>>>[FOR THE BEST VIEWING EXPERIENCE, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU SWITCH TO ROYAL ROAD'S DARK/OLED BLACK THEME]<<<

image [https://i.imgur.com/NPRpQWl.png]

===[CHAPTER 14: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER]===

----------------------------------------

>>> Loading File...

>>> Subject Located...

>>> Continuing playback from previous save

>>> Acknowledged

==[Begin Memory Playback]==

----------------------------------------

They snapped their attention towards it. The leaves had been brushed aside. A swift move from something which dashed behind cover. Watching them. Eli raised the rifle, looking through the optic. His hands shook. His fingers gripped the barrel so tightly he thought he might crush the alloy between them.

He took a few steps backward, his mind too focused to count how many. Retreating until his back thudded against Matteo’s. Misfit had retreated into a tight circle, watching the tree line. Their weapons scanned for motion in the trees. The monsters of Narva’s forests had returned to the scene of their crime, sent a cold shiver down their spines.

The bushes shook again. And from behind the leaves, the monster unveiled itself.

A short stature, spotted skin, brown fur… a hare's ears poked out from behind the leaves. Looking rather disinterested at Misfit as it poked around. Eli sighed, feeling the tension in his muscles release once he set sights on the small mammal.

“A hare,” Dutch heaved, “It’s just a bunny rabbit.”

“What do you think it’s here for?” Omar asked, watching as the rabbit circled the area, hanging close by the tree line. Watching them from afar.

"Wanna bet that was what destroyed the tank?" Dutch chuckled.

Eli narrowed his eyes as he looked at the small creature closer. It wasn't a normal rabbit for certain. For one, just atop of its head were small but very noticeable "antlers". And from the corners of its mouth, fangs.

"It isn't a regular bunny," Eli said, "That's a jackelope," saying the word in a completely serious manner was difficult. But, Planet Narva had been so full of impossible and ridiculous things that a rabbit with antlers and fangs was probably the least surprising thing to stumble across.

“It's probably waiting for us to leave so it can eat the bodies,” Matteo said with a rather dark grunt, "It has fangs. He's a predator."

“Shouldn’t we… y’know… scare it so it doesn’t do that?” Asked Omar.

“Aren’t those bodies regulars?” Dutch asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, let nature run its course.”

“That’s messed up, you know?”

“So? They’re Regulars. Who cares?” Dutch shrugged, “I don’t.”

They continued moving, leaving the scene so that the jackelope could help itself to a meal of dead regulars.

The first hints of daylight were already tracing its way through the skies by the time they reached the position of their downed allies. With a glance down to his monitor, he could tell that they were in the vicinity of Misfit’s ping. His feet and legs were sore beyond belief, and his movements had all become clumsy and sluggish. They had covered little more than two miles, and yet the journey there took nearly three hours. All thanks to the terrain. Sloping hills, creeks full of rushing water, rocks, brambles, and bushes in their way. It was a wonder how they avoided breaking an ankle in it all. Or falling off a cliff. All in the dark of the night no less.

But as morning set to replace night, and the first lavender hints of dawn grew over the night sky, things only became worse. Eli could feel sleep tugging at his eyes, and hunger gnawing at his stomach. They were mortal out here. Eli had always known that, but the jungle was a special kind of danger that neither the Coalition nor the Behemoths and Dragons could really match. If he wanted to not be killed by the Coalition, all he would have to do was follow their orders. If he didn't want to be eviscerated by dragons or vaporized by the behemoths, he needed to stay out of their sight. But anything could lurk out here in the jungle, and the only thing keeping Eli away from death was the stolen rifle in his hands and the three other equally lost, hungry, and tired Phantoms with him. If something really wanted them dead out here, there would be little that they could do to stop it.

If he suggested the idea of going out into a unknown forest at night with three almost complete strangers to find three other strangers with no help and hardly any equipment outside of what they could steal steal to himself just day prior, he would’ve thought it insane. Suicidal. A “plan” – if one could even call it that – reserved only for those who saw their lives sunken to the bottom of the deepest pits imaginable. A plan for those with no hope. A plan reserved for those who truly had no other way out.

They had no food, no contacts, no way back home. Just hope that they would find Misfit before they perished, and then work back from there. What happened next, Eli was uncertain. And like the secrets that the forest hid from him, it was the unknown that scared him most. If they managed to return to the Nexus, would Overwatch kill them? The death sentence was usually reserved for those who had committed a serious offense, mostly murder, and even then it was usually limited to murdering an officer. They hadn’t killed any regulars, only assaulted them – on top of raiding the armory in what was certain to be the largest breach in security the Nexus had seen yet. Besides, during the initial chaos of arriving on Narva the regulars had gunned down a few of them to prevent a riot. The regulars were already trigger happy. Certainly, only dark punishment awaited them if they even dared return to the Nexus. Torture? Maybe. Solitary? Definitely. But, at least if they were back in the Nexus, there was a chance they could see the portal once more. Maybe if Overwatch abused them enough they’d just shrug their shoulders and throw them on their way back to Earth on a new mission, compensation for their failures on this one? One could hope.

But it was clear that no matter what, they would not survive out here. Maybe they would just have to face it. Perhaps, if the Overwatch even gave them an ear, they would listen to the story of what happened and lighten the punishment. But of course, that was unlikely, Overwatch was uninterested in listening to anything that came from prisoners and phantoms. He needed leverage. Something that Overwatch and Kovic wanted, and that Misfit had. Something so major that they’d be willing to sweep Misfit’s crimes under the rug and give them a lighter sentence. But what?

Eli exerted himself as he tried his best to push himself through the dense jungle, placing his feet carefully against the uneven ground. But just behind him, he heard a rumble. When he turned, he saw that Omar had fallen. Again. Foot snagged on an unrelenting branch that dragged him until he had slammed into the ground, “Ow! Ow! Dang it,” Omar yelped, panting. He was utterly exhausted, and it reflected in the rest of them, “Mother freaking frick…”

Matteo and Dutch helped to pull the kid out from his stumble. He had cuts on his hand, and a few brush marks around his face. But otherwise, he was fine, “Hey, sailor mouth, you alright?” Dutch asked him.

“Yeah, it’s just that I – I lost my footing," Omar sighed as he accepted a helping hand from Matteo to get back on his feet.

“No surprise, it’s almost morning,” Dutch turned his head to look up at the sky, “I don’t know when’s the last time I had a good night’s sleep. I can barely see straight.”

“We should stop, rest up,” Matteo suggested, “One of us keep watch. The others sleep.”

“But we’re so close,” Eli argued, “The ping from my monitor tells me that they’re within the mile.”

“Yeah, mile’s a big ‘within’. And this jungle is massive. Lots of places to look for someone who doesn’t want to be found. There’s no shot we’ll find them in this state,” Dutch said, “We’ll get some shut-eye before we keep looking, if we don’t we’ll only make more mistakes. And they could be dangerous.”

“But Cato’s life signals, they’re dwindling! I mean if we don’t get there in time, he’ll be-“

“He’s hung in there this long. It’ll only be a quick rest, maybe an hour,” Matteo said, “We can’t afford to keep moving in this state. If we keep going on, exhausted, we’ll only end up dead. And then what? So much for our rescue.”

Eli sighed, looking down to the map on his monitor for a final time before turning back to his squad, “Are we all in agreement?”

“I dunno. Are you?” Omar retorted with a thin immature smile on his face.

Eli chortled to himself, “I guess I’m outnumbered,” he relented.

He took off his pack and prepared to sit – for the first time in a few hours of nothing but grueling trekking through the forest. Matteo patched up Omar’s bruises with a tiny amount of the first aid in his kit, as even a small infection could prove disastrous out here. And who knows what kind of alien super-viruses existed on this planet. Even if it was a few scrapes, it was better to err on the side of caution.

Eli and Dutch meanwhile, took a spot against a sturdy looking tree and leaned against it for a rest. Eli used his bag as a cushion, though it was hardly comfortable. As he reclined on the tree, he watched Dutch and Omar find their own spots before drifting off into slumber after a few minutes. Yet, Eli couldn’t sleep. He tried to close his eyes, but they refused to remain shut. The idea that they were so close to finding Misfit, and yet still so far, tortured him. Questions about what came after. Questions about what had destroyed that tank. It was pestering him.

Maybe it was the jackelope that ripped the tank to shreds and killed all of its crew?

He rolled to the side, finding that Matteo was also awake. Though unlike everyone else, Matteo wasn’t trying to get any sleep at all. In fact, he was active, quite far away, sitting atop a fallen tree, digging through his bag, looking at something close in his hands. Eli could make out the thin square shape of a polaroid, the same type he was looking at when they were in the barracks just a few hours ago. Back in the Nexus. How was it possible that so much could’ve changed in just a few short hours? From prisoners in a new world to fugitives on a batshit insane rescue mission.

He wondered what those images were that kept Matteo staring at them, almost wishfully. Like there was something in the photo grabbing hold of his attention, refusing to let go.

Eli, restless, couldn’t help but bring up his monitor, keeping an eye on the glow of the screen to observe Cato’s status.

He was the same as he was before. And he was still the same when Eli opened the monitor to check ten minutes later. Had he stabilized? Probably…

His thoughts were distracted though when he heard the distinct sound of Matteo calling him over. He whisper-shouted his name though the quiet air, and waved him to his direction. Eli wasn’t quite certain what was wrong. As he rose to his tired feet, ensuring that he didn’t wake Omar and Dutch in the process, he staggered towards Matteo who held the photo in his hand.

“What’s up?” Eli asked as he drew near.

“You can’t get any sleep?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Thoughts keeping you up?”

“Something like that. What about you?”

“I don’t sleep much,” Matteo half muttered, swallowing hard, “I’ve got insomnia.”

“Really?”

“I had it under control, they gave me pills for it. But I ran out and it’s been flaring up again,” Matteo sighed. His face was as stone cold as ever, and he shifted uncomfortably on the log, looking out into the trees behind the slumbering Dutch and Omar.

“Why?”

He said nothing, twiddling the photograph in his hands. Redirecting Eli’s focus to it as he held it out for him to see, “You know this photo? That’s me, my wife Anna. And my daughter, Ottavia. Before everything went to hell I was a medic in the coast guard. But then Anna died..."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“From what?”

“Wildfires took her. From then on it was just me and Ottavia. After everything, we got on a hospital ship. Sailing from port to port. Transporting phantoms, taking them to shelters and refugee camps, treating their wounded and sick. It was good work.”

“What happened?”

“The Coalition figured that the captain of our ship was smuggling weapons onboard for the POA. They raided our ship, boarded it in the middle of the Atlantic. Sent in helicopters to flag us down and board. Started a gunfight with our sailors.”

A helicopter raid at sea? It explained Matteo’s breakdown at the sight of the helicopters not too long ago, something he still looked shaken from. The story itself checked out. All across the world, hospital ships had become the last hope of phantoms who had were rejected from entry into any nation. Making a new home out of the very sea that claimed their original ones. Hospital ships like what Matteo described were common, and it was all too common that nations would find some excuse or another to imprison or destroy them...

“Are you okay?” Eli asked him, leaning in.

“Oh I’m fine. In the firefight they killed a lot of my coworkers while they tried to defend the phantoms. I was trapped in the ER with Ottavia. Eventually they stormed it and… they got us. Took her in as a prisoner, just like me. Accomplices to the crime.”

“So where is she?”

“I don’t know. I figured they might have released her so I… I think that if I can just finish my sentence I’ll be able to find her. Or at least get her out before she’s hurt bad. And she will get hurt bad, I know my girl. She’s a lot like Omar. Good kid, strong heart and a good head on her shoulders. Hell, around the same age too. But she’s fragile. Real fragile. Just like Omar.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, Matteo.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. Not for you anyway. Me, I know I have to get back to Ottavia as soon as I can. New planet be damned. I’ll do anything to...” Matteo said. His eyes wandered off into the starry skies above them, the darkness replaced with blue. It was quiet out here. Nothing except for the insects that chirped in the night, and the rustle of leaves with the wind. And of course the two men, still awake. Alone.

“If we go back to the Nexus now, the Coalition will do terrible things to us. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back through that damn portal if we do. We have to go back with something they want."

Right. Of course. Eli was just thinking the same thing. It only made sense...

"I say we give it to them," Matteo suddenly turned to Eli. Looking straight into his eyes deadpan.

“What are you talking about?”

“Rafael was right. Overwatch isn't gonna waste the time or resources to look for fugitives out here. They’ll just leave us be and let nature kill us off..." Eli narrowed an eye as he tried to figure out where Matteo was taking this. Surely he wasn't suggesting that they-,

"They want escaped prisoners. If we turn them in, I guarantee you they’ll drop a few charges off our sentences.”

“What?” Eli swore he couldn't hear right. Matteo didn't just suggest that they betray their own? Right?

“They might even drop the charges entirely!”

"Matteo the whole reason why we’re out here is to make sure that they were safe.”

“For you, maybe. But not for me. They left us, remember? They abandoned us. And they’ll be safe, in the Nexus.”

“I’m not rescuing them just to turn them in. Phantoms don’t rat each other out to Overwatch," Eli shot the idea down, shaking his head.

“Phantoms don’t abandon their squadmates to rot while they run away and hide! You think I’m doing this because I want to save them? Hell, are you? You’re only here because between the Coalition and the aliens out here, the Coalition would’ve killed us first!”

Eli was speechless, staring Matteo down as he spoke. What he was saying was beyond insanity. Unthinkable. Selling out one of their own to Overwatch was like slaying a brother…

But Eli couldn’t conjure up an argument back. Matteo leaned in closer, “Overwatch is desperate for anyone who’s willing to identify the escapees. Again, they aren’t gonna waste resources trying to track them down if they’re as good as dead out here anyway. If we bring them in ourselves, we could be rewarded.”

“And then where would that leave us?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll be the guys who ratted our own squad out to Overwatch. For what? A month dropped off of our sentences? To escape solitary?”

“Don’t you want to be free?” Matteo asked as if it were Eli proposing the ridiculous idea.

“But at what cost?” Eli asked.

“Your life! Going back to Earth, getting out of this fucking hellhole!” Matteo had to stop himself, fear of waking up Dutch and Omar from his borderline shouting forced him to pause. Shakily he looked back up to Eli, pleading with him through those sad looking eyes of an old man who was on the brink of losing everything, “Listen, Eli, you’re a smart guy. That’s why I’m telling you this. You’re rational. I’ve seen that. The only way any of us will ever see Earth again is if we just do what the Coalition wants. That doesn’t mean we like Overwatch. That doesn’t mean we’re doing it because we hate the others. But we’re doing what we must in order to survive. To be free. Isn’t that why we’re here in the first place, freedom?”

Eli continued to deny it. On the inside feeling disgusted at even considering the proposal. But a part of him continued to listen to Matteo’s suggestion. Maybe he was right?

“I mean think about it, Eli. What does success here even look like for us? Best case scenario, we show back up to the Nexus after somehow making it out of here alive, and Overwatch will charge us for assaulting guards, breaking into the armory, and stealing weapons! Do you know how bad that is? They’ll throw us into solitary for twice as long. Double our sentences. Hell, they’ll make an example out of us. We’ll never make it out of the penal unit. You’ll never see Earth again. I’ll never see my Ottavia... I say, we let self-preservation be our guide home.”

“We can’t just betray them like that. It’s wrong-“

“Don’t you play high with me. I saw it in you from the first moment you introduced yourself. You had your whole life uprooted by the world around you. Storms took your home, Resource Wars took your innocence. Thrown into a pit, the only thing you know is stepping over others to climb out,” Matteo hissed at him, “You say you deserted...”

“How do you know that?” Eli’s eyes narrowed. He’d never told Matteo about Seoul, at least not directly.

“Overheard you talking about it with the others. You forsook your whole damn team, and you know why? Because survival comes first.”

The two stared at each other, in the scarce blue glow of the increasing dawn. The first sounds of the morning creatures in the forest filled the air. Birds singing, bugs buzzing through the air. It was like a screen of background noise that blanketed the words exchanged between Eli and Matteo. Like a waterfall of sound, distant and rumbling.

And that burning in Eli’s heart. Uncontrollable...

“It always has,” Matteo said, “You’re no different than I am, really. Just a lost soul who wants to go back home – “

Eli’s body sprung into motion. His hand felt around the alloy of his gun, and before Matteo could finish the next word, his pistol was aimed for Matteo’s forehead.

Matteo hadn’t flinched as Eli thought he would. The man stared Eli down with those tired old eyes of his. Eli’s hands were shaking. He had only pulled a gun on someone like this once before…

Korea. Standing behind his squad leader. He watched as his body fell to the ground, lifeless in a growing puddle of his own blood. The rest of his squad knew what was happening, Eli had told them of his decision. But nobody else would go with him. He ran for his freedom. Deserting. Leaving them all behind.

As he looked Matteo down, his hand shook in the same way as it had then. His hand just as deathly tight over the pistol grip as it was in the tunnels of Korea. The two men locked eyes as they silently pondered the next move of the other.

“You wouldn’t do it…” Matteo told him.

Eli’s fingers switched the safety off.

“Try me.”

“What would you even gain?”

“I could get rid of a rat, right here, right now.”

“In front of Dutch and Omar?”

“They’ll understand.”

“Not with me dead and you holding the gun. You think I’m telling you this because I hate you? You think I have it out for you?”

“This whole trip… you suddenly just agreeing to go out here! You were waiting for this moment, you knew that if you could turn the others in, they’d reverse your sentence extension… Right?”

“They will! They’ll have to!” Matteo argued back, “Think Eli. Think! They’re not going to just let us waltz back in the Nexus! If we prove just how loyal we are we can-“

“No! That doesn’t even make sense!” A billion thoughts were racing through Eli’s mind, and he almost screamed at him. But fear of waking the others made him reconsider. He was so confused, so lost. How could Matteo do this? Why hadn’t Eli seen this coming? He used his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, feeling a burn across the front of his brain.

He knew exactly what Matteo was talking about. And the man was right. But to stoop to this level? To sell out their team, right now, when the entire point was to save them?

How could he? Eli didn’t know if he was angry at Matteo’s eagerness to serve Overwatch, angry at himself for not seeing through his plan earlier, angry at Cato; Rafael; and Badger for taking off into the jungle and forcing them into this dilemma in the first place, or at Overwatch for everything else!

His hands were still shaking holding the gun, he needed to recenter himself and the conversation, “How do… how do you know about Korea? I never told you about that! What if you’re just a plant from Overwatch sent to keep us in line with Kovic?”

“I already told you how! And here I was thinking you were reasonable!”

“We stopped being reasonable the moment you suggested we sell out half our squad!”

“We stopped being reasonable the moment we went on this goddamned suicide mission! You think running out into a foreign jungle with barely any supplies and no sense of direction is a reasonable decision? Damn it, reason flew out the window the second we found out that we had been shipped to another fucking planet! You want to tell me what’s reasonable when everything we knew has been stripped from us?” Matteo was red with anger, challenging Eli’s stare harshly, “You’re only out here to cover your own ass. You did something bad in Korea that you’re trying to run from. Trying to hide.”

“I deserted once in Korea. I know what happens when you abandon your team. That’s how I wound up in the Penal Unit, and I promised I would never make the same mistake again. If you want to storm off and find your own way home, I won’t stop you. Just like I didn’t stop the others. But I will not let you hand them over to Overwatch. There’s a difference between a coward and a traitor,” Eli hissed at him, “We are not the same.”

Matteo let his gaze drift from Eli’s eyes, staring back down at the photo in his hands. A tear hung underneath his eye and crawled down the side of his cheek. As he looked down towards the photo, there was a pang of guilt that burned a hole in Eli’s chest. Looking down at the sad old man, who had said nothing truly wrong. They were more alike than Eli wanted to admit. Scared. Lost in a new world. Had he overreacted by holding him at gunpoint? Probably. But the mere thought of him turning against his own by handing them to Overwatch was enough to make Eli panic. It broke an unspoken rule between Phantoms that was as sacred as a holy text to the religious. Phantoms were united in their grief. And as bad as things were, the only help they could ever look forward to was in each other.

“I just want to see my daughter. I want to go home. Know that she’s safe. That’s it.”

He saw it in the way the man looked defeated, staring from the photo in the forest behind Eli. Ignoring the gun pointed at his head. He wasn’t suggesting such a foul act to be malicious. He was just scared. That was all. Through the stone cold face of a man who rarely smiled or frowned, a man who simply wanted everything to go back to normal. To be free.

And how could he blame him? Hold such a innocent request at gunpoint, hurling insults like traitor at him? And for what? To change his mind?

Eli grimaced, flipping the safety of his gun back on, and stowing it away in its holster, “We all want to go back home. We all do. But we’re not going anywhere without each other’s help.”

“What help? When half our team left us behind?”

“That’s why we’re out here to find them. I know that you’re worried about your kid. I know you want things back to the way they used to be. I know you’re scared. I am too. We all are," Eli said. No, that wasn't enough. Just telling Matteo to get over potentially losing his only child forever was a beyond ridiculous thing, especially after what Eli had just done. He needed to say more, and so he locked eyes with Matteo once more, "I can’t promise that I’ll succeed, but I will do whatever it takes to get us home. All of us. Alive. Together.”

Matteo sniffled, brushing his nose with his sleeve. He took a deep breath in, looking back to Eli with red eyes, “You can’t know that, Eli. Overwatch will take who they take. You can’t fight them. They always win. There’s nothing you can do to save us, if Overwatch wants us dead, we will die out here.”

“I can’t. You’re right,” Eli acknowledged. It was true. Fighting Overwatch rarely ended in anything other than a rope around the neck or bullet to the skull – if one was lucky. Yet, Eli wasn’t certain that he even wanted to fight Overwatch. He wasn’t Rafael. Sure, what they were doing flew directly in the face of what Kovic and the rest of Overwatch Command wanted, but Eli wasn’t doing it specifically to spite them. It was about survival.

“We’re out here, alone. Nobody on Earth outside of Overwatch knows we’re here. No one is going to save us. I don’t want to fight the Coalition. I’m no revolutionary. But I sure as hell am not going to let them kill us. Not like this,” Eli said, “I’ll do everything I can to make sure Misfit is alive, together, and that we make it out of this place. But I can’t do that without you,” His hand was stretched out to Matteo, and honestly Eli couldn’t figure out why. He didn’t know if he wanted to shake his hand or bring the man to his feet. But it felt like another gesture entirely. One to maybe get started again on the right foot. A gesture of openness. Warm, friendly. Something vital in a forest so dark and hostile.

The man said nothing, only nodding. Eli sat back down on the log next to him, hunched over. The two watched in silence as the night faded to dawn.

----------------------------------------

>>>[Verifying...]

>>>[Loading SitRep A-7...]

>>>[Going through File Directory]

>>>[Standby...]

==[Loading Complete!]==

----------------------------------------

==[THE MULTIVERSE]==

image [https://i.imgur.com/6L3KvqD.png]

==[MULTIVERSE THEORY]==

image [https://i.imgur.com/NdEh8Ni.png]

==[DIRECT IMAGE LINKS FOR CLEARER RESOLUTION]==

>>>[THE MULTIVERSE MAP]

>>>[MULTIVERSE THEORY]

----------------------------------------

==[END TRANSMISSION]==