Subchapter 1 1

All she could think about was, “How am I going to explain this to Mavros?”… 2

Upon the dawn’s early light of the next day there came a rapping at Mavros’ door. Of course, since it was only 5 a.m. there Mavros was already up and ready for the coming day’s work. Just another casual day for Mavros; 100 push-ups before breakfast, a quick 20 minute hot meal, 100 sit-ups before the day’s five mile hike, and along the way various pit stops had been made for excessive workouts such as jumping jacks and more push-ups and sit ups. When Mavros was finished with all of this work it would only be 9:30 or earlier. That all depended on how fast he was running and how strongly he felt before he even got out of bed. 3

However, this was not just another ordinary day, for it wasn’t his instructor that was rapping on his door, it was Pyrock, General of the LWA organization. At first Mavros was surprised to see the General himself present on the doorstep of his father’s house. After the shock quickly wore off he asked the General in to join him for breakfast and perhaps a quick workout. The General kindly refused. “Is your mother home Mavros? I have some important business to discuss with her.” the General kindly persuaded. “She’s in the kitchen making our breakfast. If you don’t mind waiting for a sec I’ll go get her.” Mavros motioned. 4

The General kindly waited for Mavros to go get his mother. After a short time Mavros reappeared at the door without his mother. “Where is your mother Mavros?” the General kindly asked impatiently. “She’s in the kitchen still. She asked me to come back and bring you in to see her since she is rather busy at the moment” Mavros quickly replied. He led the General into his house through the hallways to the kitchen where Alaura was hunched over the stove cooking some eggs and bacon. 5

“Do you have a moment Alaura? I have some very important and alarming news to tell you.” the General said as best he could without changing his voice to give away what he had to say. Alaura turned to Pyrock and looked him in the eyes. “I know what you have to say. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come down here personally and hand me your condolences. I ask that you save them though. I won’t weep or cry a tear for that man. He may be my husband, but he chose this line of work knowing the risks involved. I married him knowing the risks involved as well. So I can’t say that I don’t agree with his actions. He always did what he had to. It’s a shame that he had to give his life for it.” Alaura spoke with a soft voice. 6

“That’s just it Alaura, your husband may still be alive. Our intelligence officers have been picking up transmissions from the bug we implant on our agents before they are deployed for their missions. To simply state it, if your husbands heart stops beating, then the bug we implanted would stop signaling. Therefore we can only draw the conclusion that he is still alive but being held captive somewhere. I have had my men searching day and night for the location of the bug’s signal. We haven’t been able to come up with anything. I’ll keep you posted as time grows long.” General Pyrock said with enthusiasm. 7

Alaura turned to him with heavy eyes and asked, “What will you do when you find him?” General Pyrock hadn’t quite figured that part out yet but quickly answered, “We’ll do what we always do when one of our men is in trouble. We’ll send in a two-man team of trained agents and bring your husband home.” Alaura almost didn’t believe him. As hard as she tried and as much as she wanted to she knew that if Sentinel had been captured that this would be no ordinary extraction mission. There would be more to this than anybody could possibly think of or prepare for. 8

Subchapter 2

9

While Pyrock was heading to the kitchen to speak with Alaura, Mavros headed back to the front door to close it. He found that his teacher had come to the front door and paused on the stairway. “Were you expecting me or did somebody else come in before me?” he asked leaning against the doorway with one arm. General Pyrock had just come in to visit, but Mavros didn’t feel like telling him who had come. 10

Iccoris, Mavros’ instructor, had a feud with General Pyrock back in the early days of the LWA. They were both undercover agents and Pyrock hadn’t hit the rank of General yet. Both of these men were top notch in their class. The superiors could not decide who would be named the top agent and so they put them to the test. 11

The testing and determining match was a ring of fire weapons match (row match) in which there would be a circle of gas surrounding the two agents and upon start it would ignite. The only way to reach a weapon was to jump through or over the fire and sprint to the wall. The weapons were on loose latches that just stuck out and didn’t really clamp them on. The throwing stars, however, had been placed onto nails and the only way to get them off was to struggle, which wasn’t very time efficient. 12

Pyrock and Iccoris were placed into the circle of gasoline and told about the rules. “The first man to give up or die is the loser. There can be no ties in this match. If neither of you will surrender than the match will continue. You will get no breaks or food or water until the match is over. Now gentlemen, stand ready and may the best man win.” the officials explained. 13

The gong sounded and the torches were lowered to ignite the fuel. Two blazing lines of fire ran around in a semi circle and connected together forming the ring of fire. Both Pyrock and Iccoris had never seen such a ring or heard of one since they had been with the organization. The flame wasn’t of red or orange color. They were running around blue and white. It was amazing and hypnotic to both of them. 14

After getting over the flames strange color both Pyrock and Iccoris became alert and deadly at the same time. Pyrock engaged Iccoris with a full frontal attack. Iccoris had other plans however. He spun around with a roundhouse kick that threw Pyrock off guard and front flipped over the fire. Pyrock did a back flip and landed in a crouched position keeping his eye on Iccoris. Iccoris proceeded to the wall of weapons and decided the struggle with the throwing stars would be well worth the sacrificed time. He carefully undid all five of them and stuck them in his pockets. He wanted it to seem that he only grabbed one weapon from the wall. Quickly choosing his second weapon of choice, Iccoris grabbed a katana and spun around as fast as he could slicing it through the air just in case Pyrock had been trying to sneak up on him. 15

Pyrock had indeed taken Iccoris’ route of action and leapt over the tall wall of flames. He too had grabbed the five ninja stars off the nails and stuck them in his pocket. He had done it much fast than Iccoris though and was already standing in the middle of the ring waiting for Iccoris with a spear. Pyrock figured he could use the length of the weapon to his advantage on defense and the tip of the spear as a sword for offense. That made for virtually the best weapon combination possible. But he hadn’t accounted on the sharpness of Iccoris’ katana. 16

Iccoris saw Pyrock’s vague look as a challenge. He began to feel his rage surge high and his anger began to get the best of him. With his rage and hatred full blown, Iccoris walked through the fire slowly as his clothes began to burn around him. Pyrock was shocked by Iccoris’ bold move. He stood utterly stunned in the center of the ring as Iccoris slowly closed the gap between him and the number one rank in the agency. 17

Pyrock quickly regained his consciousness and secretly grasped one of the five ninja stars in his pocket. As Iccoris slowly drew closer, he reached into his pocket and grasped a throwing star as well. With his hand still on the sword he began to run toward Pyrock in attempt to complete a drive-by slice. The purpose of this technique is to catch your opponent off guard and slice through his stomach, neck, or spine. 18

Before Iccoris could get close enough Pyrock drew his star and threw it. Iccoris shifted the blade of his katana and knocked the star off course. In doing so, Iccoris was unable to complete his technique and was forced to throw his own star. Pyrock stood stunned and amazed that Iccoris too had a throwing star. He quickly came to and flung his spear’s handle in front of him and caught the star by the wood. 19

Iccoris looked disappointed at a very pleased Pyrock. Pyrock dismantled the star and cast it aside. He set his sight back on Iccoris who had now grabbed all four ninja throwing stars in his pocket and held them in his hand. “Block this.” Iccoris spoke provokingly as he threw all four stars at once at Pyrock. 20

Pyrock, not missing a beat, spun his spear into circles in front of him and caught all four stars on the wooden handle. It was a rare spectacle indeed. Pyrock quickly dismantled all of the stars and cast them aside into the fire as well. “My patience with you is wearing thing Iccoris. We are both here for a reason. We are here to show our superiors who the best of us is. Now stop fooling around with those stupid cheap metal blades and use that damn sword in your hand. Show us your true potential damn it!” Pyrock screamed. 21

Iccoris seemed to contemplate those words, as he stood motionless and lifeless for a moment. Coming too quickly, Iccoris stared down at his sword and then charged at Pyrock. “Here I come Pyrock. Pre-PARE YOURSELF!” Iccoris screamed with hatred. Pyrock had never seen such intensity come from his adversary. He knew this wouldn’t be easy. 22

Iccoris quickly slashed downward at Pyrock, whom blocked with his spear. The spear had been sliced in half. Pyrock couldn’t believe it. He now had to defend himself with a stick in one hand and a small dagger like weapon in his other. “Screw this” Pyrock spoke as he threw the spear’s severed parts into the fire, and leapt over the flames to the wall. Iccoris followed in attempt to keep him from attaining any more weapons. 23

Seeing Iccoris hot on his trail, Pyrock quickly spun around and threw two more of his ninja stars. They seemed to move out of the way of Iccoris as he kept charging and they whizzed right by his head missing him by inches. Pyrock had two more chances to throw off Iccoris or divert him for just a moment. Time long enough for him to attain a weapon. He spun around one last time and threw both stars in a fluent motion and then kept running not watching to see whether or not he had hit Iccoris or not. 24

Iccoris had indeed been hit by both of the stars. One of the stars lodged into his right arm and the second nuzzled itself into the left side of his stomach. It temporarily slowed him down but he wasn’t giving up that easy. Pyrock had made enough time for him to grab an axe and spin around to dodge Iccoris’ cross slice attack. He threw Iccoris back with sheer might. Iccoris landed in the fires and began to burn the rest of his clothes off. As he stumbled to get up he ripped the stars out of his body. 25

Pyrock had already come back with a follow up attack. Seeing this, Iccoris quickly dropped again and kicked Pyrock’s legs, forcing him to fall to the ground with such power and force that he broke his nose, left arm, and dislocated his right shoulder. He was in so much pain but he didn’t give up. Iccoris almost couldn’t get up again. He had almost no energy left in him. But he too wasn’t going to give up. 26

Pyrock rolled to his back and stood himself up. He searched around for something to quickly end this match. He saw Iccoris’ katana lying at his feet. “What good is that thing going to do when I can’t move either of my arms?” Pyrock thought. Quickly thinking, Pyrock quickly decided to try and get up. He crossed his legs and the rolled onto his knees. Using rising force he flung himself to his feet. He could barely stand. 27

Pyrock had only one chance to finish this. He bent down and picked up the katana painfully with his left hand since his right hand wouldn’t move at all. He used the sword as a cane until he reached Iccoris. Pyrock claimed victory as he dropped the sword down next to Iccoris’ neck and the superiors proclaimed “Death!”. 28

Iccoris remembered that day all too well to this day. Mavros didn’t wish to tell him that General Pyrock was in the kitchen for that very reason. He thought that it might spark a trigger in his mind and force him to attack Pyrock again. Therefore he proceeded, “A friend of my mothers came over just now. They’re in the kitchen discussing a get-together. 29

Iccoris seemed satisfied with this answer. However what came next wasn’t expected. “Well I’d like to meet your mother’s friend. Would you mind if I joined you for breakfast this morning?” Iccoris asked. Mavros was almost certain he’d be dead if Iccoris found out he had lied to him. Quickly thinking Mavros deterred him to the living room. “Come on, we haven’t got the time. We have a strict schedule that doesn’t allow for mindless squandering.” Mavros insisted. 30

At first Iccoris wasn’t sure what to make of Mavros’ sudden interest in his morning routine. Usually he dreads doing his daily workouts. However, Mavros did have a valid point. His morning schedule didn’t allow much slack. Their conversation at the door was just about as much time as what was allowed to be wasted in a normal day. 31

Pyrock began to exit the kitchen and head for the door when Alaura stopped him. “You won’t really do anything will you?” she asked in a half crying voice. Pyrock turned around and answered, “We don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with yet, or whom for that matter. Until we’re absolutely certain we can’t make any moves.” That wasn’t the answer Alaura expected, but it was also the answer she thought of. “Thank you.” she replied. 32

Pyrock again turned toward the door and began his final stroll to leave not knowing what was in the living room. He marched through the hallways and came out at the end near the front door. As he was leaving something, or should I say someone, caught his eye. It was Iccoris. 33

Pyrock stopped in astonishment and stared. Iccoris did the same. He couldn’t believe Pyrock had been in the house, or alive for that matter. He quickly overcame himself and continued what he was doing. His expression had changed however. It was no longer an expression of usual everyday joy. It was more or less an expression of anger. 34

Pyrock quickly overcame himself too and continued walking out the door. Before he reached the car, Alaura came running out to wish him well and to tell him good-bye. It would probably be the last time she would see him for quite awhile. She thought he would just call with news occasionally and visit scarcely, which he did anyway. 35

As she proceeded to walk back inside she stopped in the doorway and peered over at Mavros. He was busy doing his 100 push-ups before breakfast. She couldn’t help but think that he would be just like his father. He would grow up and join that awful organization and possibly never come home one night such as his father. She began to worry more and more as time went on. 36

Mavros walked in and sat down at the table with bacon and eggs already on his plate. Iccoris had already left to the first checkpoint, (and to grab a bite to eat at the fast-food restaurant down the road). Mavros had twenty minutes to eat, stretch, and begin running before Iccoris would call. If he was still at the house when he called he would get double the amount of work and twice the amount of workouts for the week. 37

As Mavros finished eating he stepped outside to stretch and begin his run as he usually does. He still hadn’t learned of his father missing yet since his father was always gone before he got up in the mornings. He began to run down the street and toward his first checkpoint. As usual he waited until he heard the phone ring before he started running just for kicks. 38

He came to the first checkpoint where Iccoris was waiting and stopped moving but kept jogging. “What would you like me to do here?” he asked. “I want you to drop and give me thirty-three push-ups, thirty-three sit-ups, and then thirty-three squats” Iccoris replied. “When you’re finished you can get up and do fifty jumping jacks.” he added. “Then you can run for the second checkpoint.” he added again. 39

Since Mavros had done this all day every day he was pretty much able to do all of this in less than three minutes. So he dropped to the ground, assumed push-up position, and began doing his thirty-three push-ups. He counted them off as he completed each one successfully. He then rolled over and assumed the sit-up position and counted them off and the same for the squats and jumping jacks. 40

He then began jogging and then running toward his second checkpoint. He had three every day that he had to go through. The second checkpoint was about one and a quarter miles from the first. All three checkpoints were one and a quarter miles apart. The course was a U shape. It started at his house, down the street to the park where checkpoint one was located, past that into town by the baseball field where checkpoint two was located, then a turn-around back to the other side of the park where checkpoint three was located, and then back down his street to his house. 41

When he returned to his house he was allowed another twenty minutes to eat lunch, go to the bathroom, and gather his weapons for training. His weapons training included swords of various types, throwing knives and stars, staffs, nun chucks, and other various weapon varieties. 42

He would then receive hand-to-hand combat training when that was finished with. That training consisted of hand-to-hand, hand against weapon, and more than one opponent fighting. He was taught every skill of hand-to-hand combat including aikido, karate, kung fu, ju-jitsu, Tai kwon do, and other dangerous arts. He was even taught the rare art of the ninja. The ability of stealth. 43

After a long day of working out and just plain working he would go home for brunch and then rest up for the following day’s events. It was a practical routine he had followed for years. But he won’t be following it when he is told what happened to his father and who was responsible for this situation…44