"We've located the reactor, but Lahmi is on the move." Natile told Marcel, who sat across the table from her.
"Then what are we still doing talking? We have an opportunity to finally fix the city. Let's go." Marcel says, visibly upset, and stands up.
Natile stops him, "Sit down. You're not going."
"What? Why?"
"I'm worried about you Marcel. You've been different since-"
"Since the city was thrown into chaos because of my mistake?"
"It wasn't your fault."
"If we hadn't been in such a rush to leave, so afraid of staying, we would have seen that Lahmi was deviating, that he'd found something.
"Do you blame the other three? They were on that mission too."
"It was my mission. I was the leader, and we missed something. I missed something. I didn't even go in. Maybe if I hadn't stayed back, if I'd found a way into the camp like the others…" Marcel falls silent, not finishing his thought. He sits back down at the table and puts his head in his hands.
"Is that why you've been so aggressive with the attacks lately; taking so many risks. Killing so many gang members?" Natile says. She and Marcel both knew that some deaths were inevitable, but more than half of those gang members were the children of criminals cast out of the city, not the ones who were cast out. Did that make them innocent? No. One had to do whatever they could to survive the wastelands, but that didn't always mean they deserved to be slaughtered.
"I've been aggressive… but only because we need to get the reactor back. How many people died three months ago? Thousands, tens of thousands?" Marcel and Natile both knew the answer of course, almost everyone in the city knew by now. The sum total was three thousand and nineteen. Most of that was from the aftermath: building collapses, lack of clean water and food for nearly three weeks, no power for climate control, which was deadly this time of year.
"We need the reactor back. But we also need our leadership to maintain level heads. How many heroes have died in those assaults?" She asks. Again, both knew the number; two hundred and one. Marcel winced just thinking about it. "The city needs its heroes."
"That's what I'm trying to be."
"What you're trying to be? What about everyone else?" Natile asks, raising an eyebrow.
"That's not… you know what I meant."
"Are you sure you know what you meant? Saul once said the same thing to Omar." To that, Marcel shot a glare at her.
"Don't. You know that's not it. King was obsessed with his image."
"And you're not?"
"No!"
"Then why take so much of the blame for what happened the night before the attack?"
"Because it was my fault." Marcel shouts.
"Why are you so obsessed with making it your fault?" Natile shouts back.
"Because I can't make that mistake again!" Marcel slams his fist into the table.
"So what? You want to go to clear your conscious?"
"Yes!" Marcel yells, then falls quiet. He hadn't even realized that was the case until it came out of his mouth. His face falls, and he leans back in his chair, deflated.
"You're not going." Natile says, and stands up. "Have someone assigned to take your place as leader of the strike squad in four hours. Or I'll assign the squad positions to the Blue Phoenix group." With that, she walks out of the room, leaving Marcel to his thoughts.
Marcel closes his eyes. Not to rest, but to listen. He's gotten to the point that if he needed advice on what to do, he could turn to the voice, and it would always lead him down the right path. All he had to do was listen to it.
And so, he asks it a question in his mind: What do I do?
Assign Sara. Replies the voice. Marcel sits with that and grows more upset. He knows why the voice would want Sara. She'd be careful, not take too many risks. She is a skilled leader too. But Marcel firmly believes what the squad needs is an aggressive leader. One who will take the chances to secure victory. He believes that times of crisis require nothing less than direct action. And so, he leaves to find Kevin. Not because Kevin is that man, but because if Marcel orders him to be, gives him a plan to follow, he will. Even if it costs him his life. But Kevin is also a good man. One who respects Natile, and thus, wouldn't want to undermine her authority. He wouldn't agree if he knew why Marcel was sending him.
Marcel finds him in his room back at Hebron. "Kevin."
"Oh, hey Marcel, what's up?"
"I'm assigning you as leader of a strike mission."
"What?"
"Here's the invasion plan." Marcel says, handing him a stack of documents that contains a detailed plan Marcel devised personally after meeting with Natile. "Don't discuss it with anyone. We're worried there might be a spy in the corp." Marcel lies.
"A spy? How did they get in?"
"We aren't sure yet. Natile is investigating. But for now, only hand out details as needed. Don't discuss them with anyone."
"Why am I the leader though? What about you?"
"I'll be investigating with Natile. I'll also be your point-of-contact for this mission instead of Natile. She'll be too busy. That means that if anything goes wrong, contact me."
"Sure. You got it." Kevin says with a nod.
The two go over Marcel's aggressive plan together. Kevin, to his credit, doesn't flinch at the risks to himself or the team. Not if it means getting the reactor back. It had been left in Beth-Shemesh, a fortified area near a small gang group. But for some reason, they sent it away to another group. Some of the local population apparently felt afraid of it. According to one report, they blamed it for several recent catastrophic events. Now, it was stored in a gang leader's fortified position at the top of a large hill. The area is referred to by locals as Kiriath Yearim, but the fort is called Abinadab.
Marcel leaves Kevin's room, and goes to his office. He looks in a mirror and doesn't see the boy who saved a farm from gang members, or the sidekick or studied under Oasis King proudly. He sees a tired man in his early twenties, doing what he can to right a wrong. The voice is telling him to stop, but for the first time, he feels the voice is wrong, and that he is right, and ignores it.
A day later, Kevin is stalking through the mud, alongside more than fifty heroes. This was the first part of the plan Marcel gave him the day prior. They are to get as close to the walls of Abinadab as they can, then blow them with explosives and powerful gifts. Then, rush inside and push through to the reactor hard and fast. Kevin is not great at thinking on his feet, but he fully trusts Marcel, and knows that if he follows the plan, he'll succeed.
"Crasher, are you ready?" One hero whispers.
"Ready." He watches as the last of the explosives are placed, then gives the orders to blow them. Massive explosions ring across the dozens of hills in the area, as six powerful heroes use their gifts to smash through the other side of the walls. It's a flanking tactic: approach the enemy from two sides to split their defenses. Chaos erupts as the fighting begins. The heroes clash with the guards of the fort immediately. From the first moment, losses are high. For every four heroes that make it inside, one is lost. Their numbers drop below forty in moments. But they keep pushing toward the reactor. They run through mud, as the enemy is swinging their blades and clubs and spears. The heroes use aura weapons, and manage to keep them at a distance, but not for long. The moment they get close, it becomes a melee, and the heroes have to switch tactics individually, breaking down their defensive line further.
"Keep going!" Crasher yells, barreling through several gang members and turning them into a pink mist on impact. He spots the tent that the reactor is supposed to be held in, and heads for it. He swings his hammer, knocking aside enemies. Most are killed, but some are sturdy, and get back up. "Phase two!" Crasher yells to his second in command.
"Sir, we should pull back and regroup!" The second yells.
"Phase two!" Crasher repeats. The man pulls out a hand held radio and calls for phase two. Moments later, from outside the walls of the fort, a bombardment begins. Heroes on standby launch attack at specified coordinates. Most of the heroes avoid the bombardment, but some were pushed into the danger zones by their fights, and are killed. Their numbers drop down to twenty-nine; almost half the heroes sent are dead.
"Move!" The second in command calls out. Crasher however, was already on the move, taking advantage of his gift's extra durability to not get injured by the bombardment. After his fight at the storehouse in the city, he had been practicing his timing to better use his gift as a shield and not just an attack. He finally reaches the tent in the chaos, and sets eyes on the reactor.
He pulls out a radio and calls it in. "Confirmed, the asset is in location one. Move on location one." With that, several heroes with the raw physical strength to move it will arrive. Crasher looks around the room, and sees it's empty. He approaches the reactor, but is stopped as a blade slides between his ribs and into his heart. A gang member stops using his gift, and becomes visible just as Crasher falls to his knees. He reaches for his radio, which had fallen from his hand and to his feet, but can't muster the strength. The second in command calls over the radio for Crasher, but he isn't the one who responds.
"Your commander is dead." The gang member says.
"All squads, location one not secure. Radio one compromised. Regroup at alpha entry and switch to radio two." The second says. With that, the heroes are pushed into a retreat. The gang member looks down at Crasher, whose eyes are closed, and breathing stopped, then begins to search his body for anything useful.