We left the residential Commons only to be greeted by a trooper leaning against a car. "You don't intend to work today, Commissar?" The corporal asked. The synthetic fumes of his lame stick hung in the air.
"He's an independent Commissar for now. Everything he does is, as a matter of fact, considered work." Timothy said, rushing in front of me.
"Sure thing, bossman." Said the corporal pushing himself off the car.
"Drop the lame stick," I said. "Pleasure at your fingertips made the Technocrats abandon their utopia." The metallic tink of the stick falling to the ground clunked twice before it came to an halt.
"Where do I take you today then, Commissar?" He asked. With a finger he balanced his glace and then his hat beneath faint red hair could be seen.
"The Graveyard," Timothy said, opening the door for me. I went inside first and he followed me shortly after. The corporal sat down, took the lame stick and stored it in his pocket with a chuckle.
"So, where do I take you Commissar?" He asked once more. Waiting for me to say it.
"You heard the man, the Graveyard, I need some closure."
"Your Wife again? Sorry for getting personal all the time but you should give yourself more of a breather. Not every day has to be perfect." He gunned the engine and shot us through the streets.
I looked through the window and goosebumps spread across my skin, tingling at my nerves yet not revealing what was at odds. "You don't want to look at some old combat footage while we drive?" Timothy asked. "Normally you do that to collect yourself."
He rummaged through the back of the driver seat and produced a tablet and handed it to me. I browsed through hundreds of records associated with me and searched for some of the last which happened five years ago. I idly went through them. Time skipping going back re seeing some scenes until I found something familiar.
One of the last times I had the team assembled and both of my Meldiers. It was dark in the Labyrinth-like structure of the sub city. Pillar to Pillar, wall to wall. We were exchanging fire into the dark. I still remember that battle. Our body cameras didn't have an infrared layer but we had night vision goggles.
Constantly you heard the both side coordinating over the gun fire occasionally in the dark you could see me giving hand signs or receiving some back. "Sina! Take the second squad and flank from the side way and force them out! First squad right side make sure that they keep their heads low! Third wait for Kitten to wedge herself in and follow up!"
Hearing my own voice in a recording always felt off. Especially with how much emotion I put in while I yelled over the roar of silenced gun fire. The Shape of Kitten could be seen for a slip phew second, small stains of blood on the edges of her jacket until she vanished into the dark once more. A trilogie of cut short screams could be heard before you heard the shouts from the other side while the clatter of Mark and his squads could be heard until it was silenced once more by gun fire.
The Firefight did not last long after that, we swept through the area and spread out to put the passages under lockdown. As usual Ibuki and I would hover over the wounded enemies. Squeezing them out for what information they held and watched as they expired. As soon as that happened we went into the routine of collecting pictures and formulating the first lines on our report before Sina approached me.
"You can't always send her in like that! What are you going to do if one of your Meldier dies?" Sina asked.
"Kitten is able to handle herself and you can't tell me you think Sinne could be out gunned." I said dismissing her rather harshly.
"You can't just shrug it off with another, 'have faith in them!'" Sina protested. I cut the video short after that, it was one of the few engagements we had before Sina resigned and Jacky took her place. Wasn't that five to seven years ago? The words slurred and fumbled in my head until they faded like a hazy dream.
"You must look forward to it." Timothy said confidently.
"With what?"
"With the order you gave to the Technocrats, being an ordinary Commissar with equipment that did not suit you. You said it yourself and you can't run around like a trooper. So one of them poured all of her mind into giving you a gift you can't help but to love!"
My mood turned sour, I heard that once from a beauty with peanut brown hair and a pony tail and life turned miserable.
"Don't worry Kyle, its okay?" Timothy said, laying his hand on my shoulder. The act felt repulsive. My heart rate quickened and my instinct began to scream, yell at me for stumbling over something obvious.
"About what?" My eyes narrowed as I looked at Timothy.
"You can show excitement every once in a while. It will be a perfect fit." I exhaled gratefully all the tension and paranoia leaving like a clog in a cleared pipe.
The car came to a halt with a lurch, "were here Commissar." I looked up and around and realized we were indeed there… I opened my door and went outside, overlooking the graveyard which seemed to stretch out indefinitely.
"Ready when you are." Timothy said while walking up to me. I looked over to the driver.
"Well be back in ten minutes, make sure to finish whatever you're doing in the next seven."
"Understood sir." He said saluting and leaned once more against the car. We went past the entrance and I looked around, it was hard to focus on each grave, there were so many… I spared a glance at multiple of them until a familiar name appeared.
"Lynn?" I asked.
"She was the first to die, she didn't know Kyle…" Timothy said, leaving the words unspoken in the air.
"That you of German descent are cursed."