CHAPTER 24: A Nostalgic Smile

The sound of ear-splitting, obnoxious laughter reverberated through a hallway leading into a mysterious light as Brandy walked down the hallways with a quickened stride. The closeness and dullness of the hallways lights opened up into a much more illuminated and luxurious lounge that was connected to the area that they had always used for cards, chess, and the occasional videogame. This lounge had a rounded bar full of various drinks, both the strongly alcoholic kind and the sweeter, non-alcoholic kinds. Amongst the TA members, the soda and virgin drinks were most popular. Only a very high concentration of alcohol was good enough to do any magic, and said effect would only last for a matter of minutes. Too much alcohol, and a drink's taste would be ruined. Dilute it too much, and the amount of liquid you'd consume would have you peeing until it drives you mad. Chandler, Midnight, and LeRoy were talking up a storm until out of the corner of his eye, Midnight saw the (relatively) short man standing there, giving them an uncomfortable stare before glancing to the side, signifying that he already wanted to make his escape. But Midnight wouldn't let him.

"Brandy! What're you doing here? Weren't you going to call wifey?" He said with a focused glare.

"I can't… she's not picking up. Damn, she should be done with her work now."

"Hmmn… that is unusual. Anna usually is the one who bugs the crap out of you when you don't pick up." LeRoy interjected

"Did you do anything to piss her off again?" Chandler added with a smirk on his face.

"No, our last talk was great! And her phone is in her arm brace! I don't know why she'd be ghosting me…"

"Whatever, man. Wait like 10 minutes and then call her again" Chandler said, wanting to change the topic to something more enjoyable.

"I don't think you of all people should be giving out relationship advice, Chandler. You've never had so much as an SO in your life" LeRoy taunted.

"NEITHER HAVE YOU, DUMBASS!" Chandler raised his voice. The rest of them chuckled while LeRoy smacked his hand down on the bar table with a deep, vibrating thud, having the gall to produce a deep bellowing laugh. Chandler sighed aggressively and tipped his head back slightly while letting his arms loosely hang from his sides before bringing a hand over his eyes.

"Oh my gosh, I'm done." Chandler said, turning to the hallway thoroughly wounded and defeated. As he passed through the open door, everyone froze when the sound of a peculiar ringtone split through the laughter. The song's origins came from the brace on LeRoy's forearm. A caller. LeRoy picked it up, and put it on speaker as Chandler was drawn back towards the group. A smooth voice emitting a potent aura and attitude crystallized in the air, saturating the entire room with an imposing presence. Yet the voice was calm and amiable, implying a leisurely friendship along with its command for respect.

"Yes?" asked LeRoy with a bold smile on his face.

"You'd better not have it on speakerphone for this, LeRoy. It's urgent-"

"What is?" inquired Brandy. The pieces were fitting together in a way all too worrying for him. He could only imagine the worst. Each member of the group heard the sharpness of Brandy's breathing. His eyes were focused deathly on the monitor of the brace, desperate for the response that would make or break his fate. But only silence ensued. Ghastly, horrible, silence. The man behind the phone swallowed before speaking his mind.

"I guess you do have every right to know. The corps responsible for the salvaging of the alphanium veins has sent a distress message. A group of Thirty-sevens has attacked and grounded all of the corps' aviation. We will need to send in support to get the alphanium back and rescue the survivors" At this, Brandy posted his elbow on the table and caught his forehead with his hand. He sat there, his eyes widened by the amount of thoughts racing through his head. He felt a pit heavier than lead drag down his stomach, his vision darting around and much unstable. Midnight saw flashbacks from the soldiers he had murdered. There were those merely blinded by anger, those fearful of death, but the rarest of the anomalies of life were the deepest depths of grief and shock that blanketed over the men and women who came to the sudden realization that they had lost everything. Not just a life or a war or a single friend. They had witnessed what could only be described as a grand opposite to retribution. They watch as their very concept of the world crumbles and decays as the villain reigns supreme without divine intervention. In the face of this paramount malice, the faithful become godless, the soldier betrays, and the hero curses the saved. Such was the immutable condition that had cast its restraining blanket around Brandy. But there was an incongruity to those individuals of the past, a gleam of lasting intelligence in his eyes. He was a man who had experienced many grave failures and insecurities before. He would not be conquered, even when his world was shattered and his motivation disparaged. Without the need for any further internal conflicts, he had made up his mind.

"I'll go." He said simply, his insurmountable rage fabricating with his stone-cold intelligence and experience inside his rough voice. Two words worth two thousand.

"No, Brandy, you may know how to cope with your anger, but your mind is still, to an extent, deeply disturbed right now. This mission would require all of your mind and critical thinking. These bastards knew how to take down your wife, Brandy. She might be dead as we're speaking-" to this, Brandy drew back his lips to speak and Midnight's eyes sharpened to resemble that of a snake's or a cat's, accented by the depths of his lapis eyes and navy highlights in his hair. One word escaped from his mouth, a word that gently slid through the air, only to leave bitter ice in its wake. The word slithered up the ears of all who heard, as if Midnight's lips were only an inch away. The word planted itself deep in their heads, rooting itself into their daydreams and nightmares. "Tangente". The deep vibration of a truck in the distance. The hollow humming of the air conditioning. The distorted mumbling of a TV set playing in another room. They all stood there, entranced by Midnight's black enchantment. The air was thick and suffocating, and to the delusion of all, the lights seemed to grow dim. The colors on the once-pristine walls were now darkened and ugly. The man on the other end of the phone could neither speak nor think. And then they all thought in unity, "with one word?". With one word, he silenced both the troubled Brandy and the war-hardened Tangente. They now all knew why he had given them nothing but one peculiar name. Midnight. The darkest hour, furthest from dawn and dusk. A shadow, an all-concealing blight of the terrors and horrors lying within that which cannot be seen. It is everywhere, unavoidable, all swallowing, unconquerable. In darkness, the observable universe both shrinks and expands indefinitely as your imagination collapses under the infinite possibilities and endless paranoia. In darkness, the fear of isolation consumes the sense of self. You are alone, small, with no one to talk to, with nothing to do, with only the thoughts in your head to guide you. When all becomes dark, reality fades. You can only rely on memories. You start to question if the past was just an illusion, just some part of your incessant imaginings. Then you start to wonder, what if I'm not alone? How far does this darkness go? What lies at the edge of this darkness? What lies within? At this, you give up, and just float. What point is there to travel if there is no journey and no destination? LeRoy inhales sharply, his heart racing and his lungs gasping for air. He is standing in the bar again, everything terrifyingly normal, and he glances around to see his friends also gaining consciousness all while still standing. Then his revelation came to him at last. Midnight had figured out how to take advantage of their threat assessing senses just as he himself was designed to do. LeRoy looked at the serious face of Midnight as he was staring intently at his brace monitor. Had Midnight figured out how to do this naturally? It was definitely within the realm of possibilities, but without any pointers, it should have been near impossible. He was a genius, on an entirely different level than LeRoy. Breaking through the stale quietness of the room, Tangente laughed through the phone.

"You actually caught me off guard! Where did you learn to do that? Did you learn yourself? It sent chills down my spine! It has a much different effect than LeRoy's mental perforation."

"Don't try to change the subject," Midnight said coldly, his face sneering like a dog's.

"You let Brandy go on that mission to help his wife or confirm her death himself. Hell, I'll even go with him to retrieve the alphanium. How would you like it if it was your wife on the line?"

"True…" Tangente whispered quietly before pausing and picking up his volume again.

"Would you do that for me?"

"Not for you, I'm doing it for Brandy. I don't trust you yet. I think you let your organization grow too large. You yourself aren't even close to this country, and are probably indifferent to the things happening here..."

Tangente's tone changed in a heartbeat "I will make this one thing clear. Brandy, Anna, LeRoy, and all of my top staff are my family. I will admit I haven't even met all of the grunts that make up our members. But only those I get to know and care about get the honor of the option for a special type procedure. I didn't want Brandy to go in there under-strategizing and underutilizing his resources only for him to end up getting killed. As for Anna, there is certainly no guarantee that she is dead. You of all people should know how bold, strong, and resourceful she can be in emergencies, Brandy."

"That's why I married her." He chuckled as his creased frown turned into a nostalgic smile. "And I love teaching her things and learning how to sing. God, I want to hear her sing. And fuck, man, her real smile is so god-damn cute." Water swelled in his eyes as he fought the urge to tear up. They had been through so much together, an unexpected event such as this could never tear them apart. He would reunite with her, even if it meant cracking open every single skull of those damned buffoons.