Leo and Benny woke up the next day to find Clark still asleep. They quickly washed up before ordering food from a nearby restaurant, for Clark and the both of them. They didn’t have much to do, so after eating, they just sat on the chair provided in the room as they discussed their yesterday encounters in a low tone. Around 1000 am, that same day, Clark finally woke up to the feeling of bandages all over his abdomen and other parts of his body. A small frown crept to his face when he also felt the drip syringe attached to his wrist as he slowly stood up. Leo and Benny, not realizing that the person they were watching was already awake, continued their lengthy conversation. Despite the frown on his face, Clark realized that his pains were already gone as he finally called out to his 2 blabbering companions. “Oh, Clark you’re already awake. That’s fast”. Leo blurted out, surprised at seeing this as he rushed forward to give his friend a light hug. “How are you feeling? Do you still feel pains in any part of your body? Is there any discomfort?” After breaking from the hug, he rapidly bombarded his friend with questions. “No Leo, I’m already fine. Chill down bro”. Clark answered in resignation, as he slightly rolled his eyes at his friend’s shameful gesture. “Hugging me; do you think we are still cadets? Shit, at this rate you’ll never man up to become a real soldier, such a waste”. He muttered, with a stop being a kid expression on his face. After their brief emotional reunion, he finally removed the bandages over his body to see all his injuries already healed. Only the first deep cut of the commander on his abdomen still left a scar, but he was not feeling any pains. The doctor was quickly called, to come to meet his patient for a complete check-up. He arrived very fast with an excited and slightly fanatical expression planted on his face. The soldiers were confused on seeing the doctor’s expression, but they didn’t really give a damn as they asked him for his diagnosis. After a short and thorough medical diagnosis, he confirmed that Clark was good to go. He praised him lavishly for having such a great body, that others would have spent 2 or more days in the hospital for such severe injuries. Despite having a poker expression on his face, Clark secretly heaved a sigh of relief on hearing this. He didn’t want to default or come off as undisciplined, on his first day reporting for duty as a soldier of the republic. After confirming everything after more subsequent medical procedures, he asked the doctor directly for the amount he needed to pay. This is when the doctor’s weird and unnatural behavior started becoming more apparent. Despite being an old man already, he fidgeted here and there like a little fanboy meeting his idol for the first time. “Are you really the Clark who graduated this year as the best soldier?” He finally cleared his throat, looked at them cautiously before asking. “Oh, so it’s because he found my identity”. Clark suddenly felt weird, the atmosphere felt even weirder all of a sudden. “Is that how famous I’ve become already?” He soliloquized silently, in a surprised and faintly proud tone. “Yes, I am”. He finally answered, satisfying the unnaturally tense old man that had an expectant look on his face, after being silent for some seconds. “Great”. The doctor suddenly jumped in joy on hearing this, which scared the hell out of them.“Pipe down mate”. Leo blurted out, shocked and speechless. “Can’t you see how fragile you are? You are an old man for God’s sake”. He added this inwardly in his brain, as he quickly went forward to support the old man. On hearing this, the doctor’s excited look finally calmed down a bit. He coughed awkwardly to dispel the weird atmosphere, looked at the boys’ expressions before he cautiously continued. “I’m sorry for that, sorry for scaring you guys. Personally, I admire you a lot, Clark”. After apologizing for only a second, he quickly diverted to where his passion really was. On saying this, he emphasized by patting his chest as he turned to face Clark. “My youngest son also takes you as his idol and role model. He would like it a lot if I can get your signature for him. You know…, a dad’s pain”. After all this wilderness journey, he finally revealed his real request with another cough. This…, Clark felt weird, Leo and Benny felt even weirder, the atmosphere felt the weirdest as they all looked at the middle-aged doctor with gobsmacked expressions on their faces. Clark finally snapped out of his daze after a minute of silence, before slowly replying. “Oh, a signature…? I think I can do that”. What left him more speechless, was that it seems the doctor came prepared as he brought a small polo shirt and a blue pen which probably belonged to his son. He didn’t do anything complicated as this was his first time. He simply wrote [Clark .P.] boldly at the back of the shirt, before returning it. After this, he cautiously asked again for the amount he needed to pay but this fanboy rejected him with a tone that screamed no negotiation. He fiercely insisted on him not paying a dine. “Well, it’s not my money, so it’s all good”. Clark thought with a benevolent smile, as he was quickly discharged from the hospital. Leo and Benny followed behind him with dazed expressions on their faces, as they went to his car without any further waste of time. As they moved, he finally recalled something as he turned to ask the both of them if they picked the terrorist sniper’s armor, his stash of bullets, and sniper rifle. “You guys didn’t pick a single thing? Damn, such unreliable teammates”. He was extremely disappointed in them. “Shit man, you guys actually left that kind of huge free money behind for them. The stash of bullets required for the battle art used by that soldier alone is worth over 200,000 credits,” he muttered in a pained tone. On hearing him and after analyzing the words, Benny felt worse, he suddenly felt sick as he was also learning the dead’s echo. What a wasted opportunity, he would have probably received the bullets. Or if it was to even take them on loan from them [i.e Leo and Clark], was better than leaving them behind. A depressed Benny entered the car last, as Clark instructed the car’s A. I to take them back to the military base. The car bolted off, as they directly began their hours long journey back to base. They didn’t waste their time going back to search for loot. If the loot was still there, then the terrorist Commander was a fool, which he knew he was not. So why waste their time? The terrorist commander, well, Clark already forgave the man as he also probably suffered in pain psychologically when he killed his 2 executioners. But he would still make sure to be better prepared, for any ambush of that type in the future. After over 8 hours of relentlessly driving, they finally arrived back at the Spartan military division base. Their arrival didn’t create any meaningful waves in the military base, as they went directly to their room. The room still felt oversized to Clark, despite seeing it for some time already. After eating, they arranged the new clothes that they bought before retiring to bed. Tomorrow, they’ll officially resume work as soldiers. … The captain of the python military division sat in his office, as he carefully read the report that he received. “Clark and his 2 companions were ambushed by high-grade soldiers? Hmm!! Probably those from the terrorist base they sabotaged,” he casually commented. “But this Clark is really something, he withstood the full attack offensive of a 2nd rank high-grade soldier paired with a 1st rank high-grade soldier for about 10 minutes. That’s impressive”. “Well, just prove yourself first in the army before you receive a promotion. There are no short-cuts,” he muttered with a chuckle. … After the unexpected interference of Clark’s car, the terrorist commander finally escaped, but his escape was mainly due to his experience and his strong will to survive. Luckily, his armor was of a higher grade than those of his subordinates, which saved his life. But despite that, he tried as the force alone from the bullet was enough to make others on the same armor, he had foolish or even crazy by disorienting their brain. If you doubt, you can try it by allowing someone to only slap both your ears with force. If you have the guts to try that, then you’ll know the difference between 6 and half a dozen. It was mostly due to his physique as a 2nd rank high-grade soldier that helped him pull through. His new subordinate that was killed, well, what could he say? He was the unluckiest of them all. What made him breathe a sigh of relief, was that Clark and his friends forgot to loot the fallen soldier. He spent about 80% of his savings over the years, to purchase the stash of bullets for the soldier’s battle art alone to get revenge. Soldiers hardly keep savings, because of their need to get new and better equipment. He would have felt the urge to commit suicide if the bullets were looted, fortunately, they forgot. Perhaps, if he knew that it was because Clark fainted, he would have been thanking his god by now. Having revenge? In his opinion, that is already a past tense in his dictionary. He didn’t have the guts to confront that insane car again. If you can’t kill it, live with it, this was now his watchword.