Harry
I stand proudly at the head of an enormous army displayed in front of me, lines and lines of tanks and army vehicles sprawling over the vast clear ground. It's the entire Hazard army with an addition of at least five hundred deserters. The Wildfire army is going to join us later when we attack. We've been notified Americans have sent a few dozens of their troops here to fight for Vortex and we couldn't postpone our attack anymore.
My dad is standing beside me while all of my closest friends are in the special military planes aside. Nobody here has any aircraft since they are too expensive to upkeep and fix considering they tend to get damaged a lot and pretty easily during battles. Besides, that's one of the easiest ways to lose soldiers, despite the fact they make battles simpler, so everyone gave up on them, replacing flying military equipment with the advanced vehicles. We borrowed a few military planes from our suppliers for this occasion exceptionally since we need to reach Vortex without too many casualties while my army along with Wildfire and deserters attacks them.
The moment I get on the plane and start flying will signify the beginning of the end. I take a moment to look at the grand army, feeling accomplished while a barely visible smile curves my lips. We're finally going to end this. I know a battle like this can't end in a day and it would take months to settle agreements with other countries and sign a bunch of peace deals, but this is the best way to start the change. Sometimes, we have to destroy to be able to build something new.
"You did great son, I'm so proud of you," dad says, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Whatever happens when we get there, whether we win or lose, I'll still be proud of you. Always have been, always will be."
I remain silent, pulling him into a tight hug, the fact I have his support meaning the world to me. "We'll win, dad. That's the only option."
"Are you ready?" He asks as we pull away, blue eyes searching mine.
"I feel like I should say something quote worthy, but I've got nothing," I say. "So, I'll just. . ." I snap my fingers in a z motion, making him laugh as I turn, walking toward one of the planes, watching as everyone starts cheering, a grin forming on my face.
The real war begins now.
. . . .
My bloodstream is reeling with adrenaline, every cell in my body urging me to fight. Vortex base ground is near and they shouldn't be expecting our attack, but even if they are, we definitely have the upper hand. My doubts are soon cleared when I get a view of dozens of Vortex vehicles and tanks driving toward our army, their bullets flying toward them, hitting and scratching the impenetrable vehicles and windows. Our vehicles are highly protected, even their tires have a layer resistant to bullets to a certain extent.
"Be careful, Harry," dad says through the mic. He could've chosen to fly with us and deal with taking Seth down and killing the highest positioned soldiers, which is our job, but he said he wants to fight along with his men like in the old times. He mentioned captain always sinks with his ship.
Gunfire and explosions soon echo from the ground under us, so loud not even the propellers can block them out. My team and I are sitting strapped to the seats lined against the plane sides, facing each other, our weapons ready. Niall and Liam are on my sides while Louis, Jess, and Tori sit in the row opposite of us, serious expressions on their faces. I've recently discovered I absolutely hate flying, anxiety ripping me from the inside, making me think of every worst case scenario. What if a bird crashes into us and the pilot gets scared and we start falling down to our inevitable death-
"Harry mate, you alright?" Niall asks me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "You look a little green, not to mention you're gripping my thigh and I'm pretty sure there's no circulation anymore."
"Oh. . ." I remove my hand from his thigh, clearing my throat. "No no, I'm- uh I'm fine, I just love the ground. Yes, the ground is good."
I watch as some of the Hazard soldiers fight outside on their own, using tanks as their cover as they fire at the enemies while the rest are shooting from the tanks and vehicles. We've decided to create a diversion, making them busy while we attack the base. Since they expected us to attack from only the northern border, we've purposefully planned two simultaneous attacks, which means Wildfire is striking from the other side while their deserters attack from the other. We have them almost completely surrounded.
My goal is to find that fuckface Seth and leave Vortex without their leader. If you take away a leader from an army, you make it vulnerable and only a few hard strikes would be enough to take it down. Of course, I also want to find Elena and Alex, hoping both of them are okay. We decided to be careful with bombing buildings in Vortex, wanting to avoid harming any innocent children.
The wall surrounding the base comes into my sight, making me smirk as we near it. Even though the number of military vehicles protecting it is quite large, most of them seem to be driving away toward the three different areas being attacked at the same time, basically welcoming us into their base on a red carpet. They might as well give me the keys and we can get this over with, that's how easy it is. Of course, this took weeks of careful planning, hours of sleepless nights and hard work. It all paid off at the end.
My uniform is heavy with a number of weapons tucked into every single pocket, from guns, knives and bombs to rifles on my shoulder and ammunition strapped over my torso, hanging from my shoulders. Vortex is being attacked from all sides by the army much larger than theirs, having almost no chance of winning. The other part of the plan is to implant bombs in most of their buildings and blow them up, destroying the base and claiming the territory as ours. The problem are Vortex's allies who could easily attack us when we do that, so we need Seth to officially surrender.
"Guys, let the fun begin," I say as I press my earpiece. "Oh, but not too much fun, make sure to cover for us. Every team knows what to do, careful while infiltrating the buildings. Teams One to Five, take the left side, teams Six to Ten the right, the rest make sure they don't get in their way."
"Yes, sir!" Everyone says at the same time.
Oh yeah, I'm back.
Our plane hovers over the top of one of the buildings and we start leaving it one by one, using a rope ladder. Liam and Louis casually glance around while Niall jumps on the top with two guns in his hands, a huge grin on his face. Tori and Jess have a mission of their own, nodding at us as the plane takes off. I walk toward the edge of the building, watching as dozens of my soldiers run inside, going in various directions as instructed and taking the enemy down. Everyone knows what is their duty, who to protect, where to go once they take care of their duty. We thought about every single detail, the plan being the result of the people such as my father, who have over two decades of experience with warfare.
"Look at them, like rats abandoning their ship," Niall comments as he looks down, aiming the guns at the soldiers, ready to shoot them as his grin gets even wider.
"Easy there, psycho boy, save those bullets for the ones in the building," I tell him, rolling my eyes.
"Can I take just a couple of them down?" He asks, blue eyes pleading with me.
"No."
"A few older ones?"
"No."
"What about just one-"
"Niall, step away from the edge, let's get into the building," I order him flatly and turn my back on him, hearing a shot behind me, making me turn my head and glare at him, watching as he whistles and looks at the sky.
"What?" He asks innocently and grins, walking past me toward Louis and Liam who stare at him with straight faces.
I grab one of the guns I've brought, loading it and entering the building, motioning for the boys to follow me. Since we had Isaac's help, we know which building is for what in Vortex, this being the one where higher ranked soldiers reside, Elena being one of them. I wish I could look for her, but the reason we're here is Seth. If I know Elena, she's most definitely not fighting for Vortex, she will probably try to escape if she already hasn't. I ordered a few of my soldiers to check their cells, just in case she's locked down there.
While we're coming from the top floor and moving down, some of my soldiers are starting from the entrance of the building, moving from the first floor and clearing the building. I specifically ordered everyone if they find Seth, they should capture him, not kill him since we unfortunately need him.
Liam starts humming a tune as we silently move down the stairs, reaching a hallway with rooms, making all of us stop and give him a look. "What, we need a theme song!" He says, but none of us reacts. "You're no fun."
"I need you all to be focused, we're in the middle of a war for fuck's-" a few gunshots interrupt me, hitting the wall close to me, making us hide further behind the corner, our guns raised. We exchange looks and I nod, all four of us jumping out at the same time, our guns aimed at the three Vortex soldiers with their weapons pointed at us.
Before I can react, they're all lying on the ground, blood pooling around their bodies. Louis, Liam, and I all look to our left at Niall, who brings the tip of the gun to his mouth and blows off the smoke, a smirk on his face. When he notices us staring at him, he winks and kisses the gun.
"Now would be a good moment for that theme song," Niall says to Liam before casually walking down the hallway without a care in the world as if there's not a bloodshed happening outside.
"Have we ever had him tested?" Louis asks quietly.
I let out a sigh and follow him, all four of us starting to go through each room, occasionally finding a soldier in some of them, but none of them is Seth. We question them, but neither of them knows where is he, claiming he's most probably not even at the base like a coward he is. My soldiers searching in the other buildings aren't giving me any updates which means none of them has found him either. My frustration is growing with each passing moment, only making me more determined.
"Sir, we've found something," a voice suddenly says, making me stop in my tracks. "There's a maze of tunnels underneath the main building, you should really see this."
"Hold on, I'll be there as soon as I can," I inform him, looking at the boys. "Apparently there's a maze of tunnels below the main building. Funny how Isaac has failed to mention this crucial part of the information considering he's supposed to be on our side."
"That fake bitch," Liam comments.
"What are we waiting for?" Niall asks, a grin on his face as he heads toward the stairs. "Let's find him and capture him."
. . . .
The lads and I have sprinted toward the main building, killing a few of Vortex soldiers on our way, our senses on alert, bodies tense and ready to act if needed. When we enter the building, my soldiers immediately lower their weapons, one of them running toward me, telling me to follow him, which I end up doing. Our boots clank against the floor as we run, my eyebrows pulled in concentration, my fingers firmly clenched around the handle of my gun, a layer of perspiration formed on the surface of my skin.
The soldiers lead me toward the conference room, where more of Hazard soldiers await for me, all of them nodding in respect as I enter. "Here sir," the soldier tells me, pointing at the small square opening in the floor. There's a metal ladder leading to who knows where, my eyes narrowing slightly at the sight. I have to say this is a clever way to save your ass in case of an emergency, which Seth has obviously taken advantage of. I fucking hate him.
"A few of our soldiers are down there, sir," the soldier says. "We called them, but. . . but none of them came back nor are they answering our calls."
My eyes widen slightly in surprise. "What? Fuck!" I huff, glancing at the boys, ticking my head toward the opening. "You're going with me, and so are the lot of you." I motion toward a couple of soldiers. "The rest of you stays here and makes sure no one else tries to get in here. Have I made myself clear?" They all chorus "yes sir!" and nod, making me smirk briefly.
I crouch down and slowly start descending the ladder, my gun still in my hand as I look down, seeing a faint glow of dim lights, thankful we won't be left in the dark. My heart is thudding wildly in my chest as my feet collide with the stone ground, my eyes glancing around, seeing nothing but a long hallway without any doors, its walls yellow and dirty, a musty smell welcoming me. These hallways must've been built ages ago.
"Well fuck," Louis comments, his face grimacing. "Smells like piss in here."
"You'd think you'd be used to weird smells after living in your body for twenty-two years, Lou," Liam says. "Not to mention I live with you too, so I'm basically numb-"
"Bitch you shouldn't be saying that when I have a gun in my hand," Louis counters.
"Aw isn't he adorable, I love it when he threatens to kill me, grrr." Liam pats his head, tousling his hair as Louis clenches his jaw, ready to kill him.
"Focus!" I snap, glaring at them. "We don't have time for this. Now follow me, and have your weapons ready." I glance at the soldiers as the last one descends the ladder, turning my back on them and slowly starting to make my way down the hallway.
As we reach its end, there are two ways we can choose from, but we don't have to make that choice when I see a body lying on the ground, a woman dressed in the black uniform. Her chest is moving, meaning she's just knocked unconscious. I turn right toward her, only to find a few more bodies sprawled over the stone floor, all Hazard soldiers and all of them alive. My eyebrows furrow in anger as I turn to face the soldiers following me.
"Lucky them, sleeping at work," Liam mumbles.
"Two of you stay here and watch over them," I snap at two random soldiers. "The rest of you follow me, Seth couldn't have got far." I watch as everyone complies and I resume walking down the hallway, my gun aimed ahead in case we run into someone, my mind going through various options and possibilities.
I suddenly stop and raise my hand, causing everyone to stop walking as well. I press my pointer finger against my lips, focusing on the sound of faint voices coming from somewhere nearby, from one of the tunnels linked to this hallway. I make a few hand gestures to explain what should we do next, watching as everyone stares at me with dumbfounded expressions.
"Wait, what?" Liam whispers. "The fuck do those mean? I only know this sign." He connects his thumb and index finger, creating a circle while poking the hole with his other index finger.
I roll my eyes in annoyance as everyone else snickers, Niall, Louis, and Liam high fiving each other, making me shoot them a glare, instantly wiping their smug grins off their faces. "I'll go first since the voices are coming from that tunnel-" I motion toward it, the entrance being a few steps away "-and you cover for me when the fun begins."
"You could've just said so in the first place," Louis says flatly.
"It's much cooler with the signs and you know it!" I snap in a hushed tone, once again turning to look ahead.
We near the wall, pressing our backs against it as the voices get much louder, there being approximately three to four persons in the tunnel. They suddenly stop talking and I can make out very quiet and steady footsteps, meaning they are approaching us. I raise my gun to my face and mentally count to three, ready to attack whoever they are. I jump out at the same time they are, a gun being pointed at me as I point mine at the person in front of me.
When I look at the person, a few things happen in the span of four seconds. First, my heart painfully skips a beat, then the colour drains from my face, then my lips part and my throat begins constricting as if someone has cut off my oxygen supply.
A very familiar pair of light brown eyes lock with mine, widening slightly as they look at me. Dishevelled black hair, stubble over his cheeks, tanned skin. There is no mistaking who the person is yet the rational part is trying to tell me I'm looking at a ghost.
The next word comes out as a strained whisper from my mouth, almost too quiet to hear. "Zayn?"
. . . .
a/n: most of you guessed it and made me laugh with your comments about Zayn and now it's official. Zayn is in the story ;)