A Peek Inside

Patience and determinaiton. Loyalty and solidarity. A rifle in the arms of the wrong person can cause irreparable damage, but if you kill the right person you'll be hailed as a hero. Everything is subjective; what's right and wrong are determined by whoever's in charge regardless of someone's background or the context of the situation. But when you've killed before, what difference does it make between someone who deserves to die or not? One person, ten people, a hundred or even a thousand, the blood is on your hands. Is there any going back? Do you ever have a choice? Where is the line in the sand that tells you you're morally wrong? 
One man; oblivious, confused, frozen, staring back into the eyes of the people who currently control his fate. Look at the other side of the story. One man; suspicious, out of place, potentially dangerous. Threaten him because you fear for your life at what he might be able to do. Look at both sides of the story. Here, under someone else's orders. Happy? Sad? Excited? Mad? Who cares? A pat on the back in exchange for the lives of many others, just because they have a different label over their heads.

In the middle of an opening in a cave, a poor, distressed-looking man stared down the barrels of six different rifles, all focused on his body. Slowly, he tried to raise his hands, but he seemed unable to as he scanned his surroundings, visibly frightened when he saw Q and his Squad. The soldiers all hold their positions keeping their weapons pointed at this man, sending in Ike and Spyder to approach him from either side. As the two soldiers closed in on the man, Q tightened his grip on his gun preparing for the worst, as the man looked unsure if it would be better to stay or to flee and risk getting shot; he stood near a wall of rocks that lead towards twisting tunnels down the cave, where he could possibly lose Riley and his group. By the time Ike and Spyder were able to make their way to this man, he'd decided not to run, letting himself be detained so as not to risk death. Spyder sat the man down with his back to the wall of the cave, when Spark and Riley made their approach, finally being safe to do so, with the sky darkening outside the cave behind them indicating the setting of the sun.  

Ike stood guard at the mouth of the cave, Grant made sure no one else was coming from deeper inside the cave. Spark, Riley, and Q crouched down to the seated man's level, lowering their guns to show they didn't want to kill him; it was one of the Emperor's orders after all. They took turns asking the man various questions;

 "Why are you here?" Q asked. The obvious question to ask in their position, but one that could reveal the most information which they needed desperately. Spyder stood behind Riley, still clutching his gun conveying that the man was not in a position of power, and lying would not benefit him.

 "I wanted to look through Hencia... I- I got separated from my daughter right before the fighting began. Th- the people down the cave..." he said stuttering, pointing down towards the dark tunnels of the cave, "offered to protect us from the fighting if we just help out in surviving together." 

 "And these people down in the cave, who are they? " Riley asked, anticipating to hear that the New Light was behind it.

 "They didn't give us a name," the man explained. "But they did say they were fed up with the Emperor, and they wanted to bring him down." The three men looked at each other and nodded their heads, understanding that the man before them had just described the New Light perfectly. Q chimed back in;

 "Have any of these fighters returned to the cave after the whole battle?" 

 "I don't know! I've been in the facility they have down there, trying to help out with what little I can while worrying about my daughter. I was told I could head into town, but I just couldn't take anything with me." It was clear to the group that this man was starting to become hysterical, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Spark gave the man his sympathy; regardless of anything the man could've said, they had no real idea of how the New Light was treating the civilians down in their facility.

 "I am, very sorry," Spark said, placing his hand on the man's shoulder and giving him his other hand to help the man to his feet. On the inside, Spark was sorry for many things; he was sorry for himself, for never really trying even though he was set to take over the Empire when Austin eventually dies. He was sorry to Riley, for being so stingy and unintrested when they first met. He was sorry to the man in front of him, for not being able to do anything for him or the other citizens of Hencia, and for his daughter who had most likely been killed during the battle. No one had the heart to tell him the dire reality of what had taken place in the city; with all those bodies lying helplessly in the streets, with no present sign of life. 

Riley took pride in seeing Sparks change of heart. He knew that it was always possible, but for Riley, it happened through his death. When he saw that Spark wasn't acting as his usual arrogant self and that he was able to show compassion to others, Riley knew that Spark's personality had evolved and would one day be fit to serve his nation as Emperor. 

The man thanked Spark, once standing he walked up and hugged him not giving Spark the option to refuse as he now had tears streaming down his face. When the man pulled away, his face was dressed with a melancholic smile; Riley guessed he figured out what happened in Hencia but the man was still determined to make his search. 

"Got a civ coming through!" Q yelled over to Ike who stepped back to let the man leave. Ike watched the man as he followed the edge of the river downstream until the river ducked behind a hill, disappearing like the stars when the sun rose. The six-man army regrouped before heading further into the cave, their path illuminated by the glow from their guns. They made their way through the cave making sure not to make to be quiet and not attract any attention. Approaching a sharp turn in the cave's tunnels, they saw light on the wall of rock ahead of them. Before peeking around the corner, all of them disabled the glow on their weapons to improve their stealth. 

Spark laid down and crawled along the ground to peek his eyes around the rocky corner and get a view of what was up ahead. He examined the area before him and crawled back to the group prior to telling the rest of the men what he saw.

 "There are two guards and they aren't looking in our direction, more chatting with each other. Both of them are holding SMGs. One has a keycard on his belt and is standing in front of a reader. The door looks blast-resistant, I believe it leads to a freight elevator to the facility below as that guy mentioned. Should we take them out?" Q nods;

 "It's clear they're part of the New Light and there's no way to get through this peacefully."

Q switches his assault rifle to single-fire mode and Grant detaches the strap of his marksman rifle, as they both quietly sneak around the corner, flat on the ground as they aim at the heads of the guards. Once they're set, Riley taps both their legs at the same time, telling them to shoot the guards. Both guards fall to the ground; the energy infused in the bullets leaves clean holes that pass through their skulls, as blood spills out on either end. Spark collected the key card and Ike searched the guards for spare magazines. 

Spark stood by the reader, ready to swipe the keycard. The rest of them pointed their guns at the blast door; set, Q gave Spark a nod and he swiped the keycard, opening the door.