It was a bright cold day in the twelfth month of Quadaria, in the year 3100, one hundred years since the war started. It was thirteen o'clock (Quadarian Time) in the countryside of Brueveria, Dinach, the capital state of Quadaria, where factories with hundreds of workers worked tirelessly in the lands of the Denizen Districts. The smoke polluted the sky, giving it an unusual grey colour even though it was summer. On the eastern part of the city, Frank, a veteran soldier turned revolutionist, was having a dispute with two negotiators with another revolutionist and a close friend of his, Amelia.
"Unionists?" one of the men asked.
Frank wondered why the man would ask the question.
"No," Frank promptly answered.
"Coalition members."
Amelia looked nervous.
"Frank," she whispered.
"Weren't they Federationists?"
Frank grew a slight suspicion.
"Hey," the other man got up and spoke.
"Relax."
"It doesn't need to end like this."
Frank wasn't so sure.
"I can't tell them about the data case," he thought.
"They are hiding something."
"I know they are."
One of the negotiators got up from working on the newly made holoscreens.
"Hey!" he shouted.
"The woman, get over here."
Amelia hesitantly looked at Frank.
"Go," Frank whispered.
Amelia slowly walked up to the man.
"Help me with this," he ordered.
"What is it?" Amelia asked.
"I don't know," he answered.
"That's why I'm asking you."
"I mustn't interfere much," Frank thought internally.
"I can't interfere."
Amelia went to work on the holoscreen.
"Do you want to access the footage?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah," the man annoyedly responded.
"What do you think?"
Frank didn't like how they were talking to Amelia.
"O-Okay," Amelia obliged.
They continued to access the death camp files.
"Jeez," the other man turned to look.
"They really don't care about denizens, do they?"
The first man looked up to the second man.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Are the elite troopers even human?"
Amelia felt uncomfortable. Frank could see it.
"You two can continue working now, right?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, yeah," the first man answered.
"You can go now."
Amelia quickly got up and walked to Frank.
"No wonder the denizens rose up!" the first man continued.
Then, the second man looked in confusion.
"Wait, I can't find the personnel file," the second man spoke.
"Where is it?"
Then, something suddenly popped up in Frank's head.
"Where's Fritz?" Frank remembered.
The second man got up from the chair.
"I thought you already put the data in, no?" the man asked.
Frank hesitated.
"I-I have," Frank spoke stutteringly.
The man looked confused.
"But, I have a question to ask first," Frank told the man.
"Didn't you two send Fritz to the extraction site?"
The two men suddenly went quiet.
"Don't tell me you two handed him in," Frank thought in disbelief.
The second man reached into a briefcase.
"It was a—" Frank tried to speak.
Before Frank could continue, he heard a loud bang and in a split second, he felt a sharp pain inside his stomach.
"Frank!" Amelia yelled in horror.
"A-a-are you okay?!"
Amelia got on her knees to assess Frank.
"Y-Yeah, I think so," Frank spoke stutteringly.
One of the men held Amelia at gunpoint.
"Amelia!" Frank thought.
Frank tried to speak but the words didn't come out.
"If you comply now, you'll be spared," the man said in a ferocious tone.
"So, tell me, where the hell is the data case!?"
Then, just as the man had yelled, the door to the room was harshly kicked down.
"Reactance Paragons!" a loud and terrifying monotonic voice spoke.
"Get your hands up and your weapons down!"
Frank knew what that voice was.
"What are the Reactance Paragons doing here!?" Frank thought.
"Put your weapons on the floor now!" the monotonous voice yelled again.
But before the two gunmen could react, Frank grabbed Amelia and ran out of the window to another rooftop.
"What—" the man said in surprise.
Then, the Reactance Paragons started opening fire.
"Amelia!" Frank shouted over the loud gunfire.
"Be careful not to slip!"
Amelia looked at Frank.
"O-Of course!" Amelia answered.
The roar of gunfire from the building was loud. Frank could see flashes of light, blinking from the window. Bullets flew out from the walls, raining stray bullets upon Frank and Amelia. Frank desperately needed medical care as he might bleed out anytime soon.
"Frank!" Amelia shouted.
"Ladder!"
Frank knew what she meant and went to her.
"You go down first," Frank told Amelia.
Amelia began climbing down the ladder.
"Alright," she said.
"You should too."
Frank slowly climbed down the ladder.
"The bleeding is getting worse," he thought.
Frank couldn't climb down fast enough, especially with one hand holding back the bleeding.
"Quicker," Frank thought.
"The Reactance Paragons might get us!"
A sweat dripped down Frank's face as a stray bullet suddenly flew over him.
"Come on, quicker!" he pushed himself internally.
Frank tried to force himself to be quicker but a sharp pain in the stomach stopped Frank from moving.
"A-Are you okay?!" Amelia asked worriedly.
Frank couldn't answer. His breathing got heavier. His head felt lighter.
"Just slowly and steadily," Frank thought to himself.
Frank eventually got to the bottom.
"Okay," he said while panting.
"Let me see where we should go next."
Frank turned around the corner. Surprisingly, there wasn't even a blockade of sorts. No police, no soldiers, nothing. Then, a hovering truck appeared and came to a halt, the dirt up in a cloud of dust. Then, the back of the hovertruck opened to reveal men in blue and black uniforms with familiar emblems. It was a hovertruck full of revolutionists, armed to the brim with guns and ammunition. They fired back at the buildings, giving cover fire for the two.
"Get in!" one of the gunmen shouted.
Frank turned to Amelia.
"On the count of three," Frank told Amelia.
"We'll run as fast as possible, okay?"
"Y-yes," Amelia responded nervously.
Frank waited for the royal troopers to reload.
"One," he began counting nervously as the gunfire ensued.
"Two."
"Three!"
Frank ran as fast as she could to the hovertruck as Amelia did so too.
"Don't trip now," Frank thought internally.
Frank made it to the hovertruck and jumped in.
"Grab my hand, Amelia!" Frank shouted in exhaustion.
Amelia grabbed Frank's arm and Frank began pulling her up. The Reactance Paragons began their barrage of gunfire. The bullets whizzed passed Frank. A cry of pain could be heard. Frank turned and saw one of the revolutionists had been hit, his face and pieces of brain matter could be seen. Frank was terrified. Then, Amelia's feet got up to the truck and she got on as the back door closed shut. Then, as the hovertruck took off, Frank lost his footing and fell. He didn't get seriously injured though.
"Frank!" Amelia gasped as she kneeled to help Frank stand up.
"I-I'm alright, thanks for the help though," Frank said in agony.
Frank grunted from the agonizing pain.
"I'm not alright at all," he thought.
To Frank's surprise, Amelia got herself a pair of forceps from the medical box inside the hovertruck and borrowed a scalpel from one of the gunmen. Then, Amelia injected an analgesic into Frank's abdomen, easing out the pain of the wound.
"Hey," Frank said nervously.
"Are you qualified to do this?"
Amelia looked directly into Frank's eyes.
"Yes, I was a combat medic," Amelia said with a straight face.
"And worked at a hospital afterwards."
"I'm more than qualified to do this."
Thus, she began her surgical operation. Frank's vision faded in and out a couple of times throughout. In just what felt like a moment to Frank, Amelia had done her surgery. Frank could see the bullet head between the forceps.
"I-It's over?" Frank thought in pure amazement.
"Well, I guess she was a medic in Krieger's division."
"I really shouldn't be surprised."
After that, Amelia poured some disinfectants, and then sewed and bandaged the wound. This whole surgical operation happened inside a hovertruck going a hundred kilometres an hour with six other revolutionists sitting, watching the whole thing happen. It was certainly vulgar. Though to Frank's experiences, this was just a normal event on the frontlines.
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The hovertruck drove far away to a different building where Amelia and Frank had scheduled a meeting with a higher-up. At an unknown location a wrecked apartment, Mr Valen D. Krieger, now an ex-captain, complimented them for being exponentially good at their job. He was sitting behind a desk.
"Well, what do I say?" he grinned.
He was impressed.
"You two completed your mission in just a day!" he laughed in astonishment.
"Yeah, we almost died though," Frank interrupted.
Frank hated the smug look on Mr Krieger's face.
"It makes me want to punch him," Frank thought internally.
Frank breathed in to prepare for what was to come.
"And also," he spoke fearlessly.
"We know the truth about the A.Q.C."
The room went silent as Mr Krieger stopped his laughter.
"Know what?" Mr Krieger replied.
"The guts of this man," Frank thought in disdain.
Frank had had enough of Mr Krieger's demands and his blatant lies.
"Quit playing dumb," Frank coldly doubled down.
Mr Krieger stood up from the chair.
"Mr Richardson, you know our goals and our morals," Mr Krieger slowly spoke.
"You should understand our slogans by now."
He paused for a moment.
"Oh, I understand them alright," Frank thought in hatred.
Then, Mr Krieger banged on the desk.
"Don't you still remember the words!? DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN THEM!?" Valen asked angrily.
"Stop trying to persuade me, Krieger," Frank said coldly.
"It's not going to work."
"Just explain to me."
"Why?"
There was a moment of silence again.
"Frank, you know that that isn't what we're aiming towards, don't you?" Mr Krieger spoke up.
"The Federation has done horrible and utterly inhumane things, Richardson!"
"The Federationists must be stopped, Richardson! They support the Federation!"
Frank knew what Mr Krieger was trying to do.
"Think about your family!" Mr Krieger attempted to persuade further.
"Don't you remember what happened to them when you relied on the Federation?!"
"Enough, Krieger!" Frank shouted in annoyance.
"You know the Coalition is just another tyrant to replace the current one!"
"I knew something was off about this coalition from the very beginning!"
"Frank!" Mr Krieger shouted back as he stood up from his chair.
"Such outlandish claims!"
"I thought you'd be better than this, Franklin!"
"Valen, just... stop pretending you don't know," Amelia spoke up.
Mr Krieger looked in pure bewilderment at Amelia.
"You just tried to gaslight Frank, Amelia said in a saddened tone.
"Using the death of his family!"
Amelia teared up, her eyes becoming watery. She had felt betrayed yet again by someone she thought she could trust. She admired him but now, she felt hatred towards the man that she once trusted.
"Amelia, not you too!" Mr Krieger shouted in annoyance.
"This is ludicrous!"
"How dare you question the Coalition!"
"What is this mutiny?!"
"What's gotten into you two?!"
Mr Krieger was nearly out of breath. He had to pause again to breathe and readied to begin talking. He sat back in his chair.
"Such treason..." he spoke in tiredness.
Frank could see Mr Krieger was disappointed but he knew he was doing the right thing. Amelia was still holding her tears.
"You both are traitors!" Mr Krieger suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Traitors! You hear me? Traitors!"
Amelia shook visibly.
"As if you weren't one yourself," Frank scoffed internally.
"Heh, you don't even intend to help the Unionists."
"Heck, you don't even have a side!"
Then, Mr Krieger suddenly got up from his chair again.
"Guards!" he shouted.
But just as Mr Krieger shouted, an explosion roared and the air raid sirens blared as the red alert lights flashed and the water sprinklers opened. Frank took the opportunity to grab a pistol from his concealed holster and shoot. Mr Krieger was hit in the shoulder and quickly dropped to the ground to hide. Then another guard with a submachine gun aimed barged into the room.
"Sir!" he yelled.
"What—"
Frank grabbed the guard by his shoulder, raising it. The guard fired the submachine gun, completely missing his shots. The rounds lit up the ceiling of the room. Frank then aimed his slightly up at the head of the guard, and pulled the trigger, swiftly killing the guard with a single shot straight into the brain. Blood splattered across the door frame. Mr Krieger, with his right shoulder still bleeding, pushed the alarm button behind the table he was hiding. The alarms were sounded. Frank knew they had to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"Catch!" Frank yelled.
Frank threw his pistol to Amelia who caught it swiftly.
"Go grab the tickets!" Frank ordered.
"On it!" Amelia yelled back.
Amelia did as told. She grabbed the tickets from the drawers beside all the wet papers while holding Mr Krieger at gunpoint just in case he tried anything funny. Meanwhile, Frank looked around the room. He knew a secret passage behind one of the paintings in the room.
"The Sixteenth in Piere," he thought carefully.
Frank went in front of the large painting in the room.
"Ah! There it is!" he spoke in resolve.
He removed the painting and low and behold, there it was, a giant gap in the wall.
"Have you got the tickets?" Frank asked Amelia.
"Yes," she responded quickly.
"Alright, let's go," Frank ordered.
Frank grabbed Amelia by her hand and sprinted through the gap as quickly as they could. It was dark and tight, claustrophobia kicked in. Amelia felt uncomfortable, made worse by their clothes being soaking wet and heavy. Then, she started feeling scared. She didn't like tight spaces. Frank saw the frowned expression on Amelia's face. Frank knew they couldn't waste any time. They had to get off of this god-forsaken planet as fast as humanly possible.
"The sewed bullet will get teared up again in this enclosed space!" Frank thought.
"I can't tell that to Amelia though, she might get too panicked."
The dark, tight tunnel seemed to stretch forever though.
"I can't see a single thing!" Frank thought in anger.
"This is reminding me of the snow blinding my eyes."
"I nearly got punished for not following basic protocols!"
Frank thought about that.
"That was a long time ago," he reassured himself.
"Things have changed since then."
Further up the tunnel, the space got so tight that two had to practically crawl. It only added to Amelia's claustrophobia. Then, in the corner of Frank's eye, a beam of light shone.
"Light!" Frank thought in joy.
He knew they were nearly out.
"I see light, Amelia!" Frank spoke in delight.
Amelia raised her head a bit but couldn't see much.
"Hang on, Amelia!" Frank assured.
"We're nearly out!"
Amelia smiled in joy after hearing that. They crawled a bit more. Frank could hear shouts and screams of pain coming from the open. Once outside, it wasn't looking good. There were spaceships far up in the sky, bombarding shells of mass destruction The impacts made a drum of devastation, an unintended orchestra of chaos. It was a massacre never before seen. Buildings collapsed into rubble. The debris nearly fell on the two. The I.F.Q.S. was bombing the suspected revolution areas in hopes of wiping them out. They were desperate. Amelia wanted to cry at the sight of civilians being bombed but Frank hugged Amelia tightly, reassured her, and calmed her down.
They took a damaged hovercar that seemed to be working still. There was a dead body on the roof of it. Frank smashed the window of the driver's seat, reached behind the door, opened it, and got into the driver's seat. After getting into the driver's seat, Frank grabbed the keys from the sun visors. He pushed the keys into the ignition and turned it. Then... the hovercar came to life! The hovercar's engine made a loud starting noise and then, it was OK to drive! It was still working despite having scrape marks, dents, and scratch marks from the shrapnel of the bombing. Frank drove it straight to an extraction site of the A.Q.C.
The glass shards from when Frank broke the hovercar window with his elbow had left small cuts on Frank's arm. Making his arm hurt and bleed. Explosions rocked the hovercar but they drove on, not wanting to stop or slow down in the slightest. The shrapnel smashed against the windshield, leaving cracks in the glass. His bullet wound which was stitched up was still pouring out blood, turned bandaged into a dark red colour. Probably because of the crawling. He was slowly bleeding out yet again. He desperately needed proper medical attention. His life was slowly fading away. His eyes and body wanted to give up, becoming numb, but Frank held it together and kept driving. They had to keep driving no matter the cost.
"Hang on there, Frank," Amelia reassured.
"We can stop to heal your wounds—"
"No need to," Frank interrupted.
"But Frank!" Amelia tried to reason.
"I can take the steering wheel for you."
Frank agreed to that. He stomped on the brakes and stopped driving. Amelia got out of the hovercar to get Frank into the passenger's seat. Frank opened the hovercar door for Amelia to take control of the steering wheel, and slid himself into the passenger's seat. Then, a sharp pain went up Frank's spine. He groaned, the sound of defeat and agony.
"A-Are you okay Frank?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah—"
He grunted and halted his speech as he suddenly felt a sharp pain again.
"Frank..." Amelia spoke worriedly.
"Just get into the driver's seat quickly!" Frank requested in pain.
Amelia got into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. Frank sat tightly in the passenger's seat. Then, Amelia began driving.
"Wait," Frank thought.
"Has she ever driven before?"
A sense of fear rolled up to him.
"Can she even drive at all?!" he thought fearfully.
Thankfully, Amelia continued to drive without crashing even once. Frank didn't know if he would make it out alive.
"Fritz's for sure dead," he thought.
"At least I got to say goodbye."
He looked at Amelia in the driver's seat.
"I love you, Amelia," Frank thought.
"I truly do."
A tear dripped down Frank's eyes.
"I hope you survive," Frank hoped for the best.
Frank looked out of the hovercar's window into the fields. It was certainly peaceful. Frank could feel his life fading away as his vision got blurrier.
"How did I end up here?" he thought.
He closed his eyes and sighed.