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"We look forward to the results." The man ends the call, leaving Wilson alone. The hitman sighs, the empty feeling in his heart growing ever stronger. A notification sounds from his computer, telling him that the information for the commission has been sent to him. Wilson opens it up, reading it over. It's a very straightforward mission, the goal being to assassinate the CEO of an illegal research facility. The only problem being the security. There was an absurd amount of snipers and bodyguards patrolling the facility. Wilson scoffs. “Bet they don’t even know what they’re protecting.”
The blonde stands up and walks over to his gear stash in the corner. He grabs his rain jacket, pulling it on and positioning it for bonus style points. Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of blue glimmers. Wilson whips his head towards it, hand flinching towards his gun leaning against the wall. His eyes adjust to the light, focusing on a battered machine slightly resembling an octopus. One of the legs is snapped, wires sticking out from the ends of it.
Wilson walks over to it and gives it a gentle poke. “Tetrapod?” His voice is soft, wishing desperately for the AI octobot to magically fix itself and wake up. It’s strange to say, but he misses the slight comfort Tetapod would give him. He remembers the day he got it, the warm smile on Zali’s face when the medic presented the bot to him.
A wave of pain, both emotional and physical washes over the hitman then. “Zali..” Wilson’s voice cracks, memories flooding his mind.
“For me?” Wilson giggles and pokes the octopod. Zali nods. He’s smiling. Happy. “For you. Now, listen-” “You need to run. Get away.” The smile fades to a deathly serious face, no hint of happiness in his expression. Wilson steps forward only for bandages to wrap around him and toss him back, towards safety, yes, but also away from Vezalius-
A hollow and low whimper sounds from the room. It takes Wilson a moment to realize it’s from him. He’s shaking on his knees, his hands holding Tentapod. The world is blurry, and as Wilson blinks it away, droplets of water fall on his hands. He’s crying.
The hitman drops Tentapod and wipes his eyes hurriedly. “It’s been over a year. Get over it. Get over it, Yu.”
He takes another deep breath. He’s still shaking, but forced himself to move steadily over to his gun and grab it. He’s dealt with emotional pain his whole life, th He clicks it into place on his back, double checking to make sure the sword part of it is sheathed. With one last check to make sure all his gadgets are stocked in hidden pockets, Wilson leaves his hideout.
+___+
Wilson pants heavily, heaving himself over yet another wall. “Man.” he grumbles to himself. It’s in times like these where he hates his average height. And hates Vanta for- “Shut up.”
Wilson says this audibly, refusing to let himself spiral again. Besides, he could never hate Vanta. Even.. Even if he left him behind. Wilson slowly stands up, looking around for the remaining snipers. He spots two more, both facing away from him. Wilson draws his own weapon, flicking it to release the saber. He charges towards the sniper to the far right, arm extended in the perfect position to incapacitate his target. He swings it up and hits the sniper in the back, his sword cutting through the first few layers of clothes and armour. The man flies forward and hits the floor. He doesn’t get up.
Wilson lowers his own sword, only to gasp in pain as he is shot from behind. The bullet has pierced right through his upper arm that is holding his weapon. hand twitches, trying to raise his sword once more. Wilson winces in pain again as deep red blood begins seeping through the clothes from the wound. His vision blurs slightly and he shakes his head, forcing himself to raise his sword and focus.
His focus lasts for one moment, allowing him to see the second bullet flying straight towards his leg. It lands and Wilson screams as his leg buckles, forcing him to fall to the ground. Wilson lets out another cry, watching as blood begins trickling down his leg and to his foot. He groans as his vision swims, confused. He has enhanced healing and pain tolerance, why does it hurt so much?
The ex-hero blinks, seeing white cloth fluttering in the wind. “Z-zali?” He reaches out towards it, feeling calm now that his teammate is here because Zali fixes everything-
A kick to the gut knocks the breath out of him and turns him onto his side. Wilson coughs and curls in on himself, his injured arm dragging along the ground. He blinks up at the culprit, noticing how the bandage looks more like a scarf. He blinks slowly and lets out a tired laugh, remembering.
“You’re not Zali.” He mutters this, black spots appearing in his vision. “He’s dead.”
There’s the pain of a boot in his gut again and he blacks out.
+___+
It's bright. It hurts his eyes. Wilson groans and shuts them. Somewhere in the room he hears echoing laughter, a mumble from a deep toned voice. He relaxes into slumber once more, happy memories filling his mind.
Warm feelings of laughter and comfort, screams of playful anguish and joy as they game together. He is pushing back a smile, pretending to be upset at the loss.
Soft mornings of waking up slowly and cuddling, comforted by the fact that they have no work to do for that day. Satisfied with spending the day being lazy.
Missions where they were able to have fun, to enjoy the rush of adrenaline that came with fighting. Always trusting, no, knowing that their back was covered.
He thinks he’s smiling. Is that why he feels warm? It’s been a while since he smiled, he thinks. It’s mostly been pain and hurt and forcing himself to focus on work, to move on and-
“Wake up.” Wilson hisses as light explodes in his face, giving him a slight headache. He tries to turn away, only to realize he is bound by clamps to a medical table. A black figure is visible in the endless white light that is Wilson’s world currently and he focuses on that, forcing his eyes to adjust. They move in front of the light, allowing him to see the details of their person. He lets out a soft gasp as the recognition is made.
“You were… my boss. From when I was with A.S.H.” The man nods. “Yes, I am.”
Wilson breathes and it feels easier, for the first time in a while. “So you know that I was a traitor.”
The A.S.H. President nods, his face neutral. “If only we had figured it out a day earlier.”
Wilson nods, agreeing with him. “If only.”
The President pulls a chair up next to the table and sits in it, his arms crossing around his chest. It’s silent again, for just a moment. Then, he asks a question that tells Wilson his fate is sealed. “Tell me the truth about what happened that day.”
Wilson closes his eyes. He hears the man lean forward, hears the expectancy in the air. The ex-hero inhales and exhales, savoring what is sure to be one of his final breaths. Then, he opens his mouth and begins to explain.
“I am from a family of mercenaries, the most elite there are. It was decided before I was born that I would betray A.S.H. You see, when I was 7, a chip was inserted into my brain that controlled memories. This chip remained inactive for most of my life, as it was useless while I was still in training. It only kicked in when Vezalius did his first experiment on me.”
Wilson opens his eyes and stares at the blank ceiling. “The chip stole the memories of my training and replaced them with memories of a below average hitman with an ego problem. That was my past, so that is what became my identity. And why I called myself ‘Wilson’ while at A.S.H.”
“So what was your name before? When you were with the mercenaries.” The President interrupts him, a hand waving in the air. “My name was Yu. It always was my first name, but my memories at the time told me to call myself Wilson, so I did that.”
The man nods and allows Wilson to continue.
“I didn’t know I was a traitor. I played the part of a hero, because that’s what I was. So everything about loving A.S.H, loving my teammates…. That was true.” Wilson swallows down his next words along with his feelings of those facts still being true. “The day the crystal monsters attacked, I was just as shocked as anyone else. So I followed protocol. I fought with KRISIS and ORIENS and DYTICA, fighting to protect the people.”
“My memories weren’t returned until the last moment. I was tired and injured and couldn’t fight anymore. I remember my mom taking a knife and slicing open the skin on the back of my head to push the chip in, restoring my memories. She told me that the chip had taken the information that I had on the crystal aliens and sent it to them, which allowed my family to recreate the incident and form an army, all to take down A.S.H. The only thing she didn’t tell me was why.”
“It was to create the ultimate team of heroes. It seems we’ve failed with yet another generation.”
Wilson’s eyes snap open. He stares at the President, searching for any sign that he’s joking. The hitman exhales and it’s shaky, heavy with the weight of his knowledge. “W-what did you say?”
“I knew you were a traitor. I was part of the people who planned your betrayal. Your mother and I were good friends and we decided that we needed to create the strongest team of heroes possible to defeat even extraterrestrial threats." The suited man smiles at the thought, despite its twistedness.
"We thought Krisis would be the team the world needed. A team made up of an inhuman tyrant, a medic who fought against extraterrestrials, and the most elite mercenary, one of our own. Unfortunately, you all failed. But you survived, which proves that choosing one of our own to be on the team is a good idea.” The man smiles at Wilson, all teeth. The ex-hero simply stares in shock, feeling sick to his stomach. He hears the words, but they don’t make sense. There’s no way what he’s hearing is true. It can’t be. Because that would mean-
“So here is why I’ve gone through all the trouble of commissioning you to catch you. I want you to train the next mercenaries, so that you can find one who will be the core of the next hero team.” The A.S.H President extends a hand out to Wilson, his face still set in that chilling smile. Wilson swallows, his throat dry. “What if I refuse?”
The man’s smile falls ever so slightly, his eyes narrowing. “Then you’ll be experimented on for data purposes. We’ll use you as the model for how we will alter the other candidates.”
Wilson takes in this information, processing everything as much as he is able. He was set up from before he was born to betray A.S.H but it wasn’t a betrayal because A.S.H itself is fake. And now, he has to either train more people to have the same fate as him or be experimented on even more… Neither option was good. He’s stuck in a lose-lose scenario.
A tear slips down his face as Wilson looks at the President and makes his choice. “I’ll train the mercenaries.”
+___+
The first 2 weeks of the deal were horrible. He had to go back through some training to make sure he wasn’t rusty and then he had to actually teach the kids. It was miserable. He was miserable. Wilson thought it’d get better as time went on. He thought he’d adapt, like he always does. But he didn’t. Every day, it got harder and more difficult for Wilson to halfheartedly go through his day. Halfway through month 2, he was having trouble faking enthusiasm. After that, it was getting out of bed that was an issue. Still, he pushed through. Until now.
Wilson has never thought of suicide. The act of ending someone's life was familiar to him, but he’s never thought of ending his own. It was impossible for him to picture his life being so bad that death would be better. Key word: was.
The blonde is standing on the roof. He’s found himself here often, to get away from everyone. He would stand there and sometimes, he could pretend that Vezalius and Vantacrow were right next to him, like they always used to be. Before he killed them.
“You need to run.”
Wilson remembers those words so clearly, remembers how Zali had used his bandages to throw him away from the crystal monsters and towards safety. Wilson had tried to make his way back to the medic, despite being heavily injured. He had instead managed to reunite with Vanta and explained how Zali was alone.
“I have to help him.” “Take me with you, please, I can help, just-” “No, you’re injured. Retreat. Find backup.”
Vanta had looked the blonde dead in the eye and promised that he would get Zali and retreat back with him. Swore it on his life. And Wilson had believed him. But then he saw Kagetsu, the ever skilled ninja of DYTICA, lying dead on the ground. Blood had poured around him, his normally soft hair matted and stained with red. His chest was clawed open with three long gashes, clearly from the monsters. His face was terrifyingly unmarred as his unseeing eyes stared blankly into space, never to see again.
“ZALI! VANTA!” “PLEASE! WHERE ARE YOU, PLEASE!”
Wilson hears screams, both from his memories and in the present. The sound of fighting is heard from the training facility as people desperately try to fight off the hordes of crystal aliens Wilson released. He closes his eyes, allowing his memories of what happened that fateful day to consume him.
A crystal monster. A huge one. Zali was on the ground, crystals crawling up his arm. Wilson found them just in time to see Vanta torn in half by the monster, his right arm still stretched in front of Zali, trying to protect. Wilson swore that everything stopped in that moment. All that existed was the deep ruby, almost purple blood spraying into the air as Vanta’s torso was separated from his legs. The pieces hit the ground one after the other, smearing the tyrants remains. Wilson had stood in shock, not fully believing that it was real. It was Vezalius’s roar of anguish, grief, and anger that broke him from his spell and told him that yes, this was reality.
The blonde could do nothing but watch as Vezalius launched himself at the beast, using the crystals that had encased his arms as blades to brutally attack it. With every slash and stab at the alien, the crystals on Zali’s body grew. Within a few moments, they had almost fully covered the medics body. The crystalized monster, nearly dead, had hit him with a well timed flick of its arm. Wilson had screamed then, alerting Zali to his presence. The medic managed to meet eyes with Wilson, turning in the air. He’d smiled, then. In his last moment alive, Vezalius had smiled. He’d smiled, even as he used everything left in him to launch himself one last time at the monster, striking the killing blow. The crystal beast collapsed, dead, and Wilson could do nothing but sob in horror as Vezalius crystallized completely, shattering into pieces as he hit the ground.
Wilson opens his eyes, wet with tears. He’s at the edge of the building now, toes over the edge. He looks up at the sky, the starry night sky. He opens his mouth and the words he kept buried inside tumbled out. “Zali, Vanta. I’m so sorry. I killed you. It’s my fault.”
“Please forgive me. I betrayed you and I’m sorry for that. But I meant it, when I told you both that I loved you. I really, truly did. I still do love you both.”
The tears are falling freely now. Falling freely, just like Wilson, as he steps over the edge and off the building. He tips forward, falling headfirst down. He spins himself slightly, so he’s facing the sky. He smiles, remembering how he had kissed both Vanta and Zali a few nights before his world crumbled. That night was the happiest he had ever been. Wilson pushes against gravity, reaching his hand out as if to hold onto that memory as he falls down, down, down. A flash of light catches his eye, then. A shooting star, soaring across his sky moments before his death.
Yu Q. Wilson, mercenary, hero, and traitor closes his eyes and makes a wish, right as he hits the ground.