Standing atop a box that overlooked the arena, Bell stood silently as his soldiers fought eachother.
He figured everything would be ending soon.
Although there was almost nine minutes left, it was clear the game would ending sometime soon.
From the initial dash to the flag, to copper's hold of it's entrance, even silver's jumping of the walls.
He had seen it all, with nothing escaping his attention.
Or so he previously thought.
His opinion of himself changed when he saw an unforseen variable popping out it's head.
It was caused by a member of Flynn's copper team.
He had first noticed the soldier during the gun selection.
Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen the man standing there with one of his officers.
He had said nothing when the two finally started moving, and remained silent when the two carried away a small pile of weaponry.
At the time, he felt pity, judging the boy had no talent for a weapon and was desperate. He no longer paid attention to their actions after that.
None would believe his shock when he witnessed the soldier tear through his enemies, turning into his team's cleaver.
Bell's non-existent heart nearly jumped out through his ears when he saw the baton flying towards the siders back and subsequent fall. Luckily they made it out of that situation thanks to an officer from team copper.
Then the skirmish at the entrance happened.
With the help of the assisting auxiliary unit, nothing escaped his eyes.
What he made note of was Ostrander's rigid thinking, which led to less flexibility but increased efficiency in his soldiers. Then there was Miller's skirmish like style, using his men in hit and run squads. Seemingly, he picked the fast and elusive for his team. Then there was Sayke. Although he hadn't don't anything astonishing, his troops were incredibly stable. They reinforced the flanks and provided security to the other's.
After the flag had been stolen, the three teams partnered up without saying a word, and together, crusaded against copper team.
Bell found Flynn quite interesting, having watched on as the Lt. stood by as his men made the decisions, led the charge towards the flag and then defended the flag from behind.
He found the officer quite flexible, letting his own officers use their own judgement on situations while also participating in the endeavor personally.
And then he saw the action that he'd been waiting for.
He watched on as the silver made their way towards the back of coppers compound, where they used their own troops as stepping stools.
Bell had laughed watching the scene. Finding their solution to the wall problem hilarious.
As anticipated, copper was clueless for a time before they formed a proper response.
Secretly, he wanted to see what the soldier form earlier would do.
He wasn't disappointed, smiling, he watched as the figure came from behind and defeated the unsuspecting silver's.
Soon afterwards, the coppers fell back to their flag stand, a horde following close behind.
This is where he currently was, right before the clash.
With something close to a warcry, the two sides went at it. Copper team's cleaver, along with his friend, were in the thick of it, with eachother covering the others back. A growing pile of enemies surrounded them.
Bell hadn't specified specified what to do when they were out and everyone had assumed they were to drop dead and stay there.
This had lead to bodies strewn across the arena, something he found funny.
Flynn stood a little farther back, keeping an eye on the flag and helping where needed.
Slowly, copper was whittled down, though through enormous effort of their enemies.
What remained of the team removed themselves from combat, and grouped together together as they became surrounded.
There were only four of them left. Their team captain, Flynn, sergeant Vale, sergeant Cherry, and the interesting soldier from earlier.
For a moment, there was no movement from either side. They stayed still, silently watching eachother.
Then the order came through and the gold, silver, and iron alliance advanced, tightening their noose.
The fighting resumed soon after.
With a ferocity akin to a cornered animal, the remaining four fought on, taking many out before they were completely overwhelmed by their number and fatigue. Cherry was the last to fall.
Now that their shared enemy had been dealt with, the alliance dissolved and everyone started to look at the other with distrust. The tension could be felt up where Bell stood.
He watched on.
No one made a move, that is, until someone made a run for the flag, staring the fighting once more.
Nothing special happened until most of the grunts were out of the game, this is when the team Captain's made their appearance.
Previously, they hadn't shown themselves, deeming the risk unnecessary.
Now that the final stretch of the game was here, they seemed it an appropriate time to come out.
Ostrander, Miller and Sayke stared at eachother, their eyes focused on the slightest movements.
The situation was similar to a standoff.
Miller was the first to make a move, he ran past the other two and made a break for the flag.
He then barked out a few orders, what remained of his troops soon cleared the oath for him.
Just as he was about to reach the stand with nobody to stop him, something completely unexpected occurred.
A hand reached out from the ground and grabbed Miller's foot. As the man was just running, he lurched forward and fell onto his stomach.
What followed caused Bell's eyes to go wide.
Whoever tripped Miller quickly got up and whacked the now defenseless Captain. Soon after, they grabbed the flag and went into a dead sprint.
The other's stopped fighting, even the other Captain's who were chasing after Miller paused. They watched on as the figure made their way towards a wall where they sped up, bringing one end of the flag pole to the ground where it caught on something. This launched the figure into the air, where they proceeded to twist their body up and over the wall.
They used the flag pole to pole vault...
Silence fell upon the field as everyone hadn't recovered from their shock.
Bell had recognized the pole vaulter as the soldier from before.
Feeling that he had seen enough, Bell figured he had seen everything he needed to see.
The remaining participants numbered around twenty. While it might prove beneficial to see where the rest of the game went, there was only five minutes left anyway. Plus, he was simply running out of time.
His booming voice was heard moments later.
"I DO BELIEVE THIS MARKS THE END OF THE GAME. CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM COPPER FOR WINNING WITH A TOTAL OF FIFTEEN POINTS. THE GAME IS NOW OVER. GET SOME REST!."
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he heard a voice, one that belonged to his Lieutenant, Flynn.
"Since we won Sir, do we get a prize?."
"NOPE!."
Before the man could reply, Bell left impatiently, escaping from the view of his men. He walked in a certain direction, all while having a serious expression on his face.
Although the capture the flag game was entertaining and helped him forget some of his worries, it was only a temporary thing.
Before too long, he arrived at the attic pull-down, the entrance and exit of this area of the house.
Unease had been in his heart the moment he first opened his eyes.
Due to his high rank, he knew more than the others.
They weren't alone in this house.
The green's presence was known.
They were preparing.
Due to this, he sped his men through the basics, even trying to rush their team coordination using capture the flag.
This was all so they would be ready.
He hoped he'd been fast enough.
Though he feared he was too late.
Dread spread throughout his body.