Hangman

Dialogue- "Example"

Thoughts- 'Example'

Sounds- Example

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"Now that you guys have solved that, can we please resume our meeting?" By now we had all made it back into the student council room and sat back in our respective seats.

"Sure, it's not like I'm the guy who interrupted the meeting to challenge him," I smirked cockily irritating Akira who was sitting directly across from me holding an ice pack to his cheek.

Adrian loudly cleared his throat in an attempt to diffuse the tense atmosphere before continuing, "So as most of you might know, the faction wars will be held soon. They will be held exactly a week from now to be exact, I expect all of you to train hard and prepare because I for sure will not be taking it easy."

"This year's festival will be a little different. Whoever out of the twelve champions wins, gains the privilege of being America's representative in the international tourney." Everyone sat a little straighter in their chairs upon hearing this, barring the weird guy who was still eyeing the hell out of me.

I tuned out the rest of the meeting after that, opting to stare at the ceiling running hundreds of combat scenarios through my head at once. Seeing as how my brain can operate far faster than a normal humans, Nuke developed this training method solely for me.

I was halfway through finding a viable way to defeat Nuke before I felt an eraser make contact with my neck. I looked back down to find Ava looking at me irritatedly, "Jesus Ike, it's like you have a hearing problem or something."

"I can actually hear far better than the mass majority of humans-" I was interrupted by another eraser flying directly at my eye which I promptly raised my hand to catch, "Not the point asshole. The meeting ended five minutes ago, let's get outta here."

I let out a small laugh before standing from my seat and gesturing with my head for her to follow me, "Let's go do something, Ava. It's been forever since we last hung out and I have some free time finally."

"With how often you train Ike, it'd be unlikely you ever hold a relationship. What the hell does Nuke even have you doing that you never have any time to hang with your friends?"

I playfully pushed her before responding, "Nothing I can tell you. Aside from that, how does it feel being the champion of the Armadillo faction? I know you just recently got promoted, so you must be pretty excited right?"

"Meh, it's alright. Felt pretty insignificant when I heard how you became champ. Taking on every single predator and apex predator of the Vipers? Now that's some impressive work. I honestly don't think I could beat you if I wanted to now." She stared at the ground in what seemed to be a mixture of admiration and jealousy.

I lightly patted her shoulder before speaking, "Comparison is the thief of joy. Just be worried about your own success."

She released a soft laugh before suddenly looking up at me in shock, "Jesus, since when did you get so tall, Ike? It's like it was yesterday you were only slightly taller than me."

"You're just hella short." In order to further demonstrate my point, I picked her up by the collar and held her in front of me.She threw a lousy punch at my nose before attempting to pry my fingers off of her, "Stop that! I paid crazy money for this shirt. And why the hell is your grip so strong!?"I lightly set her down before silently chuckling to myself, "The hell you find funny? You're almost eighteen and still have never had a girlfriend."

I placed my hand on my chest in a gesture of mock pain before we both began laughing hysterically into the night, that is until we heard a guy yell out of his window to shut up.

***

"You're being dispatched to take care of a hostage situation. There are about sixteen hostiles. They're split evenly between two houses of the penthouse suite. The hostages taken are the family of business man and aristocrat Robert Quincy. Seeing as this is your first mission I'll allow your full arsenal. Don't hold back and leave at least two alive." I silently nodded my head confirming my reception of the provided information.

I flicked through the different settings on the helmet. Becoming adjusted to its night vision was a bit difficult, but I got the hang of it. I holstered my pistol on my hip before placing a dozen magazines inside of my jacket and the small pouch attached to the small of my back.

"Entering the drop zone soon. We're approximately thirty seconds out. You'll only have one shot, so don't miss." The pilot swiftly provided us with a heads up as the information stated began transferring directly to the hud in my helmet alongside a timer appearing at the top right.

I stood from my seat, grabbed a parachute with a bag attached, and strapped it to my back before stepping toward the now opening ramp. I received a light pat on the shoulder from Nuke and a nod signaling that it was time.

I took two deep breaths before sprinting down the ramp and jumping. I began my downward dive toward the penthouse roof, feeling the resistance of the wind bearing on my body made the descent all the more exhilarating. My helmet interface lit up in emergency the moment I reached a proper altitude to deploy my shute. I quickly pulled the lever slightly recoiling at the strong tug before adjusting and gliding toward the roof.

The moment my feet touched the ground I unclipped the parachute before grabbing the bag I brought and quickly advancing toward the fuse panel. I opened up the box, flipped the switch down, and removed power from the suite before advancing toward the edge of the roof while screwing a suppressor onto my weapon.

I placed down the bag before opening it and removing repelling equipment. I placed a metal spike into the edge of the roof, firmly securing it and fastening the rope to myself. I gave it a few good tugs before peaking over the edge. On the ground floor I quickly identified two heroes, obviously dispatched to rectify the situation, alongside a multitude of police vehicles and reporters.

'Well, this could be a problem.' I quietly cursed and began preparing myself mentally. I slowly, but steadily walked down the side of the building, feeling the nerves intensifying as I looked at the ground far below me. I stopped at the top floor before removing a laser-cutting device from the small pouch and attaching it to the window

..Bzzz... The annoying hum of the device continued until it made a circle large enough to fit me. I retrieved the device before kicking the window in softly and jumping in right after.

"What the hell?" Came the voice of a man who had been walking by with his partner. I quickly unholstered my pistol, shooting the furthest guy in the head, blood and brain matter painting the wall behind him. Before the other guard could react, I removed the rope I had used for rappelling and tied it around his neck. With it secure, I jumped backward out of the window while hanging onto his body.

The man flailed in panic before being silenced by the rope being pulled taut. The crunch of his neck that followed after made me slightly cringe, but I had no time to think on the matter as the momentum quickly carried me back toward the building and through the window on the lower floor.

Rolling onto my feet after having crashed through the window, I turned back and looked for a second at the guard's body, hanging aimlessly on the side of the building. I was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps coming toward me. I quietly snuck down a corridor to my right, hoping to avoid alerting the guards even further.

Peaking around the corner, I noted a guard even further down the hallway staring at one of the families expensive artworks. I aimed with my weapon before firing a bullet straight through his skull. I walked down the hallway full of paintings and other art works before being given a decent layout of the building on my heads up display.I listened closely, hoping to learn the positions of any enemies. Hearing the whispers of a few mortified guards who found the body, I snuck down the hallway past the art gallery, hoping to arrive behind them.

There were about eleven of them, I only had twelve bullets left in my magazine. Clicking my teeth in irritation, I begin to formulate a plan.

I slowly, but steadily removed a few canisters from my pouch before tossing them into the center of the large group, watching as a thick and colorful smoke was dispersed.

'Shit!'

'The hell's going on!?'

The large group quickly began to panic, wondering where exactly the smoke was coming from. Leaving them no room to react, I toggled the thermal vision on my helmet and rushed into the group.

I pulled the trigger once, watching as a bullet sailed into the furthest guard and knocked him out of the window. Two more times to the men who heard the shots and began to fire in my direction with their rifles. Four others noted my presence and attempted to engage in CQC. I unsheathed my knife and sliced cleanly through the throat of one man before hooking it into his buddy's armpit and yanking him toward me.

He screamed agonizingly as the blade tore through the muscle and bone before being silenced by the blade nearly decapitating him. I almost lost focus at the sight of the man's head hanging by a thin piece of skin, but I had no choice other than to continue. The other two attempted to unholster their handguns, but I swiftly disappeared into the smoke.

Stealthily appearing behind the larger of the two, I grab his hair and yank him to the ground before forcing my boot into his teeth. Turning his face into an unrecognizable mush. Before the second guy could even react, my knife found a home in his spine. I dragged it up his back, watching as he collapsed before dying.

Four left, I quickly took aim and knocked three down with perfect headshots. The final guy was somehow able to see me and aimed directly in my direction. Before he could pull the trigger, however, I rushed him and kicked the gun from his hands. He unsheathed a combat knife and took up a stance before rushing me down.

Swoosh The sound of the knife cutting the air repeated a few times before I dodged a horizontal swing and grabbed his arm, shooting the bone out the side before jabbing the protruding bone through his throat repeatedly. Watching as his body hit the ground, I released a quick breath and disappeared back into the darkness.

***

'Damnit, damnit, damnit!'

I watched as the man guarding us silently cursed to himself. I never thought this day would come, the day where my kids lives would be in such danger. The tears that flowed from my eyes endlessly made me feel weak. I can't allow these children to see their mother so afraid.

Strengthening my resolve I dried my tears and began attempting to calm the two girls, "It's okay, mommy's here. Everything will be okay. Your Father will make sure all the mean guys go away."

The guard perked up at this before rushing toward us in anger, "Wait-"

"-Shut the fuck up bitch!" He harshly slapped me across the face before placing a piece of duct tape around my mouth. I flinched in pain before looking back up to see a shadow appear out of the corner of the room.

Slowly, but surely the figure moved to form a human crawling slowly out of the darkness. It looked demon-like, tall, and imposing. It was covered in blood, making it seem all the more intimidating.

I watched as it slowly placed a finger were his mouth would be, a distorted and almost evil-sounding 'Shhhhh' emitting from what seemed to be a face without features. Sleek and black with dark purple accents, it looked like something out of a movie.

The guard hearing the shushing turned around only to be grabbed by a strong hand and pulled into the darkness. All of his screams were hushed almost immediately.

He reappeared again, my breath quickening as he walked closer to us. He tore off the tape before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a picture of something. Upon bringing it closer, I realized it was a photo of Robert.

He drops before quickly walking behind us and cutting our restraints.

'Time to act.'

In the middle of cutting the kids' restraints, I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder. I turn around and see the wife with a knife in my back. At least that's until the wife morphs into an adult man with a smirk on his face that quickly drops when I don't flinch. I quickly turn and grab him by the neck lifting him off the ground.

The man flails in a panic, attacking my face in any way possible. I ignore the lousy attempts at escaping before taking him back downstairs where I killed the majority of them and grabbed all of their knives. A few screams of pain could be heard before there fell an eerie silence.

I walk back into the room with the children's real mother, watching in silence as they hug and cry. I walk closer to the children, reaching into my jacket pocket. This causes the mother to jump in front of her children in an attempt to protect them.

I pressed a button on my helmet, toggling the voice modulator off, before speaking, "They can't see the mess I left."

Having gotten the message, the mother reluctantly moved out of the way, allowing me the space to remove blindfolds and tie them around the girls' eyes. I transported them safely to the elevator before throwing up the peace sign and reappearing on the roof adjacent to the penthouse.

"Mission successful. I await extraction at the LZ." I hold a button on the side of my helmet, transmitting my voice over to Nuke and the pilot who would soon be on their way to pick me up.

***

'Today in the penthouse suite of businessman Robert Quincy, several members of a growing terrorist group took his family hostage and demanded a ransom. However, a vigilante of unknown origin infiltrated silently and took care of the terrorists in a gruesome manner. Two of the most notable are the hanging of one on the side of the building, and the crucifixion of a terrorist on the family's living room wall.'

I listened candidly to the news report as I shakily washed the almost unending amount of blood from my hands. It felt unsettling, images of the gory display I caused played back to back in my mind. I was interrupted from my thoughts by a knock at my dorm door.

I walked swiftly out of the bathroom and opened the room door, allowing Nuke to step into my room.

"Ike. How are you feeling? Today you experienced your first kills, and they were quite gruesome at that." I sat carelessly on my sofa, placing my hands on my head and reimagining the entire incident in great detail.

"Before you feel bad listen to this. Those men you killed? They've done far worse than you could ever imagine. The raping and pillaging of innocent women and children during war time. The amount of pain they caused to hundreds of families out there and likely would have caused if you didn't stop them." Nuke walked around my room, gesturing with his hands as if to make his point seem grander.

"You may feel bad for taking lives, but those families out there thank you. Focus on that." With those words, Nuke left the room. I thought long and hard before remembering the words of my father early in my life. These words brought me solace. Comfort in the idea that by hurting bad people, I could prevent the pain of those who don't deserve it.

With that, the nervous tapping of my leg stopped and I stared straight into the soulless mask that was my helmet.

'Yes, this is what I was meant for.'

***