Mavin searched the building for Wendy Otto and found her trapped in a storage room where she was held. He stopped for a moment before the door to take a breath. Mavin wasn’t physically tired, not even close, but hearing what the soldier said about Melia. He felt like his heart and mind was a bit unfocused. Death comes for everyone, Mavin thought sincerely. Do the work, mourn later for them.

Mavin inspected the storage room for a moment. He noted the hinges of the storage room’s door, and the door knob. He violently pulled on the door knob, and went in. Equipment and spare microphones were inside the room. Wendy Otto was sitting on the corner, her hands tied, and head lowered down.

She noticed him approaching. There was a subdued reaction to him, but her unbruised eye was staring at him. “Who are you?”

“I came here to get you out, Ma’am,” Mavin squatted next to her. She looked a lot like someone. I can’t put a finger on it. Mavin couldn’t remember. He took the gloves off his right hand, and inspected her face gently. “Your bruises, they did this to you, Ma’am?”

Wendy meekly nodded. “Yes, although it is far much better than being shot in the head,” she said rather grimly. Mavin could tell she was mentally exhausted. But she was mentally tough enough to answer him normally.

“I could be an enemy, Ma’am.”

“You would have killed me, and I heard the gunfire. You don’t wear their colors, and seeing how you are inspecting me, it means you aren’t my enemy for the moment, Sir.”

Mavin fished his pockets for medical spray, and applied some first aid on her. A part of her bra was showing, the pencil skirt she wore, and her thigh socks were damaged and ripped. There was a long gash on her left thigh that extended to her knee.

They held no intention of treating her obviously. She was going to be handed over or summarily executed to prove a damning point. How that would affect everything was beyond what Mavin wanted to think at the moment.

“I believe that you were with two individuals?”

“Three,” Wendy said. “Mr. Alden saved our lives. Ms. Melia managed to get us far enough, and yet she died because of me...Thomas...my escort was killed while fighting that Colonel of theirs.”

“I see,” Mavin nodded. “Please your thigh, I’m applying disinfectant and wrapping you up.”

“Sir, are you an enemy?”

“I am not. I’m doing this on my own terms.”

“But why?”

Mavin stopped applying the gauze on her thigh for a second. “Let’s just say that I have my own reasons, Ma’am,” he pulled her up. “Can you walk?”

“I can, but not fast enough.”

“It’s okay then,” Mavin threw aside the LMG he confiscated and wrapped his non-firing hand around her waist, easily lifting her with no problem. “I’ll try not to open any wounds. Make sure that you don’t move too much, Ma’am.”

Wendy had this look of asking, but decided against it. Mavin moved out of the storage room, navigated the office area of the studio, and started climbing up the staircase. She was like a toy, almost weightless while being carried by Mavin gently.

“Sir, where are you taking me?”

“Out of the city bounds,” Mavin said curtly. He started jogging on the flight of metal stairs leading up the rooftop. “Any military installation might come and take you, Ma’am. Although I would like to directly hand you over to your allies, I’m afraid that it isn’t my responsibility.”

“I see. Then do you want a reward? What are you doing this for?”

“I’d like to leave it up to your imagination, Ma’am.”

“I see. Then what happens next?”

Mavin took out a blindfold from his pocket and handed it to her. “As much as I’d like you to sightsee, Ma’am. We can’t show you the way we’re going. I hope you understand us in this.”

“I understand. I’ll put it on when we start flying. I don’t know what your goal is, Sir. But thank you for saving my life from them.”

Mavin responded with a polite nod. He took a step on the rooftop, placed Wendy down, and called for Stefanie to land the gyrodyne. Edward landed on the scene, vaulted off his gyrodyne, and checked on Miss Wendy.

“She’s injured, not heavily, but she’ll have to get some treatment.”

Mavin knew Edward’s profile so he wasn’t surprised how he started assessing her injuries. Mavin scanned the rooftop, and traveled his gaze around them. “Edward, let her take the seat, can your flyer handle three people?”

“She can lift half a ton despite her size.”

“Good, I’ll hook myself on your flyer. Better this way just in case some fast-movers are approaching us.”

Edward inspected Mavin through his aviator goggles. “Are you fine, Sir?”

Mavin nodded. “We need to get Ms. Wendy Otto out of here, Edward. How long until we get out of the city?”

“Half an hour if we fly straight, two if we do it quietly without being seen. Most of the power grids of Knia are still out, but any flyers heading out of the city might be shot down, Sir.”

Mavin shook his head. “Stefania, you heard that?”

“I do, Sir. I have a route in the canal of the city. You will be able to get past the city defenses, and fly to the safehouse outside of the city.”

“Edward knows the area, yes?”

“He does. I can use the service tunnels if you need me in that safehouse, Sir.”

“Go ahead, Stefanie. We’ll meet you there.”

“Copy that, Sir. I hope that you arrive safely, Sir,” Mavin let go of the button and turned his attention to Edward.

“Edward, we’ll be hedge hopping over 25 meters. Can you do that?”

“I can, my flyer’s tiny so no one will notice us.”

“Good, we need to keep moving since I made a broadcast. This building is going to be hell of a spot, and they’ll be extracting the hostages, both sides. So we’re not staying here in order to get caught when they start firing at one another.”

“Roger that,” Edward said, then he helped Wendy Otto to the gyrodyne. The flyer was a two-seater with a storage area on the back. He could fit in, but with all the gear he was carrying, it was impossible.

Edward manned the pilot seat. Wendy sat next to him with a helmet on and then covered her eyes with the blindfold. “Departing in two minutes,” the flyer started to rise eight feet off the ground. Mavin took the hook Edward attached on the skid of the gyrodyne and looped it around his harness.

“Attached, departing now, Stefanie.”

“Roger that, Ed, over.”

Mavin let himself hang on the gyrodyne while keeping an eye out for any flyer. He watched skylines, streets, blocks, and buildings passed by as Edward masterfully navigated through the city, and started ground-hugging the canals.

“Nice flying,” Mavin said in the comms. Edward didn’t reply, and just kept on flying his flyer until they saw the outskirts of the city. The exit points of the city were crowded, and there were a lot of abandoned cars found in the downtown area.

“Abandoned cars, people trapped in cages,” Mavin said quietly. “Always going on about how they want to change things, not caring about the rest who might be affected.”

But who am I to talk about that? Mavin thought. It would be hypocritical of him to think about that when he could have done more. If he truly cared, he wouldn’t have been extracting one only, and had the hostages out.

The sky was rather fiery. Mavin looked at this unfamiliar world, and thought to himself if he made the right choice. It was a short moment, but there were memories of ‘Alden’ mingling and having fun with Melia. In this era, she was a friend that he had worked with and played with.

It would be right to say that she had saved his life and gave him a chance in life despite what had happened. It was a feeling where he couldn’t understand it too well how she was just gone. He held no anger. He held nothing other than this empty feeling. Such a wonderful person who worked hard so that she could improve the lives of the kids in the orphanage, gone because of what these people were doing.

Mavin wanted to find her body, bury her properly, but he knew that he couldn’t do that now. He thought of what Nana would think, losing two residents of her orphanage. The pain in the woman’s heart would be heart-aching.

Should I go? Mavin thought again. No, no, Mavin, keep it bottled, take it in, and make it go away for now.

He felt his chest heavy. Look at you monster, feeling this bad, did you feel bad for those guys who were fighting for their rights? No, you didn’t, just one more to the fray, hypocrite. Shut your damn mind.

Mavin found himself hardening his heart. And yet he found himself growing weak despite it. It hurt him. It made him feel like had used them and threw them away the moment he was back to his old self.

Just a bit more, and then find it’ll be over. But will this be over? Then what? Repeat the process? For perpetuity’s sake? For what? Self-satisfaction? No, what was it again?

What were I fighting for again?

Mavin stopped moving for a second. His ears hurt. His heart palpitated so madly. He could hear ringing as if he didn’t understand what he just thought of himself. Yes, what was he fighting for?

Fear. That’s why I’m afraid.

He was afraid that no one would know how to fight them. Afraid that there would be more coming. It’s not like he didn’t trust those who would be able to take care of the matter. But he knew what was going to happen. Knows where it will be going if they do not immediately act upon it.

Silence and inaction in the very face of evil was evil itself. That was what his Ma and Pa said when they rushed back to jorvi city DESPITE knowing that it wouldn’t end well for them.

There’s more coming, much more coming, and I’m off by seven years, Ma, Pa. I heard terrible things had happened in Lazon despite what we tried, but then again, I don’t know how time works its way, and even if I did...what can I do? Oh Jove, give me strength, I need it.

Mavin shook his head. I’m getting emotional. Good. That’s good. But it’ll weaken me if I think too much about what happened to her. Forgive me, I’m so sorry...but it has to be this way.

Mavin placed the train of thought on the back of his head. He saw how far they were from the city, and the urban jungle became a forested area where only spare houses could be found. Mavin spotted a cabin out in the woods that was just behind this cliff wall . He noticed that there were unused railroad tracks not far from the area.

“Detaching myself, Edward. Going to clear the area, just in case.”

“Roger that, hovering, over.”

Mavin unhooked the harness, and dropped on the ground solidly. He cleared the oval ground of the area, before calling out to Edward to land. Edward landed on the oval ground, and assisted Miss Wendy out while he led her inside the cabin next the cliff wall.

“Clear,” Mavin called out. “Stefanie, ETA on your arrival?”

“Ten minutes, Sir.”

“Good, I’ll be waiting on you, and we’ll talk on how handle Ms. Otto when you come.”

“Understood...have a good rest, Sir.”

“Over.”

Mavin plucked the earphone off his ears, took his headgear, and placed it on his lap. He sat on the log next to the fire pit and stared at the city 18 miles away from them.

A great battle was still going on, but Mavin was able to get what he wanted. Nonetheless, he found himself exhausted, and hands heavy. He was not injured. He wasn’t even physically exhausted. He could probably run from the city and back and he still wouldn’t feel tired.

Nonetheless, Mavin Tomas felt tired.

Just hours after recalling everything he had to do.

He realized that wasn’t able to fully digest everything yet.

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