Chapter One Burnt
His dark eyes glinted, no, they burned maliciously as he glared at me.
'I've been made Squad Leader,' His eyes were saying. 'And you know what that means.'
Oh yeah, I knew what that meant.
When I read the Mission Outline and saw his name at the top and my name in the list beneath it, I knew I was in for it.
He hated me, pure unrestrained hatred. Well, actually most of the time it is retrained to an intense dislike. That was because the high and mighty Leaders were around…but now he was that Leader and …I was in so much trouble it wasn't funny.
I usually manage to find humour in everything… but you'll excuse me if I don't think my slow, painful death measures up to previous standards.
So here I am, trapped on the flight of stairs that leads to the Command Centre, with him glaring up at me from the base and a locked door at the top.
He looks so ominous all dressed in black. Black boots, pants, shirt, jacket, gloves, hair and eyes. The only skin you can see is his pale face. A smirk joins the glare and he tilts his head up slightly to look me directly in the eyes.
I'm quite aware I am staring at him in open terror… I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do…fear him.
I don't want to give him the satisfaction… but I can't seem to help it.
He's going to kill me.
That's how much he hates me, and I don't even know why!
My heart skips a beat as he suddenly takes a step forward and another. Each step he climbs towards me, I match with a step back until…my back thuds into the wall.
Fuck.
He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me!
You wanna know the really sad thing? He's quite within his right as Leader to do so.
I was now a member of his Squad and if he felt I would hamper the mission, he could fire me, suspend me or purposely 'lose' me on the mission.
But I think he's going to save time and do me in right here, right now. It's only been five minutes since we got the Outline, I swear! But he never was one for wasting time.
I was so in shock, I sat at the table until everybody else had left. I had met Ilanda's eyes across the cold metal table and what I saw there confirmed it all. My skills and unquestionable loyalties had been sworn to a person who wanted me dead.
Nice one, Command. Real sweet justifiable choice you made.
Ilanda was my former Leader. She had kept me safe, but now we were both in the Squad of that psycho.
Finally I had stood, resigned to my fate to only live the few more days until the mission, and headed down the stairs. The Command Centre door automatically locked behind me as I was the last person to leave, and I turned to face…yes, that's right. That's where I am now, utterly and officially screwed. I'm not even going to get those few days to prepare…
I'm going to die right now.
He comes to a halt on the platform only a couple of feet in front of me.
He's tall, I have to raise my eyes to look a him. He is smirking so broadly it makes me sick. He's enjoying torturing me, making me wait until he disintegrates me with his pyro-beams, one appendage at a time.
I turn away, unable to look at those dark eyes brimming with evil. I hear the swish of fabric and a warm gloved hand takes hold of my chin and forces my gaze back to him. The smirk has faded, now it's mainly the hatred.
"K- Koro." I choke out.
"Ah ah ah." he tuts me, "That's Squad Leader Koro to you, scum."
"I- just – Give me a chance-" I plea. Oh, Lord. First I'm cowering in fear, now I'm begging for my life. I don't deserve to be an Agent anyway. It is probably for the best that he kills me.
"Do you know how long I've waited for this?" he asks softly, ignoring my stutters.
"Three months?" I guess, my voice threatening to break. Three months is how long I've been here. Koro has hated me from the get go.
"Yes." he hisses. The hand holding my chin slides down to my throat. I press hard into wall behind me but it isn't helping my escape. "You were useless when you arrived but still you got accepted here. Fair enough, I thought, perhaps Command sees some kind of potential the rest of us are blind to. But every passing day you proved me wrong. You were just plain useless, a waste of space that a fully competent Agent could have filled." The hand wraps around my neck and painfully tightens, restricting my already feeble breathing. "And now, it is up to me to remedy Command's mistake."
Ow, ow, ow! His hand squeezes tighter. He's going to strangle me! And here I was predicting I'd burn to death. I can hardly breathe but I don't struggle.
I am quite useless.
Everybody here was an Agent for processing some kind of amazing ability...me…what did I have? Besides the ability to piss off the homicidal fire throwing Koro?
Just as my vision is dimming, Koro relaxes his grip.
I take a few gasps of air and look at him almost curiously. What is he doing? He is looking back at me almost curiously.
"Why didn't some other Leader finish you off when they had the chance?" he asks. The question was directed more at himself. He watches in disgust as I try to pull oxygen into my aching lungs. He grips my throat again, crushing my windpipe. He pushes me against the wall and lifts me so high my feet are no longer on the ground.
I'm hanging, suffocating at the right hand of my 'exulted' Leader.
It is my duty as a member of his Squad to let him kill me...to Hell with that! I instinctively raise my hands to his wrist and try to pry his fingers away. The sleave of his jacket has slipped down and my palm brushes the bare skin of his forearm. I stifle a yelp and tear my hand away. He leers as an idea hits him.
He drops me.
I crumple at his feet.
Koro simply stands there, patiently waiting for me to regain my breath. I almost wanted to start begging for my death now. When I'm done panting like a hound, Koro squats down before me. I freeze and tightly close my eyes. Pyro-beam time.
I hear that swishing sound of his black uniform again then I feel heat against my cheek. I open my eyes and look at his newly returned smirk. He has removed one of his gloves and he's holding the naked hand inches from my face.
Koro's skin was like red hot coals and when he chose, he could concentrate the heat into, what he liked to call, a pyro-beam. He came as close as I've ever seen to grinning as he waved his burning hand back and forth in front of me. So I wasn't wrong, he is going to burn me alive.
This is so not fair. How can he say I'm useless? Maybe my abilities are just late?!
"Koro, sir!" A voice calls.
The grin vanishes into a scowl. Someone interrupted his fun. He stands up and turns around. Ilanda is standing by the base of the stairs. "What?!" Koro snaps.
"Don't you have the honour to let all of your Squad have a chance at the mission?" she asks. It was hard to tell if she was a stickler for the rules or was trying to help me. Though the latter was unlikely, Agents are nothing but the Leaders pawns.
"Not if I felt some members will be a hindrance and that it would be best to snuff them out as soon as possible." Koro shoots back in a very commanding tone.
Ilanda nods her head in a small bow of respect to her new Leader. I catch her eyes, 'sorry' they say. I feel hollow.
Sorry?
That's it. I'm gone.
No one can defy their Leader. Not Ilanda and especially not me.
"Leave!" Koro barks. Ilanda meets my gaze once more before she turns and obeys. When we are alone, Koro glares back down at me. I pull myself onto my knees. "Honour?" he murmurs thoughtfully as he looks me over. "Perhaps it would be 'honourable' of me to give you a chance." He uses his gloved hand to pull me to my feet. "A chance for you to run." he adds venomously.
Oh, Lord. I stare at him. Is he serious?
He puts his other glove back on. "I won't even use pyro-beams. How honourable is that?" he smirks. "This will be much more fun than incinerating you where you stand." He steps back clearing the stairs and exposing the path directly to the front doors. "Run, and when I catch you, you die."
I gape at him in shock. I wanted to scream, 'Just kill me and put me out of my misery!' but I simply stare at him. He frowns slightly and leans down to my eye level. "Were my orders somehow unclear?"
I shake my head. "N- No, sir."
"Then go!" He grabs me by the shoulder and throws me down the stairs. Instead of crashing to the floor I managed to twist in mid air and land in a crouch. With a quick glance at Koro behind me, I take off.
I run flat out towards the doors. There is a loud laugh form the stairs. "Do better than that!" was the cruel order, or request, I'm not sure anymore.
Koro had started to follow me. I was running but I wasn't going fast enough.
I skidded through the archway into a short corridor.
The first obstacle was approaching. I shoot out into the expansive entrance hall and aim for the doors. The entrance was guarded by four monstrous sets of double doors. The outer one was very thick and strong, like the door to a huge vault. The inner three were wooden and elegant, each unique in colour and design. They were 20 foot high, heavy as an overweight elephant, blast proof and projectile proof.
But not me proof.
As I get closer, the first door bursts back on its massive hinges so hard splinters of wood rain down as I rip through. I look over my shoulder. Koro was still coming but he was speeding up, he didn't think I was going to make it through that door so easily. I sprint to the next door, a deep mahogany blur, and explode through it as well. Ahh, the outside world was in sight. What was that feeling? Hope?
The two outer doors swung open as well but more gently. I wasn't going to question why the doors were moving by themselves as long as I got away. I threw a glance over my shoulder. He was much closer than I thought.
Hope gone.
I went through the wide open vault door and leapt to clear the stairs leading into the building…but I didn't land. With a jolt of surprise, I realize I am still rising, no, soaring upwards. I kick my feet out in front of me, which brings me to a stop floating in mid air. Twenty meters below me, standing staring on the immaculate driveway, is Koro.
I'm flying…. I am flying.
Ahh! Oh, Lord! I come to my senses enough to know that shock isn't going to keep Koro immobilized for long. He'll snap out of it and pyro-beam me into a cinder. With all my brainpower I force my way through the air. I am aiming for one of the trees that line the pathway. I fly into the trunk, yes, actually smack my chest into the trunk and cling onto the branches around me. Koro begins to chuckle. Chuckling is something Koro doesn't do. I must look very stupid.
The whole tree starts to sag sideways under my weight…O crap. The tree is only a small pine tree after all, and it can't stay upright with me in it. It is bending right over. The tip will touch the ground. I hang on desperately.
Please, don't let the tree bend over and offer me to my pursuer, please!
Koro starts to walk over. He's not chuckling but that smirk is back.
Dammit! I'm not going to learn to fly then be killed. I refuse!
Before the tree breaks I jump into the sky. I hover over Koro but something is wrong. I don't feel right. I am sinking towards the ground. Oh, no, no, no! I'm going to fall and then he's going to kill me. I try to concentrate on staying airborne but all that's going through my mind is my inevitable death.
Then the slight feeling of weightlessness I had managed to hold onto was gone and I fell.
I fall fast and smash onto the hard bricks below.
I hurt absolutely everywhere, inside and out. I blink the sting of forming tears out of my eyes to see Koro loom over me. I roll onto my side and cough harshly. A faint spray of blood splatters the orange bricks beside Koro's boots. The last thing I will ever see is a pale face framed by long black hair.