Chapter 235: reunion and planning

When Clark and Dickson entered the shelter, they were quickly submerged in a barrage of passionate hugs.

Despite being soldiers, these Spartans and Dalands could not help themselves on seeing their 2 leaders who sacrificed a lot for them to escape.

Dickson was almost tripped over due to his prosthetic leg, but his subordinates quickly stabilized him after they noticed it.

Both leaders stood rooted on the spot as the front of the shelter suddenly became the stage of an emotional reunion. Though they never spoke about it, Clark and Dickson were always worried about the safety of their subordinates.

After they finally got confirmation of their safety, they indulged themselves in this sweet feeling. They didn’t want this moment to end at all.

The others in the shelter sat, looking rigidly at this public display of affection. Jason and his mercenary subordinates felt it more, as they stood awkwardly at the side.

After the group reunion ended, to the dismay of the onlookers, this was not the end. Dickson and Clark started their personal reunion with their second in command.

Diana and Benny smiled brightly as they went forward for a personal hug with their Major.

Seeing Dickson’s prosthetic leg and the bandages still in some parts of his body, Anna did not know when she started crying.

She dove into his outstretched arms while sobbing, as they remained in this posture for an indeterminate time. Dickson felt peace again on feeling the familiar figure resting in his chest.

When they finally separated, they saw that the others were already waiting for them, so they went inside the shelter.

Though the allied soldiers did not have the space to carry all their supplies, they still carried all their money, so they were able to hire a large side compartment for themselves in the shelter.

As they all left, Dickson suddenly remembered something. He quickly turned around with his hand still wrapped around his fiancée, before speaking.

“Jason, sorry for the wait. I didn’t forget you guys, wait for me, I will come back to meet you. You are now my buddy, I didn’t lie”.

“Invisible sir, take your time. I can wait”. Jason answered humbly.

“Stop calling me that ridiculous title, call me Dickson”.

Dickson smiled on seeing the dazed look on the mercenary’s face, as he finally stepped away with the help of his fiancée.

…

Entering the side compartment, contrary to what would have been expected in such a situation, the allied soldiers did not engage in any celebration to commemorate their survival.

Honoring the dead was the priority of them as soldiers. Their dead comrades were already gone and can never come back, but they would give them the respect that was due.

The large room was already set for the 2 leaders, as Clark and Dickson solemnly climbed the elevated platform where 22 flowers were laid down in a row. These represented the casualties of the escape battle.

Though they escaped in the end, it was from the sacrifice of these 22 brave souls that they could still breathe the fresh air of the Everest. No war was without casualties, but they still felt bad.

After climbing the podium, Clark turned to look at Dickson. After getting his nod of acknowledgment, he took the stage and gave the speech to honor the dead soldiers.

Though this was something that he was already versatile on, Clark still got carried away by his emotions. Just like the other soldiers, the death of so many comrades deeply affected him.

After a deep emotional session, the honoring of the dead tradition was finally done. Clark ended his speech on a strong note.

“I feel crushed about the death of our comrades, but I believe that no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we will always come back stronger”.

With that, the flowers were finally taken out to be buried.

After getting back, when the soldiers inquired about the next plan, Clark smiled at them before telling them that today was a holiday for them. They were taking today as a day to rest from all the stress of the mission.

As the soldiers left contentedly to do their own thing, Clark located a corner in the large side compartment to speak with his 2 seconds in commands.

Diana and Benny eagerly went with him to the side, they brought a first aid box along. Though they had a lot of things to catch up on, attending to his injuries was paramount.

Only the outrageous physique of 2nd rank high-grade soldiers enabled him and Dickson to survive, their injuries were pretty serious and numerous.

Clark leaned against the chair as he let Diana attend to his injuries. Benny sat at the side as he now acted as her medical assistant, giving her any tool that she asked for.

As this went on, they finally started their conversation.

“Please, Clark, tell us your encounters after you guys escaped”. Diana asked.

“No, you first”. Clark replied while smiling.

“I knew you would say that, ok”. Diana pouted cutely to Clark’s surprise, but she didn’t make a fuss over it. She started describing the procedure of their escape to Clark.

After 30 minutes of description when her mouth was already dry and she already ended her first-aid session, her story finally came to an end. With the special medical injections that they escaped with; Clark felt a lot better.

“Wow, that was intense, you guys really tried”. Clark said with a smile.

“That’s the 5th time you are saying that already, is it that incredible? Well, never mind, it's now your turn”. Diana said with a brighter smile, Benny was already rubbing his hands in anticipation.

“Well, mine was more complicated but was less tense than yours”. Clark started while staring at the ceiling.

“No suspense, I didn’t leave you suspending”. Diana quickly protested.

“Ok, if you say so”.

It did not take long, only about 15 minutes before he finally finished narrating his encounters with Dickson for the past few days.

After listening to his story, Diana and Benny went silent as they tried to place themselves in his position. Though his story was straightforward, they knew that it was far more complicated than described.

They suddenly felt a little guilty for leaving him behind.

“Hey, guys, we already passed that level. If you guys did wrong, my tongue would have eaten you up already. Cheer up, this is already past tense to us”.

“Yeah, you’re right”. Benny finally smiled again. “What of Dickson, how is your perception of him after staying with him for so long?”

“Hmm…, that guy. For me, after so long together, I think he is someone that is mostly led by his emotions. He vents anytime that he’s frustrated, so it doesn’t take me hard to read his thoughts”.

“Personally, I think that he is a nice guy. He is funny, a reliable soldier and buddy, but the most dominant description for him is that he is a massive shit stirrer”.

“Those guys that we came with. You won’t believe it if I told you how we met them, this Dickson…”

Diana and Benny secretly held each other's hands on seeing their Clark back, they gave him their undivided attention.

As this went on, in another secluded corner of the side compartment, Dickson and Anna were together enjoying some fiancée time. She already attended to his injuries, so they spent their time talking about their experiences.

Surprisingly, Dickson gave his fiancée a unique gift.

Anna was shocked as she placed her hands on her bosom. “A ring? But you already gave me one when we engaged”.

Dickson smiled. “This is not an engagement ring; this is the ring that I originally bought for our marriage”.

“I want to give it to you in advance. When we crossed Mariana on our way here, I saw this on an online auction and I fell in love with it immediately, so I secretly bought it for you”.

“After getting so close to death, I discovered that holding it to myself is useless. Please, take some time to thank Clark for me. Without him, I would be dead already, I don’t know how to repay his kindness”.

Feeling his fluctuating emotions, Anna hugged her fiancée tightly. They spent the rest of their time huddled together in a passionate hug.

…

Hours later when it was already evening, Clark, Dickson, and their second in commands finally converged together for a leaders’ strategic meeting to decide their next course of action.

After setting a round mechanical table, they finally sat down in their various mechanical seats. After clearing his throat, Clark finally started speaking as the leader of the allied force.

“I don’t need to give any special name to this strategic meeting, as we all already know its significance. This is to know our next course of action, and to avoid mistakes in our route”.

“When I was still escaping with Dickson, I already came up with some plans, but I still want to hear from our second in commands first”.

“Benny, Diana, Anna, do you have any important report to make?”

After looking at the other’s faces, Diana finally answered. “Yes, Major, we have an important report”.

“During the time that we were waiting for your arrival, we were not idle. Every soldier was active, as we gave ourselves the mission of gathering sufficient information before you arrive”.

“We expected to get the general information, but surprisingly, we discovered a very vital information that may possibly lead us to a lot of progress in our mission”.

“We gathered information about a specific well-known figure here in the Himalayan peaks”.

“Let me guess, the king of demolition, right?” Seeing the way that she phrased this, Clark connected it and guessed.

As expected, he was right. Diana was visibly surprised that he already knew about the king of demolition. He quickly explained how he knew him to her before she continued.

“According to the information that we got, like his well-known name, he is like a king here. We learned that if we want to know of something important, he is the right person to meet”.

“Though we got this, we also learned that he is very rare to meet. This would have left us with little choice, but there is a rumor that he will be visiting the central shelter of this region in a week”.

“We don’t know if this information is correct, but that’s our best choice at meeting him, I think”.

“The central shelter is the widely acknowledged biggest shelter of this region”.

After listening to everything that was said, Clark fell silent. When he heard the story of this man, he already expected this, but still hearing from Diana’s mouth about his exalted status left him thinking.

He now really wanted to meet this man.

“Do you know why he is called the king of demolition?” Dickson suddenly asked.

“Well, we learned that he is a demolition expert”.

“A demolition expert?” Clark and Dickson were stunned. Though this was normal, getting well known for your demolition skills rather than your physical strength was weird in this era.

“He is a demolition expert, but some others said that he is a very strong soldier too. Most of the information about him is exaggerated nonsense, so I can’t really say”. Diana shrugged.

“Ok, I already decided”. Clark finally stood up.

“From tomorrow, finding the central shelter will be our main priority. We need to meet this guy, so we have to reach the shelter in at most 5 days from now, not a single day more”.

“Are there any objections?”

“No, Major”.

“Good, the meeting has come to a close. Diana, Benny, Anna, disclose the new objective to the soldiers”.

“Yes, Major”.

As they left to go, Clark motioned at Dickson to stay behind. He did not object, as he calmly sat down again.

After the others left, Clark opened his mouth to speak after hesitating a bit. “Dickson, about the mission target…”

Dickson sighed. “Don’t worry Clark, I already made up my mind. After all the help that you rendered to me and my squad, fighting with you over the mission target is foolishness on my part”.

“The main target is not the only mission target. There are other valuable targets, and I can vie for those, right?”

Clark suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. “Yes, you can, thanks for understanding”.

“No probs buddy”.

With that, the meeting officially came to a close.

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