"Ow, stop shoving me." Thanos hissed, elbowing his companion in an attempt to move him so he could regain some visibility threw the door crack. The gesture did little more than earn Thanos a sharp glare from Jarvis.

"YOU stop shoving ME!" He hissed back.

"You are so loud you know that?" Thanos hurriedly shushed him, not wanting the people in the room they were peering into to know they were there. All morning everyone in the guild had been waiting with baited breath to find out why Chief Elwen had been called to the castle. Their wait was only prolonged when the apex warrior returned and immediately headed for the Zweit squad room, allowing only Deputy Gerald to remain with her.

"Actually you're both equally as loud." Both men looked down, finding their only other female coworker glaring up at them from where she was crouched down between them. Thanos and Jarvis looked back up at each other, the former offering a shrug when the later gestured down at her in bewilderment.

"So we're really finally going to war with the nonhuman's huh?" Gerald's voice rang clear through the momentary pause in shoving and arguing. All three mercenaries felt a chill course through their veins at the mention of war. After momentarily exchanging looks of shock, the trio quietly huddled together, searching through the crack in the door for their superiors. Elwen and Gerald were out of view but their voices carried well enough through the small opening.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Elwen replied, sounding as if she were pointing out something obvious. "Things have been tense for a while."

"Yeah, though I think "tense" is putting it a bit lightly." Gerald replied, accompanied by an amused chuckle from Elwen.

"I suppose so."

"...That's not all of what you came here to tell me, is it?." Gerald said, allowing a heavy pause to drift between them before continuing. "It's not like you to be so hesitant Chief."

"I'm supposed to be making this announcement to everyone." She finally spoke after a few moments. "but I wanted to speak to you first. I wanted someone here to know of my own thoughts on the matter before I say what I'm required to."

"Well? What is it then?" The sound of clothing and armor shifting gave away the growing impatience Gerald was hiding.

"It seems Jack has defected to the fairies side, taking with him the sole heir of the Silverlake family...He was responsible for the siege and subsequent commandeering of Fort Helencia."

The three eavesdroppers had to stifle their sounds of shock. Once again everything was plunged into a heavy silence.

"You're kidding me right?" Gerald broke the silence once more, voice incredulous and uncharacteristically quiet.

"I'm afraid not. You must be seeing my dilemma as well?" Elwen remained as calm as ever, her tone having never shifted through the entirety of the conversation.

"No kidding! This isn't like Jack. There's no way he would just abandon humanity like that. Not to mention taking a hostage along with him. Clearly be must have been tricked or forced."

"I agree, none of what they said sounds like Jack…but I do think he left voluntarily."

"My apologies, but hang on to that thought just a second Chief." Suddenly the door swung open, forcing the spying trio to come face to face with a livid Gerald.

"Is this how our Sargents behave!? Like damn children!" the tall man bellowed as his subordinates scrambled for the closest escape route. He chased them to the stairwell leading to the lower levels, continuing to yell after them. "I'll deal with you three later, and if you so much as think about what you heard around anyone I'll triple your punishments!" The trio paused at the second floor, realizing Gerald wasn't pursuing them and that they were off the hook for the time being.

"Guess I'll be making myself scarce for a while." Alicia said, earning a dirty look from her ex-sergeant.

"Yeah, sure, just don't show up for several days, meanwhile I'll just have work piling up and take the brunt of Deputy Gerald's punishments."

"Well you should have thought of that before being nosy, right Jar..vis?" Alicia looked to said man, voice trailing off when she saw him staring at the floor, arms crossed and looking oddly thoughtful.

Thanos blew a sharp whistle, shocking Jarvis back to attention. "Hey, is this whole Jack situation bothering you or something?"

Jarvis narrowed his eyes, mouth pressing into a thin line.

"You don't think it's weird?" He eventually said.

"I do." Alicia cut Thanos off before he could answer. "I mean, you would probably know the best out of the three of us. But I never really got the feeling he would just up and abandon us like that."

Jarvis was quiet as he thought for a moment longer, eventually shaking his head and throwing his fists down at his sides.

"The kids an idiot but he wouldn't pull something like this. No, it has to be…it's…" Jarvis thought for a moment, wracking his brain for any valid reason. A look of realization flashed across his face as he pointed dramatically at his two companions. "The girl!"

"The girl?" Alicia parroted back, Placing a hand on her hip and tilting her head in confusion.

"You mean the Silverlake kid?" Thanos clarified, nonchalantly scratching at his beard. "That's right, they have a daughter don't they?"

"Mhmm, I remember the kid going on a few times about some Ridley girl. She must have tricked him. He's dumb enough to fall for it, so that must be what happened!"

"If that's the case, then why would SHE want to join the nonhuman side? Hey!" Alicia braced herself as Jarvis shoved past her.

"I don't care what HER reason is."

"What the hell Jarvis? Where are you going?" Thanos stormed after the other man as Alicia lagged behind and watched the spectacle

"To go drag him back, obviously."

"You're joking right? Fort Helencia is in the enemy's hands now. They're not going to let you anywhere near that place." Thanos grabbed Jarvis by the arm, planting his feet and pulling back as hard as he could to stop him. He should have predicted the punch Jarvis threw with his free hand, hard enough to force his head back and send blood dripping down his upper lip. Out of instinct he threw a punch of his own, managing to connect with Jarvis' jaw. The two men threw themselves at each other in a flurry of tangled limbs and messy blows.

The scuffle hardly lasted ten seconds before Thanos was grabbed by the back of his shirt and thrown back several feet. The sound of metal scrapping against leather rang through the air and Jarvis' advance was halted by the sharp end of a sword just inches from his face. Alicia's gaze remained locked with Jarvis' look of defiance, her expression cold and warning him not to bother trying his luck in a fight with her.

"Well…" She said when he had visibly calmed enough for her to lower her weapon. "You going to go or not?"

Jarvis blinked in surprise at her for a long moment before settling into a determined look. He left without another word to ether of them.

"They're gonna kill him Alicia." Thanos mumbled from where he was, still sitting on the floor with blood smeared across his mouth and cheek. "Him and Daniel, if he's planning on bringing him."

"Jack won't let that happen." Alicia replied, re-sheathing her weapon and offering a hand to the receptionist.

"You seem pretty confident in the integrity of a traitor." Thanos scoffed, reluctantly taking the woman's hand and allowing her to haul him back to his feet.

"I have confidence in Jack." She replied sharply, cutting off any further argument with another dominating look. "Besides, you know how Jarvis gets. I think he just wants a reason…I'm kind of curious as well, to be honest."

"Whatever, I don't see how it changes anything, but…whatever." Thanos huffed, wiping at his still bleeding nose with his shirt sleeve and smearing blood across the other side of his face. The action brought out a sharp hiss of pain.

"It's fine, Jarvis can handle things his way and you can handle things by pretending to not care." Alicia cooed patronizingly, earning a glare from the older guild member. "But there's no point in continuing to argue over it. Besides, you should probably see Bruce sooner rather than later. I'm pretty sure your nose is broken."

"I hope Jarvis likes the sound of alcohol withdrawal, because I'm never assigning him work ever again."

"Don't be petty Thanos."