The Alliance (TomTord Fanfic) (#Wattys2017)

Chapter 16

Tord and Tom sat on one side of the desk in the large room and looked at each other awkwardly as they waited for a certain third leader to show his face at the peace conference. Strangely, it was Todd who had called for the meeting, but hadn't shown up yet. Tom looked at his two soldiers briskly to see how they felt about this sudden, unexpected meeting call. He was surprised to see Matt was calmer than ever, while Edd looked around the large room nervously. He guessed that his friend thought that the Crimson Navy had caught Tord and Tom escaping their base after killing off their weapons leader.

Meanwhile, Tord was laying back in his chair as if the meeting didn't matter at all, which, to be honest, it probably didn't. It probably just was Todd telling them he was becoming more armored and that they would have to try harder to destroy his precious navy.
Just as Tom stopped thinking, the doors opened to reveal Todd walking into the large room with Parker and Pave following behind him shortly after.

"Finally," Tord sat up straight in his chair, "You finally showed up. Now we can start. Why the hell did you want us to come here on such short notice?" He asked, forcing himself not to get mad at his opposite, which was pretty clear to Tom.
"Well, I wished to inform you that one of my officials was shot down yesterday. I was wondering if any of you know anything about that. My slow soldiers couldn't catch the culprits. but we know there was two of them." Todd explained, glaring daggers at Tord and Tom. The two leaders looked at each other again and then back at Todd.
"No actually." Tom spoke up, clearing his throat slightly afterwards. Todd looked at the blue leader with narrowed eyes behind his patched up glasses before slowly nodding. He clearly didn't believe the Brit, but couldn't start a ruckus in this area. Tom nodded back nervously and sunk down in his chair, sharing a side glance with Tord.
Todd looked at the two again, keeping his eyes narrowed. He growled softly and turned around, beckoning his soldiers to follow behind him. Parker and Pave looked at each other with awkward smiles before following their leader out of the building.

"So.... that happened." Tord spoke up after a few seconds of silence in the hall. Tom nodded slightly and sat up again. The two stood up along with their soldiers and looked at each other. Tord, surprisingly, looked away slightly, avoiding eye contact. This confused Tom, but he shrugged it off as the communist leader being weird or awkward.
"Yeah... maybe we should plan out our next attack quickly so Todd won't be able to do anything about it." Tord suggested and Tom nodded, looking at Edd and Matt.
"You two can go back to the base if you want, me and Tord are going to stay here and plan." Tom explained to his friends, who nodded quickly and left the conference room. The blue leader looked back at Tord, who had told Paul and Pat the same thing, evident by them leaving, side by side.

"Who are we going after next?" Tord asked, once again, breaking the ice between the two. Tom thought for a moment, remembering their earlier conversation.
"Uh... I think we're going after the military general...?" Tom questioned his own thoughts, but went with it anyways. "Who is that?"

"Hold up." Tord pulled out a piece of paper from his army uniform and unfolded it, quickly scanning over its words. "Says here that the military general is... Eduardo?"
   "Edd's opposite? Alright." Tom shrugged slightly. "He's an asshole anyways." 
    Tord let out a small chuckle at Tom's words and shoved the paper back into his coat pocket.
    "Never met him, but if he's part of Todd's gang, he probably is one." Tom held back laughter and nodded slightly. Tord suddenly got a serious face and looked at the table. Tom looked at him, tilting his head slightly to the side in confusion.
   "Tord...? Are you ok..?" He asked his partner, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder. Tord moved away from him and looked him dead in his black eyes.
   "I've been thinking, Tom. If that guy is a military general and Todd knows that his leaders are being killed off, he's going to have a lot of soldiers protecting him." Tord said.
   "What are you saying?" Tom asked, still confused.
    "I want you to stay out of the mission."
    "What?!? You're crazy."
    "Well, maybe that's true. Maybe it isn't. But I don't want you getting harmed, alright?"
   "But this was MY idea! You should let me go with you at least!" Tom growled, but Tord stayed calm.
   "Look, Thomas, I just don't want you getting hurt, alright? If I get shot, my army won't care if I'm dead. If you're shot, well, I don't think your army would be able to function." Tom opened his mouth to retort, but Tord cut him off. "No, that isn't an insult."
    "I'm still not listening to you." Tom crossed his arms, casting Tord to sigh.
   "You've always been stubborn..." he mumbled something else under his breath and looked down at the floor, hiding his face. Tom looked at him confused, once again.
   "What was that last part?"
    "..... Nothing. I guess you can come with me..." Tord said, looking up slightly, but keeping his gray eyes averted from Tom.