Chapter Text
The pain was unbearable. Blood, his own, was flowing from every opened wound on his body. From every opened cuts, every bullet wound that lined across his battered body. Flashes of his comrades being killed right off the bat, all because he underestimated the enemy, right before his eyes played through as he and his last comrade ran, trying to escape from the clutches of the enemy that held them captive for god knows how long anymore.
The scars would heal… the burns would fade… but the mental pain would forever remain. He looked to his last comrade… his last teammate, as they stopped for breath and hid. Not that it would be useful in this situation…. they already knew they were surrounded.
“Commander….”
“Don’t start private…” the commander growled, eyes wild as he surveyed their location. “For the last time call me Sergeant… I’m not promoted or dead yet.”
“… We’re not going to m-make it are we?”
“We’re going to make it, stop doubting already.” His eyes caught something of interest, a clear path. It was risky but at the moment beggars couldn’t be choosers. “Straight ahead, and keep going.”
The duo began running as fast as they could through the path, thankfully not stepping on any hidden mines or traps.
“A heli-evac should be up ahead, we just…. gotta keep going!” the sergeant exclaimed, combat boots leaving imprints deep into the ground with each foot fall. He was not going to lose anyone else… not on his watch.
~~~~~
Pain echoed through his body, blood was constantly dripping from what felt like everywhere. Casting his gaze around him he noticed the two other downed figures… or rather what was left of at least one of them. Through blurry vision he made out the solid blue thing… with the red around where he assumed the eyes were.
He felt his own heart drop at the sight. As his vision cleared even just a little bit… he saw there had been a lot of damage to the blue hero to the point that not only was an arm missing… but so was a good chunk of his body around said missing appendage.
If he wasn’t coughing up so much blood already he might have just thrown up at the sight. His ears were still ringing as well… but despite that he heard voices coming from something.
“ bzzt…. Respond…. button…. left.”
That’s all he could make out from the static and from slightly damaged hearing. Glancing to where he heard the voice, he noticed a small looking device. With some effort he pulled himself towards it, feeling some of his own innards being exposed to the grass below. He knew he wasn’t going to make it at this rate… but he could at least get someone to help the one who was still breathing… he could at least get help for Splendont after all if what he thought happened was caused by him. Focusing the last of his energy as he pushed the button on the communicator he spoke.
“H….elp….”
~~~~~
Anderson instantly called for some of his men to go with him. Belle was quick to join his side as he began calling for men.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, as the commander grabbed his favored rifle and held it to his side.
“I got a response from Splendont’s communicator. It was a call for help and it wasn’t Splendont’s voice,” Anderson explained, glancing over to the small group of four he called over to join him. Nikolai was among the three other soldiers and he was the only one who shifted a little uncomfortably.
“We’re moving out quick. Kalloway you navigate to this location,” Anderson ordered after he pulled out his communication device and pushed two buttons before an exact pinpointed location popped up onto a GPS like map device in his other hand. The commander was quick to give the mentioned soldier the map before addressing the other three men.
“Let us join as well Anderson…” the calm voice of Mole brought attention to him as well as Russell standing beside him.
“Too risky with both of you having disabilities that wouldn’t help out at all.”
“Aye… that may be true but if the voice is who we think it is, then we will HAVE to come,” Russell explained as he crossed his arms, being very careful with his hook as he did.
“And why’s that?”
“Because we know how to treat our dead properly… and you guys won’t,” Mole answered.
“Besides, the two of us can usually tell exactly when they will come back from the dead anyways,” Russell continued, confusing some of the soldiers. Anderson however kept a straight face.
“My answer is still no. One of you can’t see anything at all which is a danger in the field in itself, while the other has to have prosthetic limbs and if even one get’s broken we won’t be able to fix it,” Anderson explained, only for Mole to point his white cane right in Anderson’s face.
“I understand your point. But I choose to ignore it in favor of checking for our friends.”
“Besides, even if we do die, there’s still the curse,” Russell added, carefully crossing his arms so his hook doesn’t cut into his skin.
“The answer is still no.”
“Then consider that the answer continued to be ignored.”
“Aye…”
“Commander… aren’t we wasting time on this?” One of the soldiers pipped up causing said commander to sigh.