Chapter 3 - Stuck on you

I’m starting to regret my decision… I really, really want to get rid of this guy… So… What’d he do, you might ask? Well… Annoying the frack out of me while we had a long walk ahead of us was just one thing…

Nick: Are we there yet…?
Dakota: No.
Nick: … How about now?
Dakota: … No!
Nick: …
Dakota: …
Nick: … Pffft, it’s hot.
Dakota: *sighs*
Nick: I’m thirsty.
Dakota: …
Nick: My legs are-
Dakota: Will you the hell up already?!! For the past 2 hours, you did nothing but doging about everything!!

Nick: Oh. Want me to sing then?
Dakota: No!
Nick: Well, I wanna sing. *sings quietly* Somewheeeeeeeeeeeeeere-

Dakota: Don’t you ever shut up?!!

Nick: Want me to sing a different song then?
Dakota: NO!!! Just shut up!! Shut!! Up!!
Nick: …
Dakota: *sighs*
Nick: …
Nick: *hums*
Dakota: Will you shut up already??!!!
Nick: I can’t even hum it?!
Dakota: No!!
Nick: …
Dakota: *sighs* When will you start acting your age… Seriously…
Nick: *whistles the song*
Dakota: Alright, that’s it.

So I tackled the bastard and pressed my knee in his back while I pressed a gun to his head.

Nick: Ow!! Hey! I’m sorry, I can’t help it! I’m just really nervous!! I’m sorry!!!
Dakota: Normally, I’m very patiently… But you’re pushing me to the edge here…

Nick: … How many times have you either threatened me with a gun or threatened me verbally to kill me? Seriously, if you’re making a threat, be sure to do it right.

Dakota: … *cocks pistol* That can be arranged…
Nick: … Shutting up now.
Dakota: … I feel sorry for you’re girlfriend.
Nick: … Don’t you say anything about my girlfriend.
Dakota: Or what?! Psh. Get up.
Nick: *sighs*

And after that, we continued walking… It stayed silent for another half an hour until he broke the silence again…

Nick: What’s with those… Stones the guy gave you earlier?
Dakota: Their not stones, their blood diamonds.
Nick: Well that guy said they were stones-
Dakota: Diamonds. Blood diamonds. Their used to fund genocides and pretty much everything that’s for sale. Money doesn’t have any value here.

Nick: G-Genocides?
Dakota: *nods* You never heard it on the news?
Nick: Yeah, but I never imagined I’d be actually witness one.
Dakota: We need to take out five guys and a chick. That’s not a genocide.

Nick: I’m eh… I’m not having any part in this killing thing, right?
Dakota: No. I’ll do everything on my own. You just stay out of my way and out of sight.

Nick: Okay, good. Sounds easy enough.
Dakota: And please, for the love of everything that is holy, please!! Shut up… I don’t wanna hear you.

Nick: … But-
Dakota: Ssh.
Nick: Yeah but-
Dakota: Zip it.
Nick: *sighs*

Finally, he stayed shut. And stayed that way until we reached the safe-house…

When we did, I told Nick to stay put. The safe-house was located on the other end of a hill, and I had a good view on it from a ledge on the other side. So I climbed that ledge and got down on my stomach. Once I looked through my scope, I could see five armed guys walking around. So I waited until one of them was isolated enough to take him out. After I picked my target, I shot him through the head. Once I did, I looked around again to see if any of them was alarmed. Gunshots are heard every day, so they didn’t really seem to mind. Then I waited for another one to be isolated. Bang. His brain splattered all over the ground. Three more left. Once one of them found a dead body, he alerted the others, which was the easiest part. Bang, bang, bang. That’s it. I grinned with satisfaction… So after that, I got down where Nick was still waiting… He was looking at the scenario in the distance and didn’t noticed I was behind him. So I slapped the back of his head and told him to take cover in the hills…

So I carefully reached the house while Nick stayed hidden in the hills. I checked my ammo and opened the door slowly, while aiming inside… The first thing I noticed was a dead lioness on the ground… Then all of a sudden, I felt a huge blow in the back of my neck… And I passed out…

When I slowly opened my eyes, I noticed I was still in that house… But on a bed… My head hurts like hell, and I saw a figure smoking a cigarette while looking through my backpack… Those are MY… Cigarettes… Then he noticed I was awake and he walked towards me… And he was a panther as well… But it wasn’t Jason…

???: Finally, you took your time…
Dakota: Who the hell are you…?
???: …
Dakota: … Jason…?
???: … No. I’m his brother.
Dakota: … Jason never mentioned he had a brother…
???: No of course not, it’s to protect us both… You see, I’m with the ICA…
Dakota: Oh great...
???: And I’ve come here to keep tabs on you… I know everything about you.

Dakota: So you keep your big brother out of jail while you cut yourself a nice piece on the deals he makes?

???: … Bingo…
Dakota: Whadda ya want from me?

???: I know you’re hired to kill my brother… But if you do that, my ridiculously low government salary won’t be enough to cover my expenses… So… Here’s what I want you to do… You know the contacts, the deals and you set it up. And when you do, you call me. I want fifty percent of you’re hit-fees… If not… Life sentence in a maximum secured prison in a solitary confinement, with your smelly @$$ up rotting away… And if you do… I’ll get you out of here and you’ll be free to go… You need to help me to help you…

“Help me to help you”? What a country matters. If he actually believes I’m gonna help him…

Dakota: *grins*
???: Do we have a deal?
Dakota: Yeah… Of course… I don’t wanna rot away in solitary confinement…
???: Good…

Nick: Dakota?!

Oh shoot… No, no, no… Don’t let him do anything stupid, or I’ll be dead… Apparently, he did anyway… Once he noticed that the guy had a gun, he reached out for his gun… He has a fracking assault rifle on his back and takes his… Gun… What an idiot… He aims at the guy who was standing next to me, and all he did was raising his hands in the air…

Dakota: Nick!! Put the fracking gun away!!
Nick: G-Get away from h-her!!
???: *sighs*
Dakota: Lower your gun!!
???: I’ll best be off then. Your friend seems dangerous. *chuckles*
Dakota: For fracks sake, put the gun down!!
???: Remember now, this is our little secret… *grins*

And with that, he walked off… But before he left, he stood before Nick and looked him in the eyes.

???: Boo.
Nick: *gasps*
???: Hehehehehe…

Then I looked back at Nick and I could see he was so nervous… Seriously, his hands are shaking and his eyes are all wide from the adrenaline rush…

Dakota: Get a hold of yourself, dick head!! You almost got me killed there!! That guy was an ICA agent!!

Nick: ICA agent?! You think he can get me home?!
Dakota: NO!! Why the hell would an ICA agent talk to a mercenary and walk off like that?!

Nick: … Because I aimed at him…?
Dakota: NO!!! It’s because he’s a corrupt agent, asswipe!! Gaaah!!
Nick: …
Dakota: Watch where you point that thing!! Put the gun away!!

Sooooo… He sticks the gun back in his wasteband, but while he was doing that, I could hear a loud bang…

Nick: … Ow…

His eyes were so wide all of a sudden, and he fell down… I could see that he shot himself in the leg when the gun accidently went off… I looked at him for a short moment, shook my head and made my way out of the house…

Nick: Ow! Ooooooooow!! frack… Don’t leave me here!! Please……… It hurts…
Dakota: That’s what you get for being so fracking ignorant…
Nick: I just saved your life…!
Dakota: And you just shot your fracking dick off!!
Nick: What?!! Gaaaaaah!! No!! shoot!! shoot!!! I’ll never be able to pee properly again!! shoot!! Damn it!! Why the hell is this happening to me?!!

Dakota: Calm down, I was only kidding.
Nick: You can’t leave me here!! Please!! I beg you!! Don’t let me die like this!! Oh frack, oh frack, I can’t feel my leg!! Please!!

The longer I stared at him, the more sorry I felt for him. Yes, he’s an annoying piece of shoot who almost got me killed, and he shot himself thinking he could handle a weapon and I thought that my problem got taken care of by itself, but… I’m not someone who kills innocent people… And if I leave him here, he’ll die eventually. I do have a conscious… Or at least, what little pieces there’s left of it… So I sighed reluctantly and got bandages from my backpack and a pocketknife to cut his pants open. After I cut his pants open, I used my lighter to heat the blade of my pocketknife to sterilize it…

Nick: What are you gonna do?!!
Dakota: This might sting a bit.
Nick: What are yo-!! NO!!! DON’T!! STOP!!!
Dakota: Want me to get the bullet out of your leg, or not?!
Nick: Yeah!! B-b-but I’m not ready for it!!
Dakota: Ok, on three… One, two, three-
Nick: STOP, STOP!!!
Dakota: *sighs*
Nick: … Ok… Ok, I’m ready… NO WAIT!!!
Dakota: … *rolls eyes*
Nick: You sure you know what you’re doing?!! You don’t look like a doctor to me!! I don’t think that- OW!!!

While he was blabbering, I took the bullet out with my knife… I showed him the bullet and he looked surprised… By the looks of it, he wasn’t really that mortally wounded…

Nick: That’s it…?
Dakota: … Pretty much. It’s not that bad.
Nick: … Oh… Okay…
Dakota: … Pussy…

After that, I bandaged his leg and tried to get him on his feet. And once he did, I yanked the gun out of his waste-band and turned the safety on. And tossed it back to him. He catches it with shaky hands, stares at it for a while, stretched the wasteband of his pants and carefully lets it down…

For the rest of the day, we’ve been walking to a place I used to know where I spend the night when I was younger. It was out in the open, near a small waterfall and a lake, but the place was surrounded by high rocks and steep cliffs, and the place was pretty desolate in the open. It took us all day to reach it. And Nick didn’t say anything for hours, which surprised me a bit to say the least. At around 10 pm, we reached the place. Nick flopped down from exhaustion as I took my backpack and rolled out a sleeping-bag and got in to it…

Nick: You got one for me as well……?
Dakota: No, I’m sorry…
Nick: Oh…
Dakota: We need you to get some supplies…
Nick: Yeah…
Dakota: How’s your leg doing?
Nick: *shrugs*
Dakota: What’s wrong?
Nick: I just don’t understand why you’re taking care of me while acting like a dog... If you wanna get rid of me that bad, just say it… And… I’ll just go…

Dakota: *sighs*
Nick: Why’d you saved me in the first place…?
Dakota: I do have a conscious… Or… At least what’s left of it… Also… In my line of work, things can get pretty lonely…

Nick: So you need someone to talk to?
Dakota: *shrugs*
Nick: I don’t wanna be a burden for you… Just… Teach me what I need to know to survive here…

Dakota: … Why? You wanna become a mercenary?
Nick: …
Dakota: Hm?
Nick: *sighs*
Dakota: …
Nick: … A few years ago… I saw someone who got robbed on the street… The guy started to fight with the mugger, but the mugger was beating him… He… He beats the guy to death… And I just stood there and watched how the guy died… And I just didn’t do anything… I felt so powerless, you know… And for some reason, it’s still haunting me… I feels as if I could have prevented it… I don’t wanna feel like a coward whenever something like that happens to me… And especially here… And… I’ve always ran away from confrontations and fights… I don’t wanna be a coward anymore…




Dakota: …
Nick: How about you…?
Dakota: What?
Nick: How’d you end up like this? How’d you become a mercenary?
Dakota: *shrugs* I just rolled in the business…
Nick: How?
Dakota: … You know, these islands used to be a colony of San Mantégua, the birthplace of my species.

Nick: Hedgehogs?
Dakota: *nods* And I was born here, in Sangala. Then at some point, people wanted independence. And my dad saw how unfair the people were treated. So the people took on the government. A civil war broke out. And my dad fought with the masses for independence. They carried my mom away as a political prisoner. Seeing as I was an only child, I was caught up with all the violence. I was 14 years old when I first had my hands around an assault rifle, and I was 15 years old when I took my first life. And then one day, my dad died… I eventually met Iki… And we stayed together ever since… Once the independence of this country was acknowledge, the genocides started… To kill every “foreigner” and hostile tribes… Peace only lasted for a few years, and shoot is about to hit the fan once more…

Nick: Oh whoa… So… You’re not here for business…?
Dakota: No… I’m looking for people… And once I did, I’ll be out for good… But… You can’t get around here if you don’t know the right persons… So in the end, I’ll have to do what I always did to find the persons I’m looking for…

Nick: Heh…
Dakota: …
Nick: You know, you’re not that bad once you’re not swearing and cursing at me.
Dakota: Don’t get any ideas.
Nick: I’m not, I’m just saying.
Dakota: Uh-huh…
Nick: For your information, I got a girlfriend. I would never hit on you.
Dakota: …
Nick: You wanna see a picture of her?
Dakota: … No.
Nick: Well I wanna see my girlfriend…

I got out my wallet and stared at a picture of my beautiful girl Meagan… She’s my chocolate snugglebunny… And I miss her… At some point, I noticed Dakota was looking at me. So I showed her the picture while I just couldn’t resist but to smile…

Nick: This is my pride and joy…
Dakota: …
Nick: She looks good, doesn’t she?
Dakota: … If she’d entered a haunted house, the ghosts will be the one’s petrified…

Nick: … As if you’re that good looking.
Dakota: *shrugs* I don’t care. I don’t get influenced by the media telling you what’s beautiful and what’s not. I bet she’s only out for your money.

Nick: No, she doesn’t.

Dakota: Psh…

After I flipped through a few photo’s, I found one of my budgie… I didn’t know I had one.

Nick: And this is my budgie.
Dakota: …
Nick: I taught him how to speak. All day long, he just talks. He’s quite the chatterbox. *smiles*

Dakota: It doesn’t surprise me if he learned it from you…
Nick: … Just what the hell is you’re problem with me?
Dakota: … I’m thinking… And you’re blabbering isn’t helping.
Nick: About what?

Dakota: The informant of Iki… I think he set us up…
Nick: What?
Dakota: Think about it… He told Iki that Serina was alone, guarded by five men…
Nick: … So?
Dakota: When I arrived… She was already dead… And the ICA agent was there instead…

Nick: … You think the informant and the ICA agent are on the same level…?
Dakota: I don’t know… That’s what I’m gonna try to find out tomorrow… But if they are, Iki’s life is in danger… The ICA agent is a brother of McMillan… And McMillan wants Iki dead…

Nick: Why would McMillan want Iki dead…?
Dakota: Iki is the competition… He and McMillan are the most notorious arms-dealers on these islands… But their both heavily guarded… It wont be easy to get close to either… But with the ICA agent on their side… Things could get nasty…

Nick: … Oh…

So that night, I had another added objective while I was here. To track down and assassinate McMillan. Track down the informant of Iki and make him talk. And to protect Iki when the time is there…

Nick: … Question.
Dakota: … *sighs*
Nick: You’re a mercenary, right?
Dakota: *nods*
Nick: The definition of a mercenary is that the subject is a professional soldier that joins a foreign army or fraction, while asking payment for his services.

Dakota: … Pretty much, yeah. Why?
Nick: But you’re not a soldier. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand… Killing that lioness sounded more like an assassination. So… What makes you that?

Dakota: … If the price is right, I’ll be whoever people want me to be, as long as it lies within my knowledge and psychical conditions… Which is pretty much everything…

Nick: ……
Dakota: … Not like that, you fracking idiot…

Note to self: New objective added. Get rid of this asshole ASAP.

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