Page 1
Setting: A block away from Wendy and the others after the gunshot went off. Devlon kneels in front of Iris. Iris wipes her tears with her arm.
Devlon: "This should be far enough. You're safe. You know that, right?"
Iris: "Yeah. *sniff* I just…that sound is frightening."
Devlon looks down and to the side.
Devlon: "Yeah. I guess it can be."
He flashes back to when Iris was shot. The image of Iris lying in shot haunts Devlon.
Devlon (off screen):Especially after seeing the damage it can cause.
Devlon places a hand on Iris's shoulder.
Devlon: "But don't worry. We'll always be there for you, okay?"
Iris: "Okay. Ya know; we don't really get to talk one on one much."
Devlon: "Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey Iris…"
Devlon looks puzzled.
Devlon: "I haven't really gotten the chance to speak to you much since your recovery."
Page 2
Iris is taken by surprise as Devlon embraces her.
Devlon: "I just wanted to tell you I'm glad you're okay. You're…our little sister, after all."
Iris smiles softly, eyes watering.
Iris:They said that while I was in the hospital, big bro Devlon couldn't eat a thing until he knew I was okay.
Iris hugs him back.
Iris: "Hehehe. I love you too, big bro. You big softie ^_^"
Devlon stands up and awkwardly looks away, scratching his head.
Devlon: "So um…you wanna meet up with the others?"
Iris gives a cheerful smile, grabbing Devlon's hand.
Iris: "Sure. But you don't have to be so awkward with your feelings and stuff."
Devlon: "I'm not. I'm just…wondering how everyone's doing." Am I really that awkward?
As they walk, Dante approaches them. Reminder for the reader: Dante just parted ways after briefly speaking to Wendy in at the end of the previous chapter.
Iris: "Oh! Mr. Dante!"
Devlon: "Wait, how are the others?"
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Dante points behind him with a thumb.
Dante: "They're fine. Your human friend just needs time to recover. I'm going to regroup, myself."
Devlon: "Regroup?"
Dante: "I have friends too, ya know. You should come by some time. I'm interested in learning more about you."
Dante: "This area has a lot of potential, don't you think?"
Dante looks around at the houses in the area.
Devlon: "Hmm? I don't get the connection here."
Dante: "Never mind for now. You should go to your friends. But let's meet again soon. I'll be around."
Dante takes his leave. Iris and Devlon watch as he walks away.
Devlon: "I can't really get a read on him."
Iris: "What're you talking about? Sounds like he wants to be friends. In the meantime…"
Close up on Iris's hand gripping Devlon's arm.
Iris: "Let's catch up with the others."
Page 4
Switching to Elliot's perspective. He's speaking with Caleb, Jasmine, and Terry outside the car. As a reminder, Wendy is in the car (passenger seat) with Chase (driver's seat).
Elliot: "Wait, so you're a rogue Special Op?"
Caleb: "I don't even like the way that sounds."
Terry: "He was with us for a while."
Caleb: "But then I decided to do things on my own. Speaking of, I should take my leave. Let's meet up for drinks next time."
Devlon and Iris suddenly appear next to the gang (due to Iris's teleportation) in a heroic landing pose.
Caleb: "Cool; I get to see you before I take off."
Devlon: "Take off? Already?"
Caleb: "Yes, little bro. Y'all got things to take care of, right? I gave Chase and the new girl samples from the faceless thing. Plus, your new friend needs medical attention."
Caleb points behind him with a thumb. Behind him is the rented car. Chase is in the driver's seat and Wendy is snoozing in the passenger's seat, mouth open with spirals in place of her eyes.
Caleb: "So yeah. You might wanna take care of that. I'll see you again, though."
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Caleb: "I know the Assessment Games are coming up. Shoot me a link, will ya?"
Caleb takes his leave. Devlon and Iris go to the cars.Terry carries a couple dead faceless to the car.
Terry: "Dev, gimme a hand, will ya?"
Devlon and Terry shove their faceless samples (the bodies) in the trunk of the car.
Terry: "I swear this is a bad look."
Devlon: "Let's just make it quick."
Terry: "Your response makes it sound even worse."
The gang drives off back into town.
Chase: "Let's just drive to the transport area and get back home."
Page 6
The gang meets up with Forte at Site 7 some time later. Iris and Wendy are absent from this scene.
Narrator: "Everyone made it back home safely."
Forte: "So the faceless attacked Wendy after she jumped in to help Elliot, huh?"
Chase: "Yeah. It had full intent to kill her. But the way they fight us is different."
Devlon: "How is Wendy, by the way?"
Forte shifts his attention to Devlon, smirking at him.
Forte: "Worried, huh? She's fine. Stitched her up well."
Scene changes to display Wendy's perspective as Forte continues to speak. Wendy's in her room, knocked out with Z's above her head.
Forte (off screen): "She just needs some bed rest."
Back to the gang. Forte gives Devlon a soft smile.
Forte: "She'll be fine, Devlon."
Jasmine pokes Devlon's cheek as she makes faces at him.
Jasmine: "Yeeeeeah, Devie. Quit worrying so much."
Devlon side eyes Jasmine with irritation and slight embarrassment.
Devlon: "Will you quit it?"
Forte: "Jasmine, stop teasing. I've got an update to give you all as well, so listen up."
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Chase chimes in, crossing his arms.
Chase: "Shouldn't we wait for Wendy and Iris?"
Forte: "We can just catch Wendy up when she wakes up. As for Iris, she's going through her physical check. She'll be with Franciscus for some time."
Terry: "But why? She never took any damage. Heck, she didn't even fight!"
Forte: "Well, you know Fransiscus just wants to be sure. Afterwards, she'll resume her special training for a while."
Elliot: "Franciscus? Man, I don't like that dude. What's so special about this special training?"
Devlon: "It can't be helped, Elliot."
Forte: "Alright, so about what happens next. First, the Assessment Games. For the next few months, you'll be training for the event. This year, the games will take place in the west location, Site 201."
Devlon raises both eyebrows.
Devlon: "Really? The west location?"
Terry: "I don't think we've ever been there. Ain't that where the higher ranked officers are?"
Forte: "Precisely. They've finally opened their gates to host this year's event after a couple years."
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Jasmine elbows Terry with a raised eyebrow. She's not done teasing, yet.
Jasmine: "You're not scared, are you Terry?"
Terry: "You kiddin' me? I'm all fired up!"
Elliot: "Oh yeah. So Fortz, what's the point of these games again?"
The lights begin to dim as Forte begins explaining the Assessment Games.
Forte: "These games were originally designed to test the skill level of police force members. But as time went on, we thought it would be a good idea to scale candidates as well. We held them every year until word got out to the higher ups in the government."
Forte scratches his head.
Forte: "They considered shutting us down earlier this year, but I heard Franciscus pulled a few strings to keep the tradition going. Anyway, Elliot, I thought you'd be a great addition to the event because, if you do well, you could become an official officer sooner than later."
Forte turns around to face away from the gang.
Forte: "That would mean I don't have to teach those dreadful classes."
Gang: "WE CAN STILL HEAR YOU, YA KNOW!"
Forte: "Anyway, it's late. I want you all to get some rest. We will go over a few things in the morning regarding your training."
Page 9
A couple hours later, close to midnight, Forte sits in an office at a desk. Someone knocks at the door.
Forte: "Come in."
Wendy opens the door.
Forte: "Ah, Wendy. Thanks for seeing me. I know it's late and you're probably still very tired."
Wendy: "It's fine. What did you want to talk about?"
Forte: "The Assessment Games. It's been open to Special Ops members for a long time. This is the first time we've ever had a human as part of our team. Things are changing pretty rapidly. So, I wanted to ask you; what do you want to do? Are you interested in participating?"
Wendy: "Well, I wouldn't mind it, but I am already a cop and don't see any real reason for me to join."
Wendy tilts her head to the side and glares at Forte.
Wendy: "But…you could have just asked me this in the morning. Do you want me to join?"
Forte puts his hands together and sighs.
Forte: "The answer to your question. Do you remember asking me info regarding your old partner?"
Flash back to a chapter of the past. In this chapter, Wendy is speaking to Forte in private.
Wendy (in flashback): "I want to know if you have any info on an irregular named Ray."
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Back to the present. Wendy's eyes show she's more interested in what Forte has to say. She steps closer to Forte's desk.
Wendy: "You were able to find something out?!"
Forte: "No, unfortunately. But that doesn't mean there is no information out there. You see, the entire situation involving your old partner is odd. Nothing but extremely vague information. But…"
Wendy: "But?"
Forte: "There is an irregular who goes by a different name who has some very similar features."
Wendy: "Thanks, but I don't think a lookalike would-"
Forte: "Take a look."
Forte hands her a picture.
Wendy's eyes widen!
Wendy: "Th-this is!"
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Wendy holds the picture with two hands, leaning in closer. It's a picture of the same young man that's in her wallet photo.
Wendy: "I can't believe this. Where'd you get this picture from?"
Forte: "Sometimes irregulars may go by a different name in the Special Ops Police Force. Since he was on the human side of things as your partner, I assume he went by a different name when he did irregular duties behind the scenes."
Forte rubs his chin.
Forte: "I can't say he lived a double life or anything; I just don't know the details of this one. But when I saw your picture with him, I did some digging. I knew I'd seen him before."
Wendy's still staring at the picture in disbelief.
Forte: "I have a codename, a photo, and his unit number."
Wendy: "Codename Jet Lag. Unit Zero? Okay, but what does this have to do with the Assessment games?"
Forte: "You are part of Unit 17, consisting of you, Devlon, and Elliot. You've been doing missions with Terry, Chase, and Jasmine, Unit 16, because Elliot is not an official officer yet and team missions are typically carried out in three-man teams."
Forte: "But Unit Zero's teams is stationed at our western location, Site 201. That's where the games will take place this year. They may have more info on his whereabouts. However…"
Wendy: "However?"
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Forte is more serious than his usual carefree self.
Forte: "This site is very busy and kind of snobby. They don't give any attention to lower ranked individuals. But if you do well enough in the Assessment Games and catch their attention…"
Wendy: "Then I could get some answers!"
Forte: "Bingo. So, what will you do?"
Wendy: "Looks like I have some training to do."
Forte closes his eyes with a satisfied smile.
Forte: "Glad to hear it. Get some rest for now. We'll meet up in the morning."
Wendy: "Understood."
Wendy walks through the door but stops.
She turns around and looks at Forte.
Wendy: "Thank you."
As she turns to exit the office, she stares at the picture.
Wendy:If he was stationed all the way in the west, what was he doing as my partner here in the east?
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The next day, the gang (save Iris) meet up with Forte in the basement facility with the large monitor (the room that the gang used to watch the live missions in the simulation).
Forte: "Alright. Now that everyone's got some rest, it's almost time to start preparing for the Assessment Games."
Chase: "Almost?"
Forte: "Yep. There's one last thing that needs to happen before we begin training. I want Unit 17 to head to the Simulation Room."
Wendy, Elliot, and Devlon step forward.
Wendy: "We're going to do a simulation right now?"
Devlon: "Shouldn't we train first, then do a simulation to display our results?"
Forte smiles at Devlon.
Forte: "Well, I thought about that, but you three have been going on a few missions lately, so I want to see where your teamwork is. Besides, I know how salty you get when failing a mission. And you three failed miserably last time you did a simulation together."
Flashback on the simulation of Chapters 8 and 9, which displays Elliot's corpse (in the simulation) with smoke rising from his face after he blasted himself. This flashback also shows Wendy and Devlon being killed by the robo zombies.
Flashing forward to the present, Devlon looks away in embarrassment.
Devlon: "Right. I forgot about that."
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Unit 17 heads out the door while Unit 16 (Chase, Jasmine, and Terry) stay in the room with Forte, facing the monitor.
Forte: "I'm going to see how well you all have improved. It'll be the same setting that Jasmine chose last time, so be prepared."
Wendy, Elliot, and Devlon stand in the blank room and close their eyes.
The scenery changes from a blank bright room to a dark road. It's nighttime. The scenery is illuminated only by the streetlights. Abandoned cars are seen in the street. The buildings also appear abandoned.
They open their eyes.
Wendy: "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Elliot: "Chea. Remember when I blew my face off?"
Devlon: "Yeah. Let's make sure that doesn't happen again."
Elliot: "Oh, it won't. Matter of fact, this is gonna be easy. D rank mission, remember?"
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Full page front shot of Unit 17 facing the reader. Devlon stands, gripping his sword handle behind his shoulder with a confident smirk.
Devlon: "Alright, let's complete this mission with flying colors."
Wendy stands in the middle, cocking her pistol, her hair blowing in the wind.
Wendy: "Compared to the faceless, this'll be a breeze. Let's show em how Unit 17 gets down."
Elliot stands on the right, cracking his knuckles with a confident smile.
Elliot: "Aiight, time for Unit 17 to shine. As long as I don't blow my face off again, we're golden."