Doll-sized (TomTord)

How it began

The sunrise was still a few hours away, yet the cheap, barely inhabitable house was lighted by the red flashing of the alarm system, the constant beeping interrupting the deadly silence. The system was self made, so Tord had every reason to fully depend on it. It ensured his life wouldn't be taken out in his sleep by his worst enemies. And former allies. Others might have called him paranoid and too suspicious of his next door neighbors, but given the two men in his kitchen, their guns aimed at him, his paranoia was absolutely justified.

They were standing almost completely still, not daring to move or speak as he aimed his own gun at one of them. If they weren't all breathing one would have thought they were frozen in time. No, everyone was waiting for the first move to be made, the first shot to be fired.

"I'm sorry, Red Lea- Tord, but we cannot allow you to live given the knowledge you possess. We must eliminate you before you can commit treason of any kind," one of the men, a black haired soldier with visible scars, spoke, his hands shaking as he pointed his gun at Tord. The other soldier, a blond guy with pale skin, was a lot calmer, his eyes focused on him like a predator hunting it's prey and holding a weapon their former leader didn't recognize. Some experimental ray he had never gotten to see. It was almost insulting that they had only sent two men to kill him. And even worse that they would actually able to without much problem.

He glared at them with his healthy eye, the black hole that was left of his right eye covered by an eyepatch. "Then you shouldn't have demoted me," he spat. "I was your leader and then you demoted me for one simple 'failure'. You shouldn't have expected me to stay after that!" Despite his justified grudge, selling information about the Red Army was just... an unthinkable act of treason. The army had been his life for far too long. There was still so much attachment to it thanks to all the work he put into it to get it where it was now. He just wanted nothing to do with those traitors anymore, not when they ruined his life goal like that. He just wanted to be done with all of it now and get to somewhat live in peace, wondering how to continue a civil life he had given up so long ago.

Tord had forgotten how to lead a relatively normal life if he was honest. He analyzed every interaction with people to find out if they were friends or foes, he carried a weapon wherever he went and felt watched at all times. Granted, the police was also looking for him and hiding his face by wearing a hood and staring at the floor did little to disguise him if anyone got too curious. Maybe he should just get rich through selling his weapons. He could become a millionaire pretty easily. Then he could apologize to his friends ten years from now when they all could look back at the incident and laugh...?

"Your failed one of the biggest Red Army operations. There was no way you wouldn't receive punishment for it," the blond growled.

He was at a disadvantage here. Tord knew that, no matter how hard he tried to find a way out of this mess. He always took off his arm at night to not damage his stump by wearing it too much. He knew wearing his prosthetic at all times would do more harm than good. It was actually a horrible idea when he was aware of the fact that the Red Army was after him, and now he was paying the full price for his idiocy. Past Tord deserved to be run over by a truck for being such a moron. Now he only had one hand to aim his gun at the one who had spoken. Why they hadn't made a move yet, he didn't know. While he couldn't remember their names, he knew they were the Red Army's assassins sent to kill any soldier who deserted from the army.

After a few more seconds of nothing happening, Tord decided he'd rather die fighting then let them make the first move and kill him just like that. Like he was any other soldier they took out. He took the risk and pulled the trigger, shooting the first soldier in the shoulder, before immediately throwing himself at the other one to knock the weapon out of his hand. The silent man seemed to have predicted this as he made a step to the side and kicked Tord in the stomach. Tord stumbled backwards with a grunt as he raised his gun only to be met with the ray being pointed at him.