A New Recruit Again
CRASSSHH~~! Clank clank- claaang~!
“COUGH- cough, cough, cough!!” After the platform fell apart, lifting some dust and throwing Phesx Caolia to the ground, landing with his knees after rolling forth in a lucky momentum from the fall, he coughed like his lungs were exploding. He faced towards his left, on all fours as he bled from his bullet wounds, even those he hadn't noticed before.
“…don’t… move…” Phesx Caolia could swear he heard muffled words, and similar to those before, but he was feeling an awful headache right now, and hurting. He looked where the female soldier was standing through the smoke before realizing she was moving towards him, still aiming her modern rifle.
‘Ah.’ Phesx Caolia tried to stand up, moving his hands backwards to rise to his feet, but his legs just wouldn’t respond. He could feel them try, but the numbness made his legs not move, they only shook and were like dead logs attached to him.
Bang!
‘Uff…’ Phesx Caolia coughed a few more times after his right hand was shot. A bloody hole opened it in the middle, even burying into the dirt. It was quite penetrating. Phesx suddenly felt his hearing return, just like an implosion underwater. He felt stunned as a hand turned him around to lie on his back. He looked at the muzzle with dizzy, moving eyes.
“I- said don’t move!”
“…” The headache increased as the soldier’s shouting words were enhanced out of nowhere. Phesx Caolia coughed more times, until his lungs were empty and he had to suck a deep breath in before immediately coughing again. His head hurt more and more, but that wasn’t all.
His right hand felt like it was breaking apart from the wound. It felt like it would crack apart at any moment, and if he touched it, it would crumble at once.
The soldier looked backwards while placing her foot on Phesx Caolia’s solar plexus, communicating with her people. Phesx Caolia could tell her equipment was better than those criminal scums he faced at the bridge, let alone his past soldier uniform and armor. Her helmet covered her head but seemed more comfortable, and she moved much more nimbly.
Next, Phesx Caolia watched as another soldier brought an extra bag towards them. She stepped aside while the medic soldier crouched and tore apart a piece of his pants. Just when he was about to inject him something, Phesx Caolia read the flask’s contents and stopped him.
“Put your hand down!” The female soldier nearly butted the side of his head with her rifle, aiming at him as she shouted. Phesx Caolia said in a roughened voice, “Allergic. To that…”
“…” The medic looked at Phesx Caolia, baffled, before nodding. He looked at the soldier before she nodded. Thus, the medic simply took out a few other syringes and different flasks. Just as Phesx Caolia wanted to stop him again, the other soldier pushed her foot on his collarbone.
Phesx Caolia looked at the syringes with slightly shaking eyes before the soldier spoke, as headstrong and unchallengeable as before. “Those aren’t just medicine. Some are for numbing your body, the others to stop the internal bleeding within. Your lungs might also be punctured, so you’ll be injected a few… ‘contents’ into them, too.”
“…” Phesx Caolia looked at the soldier, a little baffled himself, as the medic rapidly put 4 different injections on his right leg, one below the other. Then, the medic tore his shirt sideways before aiming a needle at his lungs. When Phesx Caolia sucked a deep breath, the medic shot them into his rib cage.
Phesx Caolia relaxed his neck, unable to do anything else. His head shook a bit, nearly convulsing, but his body took the shots ‘well’. The medic looked at the young boy, worried to murder him without giving him the pre-shots to endure the procedure.
He looked at the soldier, but she just nodded at him, like telling him ‘good job’. Then, more soldiers arrived as a couple lifted him up before carrying Phesx’s arms over their shoulders. They didn’t move, though, and stopped before the female soldier, whose rifle was finally lowered.
“Identify yourself,” the soldier said after the others couldn’t find an ID from his military bag. As Phesx Caolia felt the ringing of his head subside, just a little bit, as they took his weapons, including the ‘new’ large pistol. He looked at her emblem, a small version of a map of Preut, with only the Centralized Parliament detailed, and flames outside its borders.
“Phesx Caolia-” Phesx answered, feeling weak and like his body was solid from inside, but no longer bleeding, and generally better. The soldier interrupted him after a soldier passed her the large pistol. Her helmet stopped tilting as she inspected the beauty in her hands. “Who trained you?”
“…An encampment from the Prequa military camp.” Phesx Caolia looked at the large pistol briefly before staring at the helmet’s visor. It seemed to cover her entire front, but the glass was only for her eyes, letting her see well around them. The rest was ‘bait’ so to speak.
The soldier looked up at him when he answered, paused, and asked with a tilt. “Why did you attack your very own people?”
“I didn’t,” Phesx Caolia said, emitting a ‘pu’ at the end of. That little action made him feel like her eyes were focused on his lips when they moved on their own. After the silence, another soldier nearby, with a modern submachine gun lowered, snarled. “Heng, told you. Prei might have started to share their treasury, but it’s the preqs who feed them the most.”
“Nah. Do you really think Prequa can give birth to a good one like him? Scum or paramilitary fanatic, he’s got talent, ey.” Another soldier said, shaking his head before gesturing towards Phesx.
The female soldier looked at Phesx Caolia, doing nothing as the soldiers commented. Phesx returned the look. Since they saw him fight, and then the results of what he did, then he wasn’t just a prisoner they wanted alive to get information from before deciding his life and death.
“Rank and alias?” The soldier asked, putting order in their little circle as the soldiers stared at Phesx Caolia. The young boy didn’t bother and said, “Corporal; assisting instructor. Hellcat.”
“Pfft- what?” - “Wait, that Hellcat?” - “The Hellcat? Bwahahaha.” - “Man, who would’ve thought he didn’t die in the assault. He’s lucky, alright.” - “Ohohoh, now we’re talking.”
The soldier continued staring at Phesx Caolia some more before facing the medic with a lazy tilt, she cocked her head towards Phesx Caolia before walking away, back to the long row of vehicles. The medic nodded and took a thick, long syringe from his left chest pocket.
“!?” Phesx Caolia looked at the huge syringe before being shot with it in the sternum. He immediately felt like coughing, but it stopped, as did the sensation of being ‘stuck’ from within.
“!” Phesx Caolia’s eyes widened when he felt cool and comfortable liquid move inside his body, like a trigger after a long time. He realized, ‘Was I going to die if I wasn’t compliant?’
The soldiers brought Phesx into a vehicle as he experimented in the sensation of his body recuperating. However, his wounds weren’t healing, it was just a treatment for the moment. When getting into the car, they were careful, but not caring, and nearly shoved him inside.
He went to the back, whereas other soldiers sat in front of him and on the sides. This wide car had a square shape with connected seats. It wasn’t too roomy, but it was much better than the trucks he used in the encampment. The female soldier was there, too.
Tck tc- brff, vrrum… The car started, bringing a bit of bouncing inside before it all evened out. The vehicle drove in a ‘u’ before simply speeding ahead, Phesx could barely feel it moving from then on.
“You were actually lucky,” the female soldier said. Phesx Caolia turned towards his right, starting to get sleepy and heavy in his limbs. She added, “I actually aimed at your back after seeing this.”
The soldier grabbed the unstrapped submachine gun taken off from his right arm. Phesx Caolia remembered his military bag and his new large pistol. The soldier commented before putting the submachine gun in a bag with the rest of his guns. “If you keep being lucky, and someone gets interested in you, you might be able to keep them.”
“…” Phesx Caolia didn’t speak and just nodded. The car’s seats were steep and ‘short’, allowing only for sitting and not lying back, but he still let his body loose to relax. He looked at the other soldiers’ armor and uniform from the lower ends of his eyes before turning to the female soldier on his right.
“Are you from the special forces?”
“No,” the soldier looked at him and shook her head. “If I still was, our equipment wouldn’t be just this much… Why?”
“Train me,” Phesx Caolia lowered his head and said, feeling the headache return, this time to stay. The soldier looked at him in silence for a few seconds before saying, turning her head to face ahead. “It’s not dependent on me. But I am curious to see that Hellcat I’ve heard about.”
“Mm, I’ll give you a gift if you do it.” Phesx Caolia looked at the soldier and intently proposed. The soldier looked at him, seemingly thinking about it, but said nothing and continued staring ahead. Phesx Caolia dropped the matter and relaxed, hoping she’d consider.
A few minutes later, seeing how the long trip back to base was just starting, which Phesx wondered if it would be their headquarters, the soldiers chatted among each other.
“Will one of the commanders take him in? He’s Prequa, after all.” - “Um, ya. But he is Hellcat. If others were to know of this, they’ll be curious. If the other sections were to learn about it, it’ll be strategic, and fun.”
“Hahaha, the preis are one thing. Don’t know if it’s true in the end, but some of their plans backtracked because of him, no? They suddenly attacked their encampment after failing again. That’s no coincidence.” - “Sure, that’ll be fun to see. But what about the preqs? They’d fume, haha! And if the feline becomes an asset for us, which would mean he’s at least somewhat good, then that’ll give them all hell! Haha!”
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… Phesx Caolia managed to rest on his way to wherever he was being brought to. After half an hour, he felt too tired and lost consciousness. His legs and feet kept him in position, barely moving around with the car’s smooth driving.
Somewhere amidst the trip, he began feeling fever. The other soldiers didn’t notice at first, and Phesx Caolia woke up a little to the sensation, but he was already in ‘healing process’ where medicine couldn’t be added to his body.
This happened a few times, whereas Phesx Caolia began sweating after the 2nd time. He wondered why the soldiers weren’t helping him, because they clearly noticed. He could feel their stares, and their understanding of his body’s strangeness, already sweating and slightly shivering. Yet, they did nothing and just looked elsewhere every now and then.
He woke up somewhere around 2 hours later, when the convoy was driving through the streets of a destroyed district. The day was cloudy, with so little light that it looked like it was night instead. Phesx Caolia looked to his left, where a small part of the window let him look outside.
Phesx stared at the buildings. Those that used to be the famous urban jungle of Preut, with each building being considerably tall in the past now reduced to halves or parts. Their broken walls and decimated interiors were only a side to the utter terror in this civil war, then and next…
Phesx Caolia tried to stay awake. He wanted to see the streets he never visited before. The row of military vehicles moved between the districts instead of the road surrounding the worker districts. To his understanding, this was to avoid spies from any side from detecting or reading their movements. Anything helped in a situation like this.
Thus, they were moving slower than on the semi-open road in the districts’ perimeter. However, after traveling for so long, albeit dizzy, he could tell they went through many streets. They should be near Prona’s central east, moving towards the camp’s headquarters!
The female soldier occasionally watched the young boy stare out the window. That was until he fell unconscious, in more fever and shivering. The soldier finally put a mantle on him, without letting him grow too cold or hot, evening his temperature instead.
“…We’re here.”
Phesx Caolia felt a voice speak to him. He opened his eyes, watching a pair of hands grab his shoulders and bring him outside the car. His nose felt stuffed with a smell… coming from inside his body. He sniffed and sniffed outwards, ignoring how he was being brought about like a rag doll. The soldier looked at this and softly said, without much emotion.
“No matter how much you sneeze it out, it’s a smell that won’t go away. Stop playing and let your body rest. You might get into surgery soon.” Hearing her, Phesx Caolia stopped but kept frowning. It wasn’t a bad smell, but it was unnatural and invasive. What he hated the most.
They brought Phesx Caolia into a brand-new scenery that distracted him from that smell, though. These were the headquarters! It was nothing like an encampment. Prona’s headquarters were located in the southeast of their wealthy districts, the largest and most lavish in Preut.
Many military officers and wealthy ‘nobles’ so to speak were in charge of Prona’s military camp. The military was in charge of recruiting, training, and fighting. The wealthy were busy with the camp’s logistics, keeping their party many times better than in Prei or Prequa.
For starters, one of the things that differ Prona from Prei and Prequa’s military camps was the lack of so much ‘brothels’. They only used a few designated buildings in the headquarters for the returning soldiers, who had to be replaced every now and then from their posts elsewhere.
However, instead of being seen as ‘selfish’, this policy was well-welcomed. The headquarters were still like a functional city. Phesx Caolia was brought to clean streets, with pavement, not dirt, and people walking on the sidewalks. It wasn’t that the civilians here acted like they weren’t in a war, but that their situation was simply much better than in the other sections’ encampments.
Phesx Caolia couldn’t sight see much. They were already in front of a large mansion, with a lake in front and a green space where he was brought through. The mansion had many guards and towers. It had a military fashion to it, with a few banners from Prona’s emblem, and Preut’s ‘2’ symbols, the Graywhite wolf and the Melancholy Eagle to each banner’s left and right respectively. It took Phesx Caolia’s attention away as the female soldier took her helmet off and met with a high-ranked officer after passing through the gates.
“The commander has corroborated the information. It looks like him, so he’ll see him right away!” The officer strictly said, letting the female soldier understand before walking to Phesx Caolia. When she returned, Phesx Caolia was a little amazed, she was good-looking, to say the least.
Although her body proportions were modest, her facial features were no longer hidden by her helmet. Tender white skin, blonde, with burnt chestnut lines. Celeste eyes, tall, and very slender. Now, Phesx Caolia wondered how she looked under that uniform, because the strength when pushing him around and down with a large rifle aiming at him wasn’t little.
“Behave when you meet the commander. You won’t find another chance if he isn’t interested in you.” The soldier advised him before walking ahead. The others were discipline and looked ahead, following after her without trying to check her butt or hips, just another bro.
They brought Phesx Caolia inside the mansion after a slightly long walk. Somewhat in a bad state, with his clothes torn apart, Phesx Caolia wasn’t given new clothes and was directly brought to someone in an office.
The mansion was enormous, giving Phesx Caolia an 8 minutes walk up some stairs and through long hallways. They were all lavish, giving him the impression he was walking through the money of every person in Preut.
When knocking on the office’s doors, seemingly average, white, with thin black floral patterns, the doors were opened by a few male guards. Phesx Caolia was brought inside by the medic soldier who treated him before. The others left without a second look, including the blonde soldier.
“Okay, thank you for bringing him in. Sit him in front,” a voice brought Phesx Caolia’s attention to his front, where he saw a man sitting behind a desk and writing some things at hand. He also had a couple of laptops at the side, with modern communication devices around the top right corner of the desk, encased with glass and a fingerprint lock.
It was a short man, white, with blue eyes, and curly black hair. Phesx Caolia was helped down to the lavish wooden chair, which was many times ‘lesser’ than the ‘commander’s’ seat. Phesx waited for a few seconds with the medic standing at the side before the man gestured to a few documents on his desk.
“Confirm these for me. Is this you?”
Phesx Caolia looked at his profile photo, documented ID, and the classified document of his declaration to the Prequa military camp, with his IK info and other sheets blacked on print. Phesx Caolia nodded after giving them an uncaring glance.
When he lifted his eyes to the commander, the latter was briefly glancing at him. He felt a little startled. The commander nodded with fully opened eyes, “Okay. So, Hellcat, do you know why you’re here?”
“I’m willing to join Prona,” Phesx Caolia indifferently said with narrowed eyes. The commander frowned a little after hearing his voice, soft and semi-broken. His expression relaxed as he supported his chin with his index finger and thumb, “Well, are you willing to swear fealty and your honor, life, and future to Prona’s wishes?”
“No.” Phesx Caolia said, decided. He didn’t even shake his head. The commander stared at him without change. Phesx opened his mouth, “I can promise to never betray Prona and their goals. Work under Prona, and cooperate with other pronas just like any other soldier.”
“Hmm, is that it?” The commander nodded, but then said with his eyes still glaring into Phesx Caolia’s light black eyes. Phesx Caolia looked at the commander, stopping before almost saying something.
Seeing that resilient nature, the commander smiled and shook his head. He looked down and returned to writing with a pen, “When we received news of Prei’s attempts, Prequa was a couple of days from suffering that crushing blow.”
“We also noticed you beforehand, when the bridge northwest of your encampment was also assaulted. Mn. Your encampment should’ve seen that coming, why was there no reaction? Did you say nothing at all?” The commander questioned, far from interrogating Phesx.
“I was just a corporal.” Phesx Caolia kept looking at the commander, who jumped his eyebrows and tilted his head, continuing writing without looking at him. Phesx frowned and pondered for a bit before asking, “Sir, Prona knew about these movements early on… You could have warned Prequa about it, right?”
“Oh, yes. Of course, we could have.” The commander said, simply and at a regular pace, still without staring at Phesx.
Phesx Caolia lowered his eyes, not even bothering to scream or demand ‘justice’ for at least Paul, Em, and the kitten household. He lifted his eyes after a while, “Why does Prona know this, and Prei evaded Prequa’s intelligence, when Prequa had better expertise in that field?”
“Hmhm,” the commander chuckled. His eyes stared at Phesx Caolia playfully, “Well, I can tell you. But you’ll have to shoot yourself in the head before any of these apes do it for you afterwards. Try to decipher it from this; Prequa was too greedy in not spending some of their gains like we did.”
“…” Phesx Caolia probed no further. He relaxed his back on the chair, still feeling a slight fever. The commander finished writing on a document before scanning it in one of the laptops. It was instantly digitalized. Then, the commander rotated it and showed it to Phesx, along with the written document and a pen on top of it.
“This is the declaration you just gave me, in hand and digital. Sign it, and you’ll proceed with Prona’s specialized procedures. As it says here, you’ll become a new recruit, spend a week or two there before being fully analyzed by our experts, and then we’ll see if you’re worth it.”
“You can also keep your weapons, but you’ll only have access to them later. Anyway,” the commander continued, a little impatient and uncaring as Phesx signed his… name. “There will be a list of officers you can apply to be under after your ‘training’-”
“I’ve chosen the leader who brought me,” Phesx Caolia interrupted, not wanting to be ‘helped’ on choosing someone. The commander looked at the monitor for a few more seconds before finally turning to Phesx, “Who, Adams?”
The commander asked, a little confused. Phesx Caolia jolted his neck backwards. No matter how unique the universal knowledge is, the name ‘Adams’ isn’t one to be confused like his, of a mix of words.
“The blonde-” Phesx Caolia tried to specify, but the man waved his hand back and forth with a smile and shaking his head a bit. The medic soldier stepped forth and forcefully helped Phesx Caolia up his seat. As he was brought away, with his back facing the commander, the latter spoke out loud. “Someone who lost their high role isn’t a leader… But with luck, she can be one again. Such a natural leader…”
In the hallway, ignoring the commander’s words after some pondering, Phesx Caolia faced the medic and commented. “The commander didn’t give me his name.”
“Are you worthy? On equal grounds with him? Hmph,” the medic responded. Phesx Caolia blinked with his mouth closed before popping a ‘pu pu’ sound from his lips. Then, he remained quiet until he was brought to another wing in the mansion.
There, he was met with a surgery room, and many surgeons, nurses, and high-end equipment. Not in the world, but for Preut. Phesx Caolia looked around, searching for something, as he was passed from the medic soldier’s arms to a few nurses and the leading surgeon.
Phesx frowned, but slowly calmed down. Seeing the good state the young boy was in, the lead surgeon faced the medic soldier, who had to remain behind, and asked him. “Have you given him anything recently?”
“Mhm,” the medic soldier nodded before naming a few medicines. Phesx Caolia’s eyes widened, while the leading surgeon just nodded in return before ordering his nurses around. Sitting on the edge of the stretcher, Phesx Caolia grabbed the surgeon’s right shoulder and stressed out.
“We need a bucket, a long one… and wide. Make it two, or three.”
“…” The surgeon frowned a bit, looking at the young boy and debating internally before ordering a few nurses with it. Phesx thanked the surgeon’s instinct before relaxingly lying supine on the stretcher, taking his clothes out.
“What am I being operated for?” Phesx Caolia asked, feeling his body stabilizing with the coldness from the stretcher. The surgeon didn’t answer and darted his eyes around for a little more before walking to the lower end of the stretcher, near Phesx Caolia’s feet.
He grabbed underneath, where no one could see, and pulled a control device attached to the stretcher before sliding it up to Phesx’s bum level. He pressed a couple of buttons. The stretcher under Phesx Caolia’s butt opened in a circle, uncovering most of his bum from below. The lead surgeon nodded to the startled nurses and other surgeons before shouting, “Let’s get ready!”
“…Spread his legs a bit more,” the lead surgeon told a female nurse after thinking. The woman moved Phesx Caolia’s knees, giving better access to the hole below his butt, before injecting something in the young boy’s right butt cheek.
“We’ll repair your broken knees and get rid of the bullets in your body. Now, we know you’re… allergic to some things, but this is to put you to sleep. Even if you can’t feel a thing, we can’t have you scratch an itch or involuntarily move.” The surgeon said. Phesx Caolia nodded, also understanding someone ‘like him’ wouldn’t get things to cover his bare self. He wondered if this was a sort of initiation for an ‘outsider’ preq like himself.
“Why are the bullets dissolved in 14%? Mmm… one injection isn’t enough, shot him 2 more times… How can he walk with such knee damage? Anyways, we got work to do.” Those were the last words Phesx Caolia heard as the lead surgeon seemed busy looking at a bright screen. His eyes felt heavy, finally closing them to rest.
…