Chapter 570: Love In The Battlefield, Part
Irene was a one-woman army.
But hey, we all knew that already, didn’t we? Unfortunately.
Like a commando going rambo, she desecrated the land with the bodies of her enemies, leaving behind only the haunting visage of the splatters and streaks of destruction in her wake.
Probably figured that no one could oppose her if there was nobody left to oppose in the first place – and honestly, I can’t really argue with that logic, especially since it’s been proving fruitful for her so far.
Two rounds won in the span of just mere minutes solely thanks to her merciless rampaging, springing her platoon right into first place in one fell swoop, leaving the rest of us mere mortals desperately trying to play catch up.
Alpha Platoon had resorted to trying their chances with Charlie Platoon instead, seeing us as less of a threat apparently, and I can hardly blame them... seeing as they’ve managed to forge a tie with Bravo on points off the backs of our complete and utter incompetence.
Any attempts to try and thwart their offense were futile, and I learned that the hard way. See, I discovered that Alpha had an ultimate weapon of their own... and best of all, it even comes in different colors.
.....
Blue for wits, Green for brawn, and Red for... morale? Truly a trinity synergy that was a force to be reckoned with. I remembered fighting tooth and nail with two others, trying to repel an assault on one side, then boom, splat, dead, we were taken by complete surprise on the other.
“Real sorry about this, boyfriend,” Blue said, swiping our flag once more from its pole with no remorse. “But this is the only way we stand a chance on ever beating her.”
“Nothin’ personal, mmkay?” winked green, marching right along blue in stride.
Red lagged behind slightly, a gentle gaze peering back over at us victims of their ploy in almost deep sorrow. I swear, those two have gotta be a bad influence on her.
Gradually, it was starting to look like Charlie Platoon was the runt of this very ferocious litter... but y’know, sometimes, even in the bleakest of circumstances, a ray of hope can shine. It’s as they say, every dog has his day – and in this case, while trading gunfire in the foremost of the front lines, I saw it... streaking across the battlefield, a kid from my platoon, waving the stolen flag of Bravo with the widest smirk on his face.
History was made on that day. Charlie Platoon, after many trials and tribulations, has finally achieved victory for once. I couldn’t believe it, in fact, I didn’t believe it...
“How’d you get the flag from the other team?” I asked him as soon as the festivities had died down.
“They gave it to me!” He spouted so gleefully. “All I did was ask if I could take it and a nice, tall lady handed me the flag and told me to go.”
Oh.
Pity. Literally pity... got us a point on the scoreboard.
And here I was thinking we might have had the perfect child soldier on our hands. But no, turns out the ultimate weapon all along was ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, of course... always does wonders. If only wars could be resolved as easily as that, just saying some magic words...
Yep, magic words.
Magic...
Hm.
Hmm.
Y’know what, maybe the kid is onto something here... perhaps I should give trying my own kind of magic words a whirl.
A little while later, as the members of each platoon took their places, the starting buzzer resounded once more – and we were off, and for the first time, I valiantly led the march onward, plunging myself deep into the throes of battle with one sole objective.
Win.
While the rest of my platoon stayed defensive, timid, too unwilling, and afraid to go on the offensive, I was bolting through a volley of enemy fire, ducking, weaving, lunging, dishing out as much as I took.
Missed most of my shots, of course – after all, a little confidence won’t automatically make anybody James Bond, obviously... but it was just enough to make me feel like I could be, and for now, that was all I needed.
To win this match.
To win this bet.
And most importantly – to win that concert.
I’m so getting that damn concert.
A chance to further tease and unravel that very embodiment of stern. An opportunity to witness that frigid, ice-cold queen melt into a nervous, fidgeting, bubbling puddle.
Soldiers have mementos, maybe a necklace, a ring, a crinkled picture of the past that keeps them going – well, this was mine. That image in my head was keeping my blood pumping.
Before I knew it, I had entered Alpha territory, and shifting from cover to cover of palm trees and oil drums – I began my infiltration of their base in search of their flag.
It was a race against time. By now, I’m sure Alpha’s special RGB task force has reached our home base too, so I needed to be quick, but more importantly... I needed to be vigilant.
Double-checking corners, I twisted and turned. Any moment, I was expecting to stumble upon a guard they have in place... but to my surprise, all I’ve happened upon was an empty rundown room, and a flag slowly fluttering its Alpha colors in the middle of it all.
Briefly, I forgot all my precautions and bolted forward... only to be immediately reminded by a stray bullet splattering red over the walls to the side of me, missing me by only mere inches.
At once, I scrambled for the nearest concrete pillar insight, carefully peeking an eye over at the trajectory of the gunfire – to find only but my worst fears confirmed, trapped in a confined space with the reaper of the battlefield herself.
Irene took aim, pointing squarely at my decrepit, crumbling piece of cover.
At the very least... now I know what happened to the guard here.
“We seriously gotta stop meeting like this,” I said, my voice bouncing across all four corners. “It’s starting to feel like you’re just straight up following me at this point.”
“Must just be your imagination,” Irene coldly responded, a resounding echo revealing her cautionary march forward. “I’m taking the flag. If you’re smart, you’ll run.”
“I’ll stay dumb, thanks,” I quickly muttered, daring another peek at her again. “If I say ‘please’, would you give it to me? I heard a rumor that a nice, tall lady is somewhere out here giving flags, do you think maybe I’ll ever be so lucky like that too?”
“No.”
“What about ‘I love you?'”
A volley of gunfire instantly began raining down upon my piece of cover, coating the ground, painting the walls, and whiffing past me in heart-stopping near-misses on either side.
Guess that’s a no...
“While we’re here anyway...” I began to ask after hearing the distinct plastic clatter of her swapping magazines. “I’m curious – if you do win the bet, just what exactly do you have in store for me?”
There was silence, but no gunfire. A good sign in my book, so I dared to continue.
“I mean, whatever it is, it sure has you all fired up now to win this – no pun intended. You mind sharing?”
“What’s the point?” I heard her say, closer, louder, only a narrow pillar of concrete now separating us both. “You’ll get to find out soon enough anyway.”
I smirked. “We’ll see about that.”
Then I bolted.
A straight mad dash to the flag failing to catch her off-guard – and she fired away. Every shot accurate, every bullet meeting its target, and yet... as the flag swayed firmly in my grip, her pellets rolled unspilled across the ground, and my uniform remained pristine and unstained.
Now that definitely caught her off-guard.
“What the...” She did a double-take. “What did you...?”
I took advantage of her shock, sprinting over to the exit as she emptied her entire magazine, only for me to once again emerge from her relentless assault miraculously unscathed.
Or should I say magically?
On a whim, I dared look back for the last time – to find that Irene had quickly worked it out, staring, seething, and stammering, “Y-You’re cheating! That’s not fair! The rules! There are rules! Y-You can’t -”
“And what are you gonna tell the referees?” I interrupted, taunting her with a playful gaze. “Oh, excuse me – but I think one of the players is utilizing a magic barrier so that the pellets just bounced off of him, which is in complete violation of article seventeen, section fourteen. Disqualify him, please.”
Her eyes told a quick story of denial and then begrudging acceptance hearing my words, and she lowered her weapon, shaking her head in exasperation, “Where did you even learn how to do something like that in the first place?”
I just shrugged. “You have a mom like mine, you tend to pick up a thing or two, y’know?”
She stared again – dull and disapproving.
“Oh, come on,” I said, batting my eyes. “I’m practically up against the boogeyman on one side, and a death squad on the other, I’m warranted a little edge of my own to even the odds, aren’t I?”
“By cheating?”
“All is fair in love and war, my dear, sweet Irene,” I simply explained. “And in this case, it’s quite literally both.”
And with that, I bid her farewell with a parting salute, and began making the trudge back to my platoon – waving the celebratory flag of a new hope.
A super-soldier on one hand, an elite squad on the other... and now add just a dash of magic into the field.
This game just keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn’t it?
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