[img]http://i.imgur.com/8mPMSWF.png[/img]

[b][u]Thaum?[/u][/b]

Marcus looked towards his doppelganger, and for a brief period of time nothing was said. He sighed, looking away and used the support of his staff to rise to his feet, his eyes refocused on the violet illuminated tower in the distance, back dropped against a fierce red sky, and then took a step forward, followed by one another, trudging down the hilltop’s path and in the tower’s direction. The other man watched as Marcus moved, and frowned as Marcus seemed to move away and return to ignoring him again. 

“Hey, hey, Marky, where are you going?” The silver haired man asked, jogging to catch Marcus up and follow behind. “Seriously, Marky, you’re being so rude, not talking. And just when I thought we were beginning to bond. What’s the matter with you? Where are you going? Is there something you want to talk about? I’m a good listener, I promise. C’mon, Marky, talk to me! It takes two people to have a conversation, you know.”

But still, Marcus said nothing, his eyes focusing on the distant tower ahead, even as the streets below were shrouded in purple fog. His feet moved into it, and gradually his entire body sank within the fog, his surroundings growing dimmer and more difficult to see. The other man followed without missing a beat. 

“Tsk. Well, I [i]suppose[/i] you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, Marky, but personally I feel that that’s just [i]boring[/i]. Oh well, suit yourself. I can talk enough for the both of us!” The other man responded jubilantly. 

“Afterall, sometimes it’s good to just get your thoughts out, isn’t it? To let what’s bubbling around inside your head come out into the open, so you can analyse it and decide what to do about it. The problem with you, Marky, is that you have all of these problems floating about inside our head that you never try to think about. Instead of embracing them, you just push them down and down, over and over again, hoping that eventually they’ll go away, as if it will actually solve anything. But nope. Nope, that only makes things [i]worse[/i]. Because then the pressure just builds up over and over and over again until… PWOOSH!” The doppelganger threw his arms out in a wide semicircle, his lips pursed as he audited the sound with great gusto. “Until it all comes flying out into one great, big, sloppy mess. Honestly, I’m trying to do you a favour here, Marky. I’m trying to help you.” 

The other Marcus re-centered his glasses with a confident smirk, but the real Marcus said nothing, constantly moving forwards and saying nothing. But the other Marcus wasn't deterred. 

“What shall we start with, Marky? I mean, there’s so much here… where do we begin?”

-----

[b][center]THE BRIEFING[/center][/b]

[b][u]???[/u][/b]

The room was dark, save for the glow of light shining from the projector in the centre of the small room lined with plush reclining chairs, until the light became reflected on the wall at the far end. The small machine would show various images of slides one after another, a telltale click dully sounding out as a button was pressed every now and then through the course of the presentation to move to the next slide. The button pusher was a young girl with braided pigtails in a scientist’s jacket and glasses, her hand holding the button rising up to push her glasses up, as her other hand held a clipboard scrawled with various notes. Beside her stood a blonde man with presence in military clothing, his arms folded over his chest as he inspected the various images that flicked up in front of them one after another. 

“The situation’s dire,” He continued. “They’re planning on executing the princess tomorrow… live, for all of the world to see. If they do, then they’ll be triggering a world war… one in which we’ll never be able to walk away from again. This is the place here; the base in which they’re holding her. I won't lie, the security is tight and virtually impossible to break into, but-”

“I thought I told you, colonel…” A voice interrupted the blonde man from the front aisle of the room, a waft of smoke rising into the air. A seated man in sunglasses tilted his head to the side as he casually looked up at the images, his legs resting one atop the other, his lips taking another deep drag of the cigarette in his hands. “I’m retired.”

The colonel cleared his throat and straightened his posture a fraction. “I know you are. I know. Normally I don’t like to ask, but… but you’re our last hope. There’s nobody else who can do this. We… we need you. We need you to save the princess. To save the entire world.”

There was a loud sigh, as the seated man rose his hand into the air, the smoke continuing to waft absentmindedly into the air. The light shining from the projected images of aerial recon schematics and personnel character dossiers presented on the wall reflected off his sunglasses. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, colonel, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. When a lady is in trouble, what else can I do but save her? The mission looks like a piece of cake as well, colonel. I’ve already figured out at least twenty different ways of accomplishing this mission already.” The man shifted his posture within his seat and took another long drag. 

The colonel and his trusty scientist assistant drew a deep breath of relief. The colonel wiped his sweating brow, joy elating upon his face. Thank the gods. Thank Aislin. 

“Thank you, Ace. Thank you. You don’t know how important this means, what a service you’re doing-”

“Don’t worry ol’ fella,” The man smiled, rising to his feet and walking up the steps to the exit at the back of the room, patting the colonel on the shoulder as he moved passed him, and granting a short, affectionate grin towards the scientist, who looked away in blushing embarrassment. “I’ll have the princess rescued, a world war averted and be back in time for breakfast, or my name’s not Ace Capuello.”

Ace’s hand retrieved the cigarette from his lips and extinguished it in the ash tray atop the table propping up the projector, as he continued his cool walk up the stairs to the exit, passing through the double doors with his hands now resting in his jacket. Both the Colonel Sanders and Scientist May looked after him with a relieved and wistful sigh.

“What a guy.”

[img]http://i.imgur.com/QLodCtj.png[/img]

[b][center]NEXT: THE MISSION[/center][/b]