My Covert Bodyguard

55: Spreading Scarlett

When Niko and I finished our morning run and were walking to the water fountain, Colton approached us. 

"What do you want, Colton?" Niko asked irritatedly, but Colton looked deadly serious. That meant something must have been incredibly wrong; I'd never seen him without his trademark easy-going, cocky smirk.

He subtly cocked his head towards the open fields, and he stalked away. After waiting several minutes, Niko and I followed his path.

Colton was hiding in the woods by the lake, and was searching around to ensure there were no hidden cameras around. "Let's move a little, sound travels quickly on water." Colton's paranoia sent a shiver down my back.

"Listen, I know Team B has been assholes to you guys, taking your missions, whatever. But we came back from an assignment yesterday, and it was an absolute blood bath. We killed... what has to be dozens of guards on enemy territory, and they hadn't even engaged in any battle. What's worse, they told us the mission was a surveillance. But everyone we came across were on the List."

Niko's eyes widened. "That's exactly what happened to us."

"And," Colton's voice quivered and his eyes visibly teared up, "we... we lost Darren. He was too far into their territory when we opened fire. He didn't... he didn't realize the guards were Listed."

I remembered Darren Fredericks to be a confident guy who hung around Colton constantly. They were both arrogant and smartasses, and very young. At 16, he should not have died in a mission  with a gun to his head unknowingly to him. I stepped up to embrace Colton, and his usually self-important demeanor crumbled under my arms. It was like the wall of confidence and arrogance and witty comebacks he built up as self defense toppled over upon the death of his friend he had relied on. His body shook in my arms as I let the grief wash over him where it was safe, and no one was around to beat him back into an emotionless robot of a soldier.

Niko looked uncomfortable at the sentiments being shared, but at the same time seemed to want more information from Colton. Once he settled down enough to a couple snivels, he cleared his throat. "We're gonna do what you're doing."

Niko raised his brows, urging him to continue.

"We're not taking any more missions from the General until the Legion can prove to us that they're disclosing all the information to us. We were tricked into our operation, and what we had to do was inhumane. We're not going to tolerate that."

I straightened my spine. "And that's all of Team B? Every single one of you feel strongly about this?"

He nodded. "The cost of Darren was too high. His death isn't going to go unnoticed by us."

I tugged at the red ribbon in my hair. "Have you seen these around?"

Colton eyed the ribbon warily as I tied it around his wrist. "Yeah?"

"This symbolizes our revolution, our unity. We won't stand with the Shadow Legion anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"We're overthrowing the Shadow Legion, and everyone wearing red on themselves is among the revolutionary movement. We're going Scarlett."

* * * * * *

The following week, an announcement blared above, calling members of Team C to the Generals Office. They sneered arrogantly at the members of Team A and B as we stood together in solidarity. One especially bold boy in Team C brushed up against Niko, and to my surprise he didn't budge or engage. He simply looked in my direction for a affirmative nod, and he went back to his stick straight posture and solemn expression.