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The man sat calmly at the bar while confusion still ran rampant amongst the tavern's patrons. When he finally finished his final drink he stood, laid a sack of coins on the bar, and walked over to where the dead commander lay. He knelt down and rolled the body over. After a few moments he looked at the body and said, "Time to get up old man!". At that Marcus lept up onto his feet and dusted himself off and dropped the broken bottle that had held smash tomatoes. Marcus looked up and saw a room full of shocked faces, he stared around for a couple of seconds then looked at the tall man and said "Hey Leech, what's wrong with them? they look like they seen a ghost!". When Leech heard that he could not hold his composure and immediately began laughing like a fool. Slowly people began to realize what had happened; that the two men had been having bit of fun with the newbies and the admerial. The two men looked at the admeral and almost in unison said "sorry Tom! couldn't resist!", Tom just stared laughing. Minutes latter the three men were sitting and talking. Tom looked at Marcus and said "Ok Marc, now i know that was your idea. I also know funny or not that was a lesson. but i must know, why were you so hard on them?". Marcus looked at him, all traces of comedy left his face as he said "well, I have to prepare them for battle don't I?" Tom gave a small nod that indicated the man was right, but he wanted more. Marcus continued "In real Combat even commanders can die, sometimes even the targets of direct assassination" with that he gave a short look at leech "isn't that right?". Leech look at the table for a few seconds, then picked his head up and removed his cloak's hood. now his head was clearly viable, he had bright red hair, dark green eyes with a scar over the left one. he had a young, strong, clean shaven face. but the only thing about him that many noticed was his abnormally pointy ears. Leech looked back at Marcus, is eyes narrowed and he said in a low voice "Marc, would you like to be dead for real?". Marcus held the gaze for only a few seconds before looking away and saying "gezz, still so touchy about something that happened so long ago...well in any case, those boys need to be prepare for what to do when they lose their leader, today they failed, but they will learn from this, and be better because of it!". After about an hour or so the men left McSweeney's, the admiral left to head back to his office at the nearby docks. Marcus and Leech how ever had to mount their horses and ride four hours back to the military headquarters in the capital city of Valt, named so because of the strange high metallic walls that kept the city safe. By the the two men finally reached the gates of Valt it was midnight. When they were finally inside and had cleared the last security checkpoint they split up, Marcus went to his office in the main headquarters but Leech had to go into an area located in the corner of the large military compound. Leech is the commander of the special operations squad known as the "Burning Bands" or the "BBs", the answered only to the Commandant. They are the best of the best, and are tasked with spying, assassinating, and coordinate troop movement tactics. The squad was made of of only four members. Luke Barns, the squad's medic, could preform surgery in the dark and under stress, he also had a knack for keeping spirits high. Alice Porter, the sniper, could put an arrow, bolt or knife anywhere she wanted, whenever she wanted; she is most of the teams moral compass. Rex Stone, the squad's quartermaster and weapon smith, he was also the most compassionate member of the team. Finally there's Leech, he is the leader of the BBs, and the best tactician in the Legion. Their bunkhouse and training facility were located far away from the rest of the buildings as they did most of their training at night. This fact is what tipped Leech off to something being wrong. As he approached the bunkhouse he saw that the room was well lite, meaning the team was very much awake. He quickly hopped off his horse and ran inside. What he saw sent a shiver down his spine as it was a sight he had never expected to see. All the burning bands were sitting on their cots, crying. Luke was the closest to the door, so Leech walked up to him and asked in a worried yet in control tone "What happened!". Luke stood and gave a quick salute then tried to speak but all he could say was "He's dead!". Leech had a weird feeling in the pit of his soul hearing this. He looked around and asked aloud, to no-one in particular, "Who died!?". Now Rex stood and gave a saluted, he stood there for a moment before saying "Sir Commandant Zero, sir!". A wave of pain and sadness swept through bunkhouse, everyone within the walls felt like they had lost a part of themselves. Leech felt his heart almost stop, he found in hard to breath and then hard to see as is eyes heated and tears began to fall. it was a feeling he had only ever acquainted with extreme physical pain. He quickly fought the sadness down and said in a cracking voice, "when and who else knows?". Luke spoke again, "Nobody else knows yet. He sent for me an hour ago.he was really pail, and he said there wasn't anything i could do. He wanted me to give you these..". Luke reached into is medical bag, and retrieved a few sheets of notes. He handed them to Leech and finished his previous thought "...and told me to keep it a secret until you read those". All Leech could do was stand there in shock.
 randomizor301 · Mon Jun 28, 2010 @ 09:28am · 1 Comments |
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