The Story of Yeling Mah

Chapter 1 - Introductions

"Yeah, we're gonna have a problem." The new recruit said, as he flipped his knives, eyeing our Squad Leader. Matt narrowed his eyes.

"Do we now." Matt mused.

The new guy, Flint, stepped forward with his knife in hand, his other hand hovering over his handgun. This was gonna get bad. And not for Matt.

Flint is supposedly a top rate mercenary. Highly trained. Initially a member of the Infantry Unit in the New Ulysses Military Force until his defection because he did some naughty naughty with the women during one of his raids. In exchange for their freedom. Well, actually, he did the thing, then he shot them afterwards. He was found out, and exiled to death row, because a lot of other crimes were uncovered.

Then Lord Taras picked him up. Since then, Flint has been part of our squad. Squad Four of the Contingency Initiative. A company who's sole purpose is to advance The Second Great War, and raze this stupid ass world to the ground.

Do I care? No. Of course not. I hate this world. Like everybody in our Squad, we all have a grudge on how this world has been operated. Some of us, struggling, and ignored.

Anyway, enough with the background. Gotta watch Flint get his ass kicked.

Matt watched as Flint began showing off his knife tricks.

"I'm a top rate killer in the army. I've pinned down and taken out some real dangerous targets. You're telling me some whack ass 22 year old kid is gonna be my leader? Hell no. So I'm gonna be real nice. You make me Squad Leader, and I'll spare you the humiliation in front of your squad there."

"You asshole, Squad Lead Matt is going to kick your ass!" Whitney shouted. Lewis had to pull her back.

"Chill out Whitney! My god. He's not gonna sleep with you." Lewis grumbled.

Whitney continued to fangirl Matt as he held out his hand.

"Let's make something real clear, Mister Army Dude." Matt said, coldly. "I don't give a shit about being the leader of this stupid team. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit about the members here. They can do whatever they want. Kill whoever they want. They could even kill each other. I don't care. But someone needs to pull this dumbass team together and have a level head, for Taras. You're clearly not fit to be a leader. So I'm gonna go ahead and say come at me."

Flint smirked, as he threw his knife at Matt's face. The knife pierced him right through as Flint took out his handgun and began firing at his chest, peppering Matt with bullets. Flint was so fast I couldn't even register his movements, almost like within a split second he had already peppered Matt with bullets.

"Wow." Flint said, as he turned to us. "That was disappointedly quick."

I tried to hold back a laugh. Whitney glared at Flint. "You really think you won? What kind of professional are you?"

Flint stopped playing with his knife, as suddenly, Matt's body dissipated into black mist.

"The hell?" Flint muttered.

A clone. A Senkaku clone, actually. Matt's Level 3 Dogma power.

Suddenly, a shadow flew in, and knocked Flint to the ground. Flint held out a flash bang grenade, and the shadow leapt into the air. Immediately, the grenade and the shadow switched places, and Flint stared at the real Matt in shock, as Matt grabbed Flint's face and turned it, forcing him to watch as the now airborne flash bang exploded, blinding him.

Matt chuckled as he grabbed Flint's head and slammed him the ground. Two more clones manifested, each pinning down Flint's limbs.

"Fighting skill. Deception. Sabotage. Tactics. Redirection. Everything you have, I have more of it." Matt said, as he began to twist. I heard bones crack as Flint growled in pain. Matt continued.

"You're basing your aptitude to being a Squad Leader off of these abilities. That's real sad. You're basically a shittier version of me." Matt taunted.

Flint closed his eyes in pain. "Dammit..." He muttered.

Matt let go, as Flint sprawled on the ground, breathing hard.

"Remember your place, trash. You serve ME. You do as I say. Defy me again, and I might just go ahead and ask Lord Taras for another recruit. You're not worth my time at the moment, so I'll give you two weeks to make it up. If you can't impress me by then, I'll take that as we need a new Squad member."

Matt's tattooed arm reverted back into its shadowy form, manifesting a sharp blade.

"Basically it means I'm going to have to kill you." He said.

Flint said nothing, as he struggled to his feet. Whitney stepped forward, but Matt held out his arm.

"Do not heal him."

Classic Matt. The guy was such a chad. I wish I was as ruthless. We went back to the main room, locking Flint in his room until he had recovered. Thankfully, his injuries weren't that serious. At least I hoped.

"So, Captain..." Whitney said, coyly. "Want to have a drink with me tonight?"

"No." Matt said, dismissively, as he left the hideout. Whitney looked disappointed, as Lewis snickered.

Matt looked at me. "Don't forget about your mission, Yeling. I want status report by tonight so Charlie doesn't get on my damn case about missing paperwork."

Yeah, if it wasn't already obvious, Whitney is in love with Matt, and she doesn't hesitate to show it. I guess I could kind of understand where she was coming from.

According to Lewis, before she had joined the Contingency Initiative, Whitney was in a relationship with her old boyfriend, and he always abused her. Despite that, she clung onto him desperately because he was the source of all the income. She had no way of getting a job at New Ulysses, since she had a criminal record and a drug addiction. To make matters worse, she had a really traumatic past. Something about watching her parents die when she was little. So she couldn't get family support either.

At some point, Whitney discovered her powers of regeneration. Following that, she turned to robbery, but of course, she wasn't too good at the whole secret identity thing, and her boyfriend found out. Blah blah blah. More abuse. More drama. At some point, her efforts were recognized by Taras Pax, the leader and founder of the Contingency Initiative, who took her in. He placed her in Squad Four (our squad), under the supervision of Matthew Lam, "The Mirage".

But obviously, Matt didn't approve. He wanted squad members who could handle themselves. So he decided to help Whitney out. And by help, I mean helping the "Matt way". That night, Matt and Whitney went to her house, and Matt told Whitney to kill her boyfriend. Whitney was too scared, but Matt told her the only way to move on would be to kill him, because she was already at a point of no return. She had already done so much criminal acts, there would be no way for her to return to a normal life.

I think that night where Whitney killed her boyfriend was where the true Whitney died. Because since then, she had supposedly never been the same. She became obsessed with killing and stuff. And also she saw Matt as her saviour. Her knight in shining armour that saved her from her abusive relationship.

To this day, she still feels the same way about Matt. If I'm going to be honest, I think Whitney cares more about jumping Matt than the Second Great War. I mean, it's not like I'm complaining. To each their own. As long as she does her part.

I left the hideout and got into a black van, as members of the CI drove me to the spot for deployment. I got off and transferred to a chopper, that flew high in the sky. The pilot spoke into the coms.

"Alright Tidalflame. I want a clean elimination of the plant. No survivors, got that?"

I nodded, grinning maniacally. "Yeah. It'd be my pleasure sir."

No survivors.

Pure elimination.

I put on my mask, which illuminated an HUD on the right side of my face. The mask was a gift from Taras ever since I had unlocked Level 2 of my Dogma. The entire right side of my face was crippled and scarred, meaning if I ever was on mission for stealth, I could easily be identified. Sometimes I took the mask off as a scare factor, but usually, it served double purpose. For identity clearance and for that HUD. Wasn't anything fancy, but it did give me a read on how many survivors were there.

The hatch door opened, and wind breezed through me. I looked down at the power plant that powered the Lifestream Company. This was a requirement to complete Phase 2 Q1 of our Second Great War advancement initiative. There were several phases. Each comprised of Quarters. Each quarter was divided into numerous missions to complete.

My mission was to completely annihilate this plant. Only one person was needed, and with my destructive powers, I was more than adequate to complete the job. Squad 4 was tasked to destroy things, an annihilation unit. So I was a natural fit for the team.

I leapt from the hatch and descended below, slowing the fall as I closed my eyes.

Level 2 Intangibility - Devil's Comet I said, as my body completely converted into ghostly blue flames, hitting the ground in a massive wave of fire.

"The hell was that?!" Someone shouted from the recon tower.

"It was like a comet. The proxy is.... it's a person!" Another said.

I reverted back to human form, as numerous guards approached me with their guns drawn.

"Hands in the air! Surrender yourself for questioning, or we will open fire!" A massive voice boomed from some kind of amplifier at the back.

I smiled as my left arm burst into blue flames, the demonic lettering and lines glowing a bright blue in the night.

"There's no need for that..." I hissed, as my heart rate went up. Adrenaline. I loved this. Something about... everybody thinking they could stop me. Their delusion. Then seeing their shocked expression when they realize there was nothing they could do to stop me. Something about that made me excited.

I loved to see the despair in a person's eyes. Nothing in my life mattered. I fit in nowhere. To burn everything. Everybody down. That is what I wanted. That is my only goal in life.

I held out my hand as I heard numerous guns being readied, their lasers aimed at my forehead.

"No..." One guard said, his eyes through his protective gear full of horror.

"It's him... The Devil's Flames." Another said.

"Yes..." I said, as my flames became even more violent, illuminating the entire sky. The bullets began to fire, but it was too late.

Level 1 Hinokami - Inverse Tsunami Release! I shouted, as an enormous blast of blue flame emitted from my arm, flooding the entire area, the entire plant. The whole sky lit up blue in the night, as I heard the voice of screaming and panic, explosions mixing in with my fire as the plant disintegrated, burning to ash before my very eyes. At my hands.

The entire scene was filled with my flames, some kind of infernal hellhole of what remained from the power plant. Job well done. Wait.

My HUD was blipping. A survivor? No way.

I turned around and found a guard who was so badly charred, he was barely clinging onto life, but he had his knife aimed at me as he dragged his body to my position.

"You... you will not get away with this..." The guard spurted out.

I knelt in front of him. "The Second Great War is coming. There's nothing you can do about it."

The guard regarded me. "Do you even know what you've just done? The people you've killed? Everybody here who has died today had a family. People to come home to. Don't you have a sense of decency-"

"Decency?!" I cackled. "The hell kinda decency is there left in people like me? Does it look like I care about morals? After society has rejected me? To have created these cookie cutter personalities for people to slot themselves in? What did this world do to help me fit in? Hm? Telling me to uphold morals."

I grabbed the man with one hand and ripped the knife from his hands.

The man coughed as he glared at me. "You are still young. There's still so much things you could live for. Your life is not decided. Don't throw it away, find a girl to love-"

"Wow. Buddy, let me fill you in on something." I said, as I readjusted my grip, my other hand, my free hand, bursting into flames.

"Everybody is a hero in their story. That's something you've probably heard before. Well let's do a reality check. I'm not the main hero in this story. I'm not even a supporting character. I'm that insignificant in this world."

I put my hand near the man's face as he began to scream in agony.

"I am just a side character. Someone to be neglected. I always have been. Never important enough to be considered part of anything in this messed up world. It's time to change that. Time for side characters like me to shine, by destroying the very fabric of this storyline. To start over. This is what the Second Great War aims to achieve. To tear this very notion of importance down. To start anew."

I increased the intensity of the flames until the man disintegrated, his last memories being me.

"By burning this world to the ground." I hissed.

Chapter 2 - Couple Assassination Contract

I entered the HQ and handed Matt the paperwork I completed for the project.

"Yo, Matt. Here's the status report." I said, as Matt took the paper.

I sat across from him as Matt scribbled on the paper dejectedly.

You are still young. There's still so much things you could live for. Your life is not decided. Don't throw it away, find a girl to love

"Yeling." Matt said, as I looked up.

"Yo." I said.

"Forget about it."

"Huh?" I replied, confused.

Matt finished up his paperwork and put it neatly into a binder. As much as Matt hated to be Squad Leader, he still found a way to get his job done efficiently and effectively. It deserved a ton of respect.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

It was late, the sky had gone dark, and Matt's face was full of shadows, but it didn't take that for me to know Matt had a really dark life. He never told any of us about it. And I didn't know what Matt was like in the past, but whatever it was, it had to be hard on him to mold his personality into this.

Matt eyed me coldly.

"That expression you have, you're longing for someone to love you."

My heart almost stopped. "What? What are you talking about."

Matt was not convinced. "Yeling, your life has been decided. The moment you struck the Dogma Bargain to unlock your two levels, you already sealed your fate. There's no place for people like us here. Our only salvation is to give our life for the Contingency Initiative. You know that. It's time to accept it."

I fiddled with the sleeves on my shirt. "Still... I mean. There's still a chance though, right? My Dogma Bargains didn't mention anything about finding love-"

"There is no chance for you to find love." Matt cut me off. I felt my heart rate go up. I didn't know why. I knew there was no chance for me to find love now after all the horrible things I've done for this company. But why was there still a part of me that denied it?

Matt slammed his hand on the desk, taking off his mask and revealing his one missing eye. Which was a black socket. It made me queasy to look at, and this is coming from a guy who lost half of his face just to become Intangible.

"How many times am I going to tell you, kid." Matt growled. "There is no place for people like us. You're not going to find salvation. You're not going to find true happiness. And there is no way for you to find love. No matter what you tell yourself, you are a slave to the Dogma. That's how it is for us. That's the brutal reality."

I stared at his empty socket. It was almost ironic that something so empty could emit so much darkness and resentment. A feeling that I knew all too well.

Matt glared at me. "This team has no place for second thoughts. If your little naive half is still sprouting lies from within you, then burn it to ash. There will never be a happy ending for users of the Dogma."

I wanted to sink into my seat. Matt was scary when he was mad. And every time he got mad, it made me so upset, because he was everything I strived to be. Someone who let go of his attachments to the world. Someone who could just carry on his task without looking behind him. Someone who would never let his past and his ties and desires get in his way.

"I understand, Matt. I do." I said, coldly.

Matt repositioned himself, putting his mask back on.

"Good. Tomorrow's mission will really put your feelings to the test. And I must warn you, Yeling Mah..."

Matt's missing arm suddenly manifested, a black and red spiked mass as it materialized into the shape of a claw, wrapping around my throat. Matt's face was pure malice as he eyed me.

"If you have second thoughts, if you even so much as hesitate to kill both targets... I will kill you. I have no place for regrets in this team. No matter how old of a member you are in my eyes."

I nodded. "I'll kill them, Captain. I swear by it."