No Hard Feelings[3]

Ragnar felt the wind brush him as he fell down.

Everywhere was darkness, and emptiness and somehow, he was free falling.

He remembered the events that had transpired. 'Did Justin betray me? Betray us?'

He looked forward blankly, not taking in the predicament he ought to think about.

'But why? Why would be do that?'

Ragnar closed his eyes and thought back to days of the past, when he first became their captain.

Every single on of his soldiers were new recruits, and non were normal at first.

Except Justin, he was the only normal one.

Or atleast that's what he thought at first.

Justin slowly revealed his... Objective and materialistic mindset.

Not in a good way too.

He had once abandoned a comrade during a mission.

It was an unavoidable situation where both were heavily injured and the other one apparently told Justin to escape.

The lie detectors found nothing wrong, and so it was not investigated further.

But now that he thought about it in hindsight, it really didn't make sense.

Even then it was an implausible situation, but there was only proof of innocence to go around so nothing was done.

No, it wasn't that there were no signs, just that Ragnar didn't act on them.

'It's fine. I'm pretty sure it's all a misunderstanding, or some kind of prank!'

Self rationalizing to himself, Ragnar finally came back to his senses.

But the moment he did so, he felt himself pass through something and hit a firm, colorful surface.

"Augh!"

Ragnar got up and looked around.

Some kind of material suspened just above the ground using nails and ropes.

Who did this?

"Cap! He got you too huh? God damnit, that motherfucker!"

Ragnar looked at the person speaking; it was Patrick.

"I thought Justin was a good person... but after the previous incident and now this...!"

Patrick was steaming with anger.

He was huffing around trying to relieve his anger somehow.

"Wh-what do you mean Justin betrayed us?"

Please, please say this is just a joke.

Patrick turned to him with raised eyebrows.

"You didn't notice him? Well some of the others didn't to"

He moved away and waved his hands, revealing the rest of the people here.

Everyone, almost everyone who came with him to find Atlas was here.

"So are you sure it was Justin?"

Ragnar's voice, though seemingly firm, were actually trembling.

"Yeah! It was him for damn sure"

"And I even have proof" He continued.

He gestured to some people and called them over.

"These are the people that Atlas led, as you already know. They set told us to lie that Atlas was missing and that most likely Justin would do something after that"

"Atlas most likely knew of Justin's powers somehow and also his intentions and that's why he prepared this sheet to catch us"

He then pointed at the corpse of the Abomination.

"I'm not sure what that is, but with the apocalyptic situation we have going on, I'm not surprised at new monsters"

"Atlas most likely killed it. U already know that I'm one of the few that has seen him in action"

'Patrick is acting all professional like... he must really be serious right now'

A faint dragging sound cane from infrastructure of Ragnar, behind Patrick.

It was accompanied by footsteps and yawning.

Everybody immediately became alert, except for Patrick, Ragnar and some select few.

Ragnar got up, his hands on his knees and eyes closed.

'Alright. You already know your faults Ragnar... no use running from the truth any longer'

Patrick moved aside to let Ragnar see what was coming.

From the darkness emerged a man with black hair and brown eyes.

A nonchalant and casual demeanor and posture being displayed by the individual as he dragged a body behind him.

"Aahhhh.... Guys, I'm here!"

Atlas waved at them with his free hand after yawning again.

"I'm so sleepy... and I keep yawning for some god forsaken reason"

Ragnar quickly reached Atlas with a serious face.

"Atlas... Did Justin really do something... like betray us?"

Atlas looked at him dead in the eye and spoke with a dead pan expression.

"Ragnar, I thought we've been over this"

Ragnar's eyes darted away, but he still waited for Atlas' answer.

"Hahhh... I understand it's hard for you, so I won't make it a problem"

He tossed Justin's mangled body to the from in-between them and spoke.

"You wanna know? Ask him yourself"

At this point Ragnar already knew what to expect, but he still hoped... hoped with a sliver that he was wrong.

Atlas kicked Justin in the gut, waking him up.

"Gaaaaghhh!!"

Justin almost puked out bile; luckily he didn't.

Raganr bent down and spoke to Justin in a firm yet soft voice.

"Justin... did you really betray us?"

Justin slowly turned his head to Ragnar, a crazed smile forming.

"HAAHAHAAAHA! You're still skeptical!? Hah!"

Justin continued with an almost Joker-esque expression and demeanor.

"Hahaa! This is why you never got promoted even with your incredible skills! You just can never doubt your own!"

Ragnar looked down, downcast.

Is trust really such a bad thing?

"You don't just have trust, you have too much of it! No, not trust. You're just afraid becaus-"

Atlas kicked Justin in the head, knocking out a few teeth, spilling blood and shutting him up.

"Fuck Off bitch! Don't talk about things you don't know!"

Atlas looked at Ragnar, arms crossed.

He sighed and spoke "You also know he isn't wrong. But don't get too mad. It's one of the reasons we could even become friends in the first place!"

He patted Ragnar's back.

Ragnar slowly got up and told Atlas "You... are in charge for now. I'll... clear my head a bit"

He then walked away.

Atlas looked at him silently. Ragnar was looking down throughout all of the past events.

'I'll... let him be. This is when Ragnar likes to be alone'

Atlas looked down at Justin and smiled.

It was a strange smile, one hard to describe.

But to Justin, it, for some reason, was the most terrifying thing since he encountered SOG.

Atlas stretched his body and looked back, telling the others that he will interrogate Justin.

As Justin was dragged into the Safe Room, he felt the strange sense of dread intensify.

And as Atlas closed the door behind him he looked down at Justin.

"This is just what I have to. No hard feelings"