to me. I ended up making well over $200 the whole time we were on Sand Island.
"You're the one who encouraged him to make the stupid bets, Chopper."
Well yeah, how else was I supposed to get my kicks around the base? Grim was the easiest one to pick on.
"You're a fucking bully, you know that?"
Not as bad as you though. Who makes someone run the entire length of Sand Island's runway just for changing a screen saver?
"Would you have rather done that or gone to talk to Perrault so that he could stick it to you?"
I could've come up with something more devious than that. Speaking of which, I now outrank you. Karma's a bitch, ain't it?
I laughed to myself as I chugged the last bit of whiskey in the bottle before I thought of a response. "There's nothing you can do to intimidate me at this point. Give it up."
Look me in the eye and say that, Kid.
"How the hell can…" I began as I looked over to my right, but I froze when I saw someone sitting next to me. "I haven't been this drunk in a long time, Davenport. Now I'm seeing things."
"I figured you'd say that," said Chopper and I felt myself blackout and fall out of my seat onto the floor.