I’m a pacifist. Probably the biggest thing people remember about me, even above my genius with technology. The most controversial thing about me is that I create weapons and aid an ex-military team to exterminate the crime-ridden underground of Haven City. I’m aware I might as well be pulling the trigger on the criminals myself, but it’s not the way I see it. I see it from a much more literal standpoint. 

“The one behind the pillar is reloading,” I let one of my teammates, Raven, know. 

“Got it. Thanks, Dex,” she called out. She ran out, avoiding the fire from the upteenth criminal organization we had taken down, and handled the pillar man, sending him into the next life. Honestly, if Arid had not put so much time into making sure I was good and being a good friend, she’d probably be my favorite. Both of them were part of a handful of people that knew why I was a pacifist in the first place. Unfortunately, they were the only ones I trusted with this information, but at this point I could not help the others that knew. 

“Desolate, by the metal beams. Sidewind, recalibrate--”

“Screw you.”

“And flank right. Arid--”

“Already on ‘im, Dex. ‘Preciate it,” my closest teammate told me before handling the remaining few in one go. He was probably the most tactfully gifted out of our current squad, possibly even out of the old one: The Omega Squadron. 

Arid’s move left only one enemy remaining and he gave up, dropping his sidearm and shivering in place as Arid pointed his Beretta between his glowing eyes. His glowing eyes dimmed as Arid questioned him.

“Was this the last of you?” The one being interrogated nodded his head violently. “Your eyes…where’d you get--”

“T-There’s a fake serum that’s been going around the underground. I don’t know where the men got it from, I j-just used it,” he informed us. Arid squinted and lightly pressed on the trigger. “Y-Your best bet is searching the abandoned subway station. You know, w-where that massacre occurred?”

Arid cocked his head to the side and pulled the trigger, ending the informant’s life. As soon as he mentioned the fake serum, I was already on the dark web, searching anything in Haven City I could on it. It made it a little easier since he gave us a possible location.

“I’m guessing you got that, bud?” Arid asked. I asked him to stop calling me that, but he respectfully declined. He said all of us were his “buds”. 

“Yeah, I have it. The place where that psychopathic villain Ache massacred several of these users. Some of which were even normal junkies, based on what this article is telling me,” I explained.

 

I normally always drove. While they fiddled in the back with their weapons, I’d cart them to our location. Sometimes one of them would sit up front with me, which I hated unless it was Desolate. The guy talked less than I did. Raven was okay too, but Sidewind wouldn’t shut up, and Arid always tried to have deep conversations. I liked Raven because she normally kept it surface level, or at least tried to. She was easy to talk to, but I’d have to be careful in losing myself in a conversation with her. On our drive to the station, it was more or less the same.

“You find a girl, yet?” she asked. Smooth start. I didn’t answer at first and she followed up on her question. “I’m guessing none as striking as Juno. That girl gave all of us a run for our money back with the Omegas.”

“Even with life or death missions, you still considered it a beauty contest?” I asked. She kept herself from laughing. I always had that effect on people for some reason. Maybe because of my bluntness. 

“Not exactly, Dex. But, I’m also not gonna act like we didn’t rate you guys as well,” she said. She squinted at me, knowing my next question, without me needing to ask it. “Looks: 9. Personality: 6.”

“Personality not as low as I thought,” I said.

“I thought you’d be surprised at looks,” she said. I stared at her, confident in the rating I was given. I knew I was pretty objectively attractive. Gift of genetics perhaps. “Nuh-uh, Prince Charming, I’m in a pretty happy relationship.”

“Not what the look meant, but if you thought of it that way…” I shrugged before finishing my sentence. She laughed, and I smiled. My smile disappeared as the quiet hum of the van was pierced by the obnoxious sound of a sports car horn behind us. The driver leaned on the horn then followed up with a series of sporadic honks. 

“The fucks this guy’s problem?” Raven questioned, looking in the mirror on her side. The sporadic honks reverted back to the leaning honk as the guy drove around our left and flicked us off before taking off. I pressed a button on the console. Raven watched me do so with intrigue, but said nothing. 

 

We arrived at the station, sneaking through the police tape and ignoring the signs. I shut down the cameras before the van even pulled up so whoever was watching from the city wouldn’t even know anyone was here. 

As we reached the bottom step, the smell of decay and blood hit our noses simultaneously. Sidewind stood confused with “/:” on his LED screen face. 

“That smell really doesn’t just go away, does it?” Raven mentioned. Arid spoke with a stuffy voice, indicating he was trying to hold his breath without touching his mask. 

“Alright everyone, let’s split up for now. Activate your silent alarms if anything goes wrong. We meet back here in ten,” he commanded. We nodded and began to search for signs of life, clues, anything. 

I was drawn to a particular hallway that had three flickering lights that lead around a corner with who-knew-what around it. As I walked to the first flicking light, at the third light, a silhouette of someone holding a sword appeared. I froze in place, squinting, hoping to get a better understanding of what I was seeing. I would need no further help as the lights flickered and the figure teleported to the second light. I grabbed the silent alarm in my hoodie pocket but kept it hidden within. The figure caused my heart to drop as it spoke its first words to me. 

“Go ahead and call them, Dex. I’ll wait,” it said. I froze, not knowing if it was daring me to. I couldn’t read it; its face, its tone, nothing. “I know you’re a pacifist. Call your friends.”

I followed his instructions, deciding it wasn’t a dare and within ten seconds, the other four arrived by my side. Arid began speaking to it.

“Who the fuck--”

“You’re being advised to cease your searching into the fake serums,” it said. “This is your one and only warning. If I see the five of you again, there will be less to say.”

Sidewind made the group’s decision as he pulled out his laser pistol and attempted to kneecap the figure. The figure, with minimal movement, moved its knee out of harm's way. Then, its entire body flickered with the lights as it disappeared from our view. 

“Hmmm. Your decision on the matter is quite clear,” it said, its deep voice echoing around us. “We will be seeing each other again soon enough.”

“Was that a space ninja?” Arid asked. Raven socked Sidewind in the back of the head. 

“What in the fuck were you thinking?!” she shouted. “You probably just caused us more problems we could have avoided. Or at least found a way around!”

“He knew about the silent alarms,” I informed the four. They all looked at me with concern. “It was in my pocket, so he probably has some vision abilities. That or his mask does. But, he also knew I’m a pacifist.”

“Someone from our past maybe?” Arid speculated. 

“It’s possible that’s Silas,” Raven said. “I mean, I know he was supposed to have been obliterated by Lux in his Decus form, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he came back from that.”

“Resurrection is not a strength of Daichi’s,” Arid argued. “Plus, we saw what happened. There was nothing left.”

“Just like what happened with Omnicide the first time, right? We all thought he was gone,” Raven pushed back. 

“Keeping secrets is a strength of Daichi’s,” I said. “What Raven’s saying is plausible.”

“We can’t rule out the possibility that this is someone new as well,” Sidewind mentioned, as we climbed the stairs back to our van. “Someone that could have read up on us and is just spewing the information back at us like they do know us. Or, you guys, specifically.”

 

I drove us back to our hideout, Raven--though she had an apartment--thinking it best to stay with us, at least for the night. As she, Sidewind, and Desolate went to sleep, Arid and I headed back out. 

We climbed into the van and I scrolled through images I had taken with the van, bringing up the image of the sport car driver’s license plate. I ran the plates and found his home. Arid, sitting in the front with me this time, nodded at me and we pulled off. 

In no time, we reached the driver’s apartment and crashed through the second floor window with ease. The man, who was enjoying a bowl of cereal in his stained underwear, watching a game show, reeled back at the sight of us. 

“W-What the fuck?!” he shouted. He crawled for his closet in his living room, where I assumed he kept some sort of firearm. Arid dashed at him and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back as I tossed him rope. 

Arid tied the short-tempered man up in a chair with duct tape over his mouth and the two of us grilled him. 

“You lease a sports car, but you live like a hick,” Arid insulted. “Who exactly are you trying to flex on, you little-dicked fuck?”

The man mumbled. 

“Oh, that’s right you’re tied to a fucking chair powerless to do anything about it. How ‘bout next time you think of being an asshole on the road, you think about being tied to a chair possibly about to die, you prick.”

Arid nodded at me and we exited the same way we entered, without anyone discovering us. Arguably what we just did was pretty villainous behavior, but it felt satisfying. This was something Arid and I agreed on; that arrogant assholes needed to be taught a lesson. And ironically, we could be looked at as assholes as well, but we were constantly taught lessons, so it evened out. Looking at it from my normal logical perspective, my reasoning seemed against my character, but at the same time, I didn’t care. 

 

Arid and I snuck back into our hideout like we were teenagers coming back from a party after curfew, but Raven caught us. 

“What were you two up to?” she questioned, her arms folded. Even in pajamas, she was still more intimidating than 96% of the people we faced almost daily. 

“Uh…” Arid stalled. He would normally have something quippy to say in a moment like this, but not this time.

“Did it happen to be something with that asshole of a driver in the sports car?” she asked, leaning in closer to us. We had nothing.

“Y-Yeah,” Arid said, defeated. “We just tied him up and threatened him.”

Raven placed a hand on both of our shoulders. My heart dropped at first, but I calmed when she smiled. 

“I would’ve done the same thing. Hell, probably worse,” she said. She started to retreat to her room and waved. “Invite me next time. Goodnight, guys.”

 

The next day, I got some snacks from a nearby corner store and tried taking an alleyway shortcut back. Something told me not to go this way. A cliche I’d seen in movies and television was the shortcut was always a trap of some sort. But, I tried thinking logically, knowing I was living in the real world. 

To my dismay though, at the other end of the alley was the figure from the subway again. This time he had two goons by his side. I looked behind me, and sure enough, my only other exit was blocked off by a few more gun-wielding goons. I turned back around to face the figure, but when I did, he was almost directly in my face, the two goons that were standing at his side were still near the far exit. 

“Apologies for not introducing myself last time, but I go by the name Titon,” he said. “Pleasure to officially meet you. Now, I’m just here to deliver a message.”

“The kind of message of I’m guessing that involves those goons,” I speculated. He looked back. 

“No, they’re just there so you won’t leave while I say what I need to say,” Titon told me. “Madame Maker wants to meet you all.”

I slightly furrowed my brow. I was hoping it wasn’t enough to look like I was giving a reaction, but this guy could read me like a book. 

“No need for the confused look. I’m sure you can deduce the product she pushes,” he said. “Instead of destroying your home in some sort of cliche, dramatic fashion, she’d rather talk it out. Meet her in the car garage near HC Bank HQ at nine tonight. All five of you need to be present.”

With those last words, his body flickered and disappeared before my eyes. The goons just left the alleyway and went in no particular direction. 

 

I relayed the message to the rest of The Resistance. Instead of the meet, they had other things on their mind. 

“Why didn’t you activate your silent alarm?” Arid asked. I shrugged.

“I wasn’t fearful in the moment. Sure, the guy’s weird, but he still has yet to attack us,” I said. I then side-eyed Sidewind. “Though we’ve given him reason to.”

I refocused on switching glances between all of them.

“But, to answer your question, I don’t want to always have to rely on you all. I want to rely on my intelligence more than anything,” I explained. “In addition, it was my unintelligent mistake of going out in the open alone the day after meeting someone like that.”

“So, why did you--”

I stopped Sidewind from asking his question as I pulled sunflower seeds out of one of the plastic bags and shook it.

“We already rely on your intelligence, Dex,” Arid said. “We always tell you, we’d be nowhere without you. Let us give back by protecting--”

“Your compliments mean nothing to me.” They all stared, dumbfounded. “I apologize for being so blunt, but for some reason, I don’t get the same warm feeling other people do when receiving compliments. So, you can save your breath.”

My words seemed to stun them. But they all slowly nodded at me acknowledging my request. I wasn’t sure they were actually going to follow through, but I was happy to make my feelings--or lack thereof--known.

 

I met with Madame Maker in the designated car garage. The plan was to have the other four hide in advantageous locations throughout the garage to jump Madame Maker and whomever she might be bringing with her. Seven black SUV’s pulled up, one after the other, with Madame Maker’s vehicle in the middle. She, along with Titon, stepped out of the backseat. She was a heavyset woman with tan skin dressed in a black suit. 

“Where is your team?” I did not answer her. “The deal was for all five of you to be present.”

She squinted at me then shook her head, beginning to retreat back to her car. She stopped, though, and turned back around to face me. The next thing she said would open our minds to an entirely new world--metaphorically speaking.

“Are you aware of what the Alpha Squadron is?”

The second she asked that question, my mind raced.

Of course that exists! There’s an Omega Squadron and there’s an Alpha Corporation. Both an Omega Corporation and Alpha Squadron should have been a possibility. Are there others? What’s the difference between the Alphas and the Omegas? Do we know anyone from the Alphas? Was it disbanded like ours?

“Change in heart rate,” Titon told Madame Maker. “It’s likely this information is new to him.”

“If your team comes out this instant, I will give you more information on the Alpha Squadron,” Madame Maker proposed. Unfortunately, one teammate, Sidewind, immediately took the bait and as soon as he stepped out from behind a car, Madame Maker gestured to her men before climbing back in her SUV.

The men opened fire on both Sidewind and I with hi-tech weaponry. The android lept in front of me as I took cover behind a vehicle. Sidewind tanking the hits of the lasers, forced Arid, Raven, and Desolate out of their places and the battle began. 

From my left Arid flanked the soldiers, he cut down two with his hidden blade in his cybernetic right arm before withdrawing his Beretta and killing one more. When he reached the fourth, he ran into a little trouble. The fourth swung at him, and he flipped onto the hood of the nearest SUV. He then flipped off of it as the fourth flattened the hood with his bare fists. 

“The fuck have you been eatin’, big guy?” he asked. Before aiming and shooting his pistol at the brute. The bullet bounced off his skin and he charged at Arid again. “Not normal, got it.”

Raven and Desolate flanked from the right. Raven killed three in rapid succession with headshots. As she did, she spun around and shot more from behind Desolate who stepped forward and grabbed one by the jaw, sending a soundwave from his palm through the goon, causing everything below his jaw to detach and fall to the ground in a bloody mess. 

Desolate then held out his palms and continued shooting soundwaves at the rest of the goons. One goon was dumb enough to try and shoot flames from his palms at Desolate’s sound waves and ended up setting himself on fire along with a couple others.

Titon stepped forward towards me and Sidewind. He held out a hand and telekinetically pulled Sidewind towards him before slicing the android and kicking him back at me. Before my eyes, Sidewind’s body was split in two. He didn’t die, but he was incapable of doing anything further. 

Arid saw this and this gave him the strength to finish his battle faster. Rather than trying to get to Madame Maker, he prioritized his teammates, something else I admired about him. He popped out his hidden blade and slashed through the brutes achilles’s tendons, causing him to fall face first. He then jabbed the blade into the back of the brute’s neck and slashed across, letting blood spew from him. 

Madame Maker’s SUV began speeding off, but in a last ditch attempt, I attempted to shoot a tracker from my wrist onto her vehicle. Titon used his green-tinted sword to slash through the air and successfully cut the tracker in half. Arid ignored the vehicle and attempted to step between Titon and I, but I held out a hand to stop him. He followed my command and I stood to face Titon head-on. Raven and Desolate finished off the rest of Madame Maker’s goons, but Titon seemed to be unconcerned with them.

“I’m guessing you’re a mercenary, right? A hired gun?” I surmised. “If Madame Maker left you, then your job is done.”

He paused before speaking, attempting to figure out what I was trying to do.

“Why would you assume that?”

“If you already have the money, you can leave without even needing to expel the energy to kill us,” I continued. The space ninja soldier laughed.

“Pleading for your life? Guess you’re not above that,” Titon mocked. “And it wouldn’t take much to kill you all. Especially that one.”

He pointed at Arid. Arid frowned, but said nothing.

“You’re all way out of your league with me,” he continued. “However…I see your point. Considering I’m only doing this for the money, I’ll leave you lot for now. Take some time to repair your friend there. And take some time to find a new hobby.”

With those last words, his body flickered along with the lights that seemed to be fine before and disappeared from our sight, leaving us to pick up the pieces of our out-of-commision teammate. 

“You knew we couldn’t beat him,” Arid said, approaching me with Raven and Desolate. 

“For once, the goal was not to squeeze information on our next target from anyone, but survive,” I told them. “Until we figure out his actual abilities, we need to steer clear of him. First, we need to fix Sidewind, something I can’t do alone.”

“Oh, no,” Arid said.

“Yeah,” I said. “We need the aid of Dr. Daichi.”