PAINT MY GOODBYE RED
Prologue: Conflict

"It's done! Go, Big Bro!"

"Yeah! Leave this place and live!"

I nodded with tear-filled eyes as I stared at each of them for the last time. My underlings. My men. My brothers. Even though I look and sound like a child untransformed, they still respected me, my experience and my authority. I always kept them close to me, made sure the hierarchy in my unit was flat. Hence, they call me "Big Bro". Not "Captain" or "Boss", but Big Bro".

"If I don't see you in robot heaven when I do get there, I'm never going to forgive you!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"YES SIR!" They saluted at me in unison—a gesture they developed themselves—I never told them to do that, yet they would do that on occasion.

"Hey, where's the memory chip again?"

"It's oooover here…there you go."

"Anyone else?"

"No, we're all set."

"Alright, pulling the triggers in 3…2…1…"

After that loud group gunshot, I knew I wouldn't be hearing their voices ever again. They had decided to kill themselves after securing an escape route for me, wiping out their electronic brains so that Anteator would never take them and hack into them to look at their memories.

I gritted my teeth and turned my back on them and teleported away. I couldn't bear the sight of their bodies lying motionless on the floor.

I wonder, am I selfish for doing this? Defecting to the Maverick Hunters? I know Red Alert is going to hell—it used to have a code of honour in spite of being an explicitly illegal bounty hunter organization. One big rule was: "Never unnecessarily murder innocents." Of course, this excludes targets and witnesses. It's true that we hunt mavericks with bounties on their heads. But as a small side venture, we also provided assassination services, and I'm one of the most well-known assassins in the group, given my skill, shape-shifting.

Which "the Professor" is after. And that's why he's plunging Red Alert to hell for. He's doing all this because of me.

It's all my fault. But what have I done for them to deserve this?

No. They don't deserve this. But all of this is happening because I exist. But have I done or not done something to deserve this?

I'll think about that later.

I landed on my feet, looking at the back entrance of the base. The lasers are still on. They're always on. My brothers didn't mess with the security system too much to make sure my escape attempt wasn't so obvious, as the history of usage is always made public, and there are no plans to deactivate them. I would alert the whole damn base this instant if my escape attempt was flashier than it already is, what with my brothers having to kill themselves and all. I ran, dodged the lasers, shot them to make them stop when I got to them. It's just the beginning, and I don't want to get beat up by our own lasers—it would be super lame.

Next is the hard part—getting past the security guards. The guys I used to say hello to when I pass by them. I have to shoot them. Kill them. I…kill…them…no. Those words don't mix. But now, they have to.

"Captain Axl? Why are you here? You're supposed to be with the Prof—"

I interrupted him with a headshot. Some of them gasped in response, their feet rooted to the ground. One of them ran to the guard's body, knelt by his side and started trying to revive him. I quickly pulled out my other gun to dispose all of them quickly, shooting head after head. I held back my tears as I forced myself to keep my eyes open, so I could aim. As a side-effect, I had to bear the sight of their heads exploding to pieces, one by one. Except for one, whom I had yet to shoot, because he wasn't standing like the others.

The one who had been trying to revive his teammate got up and took out a bomb from his hand, screaming "TRAITOR!" at me. Whispering an "I'm sorry" at him, I shot the bomb off his hand with one gun, his head with the other.

I left the silent, corpse-filled back entrance, walking to the back gate, opening it.

I wish I could sneak out of the back door instead of having to kill my now-former mates like this, but today everyone knew that I wasn't allowed to leave base. Just a few days ago, the Professor had planned to use me for some sort of research attempt. After everything that happened to Red Alert after his arrival, hell if I'll let him mess with me. Fortunately, it took him days to prepare the laboratory, and during those days, I planned my escape.

My escape will be explosive and painful by the time I'm done, but I have to get out of here. Or else the nightmare will continue, with me as one of the core drivers. And I don't want that.

Without looking back, I stepped out, the last of my tears dripping on the floor of the base. It'll be the last trace of me I will leave.

Beloved home…goodbye. Forever.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the left alignment for the fic title and chapter title-FFN screwed up on me. The center align tool suddenly wouldn't work right. So I had to do this. Thank you so much for the support and yes, I will finish this.