One-six

“Put your hands up and walk towards me!” The armed guard shouted.

One-six and his team complied, lifting their hands above their heads and taking small and steady steps forward.

“We just want some fuel, and we’ll be on our way,” One-six announced. “We are not spies. We do not want trouble. Give us a place to rest and guard us as close as you want.”

He came to a stop before the guards, the muzzles of their rifles pointed straight at his chest.

“You people killed my brother,” the guard before him spat. “Shot down over the mountains, never to be seen again.”

“I express my deepest regret. However, I can do nothing to change that,” One-six replied blankly.

“I should shoot all of you right now. I can kill you so fast you won’t even have time to react,” the guard whispered through his clenched teeth, trying his best to suppress his anger. “Nothing will happen to me if I shoot you right now. Killing you won’t make me a murderer. I would only be a murderer if I shot real people.”

One-six remained silent.

“If I shot you right now, I can avenge my brother. I’ll be able to say goodbye to my past and become a better person. This town would thank me for exterminating pests like you. If only… If only I could convince myself that I’m as cold-blooded as you people are,” The guard lowered his rifle and signaled for his men to do the same. “You damn sure look like a person and talk like one,” he waved to a mechanic in the distance. “Get their plane fueled up! I want it done before midday,” then he turned back towards One-six. “Leave as fast as you can. You are not welcome here.”

“Thank you,” said One-six.

“You better,” the guard replied.

“How do we pay you for the fuel?”

The guard snarled before spitting at One-six’s feet. “We don’t need your money. We’re fueling your plane to save ourselves. Be gone.”

One-six nodded in understanding.

“Hand over your weapons,” the guard ordered, holding out his hand.

One-six reached down with the tips of his fingers, unclipped his holster from his belt, and handed it over to the guard. His teammates turned to look at him with questioning eyes.

“If you let them take our guns we’ll be completely defenseless,” Two-six whispered.

“I know.”

“Then why are you…”

“Two-six,” One-five muttered, cutting her off. “Listen to our commander. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Hesitantly, the rest of his team members surrendered their weapons too.

“I think I can take over from here,” a bearded merchant said in a thick eastern accent as he walked over. “These four men can stay at my place. I have enough space.”

It’s Takeshi, the bartender they had met in New Asia.

“Sir?”

“It’ll be fine, Captain Eric,” Takeshi reaffirmed with a nod of his head.

“Yes, sir,” the guard answered, stepping away.

“I have some things I want to ask these men,” Takeshi said as he looked One-six and his teammates up and down.

One-six felt a sense of uneasiness wash over him. He couldn’t quite tell if Takeshi was being overly friendly, hostile, or simply just curious.

“Come with me,” Takeshi said, beckoning One-six to follow. “We’ve met before, haven’t we? Erwin.”

*****

Lenn

Thick cobwebs clouded the ceiling of the dusty storage room. A lone lamp hung from above, dim from old age. Grey curtains covered the wooden window on one wall, buffeting lightly in the dusk breeze.

Lenn lay on a soft rug, staring up at the ceiling blankly.

Takeshi’s helpers had taken them to his home: a three-story wooden house that reminded Lenn of a wealthy hunter’s hideout. They were allowed to stay in an empty storeroom until someone arrived to take them back to New Asia.

“Do you think they’ve gotten the message yet?” Kang asked from a comfy deer skin couch, fiddling with a little pocket knife he found in the room.

“What message?” Lenn replied nonchalantly.

“You know… that we’re alive…”

“I don’t know…”

“Probably,” Rei mumbled from the other side of the room. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, seemingly lost in his thoughts. “Even without satellites, we can communicate pretty fast with long-range radios. By this point, the message has probably already made it up and down the chain of command.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Kang looked up at Rei, “So… how long do you think it will be until they send someone to come fetch us?” He asked, putting the knife down after getting bored of it.

“Well…” Rei sighed. “It’s not really about how long. It’s more about if it will ever happen,” he mumbled as he walked across the room to the window. He pulled apart the curtains, letting in a current of chilly air and a few leaves that tumbled and weaved in the wind. For some reason, the leaves reminded Lenn of fighter planes chasing each other through the air, and the first one to fall to the ground was the loser.

“What do you mean by that?” Lenn asked.

“We lost, Lenn. We got shot down. For all they care we’re dead, burnt to a crisp along with our plane,” Rei answered, resting his arm on the windowsill and looking out at the vast forest. “But because of some crazy miracle we survived, and now we’re asking them to come pick us up. We’re asking them to use resources to come pick up people who have proven incapable of doing their job.”

“Well, we get sent on rescue missions to other downed pilots, don’t we?” Questioned Lenn, sitting up from his rug. “What difference are we compared to them?”

Rei shrugged.

“Why don’t we just hop on a trading plane headed for New Asia?” Lenn suggested. “Then we can just meet up with…”

“Why do you even want to go back?” Rei snapped. “Why do you seem so intent on going back to fighting?”

“Rei, what’s gotten into you?” Kang narrowed his brows, getting up from the couch.

“I just don’t get what’s so bad about a bit of peace,” Rei argued, throwing his arms up to show that he didn’t want a conflict between them. “I’ve been fighting my whole life. Why can’t I just have some peace and quiet until all this is over, then go back and inherit my family business?”

“What if New Asia falls?” Lenn asked.

“It won’t. Neither of the two cities will ever fall. Either they make a peace agreement, or this war just carries on forever.”

“What if the war carries on forever?”

“Well… then I’ll just be a happy man living in a mountain village,” Rei replied after a second of thought.

There was a moment of silence.

“Whatever,” Lenn muttered. “I’m gonna head back at any chance I get. Whether you guys want to follow me or not is your choice. I’ve fought for New Asia all my life and I’m not going to give up after a small misstep.”

“I wouldn’t call getting shot down a small…“

“Shut up, Rei,” Lenn snapped.

“Was it something from your past?” Rei asked, not to jeer, but because he didn’t know better.

“Don’t you bring up my past!” Lenn shouted, getting to his feet. “You know nothing about my past!”

“You’ve told us, haven’t you?” Rei chuckled. “Your parents died when you were young, something like that… Aren’t we all the same…”

“Shut up!” Lenn screamed as he threw a powerful right hook straight into Rei’s jaw.

The punch dazed Rei for a moment. But when he came to his senses, he dropped low and charged shoulder-first into Lenn, knocking him to the floor. Punches and kicks were exchanged as they both struggled for control.

“Guys! Stop!” Kang shouted, trying his best to break apart the two larger men tangled up with each other. “What’s gotten into the two of you? Stop!”

But the two ignored him and continued their pointless fight.

“Guys, please…” Ying, who had watched the whole ordeal silently, whispered. When they ignored her, she raised her voice a little. “Please stop!” She cried, her voice broken and raspy from the effort. She felt her eyes watering up. She couldn’t stand the sight of the only ones she cared about turning on each other.

Finally, the two stopped to look towards the voice and saw Ying with tears streaming down her cheeks. Lenn shoved Rei away from him and stayed down on the ground. Rei stumbled backward and stood up, heaving from the exertion of the fight.

In their years together they had never seen Ying shed a single tear.

“What’s gotten into the two of you?” Kang asked.

“I…I…I’m…I’m sorry…” Rei stuttered, wiping the little trail of blood that ran down from the edge of his mouth. “I’m sorry… I must be too tired… I think we all are… I don’t know why you punched me but I shouldn’t have punched you back…”

“Look at what you’ve… you’ve made Ying cry!” Kang exclaimed. “And what crazy stuff are you two spewing? We’ll never split apart, no matter what. We fly together, we fight together, and, if needed, we die together. Did you all forget about the vow we swore when we first met?"

“Rei… I just…” Lenn began.

“No, it was my bad. It must have been something I said… I spoke irresponsibly…” Rei apologized. "I think I'm still struggling to get to terms with my failure."

"It wasn't your fault," Lenn mumbled. "We failed."

“No, no. It's me. I let out my frustration on you. I'm sorry."

“Okay, okay, come on now. Let’s make up again. We’re still brothers, we’re still comrades,” Kang said, helping Lenn to his feet. “Come on, get in…” He opened his arms, beckoning his team in for a hug.

At first, they were reluctant, but soon, they gave in and came together for a second group hug on the same day. Ying’s muffled sobs grew into more of a cry, but instead of sobs of sorrow and despair, it was now tears of joy. They stood there for a long while, hugging each other tightly, reinstating the unchangeable fact that, no matter what, they’d be together till death did them part.

Then, there was a knock on the door, and the four broke apart just in time to see Takeshi enter the room.

“How you doing?” Takeshi smiled. “Your buddies are leaving now. They want to speak to you one last time.”

*****

"Mr. Takeshi gave us some information and people for us to meet,” said One-six, standing beside his fighter with the New Asians. “I’m sure you have lots of questions about everything, many of which Mr. Takeshi should be able to answer.”

“Where will you go now?” Lenn asked.

“Back to Europa. Report to our Captain. Pretend like nothing happened and find things out our own way.”

“Won’t you be punished for sparing an enemy’s life?”

“They won’t know. We’re rebels now. That was decided the moment we went off-course and flew to New Asia… Oh, and, thank you for taking us to that bar in your city, it was very... interesting,” One-six said with a little shrug.

“Was it not fun?” Lenn asked, half-jokingly.

“Maybe…”

Lenn chuckled “Your welcome.”

They stood in silence, looking down at the ground.

“I guess that’s it then, my foreign comrade,” Two-six broke the silence.

“Yeah… I guess we part ways now. Don't call me your comrade,” Lenn replied wryly.

“Although our meeting was short, I have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“I wish I could say that too…”

“Anyhow, goodbye. Maybe in the future, we will meet again. By that time I hope we meet as friends and not as enemies,” said One-six.

“I sure hope so too.”

One-six stuck out his hand, Lenn grabbed it with his own and gave it a firm shake. Then he watched with his team as the European pilots climbed aboard their jet.

“I’ve one more question!” Lenn shouted to the Europeans, sitting in the cockpit above, the canopy still raised high.

“Yes?” One-six answered as he strapped on his helmet.

“They say you’re built to be emotionless and without empathy, so why did you spare our lives?”

One-six thought for a moment. “That’s why we’re rebels now.”

Lenn smiled.

The canopy, blood red under the setting sun, lowered and shut closed. Then the engines started, kicking up powerful gusts in their direction.

Slowly, the jet lifted off from the ground and accelerated forward, then flew towards the west, into the setting sun.

Lenn sighed.

“What a strange bunch…”

*****

One-six

"There's more to this adventure than I thought," remarked Two-six as they ascended through the clouds.

"The New Asians talked about movies and books," One-six said as he looked back at Two-six. "Do you think the people in those went through adventures like this?"

"Probably."

"I want to watch a movie. We don't have any movies or books at home..." One-six sighed.

"Sure. Maybe when all of this is over," Two-six replied.

So marked the end of deceit and the beginning of truth. As the flaming exhaust of the engines disappeared into the distance, the unraveling began.

The outcome of the war and the future of the world rested on the shoulders of those pilots as they soared toward the place where they were created, the same place where they were once destined to die.