Adopted Soldier

Alex unaware of what his grandfather was planning to do, was now contemplating what he himself should do. A year ago he was so sure that he would be able to escape, but look at what happened. He tried multiple times to escape but no matter what he did he wasn't able to do anything. Everything he did, everything he thought of was anticipated and countered by his grandfather.

Since the beginning Alex was playing on the palm of his grandfather's hands. If Emily were here, she would've said that in this situation Alex wasn't even a player, but merely an npc.

Even the hope of someone coming to the rescue was slowly fading from Alex's mind. Ever since the death of his teacher Sir Lyner, Alex had lost faith in a rescue mission. Even though Alex wanted to believe that his father Carlo would rescue him, he couldn't. He understood what kind of abilities Carlo had, compared to what the Shadow Mercenaries plus his grandfather had, Carlo wasn't there match.

'Damn it! What should I do? I'm sure that crazy sonuvab*tch was planning to do something that would go against my own will. If I don't escape he might brainwash me or do something worse to control me. If that's the case should I die instead? I can't escape and no matter what I do he's always ahead of me. The only thing that sh*tty grandfather won't ever guess would be me killing myself.'

Alex's thoughts were going somewhere even darker, as he actually thought that dying would be much more preferable than whatever plans Richter had for him. That was when he remembered something. It was a memory of Carlo handing out a mission.

'That's right Dad gave me a final mission... To live and be happy... Am I actually thinking of quitting on a mission? Am I actually even considering failing a mission?'

Alex started to remember all the people he met, the people he called his friends. Those guys might have lived sheltered lives, but Alex was sure, if they were in the same situation none of them would ever give up.

'Did those guys ever gave up on anything? No, they would never even think of giving up. If Niel was here, he would remained calm and collected, as he tries to figure what to do next. If Emily was here she would assess the situation and would've gotten in the nerves of the people present. She would then distract them with her antics so she could think of a plan. If Oliver was here he would find the whole situation interesting. He would have endured even more than I could. If Sayaka was here, she would have used her trickery to escape. If Rachel was here she would never backed down towards that old man. If Evangeline was here, I'm sure she would treat this like any normal kidnapping. If kei was here... Hmm... I wonder what he would have done, unlike the others he wasn't really that sturdy...'

When Alex was happily trying to think of what his friends would do if they were in a similar situation, he remembered the final member of the Mercenary Club. He remembered that person, even the confident smile of his that betrayed no fear.

'If Sir Lyner was here, he would have laugh at the whole situation and then he would say. "A place where I can sleep and eat, plus every other day I get to fight strong guys. Well isn't this a nice place, isn't this a vacation home." I guess he would've said that to my grandfather's face with that vicious smile of his.'

Alex couldn't help but laugh at what he thought Lyner would say. He could really imagine Lyner saying that right in front of his grandfather's face, without a care in the world. It's been a long time since Alex laughed... No, now that he started thinking about it, wasn't this the first time Alex truly laughed.

Even back when was still Dalvir Greyhound, he would never laugh. He would smile from time to time, but never laugh out loud. When Alex thought about that, it just made him laugh even harder than before.

Once he was done laughing Alex shook his head. 'Heh, that felt nice... I guess giving up isn't really something I would do.'

...

While Alex was thinking of new ways to escape, Richter entered the room Alex was in. Alex who looked at his grandfather entering the room, noticed that the old man was wearing his battle gear, and he could see the guns hidden within his coat. Richter then approached Alex and removed his restraints.

Once Alex's restraints were removed he distanced himself from his grandfather, while looking at the old man confused. Alex wasn't sure what this was, but he was now on full alert. Richter without saying anything tossed something towards Alex. When Alex saw that, at first he thought that it was a grenade or something, but it wasn't instead what Richter tossed were his weapons.

Not only his weapons even his bullet proof vest was given back. Alex was still very wary, so he started to inspect his weapons, his guns, his sword, and every other equipment. All of them don't seem to be tampered or anything. He couldn't find a trace of anything.

"What does this mean old man?" Richter smiled hearing his grandson's question and answered.

"Wear those things, then I'll tell you of the surprise I have in store for you." Alex didn't want to do what his grandfather said, but he knew that he needed to follow the old man's order. Once Alex was done wearing his equipment, Richter spoke.

"Now that you're fully equipped I can tell you the surprise. Remember when your birthday passed by and we didn't celebrate it due to your tests. I as your kind grandfather have decided to hold a celebration for you. In this celebration I invited your friends to come and play. Oh, I know that you're shy little boy my little grandson, and you don't want them to come. So I'm going to give you a belated birthday gift. If you are somehow able to beat me, or better yet kill me, then of course you can do whatever you want..."

Alex was still stunned as he was having a hard time processing what his grandfather just said, no it was more like he didn't want to believe what his grandfather just said. Richter seeing Alex's reaction didn't care and continued saying what needed to be said.

"But if you lose, of course we'll need to invite your friends to join in the fun. Well there is also the chance, that you'll disappoint me too much. If that happens I guess as punishment you won't even get to see your friends. So Alex I-" Richter wasn't able to finish what he was going to say, as he suddenly dodged a bullet that came from Alex's direction.

Richter smiled as he saw the expression on Alex's face. Basically there was none, Alex right now was completely stoic. This was the situation Richter was hoping for, as he was getting happy from his success he started to evade, while he retreated for the moment. The limited space of the room they were in wasn't really ideal for Richter.

Seeing his grandfather exit the room, Alex followed suit as he reloaded his gun. At this moment Alex had only one objective.. Kill his grandfather without mercy or remorse.