AFTER THE STORM

"You can't get stuck on what should have or could have happened. Learn from it and press on!"

*AL-HARAN COMPLEX*

As soon as Five and the others escaped with their hostage using the chopper, a man wearing a simple blue t-shirt tucked into black chinos trousers complemented with sleek black shoes stepped out from the complex and stared at where the aircraft went. The lights around the complex shone on his bald head, almost reflecting off it. He had a plain face, with even no eyebrows.

He took out a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number, immediately a woman's voice was heard through the phone,

"How did it go?" The woman's voice spoke.

"They escaped with the lady and your man"

"Then you have nothing to worry about"

"Wh...."

He was cut off by an explosion in the sky toward the direction, the chopper took off.

"What was that?" The woman's voice asked calmly.

"An explosion just took place at the general location they escaped towards."

"I told you not to worry, everything's being taken care of."

"Ok"

"Send your men over for the X-serum injection"

"How many of my men?"

"We will accept five for the favor you did us, any more than that will be 10 million dollars per man"

"Understood"

"Remember, we can't guarantee all of them making the process."

With that the call ended, the man pocketed the phone and brought out a cigarette, lit it up, took a drag, and exhaled the smoke into the air.

"Things are getting interesting" he murmured and then made his way back inside the complex after throwing the still-lit cigarette on the ground and stubbing it off with his shoe.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Back in the darkroom that the two zeros were monitoring Five and the rest on the mission, they now were able to see what was happening as the live feed from the hidden cameras got back on immediately they left the complex vicinity with the helicopter, confirming that a strong signal jammer had been used to interrupt them.

The Two zeros showed approving looks as they saw that they were able to make it out with sixteen and even an extra package in the form of an unknown man, most definitely asian due to his facial features, but suddenly everything went downhill when they saw the bomb on his person as Five tore of his shirt and finally, the sacrifice that Five made, which made the quiet room quieter if that was even possible.

Black Zero slowly turned his head to the the screen showing six vibrating heart rate monitors, but this time instead of six, only Five was still moving strong while the one that belonged to Five was now flatlining with no spike of a heartbeat.

Black Zero didn't show it but he felt a sense of loss of a great potential by Five death, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Blue Zero's next words,

"The kid's got heart"

Black Zero let out a deep breath, one he didn't know he was holding, "You are right," he looked out the screen of the live feed once more, "You can handle it from here, I need a smoke"

He left the room with heavy steps, while Blue Zero looked at his back as he walked out while thinking to himself ("I thought he quit.")

***

In a semi-arid area where only low shrubs and vegetation grew, the chopper the others used to escape now rested there with the power off. Not far from it were the different passengers on it, standing or crouching in different locations, not exactly doing anything, most still battling with the grief of losing Five.

The one who felt truly devastated was Forty-Four, whose memories of his best friend kept flashing in his mind, but what was most haunting of these memories was the last smile he flashed him before jumping out of the chopper. He closed his eyes unwillingly and it seemed he could see it in 4k HD resolution, replaying over and over again, till he couldn't take it anymore as he shouted out attracting the attention of the others, he unwrapped the gun on his shoulders and threw it to the floor and tore out the number Forty-Four on his chest like a badge, looked at it and threw it on the floor as well,

"What are you doing?" Eighty asked in a worried tone.

"F**k this, f**k the mission, and most especially f**k PAX," Forty-Four said each word with venom leaking from his tone.

"Okay, but that doesn't answer my question"

"You blind? I'm done with all this, I'm leaving PAX, Five didn't deserve to die like that, for a stupid intel"

"I know you are upset about Five's death, we all are, but you shouldn't do something stupid because of your emotions, or do you think PAX will just let you go after the years of resources they spent training us." Eighty said with pleading eyes.

"I don't give a f**k, they can come at me all they want"

"Hey dumb, dumb" Twenty suddenly called out from where he was standing nonchalantly, "You should listen to the girl or you may just end up dying stupidly, at least your friend died for something."

"And what's that?" Forty-four turned to Twenty angrily.

"Our lives fool," Twenty said with a matter-of-fact tone while letting out a scoff.

"His right you know" Sixteen who had been silent all these while suddenly spoke up as she approached Forty-Four, "PAX will come for you"

"I don't care"

"You should if you don't want his death to be in vain, PAX will come for you and you know what that means, I'm sure he didn't just jump out of the helicopter, so you could throw your life away the next day."

Forty-Four poised his lips as if to say something but ultimately gave up on it, before Sixteen continued while looking at all of them one by one, "What we can do to repay his sacrifice is try to live our lives to the best death allows us to and carry his memories no matter how little it is along with us."

With Sixteen's words a tear once again escaped Five's eyes and Forty-One who had been standing far away close to crouching Ninety Nine walked slowly to Forty-Four and held his hand, "it will be fine," she whispered, "Call for our extraction let's leave here"

**UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Blue Zero watched the whole interaction, his eyes fixated at Forty-Four who was now operating the wristband on his hand to signal their chopper, "lucky kid" he said as he let out a cold smile, "close it" he commanded one of those facing a screen showing an interface with Forty-Four face under it the word *TERMINATE* was written in bold red letters