*Since this story is shorter than I thought it was going to be, I'm going to have the unedited version of it here for free.
*I'm waiting for the last person to claim their prize so I can post the names of the winners of the Choice and Consequence of Romance giveaway.
Objective 1 – Extraction and Acquisition
There are puppets are strung up in a dark factory. As one is released into action, another is set up to take its place. On some occasions, puppets will be released since they’re old or damaged from accidents or action. Others who disobey the puppet masters have their strings cut and disappear into obscurity. One puppet armed with a double barrel shotgun is sent out into the field with another loyal one follows behind wielding an M-16.
Abby enters the house from the back door and shoots several monsters with her double-barreled shotgun. These monsters appear to be maggots with a passing resemblance to birds with sharp arms, legs with metal claws and mouth. Her reaction has to be sharp as these creatures jump out of every corner of the house without warning, but since she got good training from her dad who was a hunter, there’s no real trouble. She reloads within seconds and only uses the butt of the gun when she needs to. After killing six of these things, there’s only one more room so she takes a second to ready her to breach it. Abby breaths in and out before knocking down the door and shooting the last few remaining maggot monsters. She lowers her gun and blinks a few times before she sees that she’s shot a small family.
A man behind her in military fatigues and body army says, “Good job Abby.”
“Good job?” she responds, “I just killed a family.”
“A family that supplied the enemy we’re fighting against with food, weapons, and ammo. They’re just maggots, you know that.”
A teenage girl and boy, who are wielding knives, leap out from the closet and try to attack the two, but the man quickly shoots both of them in the head with his rifle.
“Like I said. Maggots.”
“Whatever you say Jason.”
Both soldiers get in their Humvee and drive back to base. Once they get there, they see their fellow friends waiting inside the hanger bay. One of them, who is named Victor, limp runs to Abby and gives her a hug.
“You’re back!” Victor says with a big smile.
“Of course she would be,” the helicopter pilot Marissa says, “You married a killer remember?”
“Hey at least I got laid before you did and ever will,” Abby snaps back.
“Hahaha. She’s got you there,” a man in a stealth suit says.
“Hey John, you’re the stealthy-quiet one right? Why don’t you stay that way?”
“It’s my day off. Something you take too much of.”
“Alright, alright everyone let’s calm down,” Jason says.
“So how did your mission go?” Victor asks Abby.
“We killed everyone,” Jason says.
“You what?” John asks.
“Those were our orders.”
“Those were our commanders preferred orders. You didn’t have to kill them all, you could’ve just shut them down and made sure they weren’t going to supply the militia.”
“Killing them all and taking their stuff is a good way of doing that. Our commanders like it when we follow their orders to a T. Don’t forget who pays our bills.”
“We’re a mercenary group because of them and don’t forget who hasn’t sent us supplies in a while.”
“It would seem weird if they sent a random “mercenary” group weapons, ammo, and food. We get that on our own when we need it.”
“And we need it now.”
“I’ll go out again,” Abby volunteers.
“Are you sure?” Victor asks.
“I’m sure. Don’t worry about it.”
“She shouldn’t go alone since no one else is doing anything,” Jason states, “Pick who you want to take you to the nearest enemy supply base.”
Abby thinks about it for a bit before saying, “I’ll go with John.”
John smiles then says, “Good choice. Let’s go.”
John’s style of transportation is a motorcycle that’s customized to be silent and carry cargo on the side with another. The two arrive a little bit outside of the target so the enemy doesn’t seem them or appear on their radar if they have it. John finds a hidden tunnel and they go through it, assuming it will lead them underneath the base.
Since Abby is not too sure about this, she asks John, “Are you sure about this?”
“You picked me to help you right?” John asserts, “Don’t worry, I’m mostly used to hidden tunnels like this.”
“Mostly used to?”
“I’ve faced people like this before and you could be walking into a trap unless you see certain small hints that they can’t hide.”
“And are there any here?”
“None that I see.”
“That’s good to know.”
“When we get up there, try not to kill that many people. In and out as if we were a shadow. Here.”
John hands Abby a silenced tranquilizer pistol.
“Use this instead of your shotgun if you have to. Got it?”
“Yes sir.”
Abby and John go through the base while taking as many supplies as they can. The soldiers are nothing but faceless puppets with sharp fingers and sharp legs that are like swords. Though Abby acts like a shadow for the most part, she has to knock out a couple soldiers who get in her way. She later finds a locked door that she picks to find a woman inside it. The woman has brown hair and eyes and she’s wearing clothing associated with military forces except for her shirt design that says ‘Jim in Oz’.
“Wait! Don’t shoot!” the woman says.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Abby says with her gun pointed at the woman.
“My name is Nazanin and I’m part of a group in this country that is trying to take down the militia from the inside. You have to take me with you to your base so I can help you fight against them and help free my country from them.”
“I say we take her,” John says from behind Abby.
“Alright, but take some of the stuff that’s in this room. We need the supplies,” Abby says.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” John says.
“Who are you talking to?” Nazanin asks.
“My friend John. He hides in the shadows.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not my fault my stealth suit actually works in the dark,” John says.
The three go back through the hidden tunnel and take their supplies back to base.
At the base, Jason walks up to them with his favorite mask to hide his identity and asks, “Who is she and what’s she doing on my base?”
“She’s help we rescued from the militia,” John snaps back.
Nazanin in somewhat in a state of shock says, “Oh…Oh. Who is-”
“You see Jason your stupid hockey horror mask is scaring her,” John says.
“That’s what it’s meant to do idiot.”
“No, it’s fine! I just wasn’t expecting…uh. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“You want me to explain why he wears it?” John asks, “Or is that classified info?”
“It’s fine if she knows,” Jason says.
Jason starts his story by saying, “My squad and I were stranded in a jungle that was said to have been infested with enemies and they had already run out of ammo. Everyone had given up hope, but I was the only one who took a machete and finished the rest of the mission by myself. I got the nickname Jason the Slasher and that’s why I wear the mask.”
“Wow.”
“You see John? My story is pretty impressive.”
“Alright guys let’s just bring all of these supplies inside,” Abby orders, “Do you mind lending a hand Nazanin?”
“I’d be glad to help.”
After bringing in all of the supplies they found, Nazanin gets herself settled in the command room.
“Woah, woah what’s she doing?” Jason frantically asks.
“She’s going to help like she said,” John says.
“I am, but I’d like to know what foreign soldiers like you are doing in this country. I’ve noticed that you appear to be from America, but the nearest American bases is miles away from here.”
“I’ll explain,” Abby says.
“I don’t know about this,” Jason whispers to Abby.
“I’ll tell you everything I know and all you need to do is tell me your purpose here. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Fine,” Jason says.
Abby tells Nazanin that, “We’re a small group of highly trained soldiers that operate off the books as a sort of mercenary group for our country. Our commanders instruct us to act as backup for allied countries so we can stay in their favor. As for our reason here, we’re here to get rid of the militia group here known as the Sine Nomine Victimarum who are said to be waging psychological warfare.”
“Psychological warfare? You mean fear mongering and using that against their enemies?” Nazanin asks.
“It’s not just that. They’ve shown they can make anyone into a sleeper cell agent for their own gains. I know it sounds far-fetched but it’s the truth.”
“I believe you. It was a rumor from where I live, but we didn’t have much evidence for it.”
“So are you going to help us?”
“Yes, I’ll mark several locations of interest that you and your people should look at it. Relay it to your commanders if you wish to double check it.”
Nazanin writes down the locations and their value and Abby relays the information to her squad’s commanders to cross check the information. As they’re waiting, Jason and John talk to each other about their plans while Abby shows Nazanin around the base.
While walking around, Nazanin asks Abby, “Jason seems like a loyal soldier. What’s his story?”
“He was raised in a military family and always did what they wanted him to do without question. A true model soldier they say,” Abby explains.
“What about John? Is he always against Jason?”
“Not always, but most of the time. The reason why he always wants to go against orders is because he was sent to blow up a building from the inside that was of particular interest. What he didn’t know at the time was that the building also had the enemy’s families in it so he blew up children and other innocent people along with the enemy.”
“Why did your commanders authorize that?”
“They didn’t know that either and didn’t want to think about that after the deed was done. I’m sure they felt guilty about it as well.”
“Did they do anything about it?”
“They just make double sure what targets they hit and how they do it.”
“That’s not really much.”
“It was a secret op for an allied government.”
“Your squad’s specialty, right? Is that what your squad is doing in this country?”
“Not exactly. Our country is on the edge of going into decline and the government here is offering payment and rewards for our help. Our military force fights against the militia on normal ops while we investigate the militia about these sleeper cell agents on the sidelines.”
“Got it. That’s a good distraction strategy they have. They also have a good deal with our country.”
Abby and Nazanin arrive at the helicopter hangar to see Marissa working on her helicopter.
“Hey Marissa!” Abby yells, “Say hello to our new guest!”
“Hey!” Marissa yells out, “I’d go over there to greet you, but I’m kind of busy with repairs.”
“I understand,” Nazanin says.
“You’ve been repairing that copter for a while now and you’re still not done?”
“Nope. That’s one of the great things about working off the books. You don’t get the parts you need or the right people to fix your copter.”
“Well you keep at it. We’ll see you around!”
“Gotcha!”
“What to tell me about her?” Nazanin asks Abby as they walk away.
“Sure. She was born in a military family like Jason, but the special thing about her happened on one mission. She and a squad of fellow attack helicopter were attacking a location and they were all getting shot out of the sky. She was the only one left and destroyed the objective, but she was shot out of the sky at the last second. After the helicopter crashed, she had to help her injured squad walk all the way back to base which took a couple days.”
“She’s an amazing pilot and soldier.”
“I know, but she’s nothing compared to the man we’re seeing next.”
They come to Abby’s husband, Victor, who’s sitting in bed, resting his injured legs.
Abby explains that “This great man saved me from a landmine.”
“And she saved me from my injuries and a huge gunfight,” Victor says.
“He’s your husband?” Nazanin asks.
“That’s right. The rings gave it away didn’t they?”
“How did you two meet?”
“In basic training. We just bonded over the hardships we faced and got married after.”
“Thank you so much for being such a great husband. If you weren’t, then your wonderful wife wouldn’t have saved me.”
“It’s no problem.”
“You keep talking about your comrades and their amazing history. What about your own Abby?” Nazanin asks.
“I was raised in a military family like Jason’s. My dad was a veteran who became a hunter after he was done in the military and he taught me how to shoot a gun properly. My mom, on the other hand, told me how to respect others and how to be resilient. She was the medic for my dad’s squad. I always followed their wisdom and became a favorite soldier to our commanders.”
“So you’re more similar to Jason than I thought.”
“But she’s way better,” Victor adds.
Abby walks up to Victor while saying, “Maybe after this next mission, we should relax together and maybe…” She whispers seductive things into his ear.
“We should probably get back to Jason and John,” Nazanin interrupts, “They’ll probably have something for us by now.”
“Damn,” Abby says.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll get plenty of time together after we’re doing this fight,” Victor reassures Abby.
“I hope so. You know I don’t like waiting.”
The couple laughs a bit before Abby and Nazanin head back to the command center.
Objective 2 – Infiltration and Execution
At the command room, Jason says, “Command has approved this mission to look through these locations. All of these places could possibly hold valuable information. I have to thank you Nazanin.”
“It’s no problem.”
“Though how did you get all of this info?”
“My group and I found it when we infiltrated the militia.”
“And they are where now?”
“They’re dead. The militia found us out after we found this critical information and killed everyone and was going to kill me next.”
“We’ll avenge your friends. Don’t worry, their sacrifice won’t be wasted,” John reassures Nazanin.
“Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“So how are we going to handle this Jason?” Abby asks.
“You’re going to go out and search these locations with one of us while the rest stay here.”
“I’ll be here talking to your commanders about the information I know,” says Nazanin.
“Ok,” John says, “So who are you taking?”
“I’ll be taking Jason with me.”
“Alright! Let’s do this.” Jason excitingly says.
Abby makes sure she has enough shotgun ammo and tranquilizer rounds with her as she gets ready to go out again.
“Abby,” Nazanin says before she leaves, “Make sure you don’t hurt anybody. There are tons of innocent and good people in the places you will be going. There will be people there who will give you the information you need if you just ask.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
Jason and Abby head out to the location which is a small village. When she heads out, Abby leaves behind her shotgun but keeps her tranquilizer hidden.
“You sure about keeping this here? It could get ugly when they see you’re a foreigner,” Jason says.
“I’m sure. Just let me do the talking.”
“Alright. I hope you’re right.”
Abby walks into the village. She feels everyone here stare at her as if they’re waiting for her to do something so they can act on it. This feeling makes Abby a bit nervous when she knocks on the door of one of the houses.
Someone answers it and says in the native language, “Hello. Do you need something?”
Since Abby also knows the language, she speaks it and says, “Yes, I’m here to help you. The militia has been around here and I was wondering if-”
“Yes! We’ll help you!”
The village comes to life as if a wave of relief has come to them. People start walking out of their homes with gifts of food and water for Abby.
The villager continues by saying, “This God forsaken militia has taken people from our village to force them into fighting for them. They say they’re fighting against the corrupt government, but they themselves are corrupt. There’s a building in a city not too far from here that should hold the information you need and if you encounter our people, do not be afraid to put them down as they’re not the same people we remember.”
“Thank you so much for the information and your gifts. You’re too kind,” Abby says.
“No, thank you for helping us.”
Jason is extremely surprised by what is happening. Pleasantly surprised but surprised nonetheless. They go to the building the villagers told Abby about after dropping the gifts the villagers gave back to base.
Since the building is so small, Jason says, “We should spilt up in there. That way, it shouldn’t take too long to find what we need.”
“Sounds like a good plan. Let’s do it.”
Both soldiers go through the building and find it strangely abandoned. That is until Abby enters a filing room and the door closes behind her. A gory fish looking puppet walks out of the shadows leading out smaller fish puppets with fish hooks on a leash.
It says, “Go away. There’s nothing for you here.”
“I heard something important I need is here and I’m not leaving without it,” Abby says as she raises her shotgun.
“So be it. Kill, my children!”
The children fish are let off their leash and go after Abby. She butts them with the back of her gun since she doesn’t want to kill them then shoots the adult fish puppet twice. Abby didn’t like the fact of the adult using his children as attack dogs. The kids then crowd around their father and cry over his death while fearing Abby. Her attention turns to a mirror in the room and she sees herself as a demon puppet with a shotgun as one arm and a machete for the other. Behind her, the door opens allowing Abby to escape. She quickly takes all the files she needs and meets Jason outside.
Jason looks over the files in the Humvee and says, “You did good Abby. I couldn’t find anything in the building besides dust.”
She stays silent.
“What’s wrong? Eh?”
He finds a picture of a happy family.
“Were these the people you took these files from?”
Abby looks at the picture and though she saw gory fish puppets, she recognizes them as the father and his children. She quickly sits back and looks out the window.
“It’s tragic I know,” Jason explains, “Good people will side themselves with others who they think are good but really aren’t. That happens in conflicts. You still did the right thing for the greater good.”
“I hope so,” Abby quietly says, “What do the files say?”
“They just confirm what I know about how trash this militia is. This is a recruitment center and if the people they take in don’t join them, then they beat them and repeatedly put them through psychological torture until they do. John will love to see this. All of these files will definitely take away any support they have left.”
“What about the other locations? Aren’t we still going to them?”
“Of course. It can only get better from here.”
On the way to the next location, Abby gets a radio call from one of her commanders that the next location they’re going to has just recently been under siege by friendly forces. He says that even though the fight is over, there still could some stragglers in the cracks.
When they arrive, Jason says, “I’m going to go help my fellow Marines clean up over here and catch up on old times if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. Just say hi to your boyfriends to me will ya?” Abby jokes.
“Hahaha ok.”
The entire town they’re in is in ruin with very few undamaged buildings. There are blood and bullet everywhere with the bodies of militia soldiers being slowly cleaned up though there are some bodies that are in pieces from explosives. When Abby looks back at the Marines, she sees angelic puppets that sometimes reveal their black insides. Abby investigates some of the buildings and doesn’t find much except for guns and ammo. One destroyed building she eventually finds a bunch of files and USB drives by a dead body that is crushed by the debris. That body comes to life out of the debris, picks up the files, and hands them to Abby.
The crushed woman says in her native language, “Bring these to those who command you. These will show you what is going on, on our side of things. Tell me you will stop this fighting.”
Abby touches the woman’s shoulder and says, “I will.”
After giving Abby the files, the woman dies with a slight smile of hope on her face. Abby closes the woman’s eyes before getting back to Jason. They check what’s on the USB drives and find a video of a massacre that happened in a nearby town. In the news in the U.S., Abby and Jason heard this was the event that was caused because of the militia’s actions, but according to what the other files say, this massacre was what created the militia. There are other factors that made the militia come together and fight such as; high taxes, terrible economy, not many individual rights, and a persecution of certain religions and viewpoints.
“We need to find out more about this to see if this government we’re helping is truly being wronged and not corrupt,” Abby adamantly states.
“You’re right. The next location the files say we should go to corresponds with one of the locations Nazanin gave us. It should have the answers we need,” Jason says as he starts to drive there.
There’s a bit of an uneasy feeling in him as he feels like he could be wrong about hating the militia as much as he does. This next location is a government building further into the town. It’s guarded by its country’s soldiers who look like marionettes with faces that switch depending on who they’re talking to. Thankfully since this government is on good terms with theirs, Abby and Jason are given access to their files, but only a select number of them. The two sneak through the building while unlocking certain safes and file cabinets to find what they’re looking for. They eventually find what they are looking for. These files and data on CDs and USBs contain information that the government was responsible for the massacre and contains corruption in it.
“I can’t believe they played us like this,” Jason says, “Did the people at the top even know we were partnering ourselves with people like this?”
An explosion happens outside and Abby and Jason go to find that the building is under attack by forces that don’t appear to be militia. They, in fact, appear to be military forces from their side who have defected and chosen to side with the militia.
“Now’s a good a time as any to use your tranquilizer gun,” Jason says as they head down to meet the ex-marine.
“And now you’re telling me to use it?” Abby questions, “They’re fighting against a corrupt government on a side that isn’t exactly good themselves so who should I kill and who should I just knock out?”
“I…I-I don’t fucking know! Just pick an answer because I can’t figure out the right one right now!”
Once they arrive downstairs, they see that the ex-marines have just killed all of the guard downstairs. In the few seconds Abby has to decide, she decides to shoot her once fellow soldiers with the tranquilizer gun. One female soldier who has cut off puppet strings, wears tattered military fatigues and is wielding dual Uzis. She appears to have a devil puppet face stitched to her face though her appearance seems to be angelic.
The woman says with her guns pointed at Abby, “Stand down soldier. You’re fighting on the wrong side.”
“And you’re out of line for acting against orders,” Abby snaps back.
“All I’ve done in my life is follow orders. Trust me and stand down. I’m not going to let these people get taken advantage of anymore.”
Abby quickly raises her tranquilizer gun to quickly end the fight, but the female soldier reacts fast enough to avoid her shots. The two take cover and exchange fire while Jason doesn’t know exactly to do. He then decides to cover Abby by shooting around the ex-marine which give Abby confidence to close the gap between them and get a couple shots to take her down.
As the once fellow soldier falls asleep, she says, “Make sure the right thing gets done…even if you have to go against orders…”
“I will,” Abby promises.
After the fight, the ex-marine soldiers are taken into custody while Abby and Jason take what they have back to base and present it to everyone.
“Great! Whose side are we going to fight on now?!” John yells.
“We still fight for our country John! That’s what we signed up for!” Jason yells back.
“I signed up to fight for a country that was fighting for the right things not the wrong!”
“And we just so happened to be in the middle of a conflict where both sides have skeletons in their closet. What are you going to do about it?”
“I’m-going to have to think about it.”
“Well you better think fast because we have enough information to fuck up all sides of this conflict. The militia will be shown a violent terrorist group who erases people’s free will to fight a corrupt government that abuses its people. It also shows that our government and leaders didn’t ask questions when they were offered a relief in a time of need.”
“So who are you going to side with?”
“I already told you. I’m sticking to my guns.”
“You’re such a model soldier, aren’t you? More like a pet dog if you ask me.”
“What the fuck did you say to me?! You can join the militia for all I care and get yourself sent to prison for treason!”
“Hold up!” Nazanin interrupts, “You still haven’t seen the militia’s research center yet! That place could hold something that could give you the right answer as to who is the worst out of all three.”
“You have to give them one more chance Jason,” John says.
“I don’t know. What we have seems substantial enough. What do you think Abby?” Jason asks.
“We’ll go in a few hours. I need to rest.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do then. You’re lucky you have someone like Abby who’s neutral on everything John.”
“You’re lucky for the same reason Jason.”
Objective 3 – Elimination/Save/Obtain Information – Clarification Needed
After getting a few hours of sleep, eating, and drinking a bit, Abby gets ready to go out again. She stops by Victor’s room to hug and kiss him and so they can talk a bit before she leaves. The conversation is cut short since Jason and John are eager to know who the true enemy should be. Marissa, on the other hand, is still worried about fixing her helicopter and is more neutral on the issue and doesn’t care who she fights. John is the one who she chooses to support her since Jason wants to look through the information more closely while they’re gone.
Before they go, Nazanin goes to Abby and says, “When you go there and find researchers, drop my name and they should give you want you need.”
“Why? I thought your group was wiped out,” Abby says.
“A few of them contacted me while you were resting and said they were still at the research center.”
“You sure they haven’t been influenced by the militia?”
“I’m sure. They’re incredibly loyal soldiers and would’ve killed themselves if they got captured.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. Trust me.”
Since John trusts Nazanin, he takes the direct approach to entering the research center. The researchers are a bit taken a bit by the appearance of them, but they give them what they need once Abby drops Nazanin’s name. They are also given an inhaler which snaps any person out of being under the militia’s control. The group looks over the information.
Jason slams the desk before saying, “I’m tired of looking through this shit again and again! There’s tons of misinformation by all sides because they either don’t have all the facts or they act in ignorance. We wasted our time checking these areas Nazanin told us to and we should’ve just been on the front lines destroying the militia.”
“Not exactly,” John says, “Look at this.”
John shows them a paper which says that they have a sleeper agent in their own group.
“One of us is fighting for them,” John continues to say, “This is probably why the researchers gave us this inhaler. To expose them us and show us how they knew we were watching them this entire time.”
There’s a deafening silence among them.
“I’ll take it first,” Abby volunteers.
“Yeah. We should get the obvious ones who are loyal to us out of the way first,” Jason says.
Abby uses the inhaler and all of the sudden, her fellow soldiers disappear. Though Nazanin is still with her. Confused and nervous, Abby runs around the base to see that every one of them is dead.
“Wha-What?” Abby says in shock.
Nazanin quickly hits Abby in the legs then cuffs her hand to a door handle.
“That’s right. You were the sleeper agent all along,” Nazanin says.
“A-And you were on their side as well?!”
“I’m their leader.”
“What?”
“No one knows that the militia has a leader. They just know that they have leaders, but I’m the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.”
“How did you do this?!”
“We ambushed and kidnapped you on one of your solo missions. You were definitely resilient, but we broke your psyche and we ordered you to kill your squad then pick me up at my location.”
“You…FUCK!”
“I’m sorry about your squad and especially your husband. I hate to think what you did to him when you thought when he was alive and I’ll just stop right there to avoid getting sick.”
Abby recalls having sex with her husband not too long ago and it’s obvious to her what Nazanin is talking about exactly.
Nazanin continues by saying, “Now thanks to you, I have the information I need to expose both your government and the corrupt government my people live under. Let me tell you that you’re a real loyal soldier and child. I checked your history in the military records and it doesn’t look like you had much choice in your lifestyle, personality, and major decisions. Even your marriage to your husband seemed rigged as your commanders put you both together since your family were good friends with them. Make an actual decision in your life this time and help us. Again, I’m sorry about your friends and the people we had to force to join us they didn’t know any better. Think about it.”
Before Nazanin takes the intel and leaves, she throws Abby the key to the cuffs and the location of where she’s going on a piece of paper. The leader of the militia then drives away on John’s motorcycle, leaving Abby to her thoughts.
“What am I going to do?” Abby thinks to herself.
“Yes, what are we going to do,” an other her says from behind Abby.
“Who are you?”
“The other you. The way Nazanin and her group of misfits took you under their control is by using the human condition Speculum Humanae or the Human Mirror against you. You remember that condition, don’t you? It’s what makes you see monsters born of your personality or makes monsters out of the people you see. It also makes you see things such as your friends that you thought were still alive and instead just ghosts in your mind.”
“So me, what should we do?”
“If you do what Nazanin said, then the corrupt government will be punished and ours will probably get a slap on the wrist for not realizing what they were doing. Where we lose is that the horrible things that the militia have done will probably get swept under the rug and never be heard of. If we eliminate them, then the people underneath the corrupt government will suffer again and this whole thing will undoubtedly play out again. Which do you choose?”
“…Let’s go for a mix of the two.”
“Oh! The unseen third option! I like it!”
Abby heads out using Jason’s Humvee and goes out to where Nazanin is supposed to be. It’s the base Abby found Nazanin at before. Seeing her coming from a distance, Nazanin comes out to greet her with some backup just in case Abby does something else. This is exactly what Abby does as she uses a grenade launcher and launches several rounds of knockout gas at the base, covering it and knocking out everyone there.
“Thanks John,” Abby says out loud.
Before heading in, Abby puts on a gas mask and readies her tranquilizer rifle and pistol. She goes throughout the base and knocks out as many soldiers as possible. After which, she rounds them up and takes back all of the intel she found and bring them all to an ally base. There they get Nazanin to confess the things she’s done. The commanders and generals use the information Abby found and uses it to expose the corrupt government and goes against them. Unfortunately, they do not hand themselves over peacefully and had to be executed on sight, a battle that Abby has a part in. The U.S. is slightly reprimanded for not looking further into the conflict before deciding though not much comes from it. Abby’s friends are given a funeral and honored in the military for their service and dedication. Abby herself is awarded several medals and honors for her work, but she is also sent to a hospital for a few weeks to get rid of the lingering effects of the sleeper cell indoctrination.
Weeks later, she is given a clean bill of health and goes back to her house in Hillside City. She sits on the porch of her house and wonders what she should do next. She doesn’t exactly have a job and combat and following orders is all she’s really good at.
The chief of police comes up to her and offers, “I hear that you’re a great soldier. What do you think about joining us? We have enough space for another officer.”
Abby accepts this and becomes an officer for Hillside City. A great job for her as it employs her talents.
In conflict and wars, both sides think they’re fighting for the greater good. Soldiers will dedicate themselves to their countries and factions to help and be the defenders of what they hold dear. They don’t have much choice afterward especially when they are given orders. If you do this, you better hope that you’re fighting for the right cause, otherwise, you might be doing something that you will hate yourself for.
THE END
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