Chapter 62: You stink soldier boy

The manor was illuminated in red and blue flashes. Four ambulances were parked in front of the Manor front yard. The paramedics pulled the eleven dead bodyguards in body-bags. They would be dropped off at the morgue. Mr. Bright was now sitting at the back of the open ambulance doors a female paramedic was dressing his wounds. His just kept forward.

If someone were to look at him they would think that he was in deep thought and probably thinking of the incident that had just taken place or over the fact that he had lost some of his men.

Though this was true his main thoughts were occupied by the boy who was standing on the distance with Nate and Rochelle. The main hero of this crisis.

This was none other than Tyler. He was now dressed in his school uniform, the image of him wearing the combat gear was not expunged from his mind.

Tai Long was pulled up in a stretcher. As a paramedic strapped him into the ambulance.

"Excuse me sir but who carried out the emergency first aid on his wounds?" the medic asked looking in Mr. Bright's direction.

Mr. Bright who was in a daze didn't seem to have heard the question as he continued to stare at Tyler.

…

Tyler stood behind the fountain. Rochelle and Nate standing before him. They were both looking at him expectantly.

Tyler sighed. This day had come far sooner than he had expected.

"What do you want to know?" Tyler finally said breaking the silence.

The two stood silently for a moment.

Nate didn't know what it was he wanted to know. Knowing Tyler would end up revealing something that he might not want to know but on the other hand the mysterious fog that surrounded Tyler made him difficult to read. When he had first met Tyler he seemed like the cold and detached kind of guy but over the past few weeks that he had spent time with him. He had learned one things about him.

And that was the fact that he deeply cherished his family. That was evident in the way he had gone against Brandon and the other lackeys that were under him. Heck he basically went against the entire school's fighting force, something that wasn't the crazy part. The crazy part was that he had actually managed to come out on top after exactly two days of his admittance into Crimson Academy.

While Nate was deep in thought Rochelle spoke one word and one word alone:

"Everything" her voice filled their ears and Nate panicked. Would things even remain the same after this? He didn't want their friendship to end.

Tyler was also the same but he nodded regardless.

"Let's sit down first" Tyler said while sitting down at the edge of the fountain. He looked up into the sky. With the insufficient lighting, the stars were able to twinkle in the night. Rochelle and Nate also followed suite and sat beside him.

"I don't think I'll be able to explain everything in detail so I'll just give you guys a summary of it" Tyler explained. "Is that alright?"

The two nodded.

"Alright"

Tyler's lips started to move as he briefly explained about his life.

He briefly explained how his parents died in a plane crash and how he woke up in the medical facility of Tonitruum. How he was told that his treatment wasn't free and that he would have to fight in order to repay the 'kindness' that was bestowed on him. He was trained in brutal hand to hand combat that usually ended with him suffering inhumane amounts of pain. The camp was a place where they had to fight for food, water and even free time.

The missions they would receive would mostly lead to numerous life and death situations. And a failed mission would lead to severe punishment. First was the flogging, then came the cut to your resources. This wasn't an environment where most would survive and the fact that the members were brainwashed into being extremely loyal to such an organization was quite frankly despicable.

It was a miracle that Tyler had even survived there for the first year as a five year old. He was cold and detached from emotions. The only person he ever cared about was his teacher who unfortunately died on a secret mission, his body wasn't even found. Then when he was at the age of 12 he was sent on his most deadly mission.

He had to execute the eight head generals of the United States of America something that would greatly cripple a nation even one that was as great as the USA and the fact that this was merely a diversion tactic was the scariest thing. While he had managed to kill off five head generals. Another Tonitruum team had been shut down and the only survivor who was captured needed to be eliminated to avoid any complications. This was ultimately a task that was handed down to the 12 year old child.

The trouble was, his target was in a put in a highly secure prison for advanced interrogation. A place called The Blacksight by the CIA, where he encountered Jake Harper.

Tyler was captured and Tonitruum abandoned him. A sniper even tried to kill him with a bullet that almost tore through his heart, luckily he managed to survive and Jake Harper had even managed to stop the threat that would have brought Manhattan to the ground. Unfortunately the San Francisco of that time was another target. This led to the birth of Reinfield City.

Tyler no longer felt anything for Tonitruum and the moment Jake Harper and CHIEF gave him a way out he took it without any hesitation.

Tonitruum was razed to the ground. It was this battlefield that led to the rise of the youngest leader in American history, Albert Michaels the current president of America.

The reason for its establishment was still unknown even after a total of 6 years.

He joined the ACD to make up for his sins and under the care of 'The Lieutenant' he fulfilled his duties and most of his missions were mostly related to rescue. And when he regained part of his lost memory less than two months ago, he was granted the priviledge to live a life of a normal civilian with his family.

…

When Tyler finished he looked at his side, towards his two friends.

He could see the vacant expression on Nate's face so he didn't think to even look at Rochelle. With a helpless sigh he stood but the moment he did a small hand grabbed onto his.

A surprised expression crawled up his face as he looked back to see Rochelle's green eyes looking at him deeply. They were the eyes of someone who had also experienced a tragic loss in their life and now he thought about it he had never heard Rochelle talk about her mother in anyway, just like how Laura never talked about theirs's.

"You stink soldier boy" she spoke. The context seemingly coming out of nowhere. Her voice was soft and soothing to him and his heart couldn't help but tighten as it skipped a beat, but the feeling didn't hurt as one would imagine. It actually felt quite good. His mind couldn't help but go blank for a moment.

He couldn't help but pay more attention to Rochelle's face. Her red hair was blowing slightly giving Tyler a clear vision of her face. Her green eyes twinkled, her smooth white skin and her symmetrical face gave her face an undeniable and appealing feel. Her small pink lips subconsciously caught his eyes, before looking towards her neck.

He looked down at the hand that held onto his. It was warm and incomparably soft. His eyes roamed her body and even though she was still wearing her uniform with crimson pants instead of a skirt, it didn't hide her curves.

Tyler felt a light ignite in his belly. It was something he had never experienced before until now.

On the other side, Rochelle felt Tyler's intense stare as he checked her out and her heart couldn't help but speed up.

Was Tyler always this handsome? The thought only lingered for a moment before she shook her head and quickly got control of herself.

Tyler also took deep breaths as his mind cleared up.

"W-What did you say?" Tyler stuttered for the first time

"I-I said you stink soldier boy" she gave a teasing smile.

Tyler finally registering what she was say finally took a sniff under his armpit. The putrid smell almost made him puke.

Since when did he stink like this? He suddenly remembered that he had simply wiped the streaks of that rotten egg smelling liquid that had covered his face. He seriously needed to take a bath.

But then he laughed. Soldier boy?

I just told you a tale of my tragic life and that's all you have to say, Tyler thought as he continued to laugh.

His voice boomed. And a small pulse of Force energy erupted from his body. The moment he felt this, he immediately controlled his laughter only to find Rochelle was pushed back. Even Nate felt it.

One moment Tyler was laughing and the next a strange force pushed her backwards before it suddenly stopped.

Rochelle wasn't stupid, and she had a feeling that it was something to do with Tyler. She just couldn't muster up the courage to ask him.

"It doesn't matter what your past is. All that matters is that you are our friend and we'll always help each other out right?" she said. "Right Nate?"

"Huh? Ah yeah" Nate absentmindedly replied

"What kind of shitty answer is that?" she snorted.

Tyler felt relieved. It seemed these friends of his would forever be his friends.

"Sweetie!" a familiar voice spoke out grabbing everyone's attention. In the distance a large man with red hair was running towards the three teens. He was none other than Detective Hunter, Rochelle's father.

He arrived before Rochelle and immediately and cupped both of her cheeks as he checked her head to toe for even the slightest sign of injury.

"Are you okay?" "Are you hurt?" "Nothing happened to you right?" the poor detective was as worried as a hen that recently hatched her eggs.

"Dad could you calm done…please" Rochelle said as her face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm alright. Nothing happened" as she said this she sent Tyler a glance something that escape Hunter's eyes. He immediately shot a glare at Tyler who was taken aback by the action.

"You didn't do anything to my little girl right?"

Rochelle wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury herself.

"Dad!" she protested. Why did he have to be so overprotective? She prayed for someone to save her from anymore embarrassment. Nate laughed lightly on the side.

"Hey partner! We got a job to do no?" Hunter's partner, Marcus voiced out from a short distance.

Thank god. She internally said.

While Marcus just winked at her before turning away.

"Sweetie dad's gotta go alright" he said. "Your aunt will be arriving in a few minutes to take you guys home" he said to Tyler before walking away in order to do his job.

Tyler only released a breath of relief.

At least he didn't comment on my smell, Tyler said internally. Tyler really needed to take a long soak in the bathtub.