Ham left the wagon, and Niko left his bag of wheat in an alley, before running after Katina.
The people at the marketplace had quickly split into two groups on either side of the road, crowding those sides of the road. Katina, Ham, and Niko had to push and shove their ways to the front of the crowd.
Katina waited in her spot with excitement. The Cyber-Soldiers explored and fought outside of the cities. Although she had never been interested in joining the Cybernetic Offensive to fight, she had always dreamed of going outside the city with them.
She loved watching them walk through the city, tall and proud. However, on this day, as they returned from their expedition, this was not how they carried themselves, and Katina's excited expression turned into wide eyes of shock.
Yesterday, the Cyber-Soldiers had left City Won with over sixty healthy, and battle ready troops. Now, only about 20 were walking, covered with bandages, some had canes, and others were leaning on their comrades for support. About 10 or 12 of them sat and drove the military trucks. The truck trailers were covered with long sheets. It didn't take much imagination to guess why.
All was quiet as the Cyber-Soldiers made their way through the path made by the people of City Won. At least, not until a little girl with auburn hair, who couldn't have been older than eight years old, walked up to the bearded man leading the group.
"Hello." She said with a smile. "I'm looking for my big brother. He went with you, but I don't see him now. His name is Tyochi Matza."
The man looked at the little girl sadly.
"You are Tyochi's sister?" He asked as an older man with greying hair walked over to the little girl.
"Indeed she is," the older man said "and I am their father. Where is my son?"
The bearded man sighed, then turned and called to one of his troops.
"Marco, come here. Bring it with you." He ordered.
A young man came up to the leader, carrying a standard camouflage cloak of the Cyber-Soldiers. He handed it to the little girl.
"This is your brother's cloak." He said sadly. The girl took the cloak and looked at it.
"I don't want his cloak, I want him! Where's my brother?" She asked.
"Perhaps we should talk in a more private-"
"No! I wanna know now! Where's my brother?" The girl's father said nothing, he merely looked at the young man, who looked at his leader. He nodded, and the young man sighed.
"Okay." He said quietly as he began to recount the events that had taken place the previous night.
~~~
Marco could only see the inside of the dragon's mouth. He thought that it was the end, then suddenly, quick as lightning, Tyochi zoomed in on his hover board, grabbed Marco, and pulled him out of the dragon's way.
"Idiot!" He yelled as he threw Marco in front of him.
As Marco regained both his altitude and balance, he shouted "Sir! Thank you! I'm sorry!"
Tyochi grunted. "Tell me that after we get ourselves out of this!" He replied.
The dragon roared, then flapped it's wings and flew after the two Cyber-Soldiers.
"Tyochi to squad 3. Mobilize, and attack!" He ordered as he reached down, grabbed his sword hilts from his belt, and activated the blue energy blades.
Marco followed suit, removing his blasters from his belt and activated them, just as the rest of the squad joined them, weapons drawn.
"Let's go." Tyochi said, and he spun toward the dragon with his blades stretched out, like a deadly, human sized chainsaw.
Tyochi went underneath the dragon, slicing it's underbelly.Samuel and Oliver, armed with automated crossbows, went over the dragon, and shot at it's back. While Pauline, who was also armed with swords, sliced at the dragon's wings. Marco shot it's eyes.
The squad then flew beside each other, watching the dragon falter. They smiled.
Then the dragon thrashed it's neck, and opened it's jaw. The rest of the squad flew away, but Tyochi wasn't fast enough this time. The dragon closed it's jaw down on Tyochi's legs.
Tyochi screamed in pain. Then the dragon quickly opened it's mouth again, this time chomping on Tyochi's stomach.
Still screaming, Tyochi raised his blades, and plunged them both deep into the monster's eyes, killing it. The dragon fell with Tyochi still clamped in it's jaw.
The rest of the squad flew down. They all jumped off their hover boards and ran to their captain. Pauline used her swords to pry open the dead dragon's jaw, while Oliver and Marco pulled Tyochi out. Samuel was informing the rest of the task force of their situation.
Marco looked at his captain in horror. There was a gaping, bloody hole where his stomach used to be, and it looked like one of his legs were gone. Tyochi was breathing quick, shallow breaths.
"Sir, hold on. The rest of the the commander's squad is on their way. They'll be here in six minutes." Samuel said quickly.
Tyochi shook his head." No...too long...I can't...I can't..." He rasped.
"Yes, you can!" Oliver yelled "C'mon cap, stay with us! Remember, you still owe me some money. How do you expect to pay me back if your...gone?"
Tyochi smiled, then inhaled a shaky breath.
"I...have a, sister... Audrey. G-give her...my cloak...please. Sh-she always...did...love the thing." He whispered, before he stopped breathing. His glassy eyes stared out into nowhere.
"No." Pauline whispered, tears began to run down her cheeks.
"Captain." Samuel said quietly.
"No way. No way. No way." Oliver kept repeating.
Marco just stood there, not sure what to say, or think, or even feel. However, he was sure of one thing: Captain Tyochi Matza was dead.