Crystalline Universe: Team Fortress 2 Overwatch - Volume 3: Crystalline Universe: Bloodline's Curse Chapter 63 Gain In Loss
Dane browsed through a set of doc.u.ments and data files while Azur sat on the other side of the desk. While the girl was distracted by her surroundings, Dane put the small tablet in his hands down and stared at Azur in wait for a response. But the response never came as she didn’t even realize that Dane finished work.
[Dane] – ” *Ahem* ”
Azur jumped on her seat and focus her attention back at the engineer.
[Dane] – “Now, now, look over here. ”
Azur rapidly moved her chair closer to the table and glanced at the doc.u.ments Dane displayed on his tablet screen.
[Dane] – “You are the only one qualified for this training. While I figure out the exact capability of “Project golden rectangle” you and your team brought me, you will be off training to be, when the time is right, able to execute the golden ratio. ”
[Azur] – “And my team? What about them? ”
[Dane] – “None of the members inside your team are suitable for this project except you, so let’s get down to business, girl. ”
[Azur] – “When does the training session start? ”
[Dane] – “You will be training beside Genji, he has a mastery over an ability similar to yours but… ”
[Azur] – “But? ”
[Dane] – “There is a price for that, Azur! ”
[Azur, with a confused face] – “A price? Like I have to pay you? ”
[Dane] – “No, I want you to prove that we can trust you and for that, we have a mission for you. ”
[Azur] – “A mission? ”
[Dane] – “Yes, a simple little mission that’s a piece of cake for someone of your skill. A strategic capture mission of a Talon high hanking officer. ”
[Azur] – “You want me to capture someone? ”
[Dane] – “He’s Talon’s outland resource minister, he’s responsible for the importation of a high quantity of quality South-American drugs to the European and Asian continent and acts as a spy corp leader inside America. The agents that will accompany you to capture the port will explain in further detail the mission’s insight. ”
[Azur] – “It won’t be too dangerous, right? ”
[Dane] – “A few regular executioners without ability from Sfas XX, you should be able to deal with them with ease. Good luck! ”
[Azur] (in a nervous voice) – “Dunno why but I kinda have a bad feeling about this, hehe… ”
*Later
The dropship with Azur in it quietly approached a port on the coast of California through the clouds. Azur nervously looked down upon the silent port where the only visible activities are droids moving cargo around and a few workers who were holding a conversation.
Using her sapphires as lifts, she gradually made her descent toward the port’s grounds.
Once landed behind a container unit, the girl quickly started moving toward the workers’ camp where the spy in chief should be at. On her way, Azur tried as much as possible to avoid the guards’ attention by taking detours or flying over them. Within half an hour, the girl reached the campsite.
To avoid two guards moving toward her, she moved behind a chemical toilet unit.
But as much as she tried, she still came face to face with an executioner on his way toward the bathroom.
In a moment of panic, Azur shot the soldier using her gem and ran away as quickly as she could.
Meanwhile, the executioner, not hit in a critical spot, got up and fired his weapon at the girl’s shoulder. After the blast penetrated Azur’s shoulder, the laser went further and hit a pole on which the sound alerted the rest of the guards.
Two more executioners jumped out from a container house and took a defensive position ahead of the girl while the guards fired upon her. Azur, while running, cut many of the guards down using her crystals but the executioners too started to fire upon her using a portable machine gun.
In a swift turn, Azur hid behind a cargo container where she was forced to remain due to the hellish rain of laser blasts. Since she couldn’t peek, she has no idea of the two soldiers’ position, thus making it impossible for her to strike back. The heat from the melting container wall forced her further back where she used her sapphires to get her up onto the roof.
She immediately ran toward the two executioners’ holdout and stabbed both them through the chest with her gems.
As she prepared her descent, the container house’s door suddenly opened. A middle-aged man slowly and anxiously marched out with a pistol in his hand. Azur recognized that the man was her target but there is something more to it, she seemed to remember seeing that man somewhere.
As she landed on the ground, one of her crystals destroyed the man’s weapon.
[Azur] – “Hand’s up, you are under arrest, you… ”
Azur approached the scared man and further examined his face with more care for details. A glimpse of memory suddenly came to her head. There is no other way, it’s the plain truth.
[Azur] (in a surprised tone) – “Dad? Is that you? ”
The man, shocked by the girl’s words, stood back a few steps in fear.
[Azur] (in an excited voice) – “Dad! It’s me, Ari, Ari Ameri! ”
[M. Ameri] (in a doubtful expression) – “Ari? How… that’s not possible… ”
[Azur] – “I… I’m here, I survived but I longer work for Talon… ”
The man’s face suddenly changed from doubtful to once again fret.
[M. Ameri] (anxiously) – “Oh, yeah, Ari, what a coincidence… I’m… ”
Azur suddenly took her father into her arms while she cried in tears of joy. The man, on the other hand, was scared as ever. He knew that this is his daughter but he saw her as more of a threat to him than family.
[Azur] (emotively) – “It’s been so long… I… I thought I could never see you again. ”
[M. Ameri] – “Me too, I miss you so much. ”
[Azur] – “Do you know anything about big sister? I have been trying to find her for so long and I still couldn’t trace her down. ”
Instead of continuing the conversation any longer, the man secretly moved his hand behind his back and pulled a knife out of his belt. And as the corrupted man he is, he stabbed his daughter in the abdomen with his weapon.
[M. Ameri] – “I’m sorry… but I never saw you as my daughter! ”
Azur, stunned by this monstrous betrail, stayed motionless in her father’s arms while he mercilessly twisted his knife inside her to cause more damage. Azur’s blood dipped on the ground while her father watched without a single ounce of pity.
After pushing his injured daughter on the ground, he lifted his blade to finish her off but decided to instead watch her bleed out and die.
When all hopes seem to be lost, a bullet fired from afar suddenly blasted the man’s head into a bloody mush. Four Overwatch soldiers moved in and secured the place while a young man attended to Azur’s wounds.
[Field doctor] – “Hi, I’m Paxton, I got you, stay with me! It’s gonna be alright. ”
The girl remained unresponsive, not due to her injury but in shock from her father’s betrail. In her years of solitude, she had hoped that one day, this man will come back to be her father. She thought that she could one day feel joy once more but she realized it the hard way. At this very moment, her mind changed. After taking one last look at the sky, she closed her eyes, succ.u.mbing to the anesthesia.
*Somewhere in the Australian outback
[Rick] – “Are you ready? Is your mind utterly cleared? This cannot go on for too long or it will break you once more. ”
Mike aimed his training rifle at a target plate while his hands shook uncontrollably. Even with all those years of training, Mike trembled with uncertainty while holding a weapon that represented his blood.
Rick slowly passed his fingers through his short brown beard attacked to his battle-scarred face worn out by all those of years of skirmish.
[Rick] (in frustration) – “Bloody hell, this is meaningless and useless! I thought this exercise could improve you but it only made you weaker. ”
[Mike] – “Go for it. ”
Rick instantly pushed the remote in his palm which activated a hologram beside Mike. The hologram displayed a short recoding of Kadyn talking to him a year ago.
Mike closed his eyes in fear and anguish while droplets of sweat fell off his forehead.
[Rick] – “Focus! ”
Mike immediately opened his eyes and stared steadily at the target plate through the scope.
[Hologram Kadyn] – “Gio, where are going? I thought we could have ourselves a night together. ”
As Mike’s hologram answered, Mike suddenly lost his cold and his face turn to a lifeless pale colour.
[Hologram Kadyn] – “Oh, well then, I’ll be waiting for you… ”
“Waiting for you… Waiting for you… Waiting for you… ”
Those words were stuck inside the young man’s head like glue, they sounded like a terrifying echo that kept on hitting his heart. Soon, Mike couldn’t even properly see his target anymore as he was paralyzed, unable to make a move.
[Rick] – “Fire! ”
Mike stayed quiet and did not even fire a single while remaining shocked to the spine.
[Rick] (in a louder tone) – “FIRE! ”
The voice partially snapped Mike out of his mind and without a proper aim, the young man missed his shot by shooting the ground beside him.
[Rick] – “What the bloody hell was tha… ”
Mike sat on the ground while sobbing and taking huge breaths of air. His face was livid and his whole body was shaking in fear and panic. Rick rapidly tried to help him but he couldn’t hear a sound, the only voice he could hear is the tone of an echoing crystalline sound. Soon after, he lost all his senses. To him, he was sitting in total darkness without light or people, just him and a sound that could only be described as hell.
[Rick] – “Mike! Mike! Answer me, god damn it! ”
Rick desperately shook Mike in an attempt to bring him back to his senses but it was in vain. To Mike, Rick looked like a shadowy figure trying to swallow him.
[Mike] (in dread) – “Get away from me, I want to go home… I just want to live a quiet life, why are you doing this to me? ”
As Rick tried to talk to him, Mike screamed with agitation and perturbation while slowly crawling away. All of sudden, the young man lost all of his conscience and fell to a coma on the soil.
*A few days later
Mike woke up beside Rick on his van which was heading toward a small chain of mountains.
Rick, seeing that his great-grandson woke up, examined his eyelid and his facial expression with precaution.
[Mike] (in a weak voice) – “I’m alright, stop this… ”
Rick sighed and released the young man’s face from his palms.
[Rick] – “That idea never was a great one to start with. ”
[Mike] – “I know you want me to conquer my fear, it was worth the try. ”
[Rick] – “I thought if I played that hologram and you manage to concentrate somehow without thinking about it, you will be cured. I should have stopped this after a few tries… Keeping it going was a mistake. I never could have thought your PTSD and mental trauma would be so severe. ”
[Mike] – “Then I’m hopeless… It’s been a month and I didn’t even make a single inch of progress. ”
Rick grabbed Mike by the shoulder, pulled him closer toward him and fixed him in the eyes.
[Rick] – “No, there is a way but you must have resolve if you want to proceed. ”
[Mike] – “I have resolve, I just want hope. At this point, I can’t even save myself so whatever it is, it’s better than being killed by yourself. ”
[Rick] – “Look, little mate, this is a radical way to do things, it requires a sacrifice. ”
[Mike] – “Just explain to me what it’s about, the rest I will cooperate, I’ve made up my mind. ”
Rick got up, walked to the other side of the table and sat in his small leather couch.
[Rick] – “It’s a surgery, a surgery that will remove a huge chunk of your emotion and part of your personality. It will greatly improve your situation or shall I say… a big clean up. ”
Mike was firm, determined and hopeful, he wasn’t scared of the idea, on the contrary, he smiled at the idea.
[Rick] – “Shouldn’t you be at least a bit worried? What would you do if you reunite with your wife as an emotionless mongrel? ”
[Mike] – “I wouldn’t worry about that, I’m not her husband because I never was ready. When the day where I truly deserve happiness will come, I will embrace it, I will not fail it, I will protect it. This is my final resolve, change me forever but who I was will remain, for I, Mike Gioacchino Mundy, accept my destiny and merge with my blood. ”
[Rick] (in an impressed expression) – “Your great knowledge never ceased to impress me, you truly are a Mundy. It’s time to start training to one day, take back what is lost and take over what belongs. ”
A stone wall opened on one of the mountains and Rick’s vehicle entered the endless tunnel leading to an unknown place.
To be continued… Next Chapter: [The red cross of death]
**NOTE: I’M JUST WANDERING, SHOULD I GO BACK ON UPGRADING THE FIRST AND SECOND VOLUME OF MY BOOK OR KEEP ONGOING FROM THE CURRENT STORY? COMMENT PLS, I NEED SUGGESTION FROM READERS.
