Chapter 4 AGENT OF DEATH

...

“G-Get away from me!” The young soldier was trembling, his sentences broken and every part of his body launching every neuron, trying to force itself to move, to run away from the predator’s devouring glare as the agent went nearer, step by step.

The agent knew he was scared out of his mind, even with the mask covering his expression.

“Just give me answers and maybe I'll let you live, you get me?”

“M-My leg first! It hurts!”

He screamed in pain.

“Sure, Right.”

Snafu starts bandaging the Infected's leg for a bit, holding the wound together a little.

“Where’s your squad leader?”

“You k-killed him!”

He screamed, staring at the disfigured corpse covered in bloodied rock behind Snafu.

“Ah, forgot I asked that. How many of you were deployed here?”

“Why would I tell yo-”

The Infected yelped in pain as Snafu “accidentally” pulled his bandages a bit too hard.

“My bad.”

“Y-You!”

He stared at Snafu with terror in his eyes.

“M-Most of Reunion are currently in this operation! Talulah herself and her lieutenants are here!”

Snafu's face turned sour, judging from the info he gathered from the newspaper earlier, the Reunion was a massive organization that had the size of an entire army.

“Any high ranking commanders near us right now?”

“Uhh, I-I think CrownSlayer and Mephisto were supposed to be designated here!”

Snafu raised his brow.

““CrownSlayer? Mephisto? Am I fighting against sunday morning kids cartoon villains?””

Snafu thought upon hearing the ridiculously villainous names.

“Yeah? So how big are their forces and where?”

“U-Umm, lieutenant CrownSlayer is an expert infiltrator with concealment arts who usually moves with a smaller count of soldiers, I-I don't know where she is!”

“Okay? Continue.”

“Meanwhile M-Mephisto is more of a commander leading his own army and has an elite, Faust, who's an expert in marksmanship!”

“How big are his forces?”

“I-I'm a part of the many advance forces he sent to stall Rhodes Island, as for the main force, uhh.”

The kid fell in thought.

“Where are they?”

“T-They should be-”

The white mask paused for a bit.

“Right!”

He said ecstatically, as if a light bulb was lit over his head.

Suddenly the kid’s composure changed.

“They should be what?”

Snafu asked again seriously, noticing the white mask’s unexpected development.

The young soldier, who moments earlier was pissing his pants with fear, suddenly started laughing. His body expression's morphing from fear to excitement.

“Them? They should be right next to us right now!”

As soon as he said this, Snafu heard the marches of multiple footsteps in the distance.

“Rhodes Island should've gone this way!”

“Over here!”

“This way!”

Echoed the voices of the approaching white masks

They were rapidly closing into his current location.

“Hah! That's Mephisto's army! You're dead!”

The kid shouted in glee, as if the pain of the gun wounds were never there in the first place.

“You should surrender to me now if you want to survive!”

““Are all these fucking Reunion guys totally insane?””

“Get on your knees, scum! And maybe I'll convince them to keep you alive, as my slave of course!”

The white mask shouted, throwing a rock he grabbed off the ground hitting Snafu's lower abdomen, unfortunately for him it wasn't that effective.

““Where the hell did he get this level of confidence from? Is he brainwashed or something?””

Snafu thought, so far all of the members of Reunion that he met were all touched with such immense hate and rage that they have seemed to lose all rational reasoning. He wondered how bad things were before for anything like this to happen.

Snafu sighs, time was rapidly running out, but at least he got a small amount of info.

“Y’know? I really didn't want to do this.”

Snafu said as he takes the wired device he pulled out earlier and straps it in the Infected’s leg.

“What the- What are you doing?!”

“Nothing personal kiddo, though I have to say, you should've seen this coming.”

The agent presses a few buttons on the device.

“Alright, see you later!”

Snafu said, waving while leaving the kid alone with the device with its lights blinking an eerie red.

“H-Hey! W-What is this thing!”

He shouted helplessly as Snafu left him to his fate.

…

Snafu was now running through the ruined city, trying to catch up with the Rhodes Island operators from earlier.

“That was one hell of a fuckin' scuffed interrogation, I bet the instructors at the Farm would not approve of shit like that.”

He grumbled to himself, after all he just took two gambles there that he didn't know would pay off or not, he didn't know if the kid's info was reliable or if he was spouting BS, or if it would be even helpful to him in the first place, but he'll get what he can.

As for the other gamble, he sure hoped he timed his explosive right, if he did, it would successfully delay whatever Reunion group was rapidly closing in on him.

Though there was one thing that bugged him and that was the mention of Arts, concealment Arts, whatever that was is probably not a good thing, considering his experience with the casters earlier.

““Did they name their magic Arts or something?””

The Farm didn't train him to deal with black magic, Hell, no training program could have prepared him to getting transported into different worlds in the first place, as far as he knows there was no SOP on unaccounted for dimensional travel.

Snafu sighs inwardly, thinking about the kid earlier. War is hell, and it seems that also applies in this world. Unfortunately he has to survive. Snafu immediately clears his head with only one thing in his mind, “Survival of the fittest.”

He would survive this ordeal and overcome it, no matter the cost.

““Do not let their suffering distract you from what must be done. Do not let yourself feel for them. They will not feel for you.””

Snafu recalled the words of his mentor, the old adage bringing him back to reality.

There is no time for hesitation and regret.

In all his life never had he backed down from a mission, never had he backed down from doing what must be done, and he wasn't going to stop now. He has to survive, ain't no way he'd let Lady Death pull him six feet deep just yet.

From Devil Dog to Devgru, and now a PMOO. He didn't want to say he enjoys war, but he was damn good at it.

His job was to be one of the Agency’s killers, an angel of death, a specter of war and he wouldn't have It any other way.

“Just keep doing what you're good at.”

He told himself, after all, If a gun was an instrument, then he'd be called Beethoven.

…

Snafu catches up with the Rhodes Island operators after running for a while.

“What took you so long? C'mon help us take out the casters!”

Shouted a Rhodes Island operator.

“Need me that much huh? Would you go cryin boo-hoo if I wasn't here?”

Amiya looked over his direction.

“Mister Snafu! we'll think of a reward for your actions after!”

“Amiya! He's too-”

The rabbit woman spoke over Doberman.

“Instructor Doberman! This is my decision to make!”

“I-I apologize, I didn't mean to-”

“I forgive you, now focus on retreating and fending off the reunion!”

The Doctor looked at Snafu, her eyes brightening at his arrival.

“Mister Snafu! Could you take out the Casters near the elevated platform to your left! 8 of them are bunched up together near the ruins of that school!”

The Doctor’s unexpected but direct and confident commands came as a shock to Snafu, he observed the situation and immediately complied upon seeing the importance.

“Ace! Go support Doberman on the front!”

“On it!”

“All Snipers! Return fire when they're exposed from their cover by volleys! Melee operators advance while they're reloading and get behind defenders, break through their lines!”

“Yes Doctor!”

“See? I told you that you could do it!”

Cheered Amiya.

“Y-Yeah, thanks, I still haven't gotten used to it, but I think I'm beginning to understand.”

“Don't worry! You'll get some practice back at the Landship!”

““Landship? How the fuck does that work?””

Snafu thought, overhearing everything.

The Doctor looked around the battlefield, observing all the ruins and the chaos of the fighting that caused it. The battered houses, cracked roads and the ashes of what was once a place people called home elicited a powerful emotion out of her.

“Amiya!”

She called out.

“Earlier Ace said that there's no cure to Oripathy, is there really no hope?”

Amiya's bunny ears perked up.

“He's right, unfortunately there's no proper cure to it, but-”

Amiya shows a patch on her jacket, the Rhodes Island logo.

“There is hope, we, Rhodes Island, have been working dutifully for a cure and I promise we're making progress!”

The Doctor thinks for a bit.

“I'm a part of Rhodes Island, correct?”

“Yes, you were, Doctor.”

“Then, I'd like to continue working for it, I-I know I lost my memories, but, I just want to help look for the cure.”

Amiya's face instantly glowed and her eyes seemed to sparkle stars upon hearing her.

“I knew we could trust you!”

Before the Doctor could ask what she meant by that, she was interrupted by the fact that she was in an active warzone.

“Let's move! Let's move! We've broken through the encirclement, let's go!”

Ace’s voice echoed through the battlefield.

“Let's go Doctor!”

Amiya said as she held the Doctor’s hands. The Doctor turned her head to Snafu, who was nearby.

“Mister Snafu! Let's go!”

Snafu nodded his head and kept his mouth shut. As an agent, Snafu has a weird, complicated and confusing life. He did not expect a single day to be so much more strange and fantastical than his entire time of service combined.

““I swear I'm gonna unperson God himself once I get out of here!””

He screamed in his thoughts.

…

“You, you and you! Support the rear while we move!”

“All Rhodes Island Casters! Focus on heavy armored enemies!”

“Snipers! Prioritize flying enemies!”

The Doctor’s commands were followed without a doubt by all the operators in the field. In just a short amount of time, she had immediately gained respect and trust from the operators around her. Even Snafu was impressed by her commanding skills, reminding him of his old COs in the time he was in the corps.

As Rhodes Island continued to push through the countless reunion horde, with no sign of Nearl's team, Snafu was shooting less and less, only prioritizing the most dangerous of casters; he had already used up half of his fourth magazine. He now insteads only fires once per enemy, straight to the skull. Once he runs out he'd only have his pistol and he wished it would never come to that.

The advance of the Rhodes Island operators came to halt as the amount of reunion forces suddenly escalated from all sides.

“Doctor! The situation is slowly getting dire!”

The bunny girl said.

“I know!”

Her voice was also stricken with desperation.

“Why are there so many of them! And why is there still no news on this Miss Nearl!”

“My apologies Doctor! I also don't know!”

A terrible scream filled the air.

“AARGH! I GOT HIT!”

Rhodes island was starting to get casualties.

“Sir! I'm going! stay down for a bit and out of enemy attacks!”

A medic shouted back as she was rushing to finish applying bandages to another hit Rhodes Island operator, using some arts to quickly regenerate some of the minor wounds. After that she quickly tried to make her way to the injured.

A reunion caster took advantage of this and started attacking the running medic, making her trip on her way, fortunately the sound of gunfire quickly took the soul of the caster.

“Caster’s down! Quickly pull that guy's ass back here!”

The medic quickly gets back up on her feet, nodding at Snafu's direction.

Snafu quickly loads his last magazine into his SMG

““Fucking- Last mag already?!””

Snafu quickly gets back up from cover, scanning for high priority targets for him to prioritize, his eyes quickly focusing on a small figure wearing white clothes with an orange armband on top of a small elevated rubble pile.

“What is that? Why is there a kid chef here?”

While Snafu was struggling to deduce if what he was staring at was a combatant or not, the figure spoke.

“Rhodes Island!”

Everyone heard and faced at the direction of the voice.

“You can call me Mephisto, Are you enjoying the show?!”

The kid suddenly shouted with some sort of megaphone, his twisted face of sadistic thrill took the Agent’s attention. That was not a face a non-combatant would make. Snafu did not hesitate a single millisecond in trying to put holes through his forehead.

“I had the honor of watching your ba-”

The bullet instantly hit Mephisto’s left shoulder.

““ miss?””

Snafu took another proper look at the kid who called himself Mephisto. He didn't miss, it seemed someone immediately pulled him back from the open as he saw someone drag him behind a stack of rubble as cover, however whoever that was, wasn't fast enough for Mephisto to be unharmed.

““Wait, Mephisto?””

Snafu recalled the info he gathered earlier.

“AUUGH, WHAT THE!?”

Mephisto shouted.

“What the fuck was that! I swear I'll get my hands on you, WHOEVER that FUCK is!”

The kid ranted and whined behind cover, with the megaphone still on full volume.

Snafu laughed a little.

“You're a 100 years too early to even be here! Go back to mommy!”

He responded upon realizing this Reunion leader was also a kid.

The kid screamed with rage behind the cover.

“YOU! I'll fucking RIP you APART! Piece by piece!”

Snafu wasn't all that bothered by the kid's tantrum upon getting hit, but what bothered him was the steady and more organized coordinated group attacks the reunion was doing. Vastly different from how they last fought.

““Wait, if this is the Mephisto the kid was talking about, then whose group did those footsteps belong to earlier?””

Snafu didn't have much time to dwell on his thoughts as Mephisto kept on shouting using his megaphone.

“YOU STUPID IDIOTS!”

He yelled with full fury.

“F3! E5!”

“This bloody brat!”

Doberman was frustrated, her face showing an ugly expression upon noticing that their situation was getting dire, they were getting desperate.

“Hey you! Take a sniper and two defenders and keep them busy from our east side! Don't let them flank us!”

“Interesting! Queen to A4!”

The Doctor's orders clashed with Mephisto's chess moves as both tried to outmatch and outwit each other in strategy. Unfortunately the Doctor just doesn't have enough manpower and Snafu was now mainly inactive, conserving his ammo and choosing instead to spot dangerous targets and warn the RI snipers about incoming attacks.

“Hey! little boy! This the best you could do?! With your dork-ass chess move commands?!”

“WHAT. DID. YOU. JUST SAY TO ME!?”

Snafu was shouting back at Mephisto, not only because he thought his chess move commands were really weird but from his outburst earlier, he guessed he had one hell of a temper. As someone who had years worth of experience, usually, making an opponent emotionally unstable to the point of extreme anger would lead them to making rash decisions, so he continued insulting him.

Snafu observed the battlefield again, most of the enemy ranged and arts combatants were dead, thanks to his marksmanship. With only a few crossbowmen still left alive, Snafu then thought of a diabolical plan.

He plans on going extremely close range, since he didn't feel like the melee soldiers could pose much of a threat to him.

He would try to block one of the openings the Reunion forces were coming out of by using the last explosive he had to knock down a massive pillar of concrete and rubble, while also trying to get an angle to accurately shoot that noisy brat, hiding behind his army. This would be his third gamble of the day, but third time's the luck right? Desperate situations call for desperate solutions after all.

“Hey! Doc! Could you get all your ranged guys to cover my ass?”

“What are you planning to do?!”

“Kill fucking white masks, what else?”

The Doctor hesitated for a bit.

“Alright! All snipers! Cover Snafu for a bit! At my mark!”

“Only the crossbow guys?”

Snafu muttered to himself.

“I trust you Snafu! Don't get yourself killed!”

“Right, do it now!

The Doctor signaled for the snipers to take aim.

“Snipers, covering fire for Snafu!”

After the volley of arrows and bolts and whatever else came upon the Reunion forces, they ducked for cover for a small moment, giving Snafu enough time to run across the battlefield, near the Reunion lines and take cover. He had his sidearm out as he was now closer in range and could take more accurate shots with it.

Snafu rushed the Reunion soldiers, blasting any white masks in his way as he expertly used his sidearm to suppress and transport lead from magazine to brain matter effectively and efficiently to those who needed them, leaving behind rivers of blood.

After taking care of a small reunion group, he saw many bigger, larger armored Reunion members armed with thick shields quickly closing in on his position.

“What do you think you're doing! Have you gone insane?! You wanted to die that badly?!”

Mephisto laughed at him, he was now out of cover staring at him intensely with a mad smile.

It was now or never, Snafu needed to act now. Snafu quickly took his last explosive out of his bag and planted it near the small ruined pillar, or something that used to be called a building.

Then, he looked back at the incoming Reunion Forces again.

“Doctor!”

Snafu shouted, in an instant more arrows came and slowed down the numerous white masks running to capture him. Just enough time for him to run away as the bomb exploded, burying the reunion and crushing their skulls and cracking their spines as the screams of horrid pain sent chills to the other reunion members, effectively lowering morale and blocking out a major path.

Now time for part two, Snafu switched to his SMG again and dashed to an area where he could get a clear view of that Mephisto kid while using the dust cloud formed by his explosive and the falling of the pillar as a cover.

He was extremely careful as he moved, scanning what he could see for any movement. He remembers that this kid had a bodyguard that made him miss his mark the first time.

Once the dust settled for a bit, he saw him. A glimpse of his white uniform and short stature, a perfect opportunity.

He takes aim, places his finger and pulls the trigger, but as the bullets are expelled, a dark haired figure blocks his sight, also aiming at him, he expected this, guessing that this was Faust, but he underestimated his ability.

“He saw me that fast?!”

His gun and the figure's crossbow fired at the same time.

The bullets hit their target first, he didn't know what he hit but the sound of flesh ripping apart was heard. Then Snafu immediately tried to dash the incoming bolt, using every muscle and firing every neuron to move. Unfortunately it hit him as well, striking his lower abdomen and piercing through his body armor.

“SASHA!”

Mephisto’s voice echoed through his ears as he dropped his gun and fell to the ground, clutching the bolt stuck to his flesh. His suit was torn through and was in tatters, making some of what he was carrying drop to the ground.

Though the fact that he was hit was certainly disastrous, the brat surviving was also just as annoying.

He forces himself to move, he won't let himself be paralyzed by pain.

He took his sidearm using his other free arm, taking aim with all the focus he could while his body was literally shaking in pain.

He grit his teeth and prayed to God to guide his bullets.

Bang

The gun echoed, miss.

Bang

It flashes again, miss.

Bang!

The sound of a bullet tearing flesh.

Third time's the charm.

Snafu didn't get a chance to fire a fourth time or even see what he hit as a Reunion member he didn't notice came up from behind him and kicked his gun away while he was on the ground. Snafu obviously did not take kindly to this and with his remaining strength, pulled the white mask's leg and dragged him to the ground with him, making him drop his sword. The Reunion member tries to get back up, but Snafu quickly catches his sword and stabs him straight to the chest.

“Dumbass.”

Snafu, using the sword as a walking stick, tried to stand on his legs with one arm on his wound, he looked around his surroundings. Mephisto and Faust were gone. Though there are still Reunion Members scattered throughout the battlefield, clueless on how to proceed on attacking as their leader left them. Though they weren't that stupid as they immediately rushed forward to get Snafu.

A small group of White Masks with shields up rushed to the agent's location, seeing as the agent was now injured. Snafu tried to look for his guns somewhere on the ground but it was already too late, they were already near.

Snafu planned to dodge, then somehow retaliate, but his injury made him lose balance. He closed his eyes, preparing to take the hit.

But no hit ever came, instead he heard a loud clanging sound and felt someone grab his arms, supporting him to stand up.

He opens his eyes again, a tall blonde haired woman, with animal ears on top and a massive flowing tail on her back, wearing a black battle dress covered in white plate armor, she had a shield which blocked the white mask's strike in front of him.

“Your cavalry's arrived! Me and my team will hold them back! Scout’s team already extracted a while ago so there's no need to worry about the carrying capacity! The bird is just back there!”

The familiar voice of the person holding Snafu up spoke next.

“You heard her! Snafu let's go!”

Ace helped Snafu walk across to the battlefield with Nearl’s reinforcement and Ace’s team defending them.

“Mister Snafu! How bad is it?”

The Doctor came rushing, helping him up with Ace.

“Agh- Can’t you see? I’m all-agh! fucked up, but t-that's- normal.”

Snafu chuckles softly, laughing at his own shitty joke, a joke that only he would get.

“Medic! Over here!”

He heard Ace shout as he felt his vision getting darker and darker, blood still spilling out of his wound, his brain was beginning to turn off, he was losing his senses, like the great pull of the abyss had finally come to take him for all he had done.

Snafu felt two last things before his lack of blood and extreme tiredness overall put him into a deep sleep. The Doctor bandaging his wound, shouting

“Hold on!”

and

“Please! Stay with me!”

And the such, the other was a small vibration on his pocket,

““Who the fuck is calling me right now?“”

Was the last thought Snafu had before completely blacking out.

___ (Arknights is not owned by me) A/N Check next chapter for actual A/N