Rex finally stirred after he felt someone prodding him.

"Come on, Boss." Vulture said to himself as he jabbed Rex once more. The fear he felt was unreal. As he'd made his way over to the first team caught by the explosion, he'd heard another bomb go off inside the building. It hadn't taken much to work out that the soldiers he'd been riding with were probably all dead now. If Boss was dead too, he was just running out of there and saving himself, ignoring the mission.

"Ugh." Rex moaned as he moved his head a bit. Vulture let out a relieved sigh as he knelt beside Rex.

"Thank God!" He exclaimed as he helped Rex to sit up.

"What the fuck happened?" Rex snapped, taking a look round at the three lifeless bodies in front of him. He'd stayed at the back of the group, watching out for any movement as they tried to get into the building. He'd had his back to the other three as the door opened and the bomb exploded, throwing him a few feet away from them.

"Tripwire, sir, and a shit ton of C4." Vulture said as he took another glance over the three bodies. With masks on, he was unable to tell who they were. Were they the ones he got on with or hated? Were they the ones with family? "Another bomb went off inside the building as soon as I came round to check on you." Rex stood up, wobbly at first, and tried to speak through his radio.

"Base, this is Rex, do you copy?" Crackling answered him. The explosion must have killed the radio. He couldn't communicate with his colleagues or Millie. Once again, he was alone in his mission.

"Vulture, order everyone to retreat." Rex ordered as he took a step forwards, suddenly growling out in pain as he noticed the large gash on his stomach. He clutched it with one hand as he learnt against Vulture for support.

"I contacted Base, Sir. Everyone else is unresponsive. I think it's just us two." Rex stopped in his tracks as his breath caught in his throat. He'd failed. Big boss was a much better leader than he was, managing to rally the troops and come out of any mission with minimal losses. This was supposed to be level three mission, an easy one, and here Rex stood with only one survivor. He'd lost eight soldiers.

"Niko!" Rex shouted in frustration. "Fuck." Vulture helped carry him back to the truck, assisting him into the passenger seat before jumping in the drivers seat and speeding off, leaving the bodies of their comrades behind. Vulture undid his helmet and threw it off into the now empty space behind him that was once filled with soldiers. Rex followed suit, undoing his helmet and removing it.

"That was fucked up!" Vulture exclaimed as he sped back to base with adrenaline pumping.

"No, that was perfectly executed. Niko set this up to send us a message. Nothing was inside that warehouse." Rex said, his face and voice both emotionless as reality finally caught up with him. Blood seeped through his fingertips and dropped into his lap. He didn't even care. His first mission in charge and he'd screwed it up, got everyone killed.

"This is vulture to base. The warehouse was a trap. Only me and Rex have made it out and he's injured. We're heading back now." Vulture informed the people back at base before he fell silent, his eyes locked onto the road. After a while, he let out a chuckle. Rex looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What's funny?" Rex asked, concerned that the only remaining survivor may have lost his mind.

"Nothing. Not funny but I was just thinking. My career goal was to make it to the elite team. I trained my ass off in class, in the gym, testing myself for every situation. I was over the moon when I got the offer and it took six more months of training to make it to a level three mission. All that time and energy and I could have just been blown up in a warehouse." He let out another short, saddened laugh. "Most of them did. It was a fluke that I even survived."

Rex shifted uncomfortably. He hated heart to heart conversations. People wanted to open up to him and he didn't want them to, because knowing this would alter his perception of them - no longer could he be so cutthroat with his colleagues. They'd become another person he cared for and another he'd be sad to lose.

"That's not true. You chose to check on us and that good deed helped you." Rex said, feeling disgusted with himself for even continuing this conversation.

"No, Boss. Someone at base told me to go. A woman ordered my guy to tell me to check on you. I was just following orders." It didn't take a genius to work out that Millie was that woman. A small fluttering of happiness moved inside Rex, startling him as well as filling him with dread. Why was he letting himself get like this? Be the arsehole you said you were going to be.

"Well, either way I'm thankful. Let's just make sure we make it back to base and recalculate. This whole day was a fucking waste of time." Rex sighed heavily, once again remembering that even Millie had expressed her disapproval with this mission and yet he chose to ignore her and his gut and do the mission anyway. That was his first mistake. One small mistake had cost him eight lives. Being the boss was tough, how did Big Boss do it so easily and seem as if he wasn't carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders? He'd led the team into that level one mission with such ease, despite knowing they were probably all going to die and the mission would be failed. He always boosted morale, stuck up for people, was a shoulder for people to cry on as well as a boss. He showed no discrimination. It didn't matter that they were elite soldiers, if someone needed a heart to heart he was more than happy. He was who Rex aspired to be more like, however he could never shake the horrible feeling that hung on him like leeches to his skin. He got close to those soldiers and got them killed. The guilt and pain he'd felt was unrivalled. He never wanted to go through that again, and the easiest way to do that was to never love again.