Markus watched as Ryan walked away. His hands were still shaking as he put his mask back on. All the feelings he had worked to suppress since the day of his capture two years ago came flooding back. He wondered if letting Ryan go was a good decision, but he knew he couldn’t have killed him, at least not like that. Markus hated admitting it, but Ryan had saved his life in that fire, even if he didn't or couldn't stop him from being captured.
“It was a simple mission,” he said to himself, “Kill the sniper and get out, but how was I to know it would be Ryan? Figures the one team I join is the one fighting his.”
He shook his head, “Merde!”
He sat there for a while longer, there wasn’t much of a rush to get back to his base, after all the RED’s had already driven the BLUs back, the battle had been lost. Maybe it the heat, or maybe it was because of the recent event, but Markus felt exhausted. He closed his eyes and his mind wandered to the day Ryan and him first met.
*Five years ago*
Markus stood up straight in the line with about fifteen other recruits. This was the first day of RED training, and he was determined to make a good impression. While the others talked among themselves, he forced on straightening his suit. The group of recruits quickly hushed as an aged soldier adorned with many metals walked up to them.
“Listen up, maggots!” He yelled, “I am your captain for the next two weeks, it is my job to prepare you for the rage of war!” He looked them up and down one by one.
“You!” He pointed to Markus. “Name and class?”
“Markus, Spy.” He answered. The soldier continued, “Tell me Markus, what is a spy’s job on the battlefield?”
Markus felt confident. “Yes, Sir. The spy’s job is to remain a hidden threat to the enemy team, through the use of his disguise kit and invisibility cloak he infiltrates the enemy base. His main targets are the medic, heavy, engineer, and sniper.” It was a perfect textbook answer.
“Don’t forget running away, spies do lots of that.” The voice came from a sniper a few people down the line. Markus frowned, it was only a few minutes into training and someone was already picking a fight.
“Who said that?!” The soldier yelled.
The sniper raised his hand, it was Ryan. “Me.” He tried unsuccessfully to hide his cocky smirk .
The soldier walked up to Ryan, his face red with anger. “Listen up, maggot! I will not have you making jokes during training. Do you understand?”
Ryan hesitated to answer.
Markus took this chance to get back at the sniper, “Because snipers never run away,” he said mockingly, “Actually they seem to not move very much at all. They would much rather sit around at their campsite.”
Ryan and Markus exchanged glances, but soon they were both smiling.
It was later that night that Ryan approached Markus as he sat eating dinner.
“Hey Suits, no hard feelings about earlier, right mate?” Ryan sat down next to him. Markus would have much rather ate his dinner alone and felt like Ryan was a bit pushy, but he knew the importance of making friends in training. After all, you never know who is going to end up being a teammate later on.
“Hello,” Markus said monotone, pushing his mashed potatoes around his plate, “No, Its fine.”
Ryan extended his hand, “Ryan, please to meet you and all that”
Markus shook his hand, “Markus, what did you call me before?”
Ryan smiled, “Suits, you know because you wear a suit. I have a thing for nicknames, my friends call me Snipes, get it? Because i'm a sniper.”
Markus smiled, “Yea, I get it, very... creative.” he said sarcastically.
“What do you think of the captain?” Ryan asked, “I wonder if its uncomfortable for him to walk around with that stick up his arse.”
Markus laughed, but quickly looked around to make sure nobody had heard. “Do you always say anything that comes to mind?”
Ryan shrugged. “Life is too short to hold back.”
Suits and Snipes is what they would be known as for the rest of training, though they argued with each other often, they always seemed to be able to laugh it off at the end of the day. It was no surprise when they were both assigned to the same squad. They had proved that can could work together well, at least most of the time.
Markus opened his eyes and came back to the present. He shook the memory from his head.
“Suits,” he said to himself. The word felt strange, yet familiar on his lips. He reminded himself that it had been a long time since he was called that. The nickname didn’t seem to belong to him anymore, but a different person who was much more foolish and trusting than his current self. But maybe in ways he envied Suits, he envied the way he used to laugh at the jokes his teammates told. When was the last time he laughed? Not a malicious, evil laugh, but a real laugh of joy? It must have been years. It wasn't a coincidence that this was around the same time he was captured. As much as he did hold a grudge against RED, he had to admit they had treated him better than the BLUs. Though by this time, the BLUs considered him to be a member of the team, as opposed to a prisoner of war, they knew he had once been a RED and held that against him when things went south. Lost the battle? Must be Markus’s fault. An enemy got away? Must be Markus’s fault. Can’t find your toothbrush? Must be Markus’s fault. Markus pretended to not care, he was used to being an outcast. His cold and serious demeanor didn't help him when making friends, but it did make for good mercenary.
He shook his head again, trying to rid himself of the strange thoughts he was having.
“No,” He thought to himself, “It doesn't matter. Its just a job, i'm not here to make friends. I'm a BLU now, I don’t need anybody, I just need to do my job and everyone else needs to leave me alone. Screw Ryan and screw the whole RED team, they don’t mean anything to me. The moronic games we played, this ‘friendship’ we had, it was just a distraction and waste of time.
He stood up and lit another cigarette. “Next time,” he promised himself, “Next time I won’t hesitant to take Ryan out. After all, it is what I am getting paid for.”
