"Yo, bro, where are you going?" a little red-haired boy with worry in his eyes rushed towards a man with similar red hair who donned a green camouflaged tunic and wrapped his arms around the man. Tears fell down the little boy's eyes. The man sighed and lowered himself to the height level of the little boy.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," the man tried to calm his little brother down and asked him to let go, but his little brother's tears continued wetting his tunic and his arms are still around the man.

"Hey, real men don't cry. They gotta stay strong. For their family," the man lightly scolded the little boy in front of me.

"You said you won't leave me. You liar!" the boy threw a tantrum.

"I'm not. After all, I may not be here physically with you, but I'll always be right here," the man pointed at the middle of the little boy's chest.

"Really?"

"Of course. Don't worry, I'll always come back. No matter what. I won't die as long as you're still breathing," the man smiled brightly as he stood up, cheering the little boy.

"You better keep that promise," the boy said while wiping his tears.

"Of course, we're brothers, aren't we?" the man held out a fist in front of the little boy.

"Yeah," the boy agreed while doing his part in the fist bump.

The boy watched his big bro leaving the house, waving at him which the boy waved back. This time, the boy's golden eyes were no longer filled with worry, but with the assurance that his brother will come back home and play with him once more…

The boy was now on his couch watching the telly. His face was a bit older now thanks to puberty and showed off a face that could win most girls. As he drank his coke, he heard the news: "The S.E.R.V squad… they're being massacred!"

The boy stopped his drinking immediately and focused all his attention on the TV where he saw the sight which he didn't want to see the most: his brother's dying face in front of the camera… A man wearing a grey hoodie, whose face is covered by a white mask with only two black circular eye holes, was holding his brother's head like he's some livestock. The boy gritted his teeth, his hands slowly crushing the coke can. "No… please… no… anyone but him!!!

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And as if he had heard the boy, the masked man answered, "He shouldn't have tried to hurt my family."

And the boy helplessly watched his brother's head disappear into a pool of blood dripping from the man's gloves which proceeded to wipe the blood on the camera… The boy gritted his teeth more as he remembered his brother's words when he first left… He heard the sound of the TV exploding and the fire alarm blaring with the water sprinklers doing their job immediately afterward. Electricity crackled around the boy's body like a snake slithering up a tree. "You shouldn't have killed my family…"

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4 YEARS LATER, S.E.R.V DORM FOR SQUAD ANTI-7, LOCATION: UNKNOWN

"Yo, Mercer! … Mercer! … Hey! What's wrong!?" a woman with short hazelnut-colored hair called out to a red-haired man in a trance on a black leather sofa while shaking him vigorously.

"Yeah, yeah! What is it, Mori!?" Mercer answered, annoyed yet grateful that he was pulled out of his trance.

"Nothing, just asking if you're okay…" the woman answered, pouting her lips.

"How about you? Did your cat ears disappeared during the night?" Mercer asked, raising one eye.

The woman got flustered all of a sudden and started grumbling before two cat ears popped out of her hair. "Fuck you…" she whispered.

"Mean…" Mercer refuted.

"Hey! No fighting, you lovebirds!" a cheery voice shouted from the hallways upstairs.

"Shut up, Chris! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Mori and Mercer both scolded the voice.

"Mean... I'm just joking, you know," Chris answered.

"No playing around with the newbies, Chris," a deep voice reprimanded Chris from behind him.

Chris turned around to see a hulking black figure behind him and jumped. "Shit! Ali! Don't go sneaking up on people like that!? For a big guy, you sure are good at playing ninja…"

"Well, it is fun to tease you, Chris," a purple-haired woman wearing a sports bra and sweatpants appeared, leaning on the window that overlooked the garden in the middle of the dorm.

"Fuck you, Al, you gorilla bit-" Chris flew across the room and out the window.

"Who. Are. You, Calling. A. Gorilla. Bitch!?" Al roared in anger.

"Well, you do act like a gorilla, so the gorilla part was understandable…" a voice came from behind Ali and Al.

"Shut up, commander Riley. If it wasn't for your rank, I would have done the same to you," Al reprimanded the voice, revealing a blonde-haired woman with a surprisingly young face for a commander.

"Well, if you had done that, I wondered who will be out the window…" the commander teased Al.

"Don't get cocky, blondie. You may have beaten me back then, but I'm different now," Al refuted.

"I wonder… Well, let's have a spar once we get today's mission done."

"Oh, and what is today's mission?"

"It's a surprise for our dear newbies."

"Hey, tell me. Tell me."

"No!" Commander Riley refuted and an argument between two scary women ensued with an unfortunate Ali caught in the crossfire and used as a meat shield.

MEANWHILE

"What have I gotten myself into?" Mori asked herself, her hand on her forehead.

"You should have been ready for this kind of stuff. Did you even read the Terms and Conditions?" Mercer asked her.

"It was stated in the T&C!?"

"Yeah, surprisingly. Looks like their behaviour is… worthy of being informed of…"

"Well, fuck me…" Mori sighed and closed her eyes, regretting joining S.E.R.V.

However, she couldn't. Not until she avenged her partner. 'But do you really think of him as a partner?' a voice in her head suddenly sounded, causing Mori to suddenly open her eyes in shock.

'Do I really think of Edvard Tod as a…? No! He loved my best friend Alice. I couldn't have…' Mori tried to shake the idea out of her head.

'You were happy when Alice was killed, aren't you?'

"SHUT UP!!!" Mori screamed.

After a while, she realized she has screamed out loud. An awkward silence filled the room. The door opened to reveal Chris who was busy fixing his broken neck back into its initial straight form.

"Man, what the hell happened while I was gone. Guess I am needed to get this team up and cheery-"

"Shut the fuck up, Chris!" everyone shouted and continued their usual bickering at each other.