1 Confrontation

The weather was humid and the air chilly. This night would go down in history as the darkest night in his life—the day he lost everything and even his own soul. He had nothing left now and standing in front of the HQ's double doors made the realisation even clearer. He released the fury of his slug at the double doors.

Right now nothing mattered. He was as good as dead anyway and escaping from Gavdos was a big mistake but what could he do? She had insisted that he leave—that he survive and bring that blueprint back home but now he was regretting that decision.

His team was massacred and it was all thanks to the treachery of General Gordon. The double doors burst open and he went through right after the A.I. tried to announce his presence, he silenced the stupid machine by breaking the power switch by the side. The revamped A.I. took control of the walls, opening up small muzzles but having studied it before, Richard countered easily.

Richard gritted his teeth as he saw, inside the building, other soldiers who were standing or sitting lazily about. These were supposed to be the guards who were on duty tonight and he was sure that General Gordon was here, in the Headquarter.

This casual behaviour made his heart burn faster. Others were out there—in the war front—losing their lives by the minute while they were there, playing cards and laughing.

He cocked his M4 and released a barrage of bullets that sent the unprepared soldiers scrambling off in different directions. He moved forward with large strides and took out as many guards as he could, his rage guided him and he let it have full control over his body, mind and soul.

The defence A.I. triggered and the walls opened up to reveal small holes from where small guns emerged and fired bullets nonstop at the intruder. Richard scoffed as he hid behind a pillar, even a machine considered him an enemy right now.

He rushed out and threw out a grenade. He had studied the blueprints of this fucking A.I. right after that incident when it malfunctioned and almost destroyed him. The grenade sunk the defence system in the main hall.

He moved out and had no trouble evading the bullets from the other soldiers. It took him a full twenty minutes to beat up all the guards and arrive at the door that served as the General's office. He threw away his M4 and took his smaller gun from its holster and aimed it at the door.

His heart was beating faster as he anticipated the events that will unfold the moment he opened that door. He would probably die today but he didn't care. Sweat trickled down his brow as the memories flashed through his mind.

The scary moment at the mine field, the explosion that almost killed him, the virus that almost killed her back then, the dumb A.I. that trapped them underground till they ran out of oxygen and almost died, the massacre at Gavdos and the eventual discovery of betrayal by his own country!

This was too much for him to take. He kicked the door down and stormed into the office where the General, who was sitting behind his desk, jumped out of his chair and held his arms up.

"Richard! You're alive!" he exclaimed with his arms still up. "I thought you were dead after the rescue team came back without a word."

"The rescue team?" Richard scoffed and focused his aim. "There's still a war front out there in Gavdos and your rescue team just managed to escape?"

"You need to understand that the situation had gotten out of hand, how were we to know that the terrorists had such a backing?" the General explained as cold sweats dripped down his back. However, the General was quickly thinking of ways to escape from this deadly situation.

"It was a trap," Richard replied slowly with his teeth gritted. "You knew it was a trap and that the Zeros were already deep in their operations! You sent us there to be slaughtered like animals! Everyone died…"

His voice broke as he said the last part of the sentence. His emotions were getting the better of him and he knew it. He was here to kill this damned Gordon and not to negotiate with him so why was he still here asking questions?

This man had known all along that the island was a trap and that the terrorists were just preparing ground for their final attack. To think that there was a plot this whole time and he had no clue and had allowed himself to be used by them like that?

All his pent up anger and frustration were pouring out now.

"The situation at Gavdos was unpredictable but I promise you that we're doing all we can to stabilise the situation already."

"…Priscilla died…" he continued with a broken voice.

"I'm sorry about her demise but at least we got to confirm one thing from this mission and that is Gavdos are working hand in hand with Cruderia."

Richard felt like hell had loosened on him at the moment. How dare he still have the guts to make excuses? "You knew all along that our soldiers stepping foot into Gavdos was an act of war yet you still insisted claiming that you had permission from the local ruler but all along it was a lie! Now I have to bear the consequence of all my team dying on my watch!"

He pulled the trigger but Gordon dodged under the desk, he wasn't a General for nothing after all. However, Richard still had many rounds to spare and he wasn't worried about losing all his bullets, he could still take this bastard in a hand to hand combat.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" he gritted his teeth and shot again.