Injustice Dies In Daylight: The Complete Saga

Ashes to Ashes

Roxanne looked around to see bodies of her fellow soldiers littering the ground. The assignment had taken a drastic turn.
She held on to her Bowie,determined to survive. She was told to capture the target,but there was no chance of that happening now.
She saw the body armored soldiers sweeping and checking bodies.
It wouldn't be long before they reached her.
They finally did reach her,and unfortunately they recognized her.
"If it isn't the great Lieutenant Phoenix! Looks like your luck has finally run out,huh kid?"
He raised his gun,ready to plant a bullet in her skull.
Something inside her finally snapped.
The will to survive breaking through any fear.
Her hand swung up stabbing the soldier in the side of the throat causing him to drop the gun.
She grabbed it before his partner could react. She shot him with frightening accuracy.
Now all she cared about was the target. She wandered up hallways searching,eventually finding him trying to clear his office.
She raised the gun to the level of his head,blood dripping down every inch of her clothing.
He looked petrified.
"Please! I'll go with you just spare me!"
"Where is Ashkan." Her voice had become like steel,cold and solid.
"Still in Iran,in Elnaz,please just let me live!"
Without another word,Banshee pulled the trigger.
She knew she'd have to report it,and might get an earful about how they wanted him alive.
But she could care less about whatever the US or any other country had to say about it.
Something felt different.
It felt good to put an end to that sick individual,that terrorist.
She wanted to do it to Ashkan.
He would suffer for his crimes,and she wanted to be there to see it.
Evil individuals would be destroyed by her hand,even if she was killed on the mission.
Murder was wrong,but killing to pay for their crimes wasn't,right?
People who murdered innocents every day deserved to die for it.
A life for countless lives.

Aaron and George watched Roxanne's attitude change day by day,slowly becoming less like the loving person they once knew.
And more like an emotionless robot designed to crush anything that she was told to.
Even Veronica had said she was exhibiting strange behavior ever since she killed Ashkan. Becoming obsessed with a personal mission to destroy terror and fear in the modern world.
It scared them.
What could've made her this way?
Veronica said it was because she was forced to see less and less worth in human life out on the field.
George thought it was because she was closing herself off to avoid similar trauma as when she was taken by the Venatores.
Aaron thought it was because she was forced to take lives every day.
Perhaps it was a combination of all three.
No matter what the reason,it seemed Roxanne was becoming less and less human.
Dry interactions with her friends,avoiding fun activities,or just avoiding people in general.
She spent more and more time locking herself in her room,claiming she was trying to locate the Venatores.
If she really was looking for them,many hoped she wouldn't find them.
They knew she wanted to do to them,what she had done to many others who made her suffer.

"Roxanne,Robert and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with us down at Brews for a little bit."
"I can't I'm busy."
"Hey you wanna join me and Helen down at the shops?"
"Sorry,I've got some things to work on."
"I miss when we walked together on the docks. Won't you join me doing it again?"
"Maybe later."
Tunnel vision had consumed her.
She couldn't see what she was doing to her friends.
Over time they asked less and less,and she barely noticed.
She was shutting out the world,and the people that mattered in the process.

She sat watching the warehouse,alone. She had become accustomed to working without anyone else,it was what she did now.
She waited for any enemy movement,any sign of anything that showed they were there.
A shadow crossed the window.
She moved in closer,seeing everything from the roof skylight.
There they were,all three of the Venatores in one place.
She made sure no one else was around,as she opened the skylight to surprise them.

Veronica sat in her room, she didn't know where her best friend was. She worried greatly for her. She kneeled by her bedside.
"Dear God,keep her safe wherever she is."

Roxanne took a hard punch from Rigel and dodged to the left.

George sat at his window with his head low.
"Oh Lord,keep her out of harms way."

She threw a solid hit into Fowler,knocking him away.

Aaron sat in a pew in the empty church.
"Oh God,I'm not a praying man,but something's wrong with Roxanne. Please God help her."

Another blow landed,this time to Victor.

Helen sat in the greenhouse,praying quietly next to her sister.
"Lord,you know all things,we pray for her soul."

As she dealt another blow to Victor,a metal pole was swung into the side of her head. The Venatores got away.
She finally got to her feet. Head spinning as she leaned against a wall.

Veronica rose from her spot,climbing into bed.

I failed. All that time,and I failed. Anguish consumed her once again.

George raised his head to view the night sky through the window.

A tear dripped down her snarling face.

Aaron left the church and headed back to the base.

What am I doing?

Helen paced the path back to the Delta Barracks.

All this time I've wasted,I'm losing everything.

Heather decided to stay at the greenhouse a little longer.

I lost everything,all because of me,it's my fault. Now here I am,beaten and alone.
I have to make it right.
Will they be able to forgive me?
All alone,in that dark warehouse,she screamed out in anguish.
Every pent up emotion was let out,where no one could hear or see.
She allowed herself to fall apart.
No one could see how miserable and broken she really was.
For too long she'd tried to shut the emotions up.
To be what she wanted others to perceive her as.
A strong soldier who could do as she was told no matter what.
But right now,she didn't have to be that way.
She finally could let it out.
"Take care of the people you love."
The words of her father echoed through her mind.