Inferno

3 - Change of Heart

"Do you believe you were fighting for the wrong side?"

"... I don't know."

"You don't?"

"It depends on what you mean by the wrong side."

The man crossed his arms, mimicking Tobias' earlier action. "I'll bite. What do you mean?"

"I believed that the IMC had a better chance of winning this war than the Militia did. I still think that, to be honest. Even without reinforcements for a few years, they still have more than enough forces in the form of spectres and mercenaries to fight you with. And they're better trained, better equipped, you get the picture."

"Go on."

"But that was the only reason I fought with them; because I wanted peace to come to the frontier quicker. I pictured you all as nothing more than savage terrorists, and that eased my mind a bit whenever it came time to kill." He looked off into space absent-mindedly, talking more to himself than the interrogator now.

"But that picture was proven wrong, because the only acts of compassion I've seen in this war so far have come from a dying enemy, and the Titan I came here with. She actually helped me survive." He shook his head, that was wrong. "We helped each other survive."

He looked back at the man. "So it came down to a choice; do I continue fighting with the side who I believe will win, against an enemy which I now know to be falsely demonized, or do I listen to my own conscience and fight beside those who I believe stand for what I believe in, even if it means going down with them?"

The man said nothing.

He shrugged. "If I do end up bringing peace to the frontier, I suppose that I'd have to hope that whoever ended up on top would be looking out for everyone and not just themselves. I haven't seen that with my few years in the IMC, but with you lot... I'm willing to give it another try."

The man nodded ever so slightly, analyzing his responses. Tobias waited with bated breath.

"That's all for now. You are to wait here until told otherwise."

With that, he abruptly stood from his seat, spun on his heel and exited the medical wing, leaving Tobias alone with his thoughts.

...

"KT-0298 is your designation, correct?"

"That is correct."

Gates crossed her arms over her chest patiently. "Alright, well you're here because I need some kind of explanation for what happened down there. We find that pretty much everyone is dead, and you're hunkered down in a warehouse with an IMC soldier." She waited for the Titan to provide her with some context.

"At 0600 hours, the Militia outpost on Nedar deployed all available personnel to combat an attacking force of IMC. The battle was short, but brutal. My pilot, Captain Shears, was fatally wounded in action during the skirmish."

Gates gave a soft sigh. She knew Shears, he was a good man. Very capable, dependable. "Go on."

"As far as I am aware, another Militia Titan was successful in destroying the escaping IMC soldiers. I believed myself to be alone, no other survivors around."

"And then this IMC guy came along?"

"Affirmative. I did not react to his presence originally, too preoccupied with my dying pilot. But rather than acting accordingly with normal IMC behavior, he comforted Captain Shears as he died."

There was definitely something odd about this guy, Gates knew that for sure. The IMC didn't show mercy.

"I advised him to leave before the approaching blizzard hit us in full. I was unable to leave due to a damaged battery preventing me from having full functionality."