Bill Tomas and Jordan Carter were in the watchtower again. Watch duty was their favorite assignment at Sector 25 High Security Prison. It meant they got to sit around and chat all day.

Jordan was a quiet guy who hadn't had much of a life before the war began. Then he'd lost his family to pneumonia and had to enlist for the Operative Program to survive in the state of C3. On the other hand, Bill was the kind of guy who couldn't go two seconds without talking about something.

"So it was about these two friends who are stuck in a dungeon." Bill's favourite subject of discussion was pre-war television shows. "The first guy–he is a big talker. The other is just a quiet, shy guy."

"Mmhmm." Jordan nodded as he gazed over the giant floodlight, looking down at vast empty road with no other buildings in the vicinity.

"What they both have in common is that none of 'em have much going for them. Plus, their captors crippled them so they can't even plan on breaking out," Bill said. "So, they aren't really afraid of death either. And they don't mind spending the rest of their lives in the dungeon. Just quietly rotting away together."

"That's sad."

"Yeah, but here's the twist! When they both start to talk to each other, they have fun. Even in the dungeon. Even with both their legs broken. And that was the entire mini-series. Just two people talking."

"Sounds boring, Bill," Jordan said. "How could someone enjoy that life?"

"That's what it was about, Jord," Bill said. "Life. You live long enough you get used to pretty much anything. And heck, you even start to have fun after a point."

Jordan just nodded, idly rubbing the muzzle of his automatic assault rifle. He eyed the tall electric poles with lifeless wires weaving back and forth. He remembered a distant memory of birds perched on these lines. It felt like a dream now.

Then he said to his friend: "I love watch duty, Bill. This operative business is very boring. Hardly anything happens. And Sector 25 is pretty much like the rest of C3. Most of it is hollow as a corpse. Sitting here and just hearing you talk is really the best thing about my life. Thanks for sticking with me."

Bill paused. Even though this wasn't the first time Jordan had gone on an emotional tirade like this, Bill still hadn't gotten used to expecting it. So he just said, "Y-Your welcome, Jord."

Jordan smiled at his friend and just nodded.

Neither of them were really paying attention to the armored truck that was approaching the prison.

###

Garth Perkins was in his late forties and had a bad back. The condition should've taken him off his job as a senior warden, but the fact that Sector 25 HSP didn't get a lot of action helped him keep trucking along just fine. His days were so dull he might've been sorting letters at a post office for all he knew.

Garth was at the water cooler in the cafeteria when another fellow guard and operative slapped him on the back. It was the new recruit, Hal.

"Guess what?" Hal said, oozing with excitement. "I'm gonna propose to Macie."

Garth was first struck by surprise and then with sheer joy. He turned to the rest of the cafeteria and clapped his hands loudly, getting the attention of the other operatives. "Oi, listen everyone! Our boy Hal is finally gonna propose to his sweetheart, Macie! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" The operatives burst into applause.

Hal blushed, smiling sheepishly at the old man

"Hey, stop getting bashful! It's a big day!" Garth nudged the boy before leaning in close. "Now let's get down to business. Did you get her a ring?"

He nodded. He pulled out a small diamond ring from his back pocket. He held it in front of Garth. "I went scavenging especially looking for this. Found it on a corpse." He said. "I disinfected it well. Hope it won't be a problem?"

"Hey, Macie is a great girl! She won't care. You two make a great pair." He clapped Hal on the shoulder.

"It's all thanks to you, sir," Hal said, his face completely solemn. "If you hadn't encouraged me to go talk to her and get to know her better, we wouldn't have begun dating now. So–"

"Okay, don't get mushy on me now, kiddo. I told you what any man who's ever been in love will tell you," he said. "You can't keep something like love bottled up. That's what turns the heart to a stone."

Hal smiled softly at the older man. "Your wife was the luckiest woman for sure, sir."

Garth chuckled. "Of course she was," He said, nudging Hal again. "Now go and make Macie a lucky girl too. You owe it to her."

Hal was about to leave and go look for Macie when the emergency alarms went off. "All operatives are being alerted to keep their weapons ready," a voice boomed on the intercoms throughout the prison. "This is not a drill. The prison gates have been breached. I repeat. This is not a drill. The prison gates have been breached."

###

The jet black armored truck sauntered right through the blasted reinforced steel gates of the prison. The rifles on the watch tower started to fire down at the vehicle.

Jordan and Tomas were aiming for the tyres. But it wasn't working. The tyres were protected by some sort of flexible metal that made the bullets bounce right off.

"What the heck is that thing even made of?!" Jordan snapped as he kept firing at the vehicle.

"Hell if I knew," Bill said. "Even the damn windows are covered by some kinda metal."

The truck wheeled into the paved front yard of the prison and suddenly came to a halt. A big white and red fist was painted along the length of the truck on one side. And big bold letters of the same colors were printed on to the other. They read: THE LAST HAND.

The vehicle stood still as a mountain in the storm of bullets. The operatives were only managing to scratch the surface of the truck, scraping the paint.

"Damn it!" Bill hissed. "We are gonna run out of ammo at this rate."

"Where the heck is the back up?!"

"Where the heck are the big guns?!"

The truck idled around in the front yard, casually taking bullets. Then within a flash, two missiles flew in at the two watch towers at once. The explosion left no room to escape for the people in the tower. Everything went up in a mass of flaming metal, engulfed in smoke.

No one dared to come out of the entrance to take shots at the armored truck. The smoke kept clouding the front yard.

The vehicle didn't have much problem moving ahead though. The missile launcher on the truck's roof took aim again. Another explosion. Brick and mortar blew up in pieces, raising a curtain of dust. And when the dust cleared up, a crater was punched into the first floor wall of the main building of the prison.

Then the armored vehicle honked twice. A firetruck entered through the blasted front gate and made its way to the building. The firetruck engaged the rescue ladder, stretching it upwards until the basket harness was up against the hole in the first floor wall.

Two silhouettes in kevlar suits jumped in through the shattered opening to the first floor.

###

The operatives on the first floor had already taken cover with their guns. Most of them only had handguns. The first floor was just the cafeteria, library, control room and the kitchens.

They saw one of the two people in kevlar suits was a man, standing around six feet tall and he was wearing an operative's kevlar gear. The nametag on his vest was "Marllowe". The second kevlar-clad intruder was much shorter and almost petite in her armor. It was a girl.

The man and the girl didn't miss a beat to go offensive as soon as they set foot into the first floor. The girl fired off three flares in succession, filling the corridor with red smoke.

The man rolled off a hand grenade into the gale of smoke.

Bam!

Operatives were tossed up against the wall and into the ceilings in the explosion. None of them had had a chance to even lift a finger against the intruders.

The man and the girl sauntered carefully into the cloud of smoke, their rifles at ready. The operatives lying injured in the hallway were too passive to do anything against the two.

The two intruders kept walking. As they were passing by the cafeteria, bullets flew at them. The girl was quick to react but one of the projectiles grazed her arm, making her wince under her helmet.

The man fired right back into the cafeteria, covering up for his injured comrade. There was a scream. He'd managed to clip someone.

It was a young man in his early twenties. The name tag on his uniform read: Hal O'Connor.

Hal lay wincing and groaning on the floor gripping his injured thigh. The girl stormed up to him and stomped down on his stomach, making him scream.

"How's your shoulder?" Marllowe asked her.

She shrugged. "Not too bad."

Marllowe nodded. He grabbed the operative named Hal by his hair. "Where are the keys to the control room?!" he snapped.

Hal cried out in pain.

"Tell him what he wants to know or I'll stomp your guts again!" the girl growled.

Hal just kept hissing and crying in pain.

"Stop!" another man yelled. He stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, aiming his handgun at the two. He was trying to glare at the intruders but his expression looked like something laced with more pain than fury. His other hand was behind his back. The two intruders weren't sure if he was hiding a weapon there. "I have the keys to the control room." His name tag read: Garth Perkins.

###

Macie Bell was in the watchtower by the south western perimeter, she had seen the truck destroy the towers at the front in a minute. She clutched her rifle to her chest, her heart thundering against her ribs. Sweat broke out on her forehead under her mask.

She'd only ever been an operative for the entirety of six months. In those months she'd never felt this...this fear for her life. The kind of fear that one would've felt when a speeding truck was headed their way. The kind of fear that made one wonder if they'd kissed their family goodbye before stepping out of the house.

Macie had already lost her family. So the only person whose face came to her mind was Hal O'Connor's. The man she'd fallen in love with less than five months ago.

Then she remembered, she'd never really told Hal that she loved him. They'd been together. They lived together and they'd slept together. But Macie had always refrained from saying those three words.

"I don't want to say it and disrespect you by not meaning it," she'd said to Hal one night as they lay together in his apartment bedroom. "I want it to be true when I say it."

Hal, because he was Hal hadn't pushed her. He'd just held her in his arms and kissed her forehead. "I wouldn't want it any other way," he'd said in his calm and soothing voice.

Now crouching by herself in the watchtower, she was afraid that she'd made him wait too long. And that she would never get the chance to let him know.

With her breath choking her throat, she leaned up to peer out at the truck. The vehicle had engaged its machine guns now. She couldn't see all of it, but she guessed that it was attacking the operatives that might've taken cover at the front entrance of the prison building.

She hoped Hal wasn't one of them. She hoped that he would look out for himself and not try to come out to her rescue.

###

"I'll give you the keys!" the operative named Garth Perkins said, holding up the keycard. "Only if you promise to let go of the kid."

The girl in the helmet was still gripping a a bunch of Hal's hair. She pressed the warm muzzle of her rifle against his temple, making him hiss in pain. "Give the key now or I blow his fucking brains out."

They could see the old man swallowing hard, his shivering fingers gripped the keycard tighter. Marllowe pointed his rifle at Garth Perkins. "It's adorable that you think you are in any position to negotiate, old man."

"Look, you take me down, there are still at least six others in this hallway who will come here to fill your face with lead," Garth said. "At least two dozen more operatives are probably on their way here from downstairs. You really want this to turn so ugly?"

"You want me to shoot your friend?" The girl pressed the muzzle harder in Hal's temple.

Garth grit his teeth under his mask.

"I'll give you a better deal, grandpa," Marllowe said. "My friend will spare your friend if you follow our instructions and do exactly what we say."

"It's in your best interest to comply," the girl said. "Our artillery outside can turn this entire building into a pile of rubble if we want. And you guys would barely be able to scratch that thing with your little rifles. Listen to us and your friends in uniforms survive. You kill us now and everyone dies."

###

"Please don't die, Hal." Macie kept mumbling to herself in the watchtower, eyes shut tight. "Please don't do something stupid. There's something very important I have to tell you. Please don't die."