• CHAPTER 3: Reasoning


    They arrived at headquarters mid-center of the land where many Warriors guard the base. Fenix parked at the sidewalk directly in front of the entrance to the building they are scheduled to meet. Upon entering this building, another fellow warrior halts them for proper identification.
    “Ah, sorry, didn’t recognize you and Mak from afar. Proceed gentlemen.”
    “Thanks.” Fenix said as he and Mak by passes the guard. Both of them stopped in front of the elevator door and Fenix presses the button, now awaiting for its arrival. “I hate times like this.”
    “Eh?” Mak said facing Fenix.
    “I get nervous a bit on each mission they assign to us.”
    “Fenix, you’re not the only one. But you been here for almost a year now, how do you still get nervous?” Fenix faces Mak as the elevator door opens.
    “Dude, I’m just being human here.” He said entering the elevator. Mak nodded, following him inside. Fenix presses the button 9 to the ninth floor. “What, you aren’t?” Continues Fenix as the door closes.
    “Not really. Maybe just a bit but I’m more pumped than scared. You could just say, I’m using fear to convert into confidence. Buahaha! Oh yes, you know why?”
    “…because you’re a complete blind moron..?” Fenix said looking at the floor number above the elevator door.
    “Pft, hell with you. I’m trying to give you some confidence man!”
    “Thanks but no thanks…” Fenix said shaking his head.
    “No body ever listens to me.” Mak shrugged. “Oh well… How do you think I got to this rank? Pure confidence. I can do anything as long as I put my mind into it. So can anyone else.” Mak looks at his sword sheathed at the right side of his hip. “For my only family I have left.”
    “Only family..?” Fenix asked facing Mak.
    “Pretty much. I’m the only one in the family who joined the Alliance so their always worried about me. I had two cousins that also joined but they left. Don’t know why though.” Said Mak in a low tone ending his sentence.”
    “Hm… Probably for the same reason I would’ve.” The door opens and Fenix steps out first. Mak follows along straight down the hall where the meeting room is located. Fenix opens the door also letting in Mak behind him. They noticed the room was occupied by other Warriors of the Alliance as well. Mak turns to his left and saw Sarge raising their head up at them in a greeting.
    “Good evening to you gentlemen. Glad you could make it on time.” Sarge said in a deep tone.
    “Course, Sarge. Ready for our objective.” Fenix said in a smile.
    “Good, good, have a seat, boys.” Fenix and Mak took a seat next to another member of the Alliance. “Alright, looks like everyone is here. The General instructed me to brief you all on our new assignment. Pay close attention and if you have a question, ask me right away. I’ll provide you with as most details as possible for your comprehension.” Everyone was silent as the Sarge continues, looking down on the papers of documents he is holding in his hands. Mak looks left and right, viewing all the members in this room. Estimating around 20 members, he assumes that the mission isn’t as important as he thought it was. “Alright boys. Analysts shows where the hole is located. By hole, I mean the tunnel way towards the core. The core to the quake constantly coming on and off on ground. By now, everyone is aware of this quake. This results in an immediate action, since the land is concerned that this may not be a regular earth quake.” He pauses, stepping back a few inches sitting down on the wheel chair behind him, playing with the pen as he looks into the eyes of every Warrior he could see. “We sent a few of our men already down there including Lieutenant Commander Sorean.” He paused again. Continuing in a sigh. “We haven’t heard from them since yesterday morning.”
    “…What..?” Mak said as others whispers among each other. Fenix faces Mak.
    “Sorean…” Fenix said in a low tone.
    “He’s already missing..?”
    “HEY!” Sarge yelled. “This does not mean he is gone along with his team. This is when you all come in. OUR MISSION: IS TO GET DOWN THAT DAMN HOLE, FIND LIETENANT AND HIS TEAM, THEN RETURN TO BASE.”
    “A rescue mission.” Fenix said.
    “That’s right.” Replied Sarge. “Now, it is obvious that something is down there due to their disappearance. We lost communications with them several hours after they got deep into that hole. This is due to the concrete blocking the signal from the surface. Men, listen closely, when you get down to the point communications are fading, do not return. Keep going to complete your mission. Our top priority is to find the Lieutenant and his missing team. If and I do mean if you encounter hostile activity, whatever that may be, I expect you people to defend yourself and your team. Whatever means necessary.” Mak nodded. “This is the first time we have missing troops in our Alliance, I expect you to find them. MAK!”
    “SIR!” Mak shouts standing up on his feet from his seat.
    “You’re the only one with advance training of this group. You are leading this squad.”
    “You serious???”
    “No, I’m doing this to get into your pants, OF COURSE I’M SERIOUS YOU RETARD!” Fenix smiles in a nod. “You are now 2nd Lieutenant Commander Mak. Same Rank as Sorean.”
    “Nice, Mak.” Fenix said slapping Mak’s left shoulder. Mak smiles.
    “Oh hell yeah!” Mak shouts.
    “Mak.” Sarge calls.
    “Sir!”
    “This is a privilege, however, a great responsibility. You have men with you to command. You know the rules, kid. Your men comes first before you do. They also have family like you do. Save the ones you can, the ones that cannot be saved, don’t be a fool on being a hero.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I will be here to keep a constant communication with you all. Keep me updated and be careful out there. Your chopper awaits at the roof. Dismiss.”
    Everyone in the room exit’s the room. Sarge calls Mak’s name.
    “Mak! Private talk now.”
    “Yes sir.” Said Mak as Fenix walks out the door. After the room was finally empty, Sarge begins an important discussion.
    “In that hole, we already know there are supernatural status happening down there.”
    “Supernatural?”
    “Yes. Something out of the ordinary. Let your men know what I just told you. If something happens down there that you know for a fact, cannot be avoided and is dangerously threatening you and your men, abort the mission and return to me and ONLY me.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “Good. Go on.” Mak exit’s the room and makes his way to the elevator, entering the roof of the building. Feeling the wind hit his face, he sees the chopper ready for take off. The heavy wind caused his eyes to squint as he walks forward. Looking to his right, he saw a line of his men standing and facing him. Fenix nodded at him. Mak smiles.
    “The Sarge just told me, below that hole, is something not normal and that we should take extra caution to our surroundings. Some stuff might happen that’ll probably freak us all out. But when that happens, don’t panic and stick together. No matter what.” No one said a word, facing each other with curious faces. “Alright let’s get this over with. Onto the chopper!” Everyone makes their way into the chopper, Fenix approaches Mak.
    “So how does it feel to be Lieutenant Commander, eh?” Fenix said.
    “Heh, pretty cool. Just uh…” Mak paused looking at the grey helicopter. Printed in big bold green letters had AMForce at the side, the cockpit window was completely shaded for sunlight protection, equipped with Gatling gun and sidewinders on each side.
    “Now you’re really nervous, aren’t you..?” Fenix said. Mak slightly nodded.
    “Never really thought about having other people to worry about to in my crew before besides you. Its different now. I have like 15 men to think about now.”
    “20.” Fenix corrected him. Mak faces him in the eyes. Fenix tapped on Mak’s right shoulder and nodded. “Counted while we were in the room.” He said getting on the helicopter. Mak looks down on the ground and sighed. Then he gets up on the vehicle as well, sliding the door shut and tight as the helicopter now lifts into the air, on their way to their destination. Mak sat on the window side of the chopper, thinking about what could possibly be happening in that hole and where could Sorean be at the time. He could sense everyone else’s body temperature. He looks around, noticing their faces all had a steady expression, revealing a small sign of negative thought. He looks ahead and saw Fenix looking out the window as well. It was hard to tell what was Fenix thinking in his mind, his eyes only wandered below as they flew over buildings and houses. Mak looks out the window, now viewing the water of the ocean. Away from the land, they were getting farther and farther away from home. Confidence was still in his heart, however, now that his rank risen, fear slowly starts to grow over the men that are under his orders. He looks to his left for a brief second and saw one of the Warriors next to him holding a picture of his family, giving it a deep stare as he held onto his sword on his other hand.
    “You’ll see them again, if that’s what you’re asking yourself.” Mak said. The member nodded, not taking his eyes off the picture.
    “…Its been 4 years now, well, tomorrow will be…” He said. Fenix turns to face the Warrior.
    “4 years..?” Mak repeated. He nodded again without taking his eyes off the picture again. He then puts his picture in his side pocket. “You could’ve requested for vacations you know, at least one week, they would’ve gave it to you.”
    “No.” He answered back quickly. Mak was puzzled. “it’s a bit complicated…” He continues. “Last time I saw her before I joined the Alliance, we had a big argument. As a matter of fact, we were going to get a divorce…” Mak faces Fenix for a moment. Then back to him. “All because I kept doing stupid mistakes that I admit were my fault. I couldn’t help her do almost anything. For as little as moving boxes around or cleaning up the house. I always seem to screw up somehow for the simplest of things…”
    “The important part is that you try, dude.” Fenix said.
    “She’s not the type to understand that…” He said still looking down. “She’d understand to a certain extent, but after a while. I start to see that I’m only a burden to her. Constantly failing. I can’t even baby sit my son right.” He paused. Mak looks out the window again, looking at the blue sea below him. She said to me, she loves me, but maybe I’m just not the father type.” Mak faces him again. “So, since she said that, I wondered to myself, if I’m not the father type than what am I to our son. What am I to her? Few weeks later, I joined the Alliance and hoped that it improved me as a man. To become something. Or to say it better, to find who I really am as a person.”
    “I see…” Mak said.
    “I’m doing this for my family, Maybe I’m the fighting type… And that they are the reason why I fight. My motivation to keep me going. I said to her, I won’t see you until I’m strong enough to be the person I want to be. Someone that isn’t always screwing up and responsible for at least something in life. Something to remember me for.” He paused again. Looking up at Mak and Fenix. “But now that I think about it, I think I regret saying that. Because now, its been 4 years I’ve seen them. And she’s constantly asking me to come home and forget everything. But I’m just not satisfied with myself.”
    “You’re mad at yourself.” Fenix said. Mak and the other Warrior faces him. “Because you think you disappointed your family.” Mak looks out the window again. “Sounds an awful lot like Mak here.”
    “Coincidence I guess…” Mak said.
    “What do you mean?” The Warrior asked. Mak looks down on the ground.
    “A lot of my friends think I’m annoying and stuff. I guess its because I always get hyper at little stuff sometimes. I’m really nobody before I joined the Alliance. Now that I am with the Alliance, still nothing really changed. As a matter of fact, I think things only got worse. To them I’m just a guy who always annoys people with my personality and I guess they think I’ll be that way to top ranking people or something. I let them know I’m not that stupid to just be randomly hyper at important times. But I guess they don’t believe me.”
    “So you’re here because of them? To prove you’re not that kind of person?” He asked.
    “No, I’m here for myself. To become better and fix my personality I guess. I admit that I have a lot of flaws for myself, and that’s what I want to fix. I have two cousins that are Supernatural…”
    “Supernatural? That’s rare.” He said.
    “ Well, one of them I’m closer than the other. He always had a way of life I guess. A bad way, I was always there for him even in the darkest of times long ago. Now that we’re grown up a bit, he’s a lot more uh… popular than I am I guess I could say… He’s gotten really powerful and smart these days… He’d always say to me, its all thanks to me that I’m this way. I’m happy he said that to me but… Now, I kind of miss being the one that always saved his behind. I haven’t seen him in a while and now, I’m just some annoying guy to everyone…” He chuckles. “What a downgrade that turn out to be…… As if… Nothing happened at all… Heh… I have no reason of being here really, now that I’m thinking about this.” Fenix interrupts.
    “What do you mean?” He said.
    “…I don’t know… I guess I’m doing this because I’m bored. Or… I just have no reason to be with them if I’m just an annoying dude all the time. I like to talk about what I did a lot with my cousin at the past, the way I helped him in life and all, but now… They just get tired of hearing me talk about it. And well, I haven’t seen my cousin for quite some time now.” The Warrior looks down thinking about his family again. “I’m just memory and I didn’t even die yet…” He said shaking his head in a poor smile. The Warrior turned and opened his palm towards Mak, Mak faces him.
    “I’m Shinryu.” Mak shakes his hand and nods.