Creative Writing Competition #1

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Creative Writing Competition #1​

Welcome to the first creative writing contest. You will have until 22/05/2019 to submit your entries before the poll for judging is posted, which will be open until the end of the month. The theme/style of writing for the first event is as follows. Theme: The Assassin - For this theme, you are to write the opening to a story that would involve a form of assassination. - This can be fiction or non fiction. Style: Creative Writing - The most basic of all writing styles, you have free reign for the first month, take any approach you like as long as it follows the theme. If you have any questions, feel free to message me or post in the discussion thread. Good luck. - Rules - Discussion

 

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Entry #1

Spoiler

The Andrew's case
- prologue -

In the pinky-orange light of the sunrise, the city was calmly restart it's daily life.

Somewhere, hidden in a dark room with closed windows, covered with black curtains, a fragile being was thinking at her life's meaning and purpose.

There was a time when she could easily erase the unpleasant memories of the blood dripping from the wounds, with it's pungent smell, and with the sound of the body falling on the ground after the gun's silenced shot. She never liked all of these but she kept doing this job, mastered when she was a teenager, in her darkest life period. The art of killing almost never had such a good follower. Never feeling mercy for her victims, she was a death tool, looking at death like at the absence of the movement.

The apparently easy money were the reason for her until now... but her last kill were unfair, and broke her spirit, her mind and her body strength... Night after night and day after day she remembered how the handsome young man looked in her eyes, while he was on his last breath, without blaming her and almost content. As he approved her, forgave her and offered her, lastly, his soul. For her to be close enough to him, as heir of a wealthy family, she had to enter in his circle of friends, an almost impossible task for everyone else, because he was defended by the best bodyguards. And she succeeded where the tougher guys couldn't do anything, with her sweet face, her gloomy eyes in contrast with her bright smile, and her tiny body which induces the feeling of protection for everyone who sees her.

She had to play the lover card, she did it almost every time, as a heartless and yet joyful cruel being. Like kids playing with insects, while making an insectarium, she was playing with people, making a horrible collection of deaths. She knew all of them previously, her homework were made with accuracy to always have the planned result. For this, she was one of the most hired assassins from the east coast of the US.

The moment when she knew that she has to kill Andrew Trent, the famous and good for nothing pretty face Andrew Trent, she smiled at the image of him lying down on the floor like any of her victims. He was lately in the first page of tabloids or magazines, everyone being impressed by the huge amount of money he inherited 6 months ago, after his parents' private plane crushed in the ocean. The fact that he was such a handsome young man and single, were the juicy details who gave him the spotlight.

She was speculating usually the reasons for her clients, the murderous instincts of the ones who didn't want to spoil their hands. The hell of the desires born from greed were on top. But she failed to understand why and how did Andrew put himself in the position for anyone to wish his death. He always was generous and he said from the very beginning that if someone else is the real heir of his money, he will give them all.
He sounded like a broken disk, always saying these odd words and he organised press conferences each month, to tell everyone what is he doing with his money, like he had to explain himself. All his behaviour was commented and jokes were made for his actions. His name became the favourite gossip of everyone.

Even if she didn't find the reason of her client, she didn't bother too much with this detail. She started to build her plan, putting Andrew in the middle of her daily researches. She found out from newspapers about the next press conference and asked boldly for an interview in the middle of it, as a representation of a tropical forests research organisation. It was enough for him to accept and he was trapped in her charm.
As she put the tropical forest preservation on the top of world's problems, she sounded like a genuine researcher. His passion for nature sealed his faith.

Andrew was curious about the researcher's results and asked her a ton of details. She had to learn everything he wanted to know about the green forest and this made her to meet a whole unknown pile of stuff. Her innate curiosity was fed with this knowledge and so a process of changing started inside her. A silent sweet enemy, which dis-balanced her will stealthily.

She had an unique way of looking in his eyes while talking, with endless curiosity born from her need to know him better, and this made his vanity think at how irresistible he is for such a nice delicate woman. The misunderstood reason of her interest for him was so funny for her when she noticed it, than she put in work a game of indifference and teasing to make him fall into her trap. Being self conscious of the effect she has on men, she acted all natural.

Somehow, though, she made a mistake... she knew how his feelings are growing for her, and let him freely express these feelings. She did know how to manipulate men but she never fell in love until she met his burning passion. So she was unaware of how it is to love someone and never trusted that men's feelings for her are for real "love". Ignorance on this matter was sealing her fate.

Thinking back at all the chain of events, she was shaking in a fever who never dropped since then, since the moment she realised that she killed her own soul in that very moment when she killed him. All she had to do now was to live with this or to die as well...

And after a while, not knowing how much time passed since she just instinctively drank some water from time to time without eating anything, she woke up willing to understand her and Andrew's fate. To make up her mind, it took 4 whole weeks of endless pain... She opened the windows after removing the curtains and the little light of the dawn hit her eyes.

A vengeful shadow was born and this is the story of a redemption.

 

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Entry #2

Spoiler

Piece Title: Lielowan Meadow
Story:

I’m a storm, to begin with. All the living things despise me, they don’t fascinate my presence. Honestly, I’m not like my puny brother, Wind, but everyone loves him. For I am not jealous of him, just a well-wisher, we play together along with our cousin rain. I just float all over this realm meaning nothing to the beings; they can’t even see me, at least not the real me. I take the advantage and disguise as my brother, sometimes I sneakily enter the houses, listening to the conversations or play with cats by blowing things off and irritate them.

Just the other day, I was taking a stroll around the peaceful Lielowan meadow, around the corner I spotted the most handsome house, which stood there, all alone. I went closer to take a peek, and I got a little too excited at the sight of the innocent face, the baby giggled at me as I touched her hair, her face, she kept on smiling. All of a sudden a woman in a silk gown, probably the mother, rushed to shut me out. Stupid people, they think they can hold me off by those fragile glasses, it takes a tiny little blow to shatter everything in pieces you can’t even locate with your naked eyes. Stupid.

I again visited them at night, it was dark, and I assumed all of them were asleep. I was wrong. The father was wide awake; he was looking for something but was making sure his wife wouldn’t wake up. He got out of bed, carefully opened the closet and went wild, wild like a beast, throwing off stuff, biting his lips so hard that at some point it bled a drop or two. Then the beast calmed down, he folded all the clothing and kept everything in their proper places. Stood up, came to his wife’s side of the bed and took her phone cautiously unlocking it with her fingerprints. I can’t read. I looked at the man instead, or the beast he had become. He screamed out loud. The woman woke up and snatched the phone right away. The man asked, “Where did you hide it?”

“I didn’t hide a thing.” She said loudly, her eyes not looking elsewhere but the phone screen.

“I’m asking for those damn test reports, you *****” he was so loud that the baby in the adjacent room started crying. “Answer me”

The mother rushed to comfort the baby, the beast ran after her. “Did you think, you’ll go around enjoying with other men, and I’ll do nothing?”

“I couldn’t even imagine that my husband doesn’t trust me even a little bit. If I’d known I wouldn’t have married you.” cried the woman while trying to get the baby to sleep.

The man came closer. She got scared and took a step back. “Lie to my face, darling. I have been in love with you for long enough; let me now hate you till my last breath”

“Get away from me” she put the baby in the cradle and seeing her husband lowering the tone she said “I love you, let’s get back to sleep and talk about this in the morning”

“I’ll get myself a glass of water, you go to bed” the man kissed her on the forehead and went to the kitchen. The woman went to their bedroom. She suddenly remembered something and was so terrified that she ran to the kitchen. No one was there. She called for her husband. I went before her in the baby’s room. The beast was there with some papers in one hand and a knife in the other. The baby was sleeping soundly, he screamed and stabbed her face, tearing off the eyes, the nose, tiny little mouth, and he kept on stabbing, once, twice, thrice, and on and on. Everything turned red. The baby didn’t even let out a single sign of pain. The mother fell down on her knees at that sight. The father screamed “It wasn’t my baby”

I left.

 

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Entry #3

Spoiler

To grandmast'r jacques de Molay,

writeth this lett'r to thee with most wondrous s'rrow and with a heavy heart. In the course of the past year, i has't hath taken testament of h'resy 'mongst the church. T cameth to mine own attention yond our most holy church hast been introduced to the utmost h'resy, conducted not just by any friar 'r bishop, but his Holiness. By its v'ry nature, i writeth this lett'r with the unwav'ring conc'rn f'r our ord'r and f'r the holy church. His holiness hast ov'r the years not only indulged himself with the desires of the flesh, but that gent hast eke did welcome h'retics and murd'r'rs into his church. That gent hast f'rsaken the scriptures and the w'rd of god; that gent hast f'rsaken the knights whom has't sw'rn their unwav'ring fealty towards the church and the pilgrims who is't seeketh safe passage to the holy landeth. Solely, f'r this distinct exposition, i has't concluded, yond action might not but beest taken. At which hour thee taketh this parchment, thee shall grasp the reasoning behind mine own actions, i only dreameth yond one day the ord'r shall rememb'r me f'r having freed not only the ord'r but the holy church of his Holiness and his c'rrupt ways. I might not but eke apologizeth, as thee shall taketh this parchment only aft'r the de'd hast been done. I has't instruct'd my closest fellow knight to deliv'r the parchment aft'r i has't did complete mine own journey to rome. I wisheth yond i couldst has't seen anoth'r way f'rward, but i wilt doth what i believeth is most wondrous f'r the ord'r and f'r the grace of god.

Signed, Sir Berenguer of Cardona

Note: This piece of fiction was inspired by the Order of Templars and the Catholic Church, in addition with the characters being Jacques de Molay the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, Celestine V his Holiness and Berenguer of Cardona a knight of the order, are all real, it is only the content of the letter which is fiction revolving around real people.

 

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Entry #4

Spoiler

he looked at a smiling sunflower, that slowly tilts its head toward the fiery ball running across the sky.

“You’ll never know,” she began to say to it, “the cold embrace he gave me that brought my bones to skin yet felt so warm that no fire could compete. I can still recall the days we passed together in a patch of sunflowers that slowly withered away from the cold he would always bring with him. His cold blue lips feel so warm on my cheeks as though he never parted from my arms embrace. I will always think of him no matter what the spring says! No matter what the spring says. No matter what the spring says…”

“Have I heard right,” a soft voice spoke behind her. The girl perked up, expecting no one to be there. She quickly stood up and faced the being; a woman of soft brown hair, light greenish complexities and a dress blooming with different colored flowers.

“Spring…” the girl mumbled, confirming the obvious.

“Have you not appreciated the sun that's always singing for you? How about the grass that lays pretty for you, dancing around your feet like servants? What about the sunflowers that always listen to every song of sorrow you sing,” Spring responded, her voice deadly silent. The girl slowly sank to her knees and stared at the sunflowers in shame.

“My love cannot be quenched in the romances you've created for me,” the girl spoke in no louder than a whisper.

Spring’s face morphed into a dangerous shade of green, her face mending to form a creature where bare human complexities were existent but expressions that more resembled angry gods were dominate.

“I had thought there was chance, but now I realized that there is only one place for you to go. I must let you pass,” Spring spoke to the girl. The girl looked up happy that Spring was going to let her pass, but once their eyes spoke, she understood the term of pass she was speaking of.

“No, you mustn’t,” the girl cried. Too little too late. Spring pulled the girl into her bark colored stick looking hands with warm strong winds and upon contact, life seeped out of the girl.

“What I can giveth, my child, I can take.”


That night as the sunflowers slept and the moon cruises along the sky, he found her, sleeping a dream that she will never wake. He touched her cheek and knew she was gone. Tears slowly fell from his cheeks hovering in the air for only a second before hugging her skin.

“You’ll never know. The happiness you delivered with every lift of your lips. The shoulder you slept on that ached in utter joy because of you. Your jokes that burned my sadness like wood in a campfire,” he froze up and started shaking in utter remorse, “ You’ll never know, the promise… the promise we seasons made to never fall in love, regardless of what our hearts say… regardless of how many deaths we make.”

 

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Entry #5

Spoiler

London

Late in the reign of Queen Victoria


If there's one place in London that knows all the it's secrets it would be the River Thames. After all one can consider that London was Thame's city and not the vice versa.

The water and its reflection mirrored thousands of dreams, hope, despair, anxiety, desire, and evilness that the inhabitants of the city dared to show.

Just like tonight.


Elizabeth

I am so sorry. It pains me to say and to admit that my love for you has faded away. We cannot see each other again.

J. A. W

The young woman closed the letter as fresh tears runs down freely on her face. If pain can cause the heart from beating then she must be a dead person now. It's been almost 2 days since she received the letter but every breathing hour minutes seconds seems more painful than the lasts.

Maybe because she witnessed the ugly truth earlier this evening. That everything was a lie from the beginning. She believed that love can conquer everything. But in truth she's just a naive and impoverished country girl who dared to love a man above her station. Gave her everything for the hopes she will get the love that she deserves.

What are you doing here ?

Elizabeth turned and a new hope bloomed in her heart. He came. She sent him a letter that they needed to meet. She knew that he cannot just abandoned her just like that.He loved her and she loved him.

There standing in front of her a tall and handsome young man. He's wearing a dark cloak and a walking stick on his hand. His usual attire everytime they meet for everything was a secret.


I knew you would come. I knew you still love---.

Stop Elizabeth. I only wanted to give you this.

He opened his cloak and searched for something. He closed the distance between them and take her hand.

She looked at the silver pocket watch he handed to her. Another fresh tears fell down on her face. This is it. He's leaving her for good now.

She clutched it and without second thought throw it to the river. There's a sudden rush of satisfactory feeling her actions gave her.

You're mistaken if you think I wanted us to be the way we're before. I don't know why it took me long to realise it.. . But I think you didnt love me at all. But don't worry James., I am a strong woman. I just want to say goodbye to you for good.

The relief she saw on his face as she spoke those words were enough to convince her that she made the right decision.

"Can you hug for one last time. She asked.

She didn't wait for his answer and just closed the distance between them. She embraced him, close her eyes and savour his warmth. She embraced him like it was the last time. Like it will lasts for a lifetime.

She opened her eyes. Maybe it will.

What have you done?

James look at her with shocked eyes as he clutched his chest. He walked away from her staggering. But where are he going.? Nowhere. The river was his only choice.


She touched his face.

If I can't I have you then no one can. Then she smiled

 

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Entry #6

Spoiler

The Assassination Enigma


Prelude/Preview:

'My name is Ethan Winchester and I work for a company of assassins... Well, we're more like contract killers secretly working for the government really, but you get the point. We get a mission and a target, and once the deed is done, we've rid the world of another blood-thirsty monster. Necessary containment, the government call it. As long as I get to kill bad guys, I can't complain. The company is on paper called the Division Of Natural Energy And Engineered Reservoir Organisation, or as most people know us by, DONE-AERO, for short. I know, I know, I didn't come up with that silly name and to be frank, I'd refrain from using it, but that is what we're called. Pretty clever huh? If people only knew... As part of the cover-up they're able to provide us with the latest technological wonders of the world, including access to extremely rare and limited Elemental Weaponry, manufactured only in our Weaponry and Research department and only used by our organisation. Oh that's right, did I forget to mention it? The year is 2575, and the place, New Harmony, The Beginning... The Beginning you ask? Well, it's kind of hard to describe really, but summed up briefly, it's humanity's third home planet after the destruction of the two previous. Most people just call it Earth 3 these days, it's easier that way. Now don't bother asking where New Harmony is on this planet because that would take too long to explain. Anyways, where was I... Oh that's right, the alarm...'

In a small apartment on the third floor of an old scrawny looking building, a man still in his work wear from yesterday was seen struggling to reach out to his sounding alarm clock on the table beside his couch. Barely reaching it, he managed to knock it over as it finally stopped. The clock showed 7am, but the man was too sleepy to even bother checking. Not long after he drifted away, but only for what seemed like ten minutes as the doorbell suddenly started ringing several times over, followed by a few heavy knocks on the door; Ethan was too tired to notice. The door wasn't locked however, as a woman strolled right in. Her name was Lucy Thompson, Ethan's second in command on his 4-man team; the other two were Roy Remington and the new recruit named Natalie Colt. They were going to get their first assignment as a newly composed team today and Ethan had already overslept. "Ethan!!" Lucy's voice was loud and clear as he woke up in abrupt fashion, landing face first on the floor. "L-ucy??..." Ethan mumbled, fumbling around on the floor trying to get a grip of himself, still half asleep. "We're going to be late if you don't get your act together right this instant!" Telling him firmly, she seemed annoyed at his bad habit of always being late. As Ethan mustered strength to get up and to the bathroom, he mumbled back at her "Alright ma'am..." Her eyes locked onto him like a lion to a gazelle. "What was that?!" She retorted, and not daring to talk back to her again, he bolted for the bathroom. While Ethan was taking a leak, Lucy looked around and scanned the room. Garbage bags tossed all around, remains of yesterday's dinner still on the table, and filthy dishes from days prior, but more importantly, a picture of a glamorous girl in lingerie hanging on the wall. "Is it really appropriate to have that picture on the wall, considering who she is??..." Lucy's eyes were fixed on the poster, not sure whether to shake her head in discontent or to laugh. "What now??" Poking his head out from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth, Ethan looked over at Lucy, and then over at the poster on the wall. "This picture, you're taking unnecessary risks... What if she finds out?? She'll definitely beat you to death, that's for sure..." She followed up. Looking back at her with a stern look, Ethan snuck his head inside the bathroom again as if not paying attention to what she had said. It was a fair warning though, because if she did find out, he most definitely would be dead. 'A sacred treasure from her past life, she doesn't need to know I still have it' Ethan always used to tell Lucy, but that didn't stop her from questioning him each time she saw it. "We need to get going, ready soon?" Lucy started to get impatient, they couldn't stall much longer. "Yeah, yeah, let's get going." Finally done, Ethan signalled Lucy towards the apartment door as he quickly grabbed his jacket and keys, then they were off.

Not long after, they arrived at the company. Checking in with their key cards, the two of them headed straight for the training hall as Ethan was still yawning and rubbing his eyes. It was mandatory for all assassins to check in to the training hall at least three times a week, otherwise they risked losing points on the Assassin Scoreboard, which ranked all the assassins in the company based on mission success, loyalty and overall shape and form of the assassin. It was important that they stayed fit and healthy. Ethan was currently ranked as number 7, while his teammate, Roy, was ranked at number 5. Neither Lucy nor Natalie had ever made top 10 yet however. On the flip side though, Ethan never bothered much about this scoreboard to begin with since there were actual ranks within the company that overruled the scoreboard anyways. It was more of a mean to keep an inner competition amongst the assassins to see who was really the best, and he wasn't the most enthusiastic about it, or so he claimed.

Having changed into proper training gear, the two of them were already at it. It was important for an assassin to stay in shape in all manners of lethality, including hand-to-hand combat, something in which Ethan never truly got the hang of. So, Lucy always took him through a few rounds of sparring matches even if he didn't really want to. The whole room was padded and dim lit, the former to prevent injuries and the latter to train the eye to see the opponent even in the dark. Managing to outmanoeuvre Lucy for a change, Ethan caught her momentarily off guard as he threw her over his shoulder and straight to the ground, landing on top of her and locking her hands down to the ground. They both were surprise by this indeed, as Ethan hesitated on what to do next for a few seconds, meeting eye-contact with Lucy. At a complete standstill Ethan just looked at her, and noticing this, Lucy saw the opportunity to break free. A quick jab to the face with her elbow, she then tossed him off her with her legs wrapped around him as she rolled him over on him stomach, locking his right hand in an arm-lock behind his back and forcing him to tap out. "Damn it I almost had you!" He laughed, but not without clutching his hand in pain. Still on the ground, he looked up at her as a grin formed on her face. "Almost..." She replied. "Well, hand-to-hand combat was never my strong suit; you know I like to pick off my opponents from a far. Next time, don't be so rough on me, that really hurt you know..." Almost as if complaining, Ethan pulled a lazy smirk back at her. Giggling, she simply reached her hand out to him to help him up. "Maybe next time Ethan." A smile followed by a reassuring nod, who was he to deny her charm? Grabbing on to her hand, he was helped up to his feet again as he brushed off any dust that had gathered on his clothes, and as he did, the Director of the company entered. "Oh, is it's you John?" As if wanting confirmation, Lucy asked the man that had just walked in on them. Simply turning for the light switch, the man turned on the lights as both Ethan and Lucy were blended by it. "The briefing is about ready; Roy and Natalie are already there. You better hit the shower and get there; we wouldn't like the newcomer's first impression of you two to be having to wait, would we?" John seemed to be in a good mood today, laughing to himself. Ethan just looked at him with a dazed look as if not following his humour. At least, he did not seem impressed by his attempt at making them laugh. "Right... We'll be right there John." Watching as he walked out the room ahead of them, Ethan then looked back at Lucy, taking a respectful bow before her. "Thanks for the lessons, My Lady." He said ironically. "Pff, you dork... We better get going." Laughing at him, the two of them then nodded at each other as they went to their respective locker-rooms. Not long after, they were at the briefing.

"Alright now that you are all here, I suppose I'll give you the rundown..." John Mauser... The Director of the company was a stern but relaxed man who always saw the bright side of things. It took a lot to make him mad, and even then he usually laughed it off. "So who's the target??" Ethan asked eagerly, more than ready for a new assignment. "Not so fast Ethan, shouldn't you say hello to Natalie first??" John asked curiously. Putting his hands behind his head and placing his feet on the table however, Ethan seemed uninterested. "I already know her, what more is there to learn?" He asked. Realizing John didn't know what he was on to about, Ethan then pointed his hand at Roy as he continued. "As you know, eight years ago Roy and I worked together in the Firing Squad division for two years before I worked alone for two years, before then teaming up with Lucy in these past four years, with Roy rejoining us last year. Of course I know all about his girlfriend, or should I say, wife, Natalie. What more is there to know? Let's just get on with the mission, shall we..." Having worked in the company for 8 years, joining them when he was sixteen years old, Ethan was the longest serving of the crew. At the age of 24 however, he was not the oldest, as Roy's age was 35, Natalie 27 and finally Lucy, 21. Despite being the leader of the team, Ethan was outranked by Roy both on the Scoreboard as well as the actual rank in the company. Being team leader on the other hand though was not based on either fact, but on how long you had been in a team or how long you had been with the company, which ultimately made Roy third in command in the team. Looking at him, John let out a deep sigh, as he then pointed at the screen behind them. "Very well, I'll just leave the data on the screen then..." On the screen behind him were full profiles of each of them, including everything from age, lineage, ethnicity, mission reports, favourite weapons, ranks, kills, and so on and so forth. "So who's the target?" Lucy finally followed up. "He's a separatist scientist only known as Gabriel..."
Putting up an obscured image of a man from behind on the screen, John then continued. "Or, that's what we were lead to believe initially until he cracked one of our mainline portals and put in coordinates no one around here has ever seen before. ”Coordinates?" Roy questioned. "Yes... As we all know, the mainline portals are used for quick-travel between the nations due to the Great Gaps and the atmosphere on this planet, but for some reason the coordinates have been altered, not to a different planet or place, but..." John hesitated for a moment, he knew what he wanted to say next would baffle them all. "Well, what is it??" Natalie pressed for information; this had to be one juicy target for sure. "To be honest we're not sure... From the looks of it, it seems like the timeframe has been altered to match a different time than ours, but to suggest that he's invented time-travel might be a stre-..." "TIME TRAVEL?!?!" Ethan shot up in excitement; there was no way he would want to miss a single detail about this. "We're not sure... But yeah, it seems that way." "On what basis do you make this claim exactly??" Remaining calm, Roy sought the actual facts of it all, not the first to believing in such fairytale nonsense. "Well that's the thing... The coordinates are locked to a place called Denmark, and as we all know by now, that Country or that Planet for that matter, doesn't exist anymore, heck, it's been over 400 years since Earth 1 was destroyed. But there's more..." Pausing for a bit, John swiped the image on the screen over to something else. "Our analysts were able to hack into the timestamp of the jump and it appears the coordinates specifically mentions 2050... Could this refer to-... year? In any case, this mainline portal is located in hostile territory so you will need guns and equipment to make it there. Once there, you should be able to follow where this Gabriel went and what he's planning on doing. It can't be anything good I reckon, as this mission comes from the highest authority..." "Section A??" Ethan asked, knowing that meant a serious mission. "Indeed..." John answered. "And if I'm not mistaken, the last Section A mission you and Roy were on were your last mission as a team in the Firing Squad, am I right??" John pressed. He knew neither Ethan nor Roy were the ones to talk much about what really happened back then but at the same time, he needed to make sure they knew the gravity of the mission. Paying close attention to this, Lucy coughed at John to continue...

Clearing his throat, he said; "Anyways, I believe Alice, Peter, Daniel and Maria all have something new for you, so we might as well take it from there..." "As long as I get my Singular Atomic Waterpulse Rifle, I'm all good, but glad to hear that there's something new in development down there..." Ethan boasted. "What about the Anti-gravity boots, have Alice been able to perfect them yet?" Lucy followed up. "Hey don't forget about the elemental grenades, last time we tested them we levelled a whole building." Roy butted in. "As long as my Duel Icebreakers; Silent Wind & Blizzard Blast are fixed from my last mission, I'm happy." Natalie whispered to herself, but it was still loud enough for the rest of them to hear. "Oh yeah, I haven't seen them in action before, are they any good?" Ethan followed up. "Can't be better than the Microwave Heatblast-Eradicator, can it?" Roy asked curiously. "Are you kidding?? Nothing beats my Automatic Energybeam Thunder-slicer, you know that. We all saw how many points I scored on the scoreboard last mission because of them." Raising her fist in the air, Lucy seemed eager to get a hold of her gun again, just like the rest of them. As if watching over a group of kids, John clutched his head due to their noise-level before he asked them politely to head to the Weaponry and Research department with him to find out more. Making their haste over there, it didn't take long before they were there...