Allies and Targets

Chapter 1

Commander Johnathan Cho was at his home in the Capital, Handor. A well respected and ranked soldier, he's taken down hundreds of Rebels at a time. His goal is to take down the Balanced Soldier of the Rebel Army. The slender man, in his thirties, has had a grudge against them since they killed his family. Commander Cho didn't know whether the Balanced Soldier was female or male, nor did anyone else. Their identity was a complete mystery to the whole Capital Army. He's trained hard enough to take down the greatest soldiers in the army.

Currently, Commander Cho was enjoying a glass of wine and a good book. Deeply interested in the book, the knock at the door was startling. He looked at the clock in his well-furnished home. Almost midnight. The city should be asleep, who would be here at this hour? He slowly got to his feet and walked quietly to the door. His weapon was upstairs, he couldn't reach it in time.

He opened the door slowly and saw a red hooded character outside his house. "May I help you? It's quite late." He said wearily. The person slowly made their way closer to Commander Cho.

"I need some help, sir. I seem to be lost in this city and your home seemed so big. May I come in?" the person, a girl, asked. She didn't seem to have weapons, but Commander Cho was still vigilant.

"Who are you?" he asked her. "Why is your hood up? Where are you from?" the questions came natural. He needed to be sure he would be ok. His family only recently died a year ago.

The girl giggled quietly. "Very curious. That's alright. I'm Eva. My face has been damaged from the Rebel war and I'm from a small village a little outside the Capital. We're in need of help so I was chosen to talk to the Minister. Now may I come in?"

The Commander looked her over. She seemed to be correct. Her clothes were covered. He knew of one village outside of the Capital, Camha. He knew they needed help, but it wasn't important for his job to speak up about it. Only to report it. "I suppose." He stepped aside and Eva entered. The hood moved around like she was looking about the house.

"Do you live alone, sir?" she asked. Commander Cho wasn't one for talking about personal life with strangers.

"Yes." He said curtly. The pain of losing is wife, son, and daughter was still fresh. "I'd rather not talk about it." Why would this stranger ask?

"Ah, yes. The pain of losing family is still so fresh and heartbreaking. I would know. I've lost many of my family members." She said nonchalantly. Commander Cho's eyes widened. Then they narrowed. How could this girl know? He was still too far to reach his weapon, he was cornered in his home. Is this how his family had felt?

"I know you want your weapon. Upstairs in your bedroom, correct? You feel cornered in your household. This is how all the people you've killed had felt when the Capital Army raided Arma. You led that, didn't you?" she asked him.

"Who are you?" he growled.

The girl removed her hood. Her short hair was half black, half white. She was wearing a black shirt with a thin sleeve on her shoulder. It was black, but the other sleeve was teal. She also had teal cut-off sleeves down to her knuckles. Eva also had a sword sheathed and grey pants. Her black boots were up to her knees and tied. Her blue eyes bored into Cho's brown eyes. She looked him up and down, the blonde hair, the tunic and pants. He was dressed for bed, she was dressed for every day.

"Hello, Commander Cho. You may not know me, but I know you. Actually, change that. You do know me but in a different way. But you won't live long enough to tell the Capital. So, where is Helena Rice?" she asked. She leaned on the back of the couch.

"Why would I tell an outsider? And where are you really from?" Cho questioned. He wasn't going to die. He was going to knock the girl out and take her to the capital in the morning.

"I'm from Arma. Couldn't you tell? Now, answer my question Cho." She demanded. It suddenly clicked with Commander Cho. This is a soldier from the Rebel! He was bound to get a high praise for taking her in!

"Helena Rice? She is protective care, of course." The Commander played along. He looked her over again. The sword was about fourteen inches.

"I know that. Which building? East, West, or North? And don't ask me about South because your South building is occupied with the archive and files. You have about three hundred people in that building. And we can't go into each building because that would raise alarm and we couldn't get her back." She explained. Cho was curious of how she knew all this. And why she was explaining their plan was a mystery. "Do not make unsheathe this."

"She's in the South Building, Room 4087. Now, you will be taken to my superiors. Unless there is a reason I should kill you?" he smirked.

Suddenly, she started laughing. "Oh there is a great reason but you can't kill me!" she continued to laugh.

"What reason is that?" Cho asked, suddenly nervous. He didn't know why he should kill the girl.

Eva stopped laughing as sudden as she started. "Well, I killed your family. I'm the Balanced Soldier. I did it. Your daughter though, I didn't kill. She isn't dead. She sided with me."

Cho was overwhelmed with rage and sadness. "Liar! You're lying! My family was found!" he screamed.

"Not by you. Alexa didn't want to help this place. She agreed with me and asked to come with me. We aren't allowed to deny soldiers or people unless they are a part of the Capital Army. She came with me. Alexa! Come!" Eva called. A girl came in, Commander Cho's daughter. Long blonde hair, brown eyes, and her mother's face.

"Father. I thought you would have killed him by now, Eva. Not like you to be patient." Alexa joked. Cho was tearing up at the sight of his daughter alive. Sixteen years old. Fifteen when she left. Eva had chuckled at Alexa's joke, and unsheathed her sword. The sword was made of diamond. Extremely rare.

"A-Alexa. You're alive?" he stammered. Alexa looked at her father with shame.

"Of course. Xavier didn't agree with the choices. Mother did. He killed her, not Eva. She had come in when this happened. I was right over there," she pointed to the chair, "And she saw me. She apologized and killed Xavier. Then she questioned me and took me. I wanted to go. I was going to be killed! Questioned about Eva! I wasn't going to lie! She saved me! Unlike you." Alexa explained.

"I-I'm so sorry. I was-"

"Raiding Arma." Eva finished. It became clear that Commander Cho wasn't going to survive this encounter.

"Before you kill me, please tell me something. What is so important about Helena Rice that you must kill me? I want to know." Cho requested. Eva thought about it. She was going to take his life, he can know why.

"She's one of our leaders." Eva said. She looked at Alexa to see if she needed to say anything.

"Father, I'm sorry." Alexa apologized. Before Cho could look at Eva, she pierced her sword through Johnathan Cho. She removed it quickly and sheathed it. Eva nodded her head to Alexa, raised her hood, and started out the back. Alexa looked at her dead father once more, and did the same.