Team Order

[ - 1 DAY BEFORE THE FINAL TOMORROW - ]

"You can't be serious"

The peaceful tweets of birds echoed through the air as the trees danced in the wind. It was rather grey and cloudy, yet the air seemed warm. Two grown men sat on the bench and stood out from the rest of the crowd with their long black trench coats, and one of them wore a blue snood.

"If not now, when Marcus?" responded his colleague. The two then paused for a brief moment until Marcus' partner asked a seemingly rhetorical question out of the blue.

"Do you believe in destiny?" 

"Tylo, I'm serious!"

"We all need to find our purpose", Tylo seemingly ignored Marcus' need for an answer, and looked up into the sky as if searching for something up there. "Something that we were meant to do, to devote our entire life to achieve that goal..."

"And you think that this is alright? Committing a worldwide genocide of millions if not BILLIONS of people?"

Once again, the pair of men were silent. 

"You see those children over there?", pointed out Tylo, maintaining his composure. "They will never know of a peaceful world like we did. Soon they, too, will have to suffer a fate of ceaseless violence. Humanity will plunge itself into extinction, history will only repeat itself."

"My destiny ... is to stop that vicious cycle, so that those children can live to see a better tomorrow." 

Marcus was speechless, utterly shocked by what he had just heard.

"You're a mad man, you know that?"

"And? You expect me to do nothing? Sometimes, we need to be crazy and ambitious to make evident change. We have suffered long enough."

Tylo then stood up from the bench and took one last glance over his shoulder to Marcus.

"The plan is already set in motion. We can finally give what this world needs: Order."

The children screamed in deafeningly high pitches as they chased each other playfully around the fields of the park. Tylo then walked away, and Marcus could only watch as his shape gradually faded into the distance.

Tylo and Marcus have been close friends for years, but there was very little that Marcus knew about his friend's personal life and background. Tylo barely talked about his own family situation and Marcus could only imagine the thoughts that went on inside his head.

[ - PRESENT DAY - ]

Tylo peeped over a wall and surveilled the corridors, with Vince following closely behind.

"All clear."

 The two then hurried over to the next sets of walls, gradually going deeper and deeper into the base.

"Where exactly are we going? We're probably gonna run into those two lunatics at this point.", Vince's voice wavered with uncertainty as he looked over his shoulder.

"I'll need to go to the server rooms and get a message through to the scientists, since they closed off our network. Although I expect that Cwa knows we're heading there."

"Are the scientists not usually working here?"

"They do. But I promised them a holiday in Benezuela for the week due to... previous events that may or may not have traumatised them."

"Well, the timing couldn't be any more perfect.", Vince commented sarcastically.

"Then once David is able to make contact, they should then be able to remotely shut down these Guardsmen ... hopefully."

"I'm loving this plan by the minu - "

Suddenly, Tylo gestured a finger over his mouth: footsteps were approaching and they were only getting louder. Vince cowered behind Tylo as he activated his Runian sword and held an offensive stance, handle held in both hands, ready to strike.

 -------

The sea swayed back and forth from the shore, a soothing blanket of water covering the beach. It was there that Shaun laid on a beach chair, letting the warmth of the sun embrace him.

Finally, he thought to himself, I'm miles away from all the bullshit.

Only last week Rishi launched an attack on the base by himself and forced Shaun and Ollie into a robotic suit that would kill anything remotely in sight. What a time to remember.

It was only now that Shaun could truly appreciate the present. He only realised how far he had come and how lucky he was to have survived up until this moment. Shaun then closed his eyes and made the dreadful mistake of looking back further into the past, all of which he did not consider reminiscing until now. He then felt a spontaneous pang of grief strike his heart. 

The rapid bursts of gunfire, the blood-curdling screams, the purple glow-

"Shaun? Are you okay?"

It was the voice of Ollie who was now looking down on Shaun, as his head concealed the sunlight from him.

"I'm alright", responded Shaun, refusing to elaborate further. He then looked at his watch to check how much time had passed."I must've slept for like two hours already."

"Ah okay, just making sure. You were making these weird faces as if you were having nightmares", Ollie laughed. "Bet it was about last week, wasn't it?"

"Yeah.. haha.."

The pair shared a moment of awkward silence. It was clear to Ollie that Shaun was not telling the truth, but he decided not to elaborate on it further.

"Might as well enjoy this getaway while we still can, I heard there's a bar nearby that serves nice Piña coladas."

"Mm sounds good."

Both of scientists walked across the shoreline as the sun looked like it had already begun to set, producing a fiery yet beautiful clash to create a passionate dawn.

-------

"So ... how are you? "

Rishi felt uncomfortable being alone in the server room with Cwa. She has seemed a little more off than usual (considering how crazy she already was, this was seemingly out of character).

Her encounter with her estranged brother could easily explain this, but Rishi felt there was more to it than she let on.

"Oh me?! I'm good, of course I'm good. Why wouldn't I be?" reassured Cwa, but her tone cracked with uncertainty to suggest otherwise.

She then turned to reveal to Rishi a broken smile. "And since when have you cared?"

"Well it's just tha-"

In the blink of an eye, Cwa's face was inches away from Rishi's as she held a knife to his throat. Rishi felt the cold, sharp metal touching his skin, his heart skipped a few beats and his mind still processed what had just happened.

Cwa's expression looked like an amalgamation of disgust and anxiety as her wide, watery eyes stared deep into Rishi's soul.

"Pretend like you and I are friends again ... and maybe Tylo won't be the only one dying today..."

After a long pause, as Rishi's body refused to move a single muscle, Cwa suddenly burst out into laughter, leaving Rishi just as confused.

"Oh my, you should have seen the look on your face, you looked like you were going to piss yourself.", Cwa said as she continued to laugh hysterically.

"You...", Rishi gritted his teeth as he realised he had just been humiliated. 

Cwa then began to bury her face in her hands, still laughing but her breathing was now heavy and broken. Rishi couldn't tell if she was still laughing or crying.

Only a broken mind could achieve such a quick change in emotion, he thought to himself. Learning from his mistake just moments ago, he knew better than to approach Cwa, especially if she had suddenly become as unstable as this.

He then heard her utter a single sentence.

"I swear ... I swear I will fucking kill him."